Youth fashion shows, sexuality discussions, and an 11 year-old from Nigeria moderating a panel like she was Oprah Winfrey. When it comes to youth at the International AIDS Conference, you just never know what you are going to see next. But young people approach the pandemic with such seriousness, commitment and hunger for information. They want to do more.

I have been to many conferences, but this stands out as the most unified experience. Everyone is here; private sector, celebrities, government, churches, young people. It took something as tragic as the infection of 40 million people to bring us together.

To meet young people from around the world living with HIV and see their leadership and commitment is truly inspiring. They are speaking on panels to hundreds of people after taking medicines that make them dizzy. They are hauling their way through the gigantic conference center lost in the crowds.

I don’t meet people living with HIV on a regular basis. To see their dignity is humbling. They come from countries, like in Thailand, where there are limited ARV drugs because of patents and trade laws. To fight this, they are working in committees, literally dying in the process, so that they can have access to medicines.

I think the paradox of young people is captured in two statements from the most prolific leaders here:

"I know more about the YouthForce than anything else at the conference" said Peter Piot, Executive Director UNAIDS.

“Youth are most neglected part of the pandemic,” said Stephen Lewis, UN Envoy on AIDS in Africa

So youth are absolutely visible here, the youth pavilion is buzzing, and everyone who is anyone is stopping by. But as the majority group contracting HIV, they are still misunderstood and neglected in policy, research, and support so that they can be leaders. There is still so much work to do.

Faith-based organizations did a dialogue with pharmaceutical companies this morning. Engaging in a quiet room, we discussed how the pharmaceutical companies could make more pediatric drugs availble, speak out against TRIPS+, lower prices for "middle tier" income countries, and support the effective work of traditional healers.

After the meeting, we delivered letters of a campaign to phamaceutical companies at their exhibition booths. The difference in how we were recieved was striking. Some were happy to talk to us, told us about their programs, and said they agreed with our 'ask' for more child-friendly formulations. Other companies literally left their booth when they saw us coming.

Later in the day, activists marched and chanted, looking for the CEO of Abbott for a public confrontation.
Security has been high all day, with long lines as they search our bags.

Just giving you a sampling of the spectrum.

Around the world, religious leaders are working with communities suffering
from AIDS, but still have more to do to overcome their public reputation as
overly moralizing. While some churches set up VCT centers next door to their
sanctuaries, other religious leaders have turned HIV+ persons away at their
doorsteps.

Momora Gilbert, a young pastor from Malawi who is part of the African
Network of HIV + and AIDS Affected religious leaders (ANERELA +), has
received multiple trainings from the church, and now he reaches out to young
people about HIV, putting a human face to the virus.

“Youth come to the church and ask questions,” said Gilbert. “They encourage
me and I encourage them. When young people start to talk about AIDS, they
talk about themselves because they realize they are the most vulnerable and
that prevention is vital to them.”

The religious community is well-represented at the International AIDS
Conference, but youth and faith-based organizations still need a bit of help
reaching out to each other.

Leading the way, Mark Hanson, Presiding Bishop of the Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA), stopped by the “Commitments Desk” at the Youth
Pavilion. The ELCA sponsored 12 young people to come to this year’s IAC, and
Hanson committed to bring more to next conference in Mexico. He also
committed to include young people in the development of the ELCA AIDS
strategy.

“Youth and young adults are leading the church in HIV and AIDS, and we are
following their lead,” said Hanson. “Young people want to be part of a
community where faith and spirituality matter, and they want to be part of a
faith community doing advocacy around poverty and discrimination.”

Taking a different approach, Phrama Boonchuay, the Director of Chiang Mai
Buddhist College, educates young people about living simply. “In Thailand,
in Buddhism, we educate our youth about consumerism. We have to convince
them about sexual education, and we also talk about consumption of food,
clothes and medicine.”

Addressing misinterpretations of what the church and young people can do is
important, says Rev. Jape Heath, General Secretary of ANERELA+.

“One of the major problems we have had with youth from the faith-based
community is to think that we can’t talk about prevention, because we think
we’ll encourage youth to have sex, but that’s stupid. Unless we can speak to
our youth we can’t expect them to make informed choices can decisions.”

Youth advocates, your toolkit is here. As we know, policy makers use evidence to determine what they do. However, there is still a lack of evidence about preventing HIV in young people in developing countries.

But today, the UNAIDS Inter-agency taskforce on young people launched the manual, “Preventing HIV/AIDS in young people, a systematic review of the evidence from developing countries”.

The first study of its kind, it analyzes evidence from 80 cases, and classifies them in three categories: -Go! (stop asking for more evidence and get on and do it!)
-Ready (implement widely but evaluate carefully!)
-Steady (not ready yet for prime time: more research and development required)

Now young people can take the UNAIDS policy ratings to their governments and say, this is a ‘ready’ project, we should scale it up, or say this is ‘steady’ and must be remedied.

The manual was written to fulfill obligations set by countries in the 2001 UNGASS Declaration of Commitment, where governments agreed that 95% of young people should know how to prevent HIV by 2010. Unfortunately we are still no where near meeting those targets.

David Ross, the researcher presenting the manual, stressed that HIV prevalence rates are often used in statistics to illustrate national HIV situations. However, HIV incidence rates are the most important to look at because ‘incidence,’ or when the virus is contracted, happens the majority of the time when people are in their teens.

“Youth are most neglected part of the pandemic”, said Stephen Lewis, UN Envoy on AIDS in Africa, known for his outspoken leadership. “The huge impact we must make must be for 15-25 year olds.”

Lewis said he noticed a “renaissance of interest and commitment from young people,” who he has seen working all around the world with their peers. However, he stressed young peoples actions must be further supported for a larger impact, saying “the de-minutia of what one person can do comes from lack of support from the powers that be.”

Though he welcomed the UNAIDS study, Lewis was quick to point out that it does not effectively analyze the most at-risk youth. Because its survey sample only includes youth in school, there is no analysis about programs that reach out-of school youth, who are the most at-risk. Lewis emphasized the devastating lack of evidence about how to work with these groups, often made vulnerable because they may of lost a parents to AIDS, and called for more research to understand how to reach these populations.

New modes to reach youth are needed, such as text messaging, which is widely used in some parts of Africa. “We must embrace youth culture which we have disavowed,” Lewis told the audience. “There is little resonance with youth because youth have been marginalized in studies and in implementing the Convention on the Rights of the Child. I salute what you have done, but I beg you to do more.”

I love the fashion show! You have all these men and women coming in AIDS-inspired wear.

One wearing a "Drug dealer" t-shirt, said it was a great conversation starter. A cop sees her and asks, "so you are a drug dealer?" she says yeah, dealing anti-retro viral drugs to children in fact.

We need all kinds of approaches to fight the spread of HIV. I love what these young fashion designers have done. From a red ribbon draped silk evening dress, to a superman-inspired fight AIDS cape, it a great showing of the creativity of youth.

Stay tuned for pictures!