Day 1: The start of YouthForce

I don't have a catchy title for today's blog as I can't even believe it has only been ONE DAY since this incredible experience has started! It seems like we accomplished 3-days worth of sessions and networking and sessions and dancing and meals and everything all in one!

The day started off with opening remarks from Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé. Who, might I add, is an incredible youth advocate and a very relaxed speaker. It was really nice to have someone speak to youth at our own level, not patronizingly. He truly believes in our power and was happy to take comments about our involvement in the entire process of turning the tide of HIV/AIDS. There was a plenary panel of excellent speakers, touching on different regional areas and different issues facing youth around the world in regards to access, gender-specific issues, prevalence, and the work being done to reduce these cases and increase preventative activities.

I attended another session about Indigenous Youth and HIV, which being from Canada, I was surprised I had never heard all of those 3 things together. They spoke about many issues I hadn't considered, and took a new approach to things. The started by talking about how our actions should be based off the past 7 generations and considered for the next 7 generations. Our programs and actions shouldn't only be considered in context of the NOW, but also for the future generations, something I hadn't put into a guideline before. I also learned that the word "Aboriginal", which we use in Canada and is also used in Australia, New Zealand and the US, is actually translated to "without origin" as "ab" means without. This is an incredibly offensive insinutation for people that were on the land we now occupy much longer than we settlers were. It was also interesting that we had to define what indigenous meant before we even began the discussion of youth and HIV. In relation to health status, the indigenous population accounts for 2.2 million people in Canada, or 3.8% of the total population, yet this small population represents 12.5% of the new HIV cases which indicates that the HIV prevention programs in Canada either aren't working for the indigenous population or don't exist at all in the regions that these populations reside. Something to consider for sure when shaping Canadian health policy.

One of the afternoon sessions I attended spoke about HIV during humanitarian disasters. Another concept I had never considered was the interruption that a disaster cause in regards to regular health care. We all think of the acute health responses when speaking about humanitarian relief or disasters, but sometimes these situations can go on for a long time and what about the healthcare services that people rely on? What about the regular education that keeps the youth in school and safe? Young people may be the most affected population yet they are the most capable of making and contributing to changes. The challenges in emergencies is ensuring regular HIV services like condoms, peer education, STD testing, medication, etc. These issues must be considered and integrated in emergency responses in order to cover this very vulnerable population during a time of crises.

After a dance party and a debreif of the days event, LetsStopAIDS zipcar'd our way over to Maryland to visit IKEA and get some materials for our Youth Pavillion Art Exhibit Dududu Youth Club: Igniting Leadership :) It will be a great surprise and unveiling after we build it on Sunday morning (EARLY Sunday morning...I'm not impressed) and we will make sure to share pictures with you all!

Another long day, another exciting experience, another tired Caity. Until tomorrow!

Cheers :)