Originally published January 4 2006
Senegal the site of concentrated efforts to inform teens about HIV risks and prevention
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Baba Goumbala, executive secretary of Senegal's National Alliance Against AIDS, a coalition of Senegalese NGOs and community-based associations, speaks with All Africa about the particular threat HIV poses to African teenagers and how health organizations are rallying to promote awareness in that age group.
"No fear or apprehension whatsoever," the university law student said as he queued with scores of fellow scholars to get tested in response to a call by student volunteers known as 'Leo Club.'
Thioye says he knows all about how HIV is transmitted, and besides, he is a "practising and faithful Muslim abstaining from sex before marriage."
HIV-prevention activists wish that more people would be as bold about learning their HIV status.
Encouraging the test is a big part of a recent push by 'Leo Club' volunteers - of Lions Club International - and other organisations that have recently stepped up HIV-awareness campaigns on university campuses in the capital, Dakar.
Health officials say getting youths tested is a crucial step to keeping the country's infection rate of about 1.6 percent - low by West African standards - in check.
HIV prevalence rates in Senegal as elsewhere in the region are extrapolated from testing among pregnant women.
But medical officials say a new health survey, based on the general population, shows most new infections in 2005 were in people aged between 15 and 24.
According to the UN's latest global AIDS statistics, released last month, countries with low HIV rates such as Senegal have not seen a decrease in the pandemic.
"We must not wait for the AIDS pandemic to shoot up before we react," said Baba Goumbala, executive secretary of the country's National Alliance Against AIDS, a coalition of Senegalese NGOs and community-based associations.
To mark World AIDS Day, Leo Club student volunteers for the first time took to the campus of Dakar's Cheikh Anta Diop University, armed with HIV-prevention brochures and condoms, along with medical teams and HIV-testing materials.
"We will focus more and more on protecting young women," he told IRIN.
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