The youth against AIDS network (YAAN), on Tuesday held a day’s validation workshop of the draft national youth policy on HIV/AIDS prevention, voluntary counselling and testing (VCT), care and support for youth of the Gambia, at the national nutrition agency’s hall in Bakau.

The sectoral policy validated seeks to not only compliment government initiatives but also to give young people the enabling environment to freely participate and obtain services that motivates them to accept one and other, especially their infected colleagues, through a peer friendly environment.

Declaring the day’s workshop open on behalf of the SoS for youth and sports, Mambanyick Njie, permanent secretary at the said department of state, commended the organisers of the workshop for their significant strides to curb the menace of HIV/AIDS in recent years.

According to PS Njie, the Gambia, confined within a deadly epidemic zone, is faced with the threat of HIV/AIDS, which hinders the progress of its development objectives.

He noted that if this was not adequately taken into consideration, it would render government polices and developmental objectives useless. He further noted that the 1.1 prevalence rate of the Gambia does not warrant complacency and that the need for sectoral policies such as this one cannot be over emphasised.

While commending the AWARE HIV/AIDS for initiating this sectoral policy, PS Njie expressed his department of state’s willingness to give due consideration and the required environment for the implementation of the policy.

For his part, Alieu Jammeh, director of the national aids secretariat, said there was a great need for stakeholders to look in to activities and areas of prevention. He also emphasised the need for the services to be available to the unreachable, noting that sometimes the services are not youth friendly.

According to Mr Jammeh, stigma and discrimination still continued to be an issue impeding on the fight against the deadly disease. He therefore urged the stakeholders to look into all the critical issues in their quest to curb HIV/IADS.

Lamin Camara, on behalf of the UNAIDS country representative, urged the stakeholders to respond highly to HIV/AIDS and to integrate all its issues into all their activities.

Alhajie Kebbeh of the national youth council expressed hope that the document would serve as a reference point for young people in the struggle to eradicate HIV/AIDS.

Pa Malick Ceesay, national co-ordinator of youth against aids network, who also doubles as the executive secretary of the national youth council, said his network was inline with the Gambia’s national policy guideline on HIV/AIDS which, he said, stated the need for initiating, formulating and reviewing of comprehensive national and sectoral policies and strategies related to HIV/AIDS in the Gambia.

The validation workshop which brought youth experts in various areas was facilitated by Njundu Drammeh, national coordinator of the Child Protection alliance.

No sign advertises the availability of voluntary HIV counselling and testing (VCT) at the Family Planning Centre in Port Sudan, a busy transportation hub in Sudan's Red Sea State. It is one of only three sites in town offering these services, but the waiting room is deserted.

VCT only became available in Port Sudan in 2006 and, according to Ahmed Musa, local coordinator of the Sudanese National AIDS Control Programme (SNAP), it has been slow to catch on. Of the 181 people who were tested here in 2007, only 18 walked through the door on their own initiative; the rest were HIV "suspects" referred by their doctors, and more than half had positive test results.

With voluntary testing still at such low levels and the last national HIV prevalence survey conducted over five years ago, experts can only speculate about the extent to which HIV has taken hold in Africa's largest country.

The 2002 survey indicated a national infection rate of about 1.6 percent, but was not broken down by state. A new HIV prevalence and behaviour change survey to be conducted later this year in both north and south Sudan, will provide state-by-state data, but the results are unlikely to be available before 2009. "It's a huge undertaking," said Severine Leonardi, HIV/AIDS manager at UNICEF, one of several donors supporting the SNAP survey.

Experts agree that many factors allowing the rapid spread of HIV are present in eastern Sudan, which includes Red Sea State, as well as Kassala and Gedaref states to the south. In the meantime, figures from VCT clinics are among the few indicators available.

At the main VCT clinic in Kassala, which has been promoted more widely than those in Port Sudan, nearly half the 411 people who were tested in 2007 came voluntarily, a significant increase from previous years. Yet Ishraga Eleman, SNAP coordinator for Kassala State, cautioned that of the 129 who had positive tests, many were referrals and therefore did not represent the general population. HIV prevalence, she said, was still "all just guessing".

