ADVOCATES FOR YOUTH

Youth to Participate in Prepatory Meeting for UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS

Teens See U.S. Response to Global Pandemic as Critical to Health and Lives of One Billion Peers Worldwide

WASHINGTON, DC (May 18, 2001) This week, Advocates for Youth will work with other organizations and U.S. delegates to provide input on the United States' response to the global HIV/AIDS pandemic.

"Nearly three million young people worldwide will contract HIV this year alone," said Naina Dhingra, a sophomore at George Washington University and a member of Advocates for Youth's International Youth Leadership Council. "The time to respond to this pandemic is now, before any more of my peers around the world die unnecessarily."

Dhingra and Advocates for Youth's Director of Public Affairs, Marcela Howell, will be participating in the May 21-25 preparatory meeting for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS). Participants will provide input to the U.S. response to the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. The June 25-27 United Nations Special Session on HIV/AIDS is an effort to intensify international action and to mobilize the financial resources needed to fight the epidemic.

"No one my age should have a one-in-three chance of dying of AIDS, as does a 15-year-old in South Africa. When I meet my young South African peers at next month's UN Special Session on HIV/AIDS, I hope that I will be able to tell them that the U.S. is doing all it can to end this pandemic. Yet, right now, that is not the case. I hope to have a hand in changing that this week," said Dhingra.

"President Bush has pledged $200 million for the UN Global AIDS Fund to fight HIV/AIDS internationally, yet the best minds in the world believe that $7 to $10 billion a year is needed to effectively fight this disease," said Howell. "By participating in these sessions, we hope to send the clear message that the U.S. must commit to ending this pandemic by immediately increasing funding and doing its share in HIV/AIDS prevention, education, and treatment."

"Every minute of every day, five young people around the world become infected with HIV—that's 300 young people every hour. Our government cannot afford to stand on the sidelines while young people around the world are on the frontline facing one of the most terrifying health crises in human history," added Howell.

"The U.S. has the power to make a significant contribution to HIV/AIDS prevention efforts at home and abroad, but we must act now. Every day that we delay, 7,200 of my peers contract HIV," concluded Dhingra.

The International Youth Leadership Council consists of a diverse group of Washington, DC area college students dedicated to educating policy makers, the media and the American public about the importance of increasing U.S. funding for global HIV/AIDS prevention and international family planning. The Youth Council is a project of Advocates for Youth, an international, nonprofit organization that creates programs and advocates for policies that help young people make safe, responsible decisions about their sexual and reproductive health. For more information about the Youth Council's yearlong education and mobilization campaign on global HIV/AIDS, My Voice Counts, visit online at www.advocatesforyouth.org/yan.

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Note to Editors and Producers: For more information or to set up an interview with a Youth Council member or a global HIV/AIDS expert, please contact Bill Barker at (202) 419-3420.

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