RH Reality Check Seeks Global Writers on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Issues

RH Reality Check (www.RHRealityCheck.org
) is an online publication launched in May of 2006 to provide the latest analysis, news, and commentary on issues of sexual and reproductive health, with a particular emphasis of providing a rapid response
mechanism for experts in the field to counter trumped up data and ideological policies promoted by the far-right.

RH Reality Check is growing in response to community demand and seeks to add 5-6 weekly contract writers from different regions of the world. Writers will be paid a small stipend for their weekly contributions and will communicate with RH Reality Check staff via instant message and email. Writers will have experience in sexual and reproductive health issues and the ability to make policy conversations relevant to everyday life of the women and men around the world seeking reality based information about reproductive health.

Writers will be expected to write in English (we will post in native language as well), be familiar with journalistic style, able to interview people, provide reviews of information in books, movies, TV. The ability to do home produced video or digital photos is a plus, but not required. Writers who are actively engaged online, working with new media tools, and understand the importance of building online community will be given a preference as will writers eager to learn these new tools to share with others.
Writers should submit a resume, writing sample and tell us why you are motivated to write about sexual and reproductive health issues on a weekly basis.

Send to tyler@rhrealitycheck.org no later than February 22, 2007.

Please forward this to people you think would be interested in helping grow RH Reality Check into a global online community advancing progressive ideas on sexual and reproductive health, rights and justice issues.

Resource: Safe Passages to Adulthood - Collection of key writings UK Department for International Development


The six-year, UK Department for International Development (DfID) funded research programme - Safe Passages to Adulthood - has recently come to an end.


To celebrate the completion of the Safe Passages to Adulthood research programme, two of the directors of the project, Roger Ingham and Peter Aggleton have edited a collection of key writings by the researchers
involved in the work.


Promoting Young People's Sexual Health: International Perspectives Roger Ingham and Peter Aggleton (editors), Routledge, 2006 Chapters cover. Understanding young people and sexual health Uses and abuses of surveys on
the sexual behaviour of young people. Young people and condom use; findings from qualitative studies. The importance of context in seeking to understand and promote sexual health Gender, sexual behaviour and vulnerability among young people. Groups who are more vulnerable to poor sexual health Meeting the sexual health needs of young people living on the street. Young people's same-sex relationships, sexual health and well-being.


Sexual violence and young people's sexual health in developing countries: intersections For love or money: the role of exchange in young people's sexual relationships Approaches to improving youth sexual and reproductive health Using evaluation to improve the sexual health of young people Sexual health communication: letting young people have their say Young people and sex and relationships education Research and policy in young people's sexual health This newly published collection of writings on young people and sexual and reproductive health will be of interest to policy-makers, practitioners, researchers, teachers and students living and working across the world.


Available for purchase at: www.routledge.com or www.amazon.co.uk See: www.safepassages.soton.ac.uk/

for further details, including free resources which support the development of new ways of understanding and meeting the sexual and reproductive health needs of young people in resource-constrained settings.

Sent by: c.maxwell@ioe.ac.uk Stay Connected - Speak your world!

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Australian Government To Consider $10M Safer-Sex Campaign Following Increase
in Recorded HIV Cases - [Jan 31, 2007]
The Australian government is considering a four-year, $10 million safer-sex campaign following a 41% increase in the number of new HIV cases in the country recorded from 2000 to 2005, the Daily Telegraph reports. A ministerial task force -- led by Michael Wooldridge, chair of the Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and Hepatitis and former health minister -- recommended the campaign (Daily Telegraph, 1/30).
According to the Sydney Morning Herald, the campaign will target men who have sex with men, who account for 80% of HIV cases in the country.
Wooldridge said the first step in the campaign is to research why the number of HIV cases has increased in all Australian states except New South Wales. "This is something we have given a lot of thought to, ... we think it is prudent given the rise in infections to have a carefully targeted campaign,"
Wooldridge said, adding, "Clearly there is a whole younger generation who are missing the message, combined with safe sex fatigue from in their 30s
who are not seeing the threat (of HIV)." According to Don Baxter, executive director of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, the campaign
will be cost-effective if it is targeted at the right population and will save approximately $450,000 for each averted new HIV case. Wooldridge urged
the government to implement the program as quickly as possible and said that some states, including Victoria, are at risk of reporting the highest number
of HIV cases since the 1980s. Although the campaign has not been developed, Health Minister Tony Abbott said it would not use scare tactics like
Australia's "Grim Reaper" HIV campaign, which was implemented in the 1980s.