Eastern Sudan vulnerable

Among the factors that make eastern Sudan vulnerable to HIV, Eleman cites the region's open borders with Ethiopia and Eritrea, where the HIV infection rate is thought be about twice that of Sudan, as well as the influx of refugees and people fleeing conflict in southern and western Sudan who have settled in the region.

Kassala and Port Sudan are also way stations on the busy route between the Red Sea coast and Khartoum. Long-distance truck drivers, many of whom frequent sex workers, mingle with the local populations.

Levels of awareness about HIV are also low, said Dr Mohammed Soghaier, a World Health Organisation representative based in Port Sudan. In rural areas especially, a conservative mindset and low literacy rates have challenged efforts to educate people about protecting themselves against the virus.

Only about 50 percent of children attend primary school in Kassala, while 17 percent make it to secondary schools. "We need to increase the level of education and deal with the literacy problem before we can deal with health issues like TB, malnutrition and HIV," Soghaier told IRIN/PlusNews.

A 2006 national household health survey conducted jointly by the governments of north and south Sudan, with technical support from several UN agencies, found that although about 70 percent of adult Sudanese women had heard of HIV, only about 4 percent knew how to prevent it. In Red Sea and Gedaref states the figure was only 2.6 percent.

Intisar Mohammed, a programme officer for the Sudan National Committee on Traditional Practices, a non-governmental organisation working with SNAP to provide HIV education in rural areas, believes the use of unsterilised instruments to carry out tribal scarring, tattooing and the circumcision of young girls could also be contributing to HIV infections.

Although government policy officially discourages female genital mutilation (FGM), the practice is still carried out on about 70 percent of Sudanese women, according to the household health survey. In the north the percentage is far higher.

Traditional midwives or older female relatives with very little training usually perform the procedure. "They do several girls at the same time, using the same instrument," Mohammed said. "I've seen many cases of serious infections."

In their bid to create more awareness among young people of the country on issues of concern, Save the Youths Action Group, SYAG, recently concluded a three-day youth camp for over one hundred and seventy youths from different youth associations in the country.

The camp, held at Bokaloho Skills Centre in Abuko, ended with a closing ceremony held at Abuko Upper Basic School.

Addressing the closing ceremony, Pa Malick Ceesay, advised youths to maintain the culture of tolerance and discipline at all times.

Mr. Muhammad L. Marr, Executive Director of SYAG, applauded the participants for their patience and participation in the camp. He encouraged them to make the best use of the skills acquired from the camp.

Mr. Marr also thanked National Aids Secretariat, NAS, for funding the camp, revealing that the 57 participants, who underwent Voluntary Counseling and Testing, were all found HIV-negative.

Mr. Babou Jobe, a representative of NAS, expressed his positive impression with SYAG for the successful camp.

Other speakers at the closing ceremony include Mr. Babucarr Sinajoko, Principal of Bokaloho Skills Centre.

Meanwhile, at the end of the ceremony, participants were awarded certificates. Individuals, including our Youth Forum columnist, Mr. Nfamara Jawneh, were also awarded Certificate of Honour for their continued contribution towards the development of the young people of The Gambia.

Over 150 youths from Save the Youths Action Group (SYAG), The Gambia, on Sunday ended a three-day youth camp at the Bokaloho skills centre in Abuko.

Speaking at the closing ceremony, Muhammed Lamin Marr, the president of SYAG The Gambia, commended the youths for their hardwork and discipline throughout the camping period. According to him, out of the 150 youths at the camp, about 57 were tested on VCT and proved negative. He thanked the members of the media, NAS and all those who in one way or the other supported them during the period.

Babou Jobe of NAS advised the youths to be mindful of the spread of HIV/Aids and also assured them of his office’s support at all times.

Pa Malick Ceesay, Executive Secretary of the National Youth Council advised youths to adopt the culture of tolerance.

Other speakers at the ceremony included Baboucarr Sinajahok, Principal of Bokaloho Skills Centre.

Certificates of honour were presented to SoS Neneh Macdouall Gaye, Alhagie Jobe of the Daily Observer, Nfamara Jawneh of  Point Newspaper, and NAS among others  for their valuable support and contribution to SYAG, The Gambia.