HIV/AIDS and Youth: IREX Alumnae Continue Their Activism and Volunteerism

After working on HIV/AIDS prevention for two months in Siberia, Megan Buskey and Emily Feder returned to the United States to organize the “Young Global Leaders Summit: Fighting AIDS,” a youth conference held at New York University. A keynote lecture on HIV/AIDS prevention programs in Iran by Dr. Kamiar Alae, executive director of the Pars Curative Research Institute for HIV/AIDS and Drug Use Prevention and Care in Karmanshah and Tehran, highlighted the complex issues surrounding HIV/AIDS activism to reduce the spread of infection and expand the availability of antiretroviral drug treatment. The perpetual stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS, both internationally and in the United States, remains a key issue when addressing cultural factors that should be considered when adapting and conducting prevention programs internationally.

Ms. Buskey's and Ms. Feder's experience on the US-Russia Volunteer Initiative (USRVI), an IREX program funded through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), led the two American volunteers to harness the energy and activism of their overseas experience and apply for the USRVI Follow-On Grant to make the Summit possible. The Summit was sponsored by Youth AIDS, Americans for Informed Democracy (AIDemocracy), USAID, IREX, and the NYU Public Health Alliance. Over 200 young people from the United States, Peru, Morocco, Iran, and India gathered for the event.

Young people represent the most at risk group for contracting HIV, as they constitute approximately one third of the over 40 million people worldwide currently living with the infection. According to the 2004 report by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), youth under 25 accounts for over half of new infections each year.

While young adults are the most at risk, they also hold the most potential to reduce infection rates and contribute to the outreach and educational efforts to combat HIV/AIDS . At the summit, representatives from the public, nonprofit, and business sectors discussed current strategies to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS, the successes and challenges, and the role of youth in these efforts.

The event was "emotion and educational", an International Affairs student from the University of Maine noted.  Efforts to combat the pandemic were embodied in a young HIV-positive woman who spoke about how, while affected by the disease at a young age, she does not give up, but fights and continues to educate others about the dangers of HIV/AIDS.  Activism and international events like the Summit help inspire young people to work with their peers to improve the situation for those with HIV/AIDS as well as prevent others from becoming infected.