Baxter said such a campaign would be rejected by viewers (Pollard, Sydney Morning Herald, 1/31). According to Baxter, the campaign should target MSM through the country's mainstream media. "I think one of the missing parts of our response is social marketing on mainstream media," he said, adding that because the gay community has "become more mainstream" in the last 10 or 15
years, HIV prevention messages should be directed toward MSM through mainstream media outlets. Funding for the campaign will be approved in the
next budget, the Australia Broadcast Corporation reports (Australian Broadcast Corporation, 1/30).

Source: http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=42619


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News: 'Anti-Aids gel' trial is stopped
BBC News
1 February 2007
*****************

Clinical trials of a new drug designed to help prevent women contracting the Aids virus have been stopped.

The World Health Organization said the drug, which uses a microbicidal gel, did not help the women and made them more vulnerable.

The tests were carried out on more than 1,300 women in South Africa, Benin, Uganda and India.

The WHO and the United Nations Aids agency (UNAIDS) said it was not clear why the
product did not work.

A similar test in Nigeria has also been halted but trials of three other microbicides are still continuing.

The cellulose sulfate gel, based on seaweed and made by Canadian company Polydex Pharmaceuticals, was supposed to release an active ingredient designed to kill HIV during sexual intercourse.

"This is a disappointing and unexpected setback in the search for a safe and effective microbicide that can be used by women to protect themselves against HIV infection," said WHO and UNAids in a joint statement.

Around 30 women had contracted HIV since the trial started in 2005, the AFP news agency quotes study co-ordinator Tim Farley as saying.

Scientists had hoped that microbicides could have a major impact in the fight against Aids, especially in Africa, where women bear the brunt of the
disease.

They are being developed because it is often difficult for women to insist that men use condoms during sex.

"The closure of these trials is a stark reminder that drug development in general is a difficult and unpredictable process, and we must constantly bear in mind that the majority of drugs that enter the clinical trial process fail," said Zeda Rosenberg, the head of the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM).

The International Aids Society said it was extremely disappointed at the setback, but that lessons would be learnt. "This will strengthen future microbicide research and increase our overall knowledge of how such compounds work," IAS President Pedro Cahn told AFP news agency.

Online at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/6319787.stm

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Asia Pacific Regional Youth Forum

Youth are an integral part of the fight against HIV/AIDS because they are the most infected and affected by it. The main aims of the Asia Pacific Regional Youth Forum scheduled for August 18th, 2007 in Colombo, Sri Lanka is to equip and enable young people to effectively navigate and actively participate in all Congress activities while ensuring the voice of youth is heard. It will provide technical information and capacity building on the Political, Scientific, Economic and Social context of HIV/AIDS to young people. It will also be a platform where Youth will be enabled to highlight Youth specific issues to be lobbied for at the Main Conference and also look at how all 250 participants can work towards achieving that goal.

The Youth Forum hopes to cater to 250 youth from the Asia and Pacific region. It is a one-day event comprising of 6 sessions and 3 workshops conducted 9 resource persons proficient in the respective topics. Registration for these sessions will commence online from June 2007 and will be on a first come first serve basis as there will be 2 of 3 concurrent sessions, and 3 concurrent workshops.

