Winter 1999            Volume 3, Issue 1

to sustain the momentum created during last year's campaign on the theme of "Children living in a world with AIDS" and to build on some of the initiatives that were begun over the past months.  Similarly, it is hoped that the activities initiated during the course of this year will be carried over beyond the year-end, and that the campaign will be seen as an occasion to develop new approaches and to achieve consensus about what needs to be done in both the immediate future and the longer-term.

It was the intention of the Steering Committee of UNAIDS (which is composed of UNICEF, UNDP, UNFPA, UNESCO, WHO, World Bank, Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, Education International, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, MTV International, Rotary International, and the World Assembly of Youth.) that the campaign be used as a real opportunity to set up and strengthen processes for involving young people in reducing the spread of HIV, as well as mobilizing support for young people who are already suffering from the impact of the epidemic on their own lives, their families and their communities.  The campaign also provides a platform for emphasizing the links between HIV/AIDS and other factors that are critical to young people's health and development including, in this anniversary year of the Uni

(Continued on page 2)

World AIDS Day

By Yvonne De Souza

Since 1988, December 1^st has been a day bringing messages of compassion, hope, solidarity and understanding about AIDS to every country in the world.  The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and its co-sponsors and partners have chosen to focus the 1998 World AIDS Campaign on young people.  The main reason for this focus is that over 50% of new infections with HIV are now occurring in young people in the 10-24 age group.  Global HIV infections increased 10% in 1998 and half of all new infections are in 15-24 year olds.  Young people are particularly vulnerable to HIV infection and are being very seriously affected by the epidemic.  The main goal of the Campaign is to mobilize young people to reduce the spread of HIV infection and to strengthen support for young people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.  To promote and protect their human rights.

Young people have the power to change the course of the epidemic.  Young people are not only being infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, but they are also a key resource in mobilizing an expanded and effective response.  The campaign will be a chance

TABLE OF CONTENTS

  World AIDS Day   page 1
  EBAC Moves   page 4
  CAB Corner   page 5
  Your Human Herpesvirus 8 Results from the WIHS  page 5
  What Do My HTLV-I and HTLV-II Results Mean  page 6