Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 19 September 2003
Pekka Reinikainen in Nairobi
"By 2010 we need to have reduced infection rates amongst youth by 25 per cent in the most affected countries of Africa," she adds.
Mbziwo was speaking in Nairobi at a satellite meeting of Red Cross Red Crescent HIV/AIDS delegates, which aims to build a strategy for a massive scaling-up of programmes to meet the needs in the Sub-Saharan communities. To achieve this, Red Cross Red Crescent needs to be a key partner in the combined national response of individual countries, participants agreed.
The satellite meeting, which brings together over 50 delegates from African National Societies, representatives of donor National Societies and the Federation, is being held ahead of the 13th International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), which gets under way in the Kenyan capital on Sunday.
"This is first and foremost an opportunity for us all to study the experiences the Red Cross Red Crescent has had in our respective countries. We can learn from the success others have had, and share our own," Francoise Le Goff, head of the Federation's regional delegation in Nairobi, said as she opened the first session.
The first day of the satellite meeting is dedicated to youth peer education, home-based and community care and the partnership between the Federation and the Network of African People Living with HIV and AIDS (NAP+).
On Saturday, participants will report on how they are fighting HIV and AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. The agenda also includes Red Cross Red Crescent workplace programmes both for its own staff and for the corporate world. Integrating HIV/AIDS and reproductive health into overall health programmes rounds up the meeting.
Nutrition and food security, as well as fighting poverty through income-generating programmes for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS will also be studied, as well as the role of the media in combating HIV/AIDS.
"We need to move from declarations to action. That is what I hope will result from this meeting," says Shimelis Adugna, President of the Ethiopian Red Cross Society.
Melissa Quimby, Health Coordinator from the American Red Cross' regional delegation in Nairobi has only been in Africa for four weeks. She was thrilled to have the opportunity to listen to the experience of so many National Societies in such a short space of time.
One was the Seychelles, an idyllic holiday destination with a population of 80,000. "Our paradise has not been spared," said Colette Servina, President of the Seychelles Red Cross Society, when she presented the HIV/AIDS work her organisation is doing with out-of-school youth.
According to the latest figures, 177 people have been infected with HIV on the islands. "We have many early pregnancies as a result of youth not protecting themselves. We also have a worrying rate of sexually transmitted infections. The sexual culture of our youth is a threat to their future," Servina explains.
Seychelles Red Cross tackles the threat through a youth peer education programme. "We need our youth to fight this from within. We all need to engage youth already in the planning phase of our programmes," she emphasises.
"This is my experience too," says Hassan Musa, HIV/AIDS Project Officer from the Mombasa Branch of the Kenya Red Cross. "Instead of taking Red Cross to communities, we have lately been bringing communities to the Red Cross."
"When people from communities become Red Cross volunteers, they will work from within the community, not doing something that has been imported. There is a clear difference in results," he explains.
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