The Youth Forum will commence with registration and light refreshments. At the registration all participants would be given a kit bag which will include, apart from the basic stationary, all handouts of the sessions and workshops. They will then attend the opening ceremony where all 250 youth delegates would be officially welcomed to the Youth Forum.

Participants will proceed to 3 concurrent sessions each approximately 2 hours in duration. Following a half hour break would be 3 concurrent workshops for the duration of one hour and lunch would follow. After lunch the final 3 concurrent sessions will take place and after tea, plenary and orientation to the main conference will take place for all 250 youth. The evening would come to an end with some exciting youthful entertainment. Below is the Agenda:

0800 - 0900 Registration & Light refreshments

0900 - 0930 Opening

0930 - 1130 3 concurrent sessions

1200 - 1300 3 concurrent workshops

1300 - 1400 Lunch

1400 - 1530 3 concurrent sessions

1530 - 1600 Tea

1600 - 1730 Plenary & Orientation to the main conference

1730 - 1930 Entertainment for youth

The topics that were selected for the 6 sessions and 3 workshops are as follows with a brief description of each



Sessions

1. LGBTI Youth and HIV
LGBTI youth and their fight against HIV/AIDS. Stigma & discrimination faced by LGBTI youth and how to overcome it. Advocacy including understanding of legal issues re: surrounding MSMs (homosexuality being either illegal or heavily taboo in much of SE Asia). Success stories of LGBTI youth.

2. Sex work Youth and HIV
Access to information, education and services for sex workers, their rights and policies. Sex-trade related human trafficking; laws re: commercial sex work + cultural stigma. Success stories related to sex workers.

3. Gender: Young women and their fight against HIV/AIDS
Reproductive health issues (access to information, education and services), socio economic and cultural barriers. Violence against women in conflict situations (war, domestic, other) ; Young women’s higher vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Success stories relating to reducing the risk faced by women.

4. Policy and how to advocate for change
Regional policy, policies of marginalized communities, access to reproductive health information. What works in your area? And can it work in mine? What has changed for young people affected by HIV? What can we do as young people? Lobbying for the implementation of international laws/covenants in domestic laws.

5. Stigma and discrimination
Stigma and discrimination against youth seeking information and services, changing attitudes towards marginalized and underprivileged communities, stigma and discrimination related to AIDS and to people who work with positive people, socio economic and cultural barriers. Discrimination against young people who are sexually active.

6. HIV 101
Technical knowledge on HIV (window period, PCT, HIV transmission, prevention, rapid testing, stages of the virus, difference between HIV/AIDS etc)




Work shops

1. Networking and the use of ICT in the fight against HIV/AIDS
Expanding use of new technologies among activists, NGO’s, civil society and stakeholders.

2. Effective Peer education
Innovative ways for peer education, How to approach vulnerable communities, Success stories.

3.Lobbying and networking within the conference and beyond
How to lobby within the conference, how to advocate to decision makers and speak to media on issues relevant to young people, how to deliver advocacy messages at the conference and beyond through the use of effective media etc.

All topics were selected in consultation with local as well as regional youth and advisors. We also took into consideration the feedback from the Toronto and Kobe Conferences. We feel that these topics are very comprehensive and cater to a wide audience of youth, interested in different aspects of HIV/AIDS. Each youth delegate would attend 2 sessions and 1 workshop of their choice and conclude with an orientation on how to successfully navigate through the main conference for maximum benefit.

Applications for Resource Persons will open by the end of January 2007. All prospective Resource Persons should ideally be from the Region and preference will be given to young people within the ages of 16 to 30. The Youth Sub-Committee in consultation with the Local Organizing Committee (LOC) will select the most appropriate candidates.

It is the hope of the 8th ICAAP Youth Sub Committee that through Information, Advocacy and Relationship-building, these 250 youth delegates from the Asia and Pacific Region would be effective advocates for youth not only at the main conference but also in their home countries and internationally for an end to HIV and AIDS.

For more Information please feel free to contact me on youth@icaap8.lk