#02. May - June 2014

This is a bimonthly publica!on of the

Youth Aware Project, an ini!a!ve of

the United Na!ons Children’s Fund

(UNICEF) in partneship with the

Ministry of Health, Ceará State

Government, Municipality of

Fortaleza, GAPA-CE and the Na!onal

Network of People living with

HIV/Aids in the State of Ceará

(RNP+CE), and other partners

Year 1, issue #2

General Coordina!on of the

Project: Cris!na AlbuquerqueChief of Child Survival, Development and

HIV/Aids at UNICEF Brazil.

Local Coordina!on of the Project:

Francisca Maria AndradeProgramme Specialist at UNICEF for the

states of Ceará, Rio Grande do Norte and

Piauí.

Publisher: Alexandre AmorimCommunica!on Specialist at UNICEF Brazil

– Professional Registra!on: MTB 4753/RJ

Editor:

Marcel Bane T. dos ReisJournalist – Professional Registra!on: MTB

4714/BA

Design:

Alessandra Guerra

For more informa!on:

Marcel Bane dos Reis – UNICEF

Like our fan page on Facebook and get to know more

about the Youth Aware Project, our partners and ac!vi!es:

FiqueSabendoJovem#

newsletter

Second issue ofthe newsle$ er of the Youth

Aware Project (Projeto FiqueSabendo Jovem), which aims to promotehealth and informa!on on preven!on

against STD as well as increasing the numberof tests for HIV, syphilis and viral hepa!!s

among young people aged 15-24, inFortaleza - Ceará, Brazil. Hip and cool,

the project speaks their language.

Get on this bus with us!

Enjoy your reading!

Youth Aware: The bus is on the streets!

Informa!on about sexual and reproduc!ve health and lots of interac!on among young people

were the main features during the first two tours of the Youth Aware Project’s Bus, in Fortaleza

- Brazil. On May 5th and June 06th, young people that usually hang around mee!ng places for

the LGBT community of the city joined the very first two ac!vi!es of the project’s mobile unit.

Quite a premiére!

The bus, which offers free and rapid tests for HIV/Aids, syphilis and viral hepa!!s, will be

driving around several other places in town, announcing the ac!ons of the project. The

inten!on is reach young people like Felipe de Souza, 22, who had never taken the test before

and was quite surprised to see such a colorful

and modern tes!ng bus parked at a Beach

Cabana in Praia do Futuro. “The bus should drive

around every doorstep, at gay bars and night

clubs. One takes the test to take care of himself,

but it could also help preven!ng the spread of

diseases to other people”, he claims.

The main innova!on of the project is its

approach, based on the empowerment and

voluntary work of its young agents. The whole

mobiliza!on is carried out from one young

person to another, which makes the dialogue a

lot easier. “The project gives people the

opportunity to access rapid tests, which are free

of charge from the very first moment of the

approach on the streets un!l the pre and post-

test counseling inside the bus”, says Suliane

Fernandes, 20, one of the volunteers of the

project and also a member of the Support Group

for the Preven!on of Aids (GAPA-CE), ins!tu!on

which is a partner of the Youth Aware. It is a pilot

project implemented by UNICEF Brazil, in

Fortaleza, with the support of important

partners. Get to know who they are by liking our

Fan Page on Facebook: @FiqueSabendoJovem.

UNICEF promotes the exchange

of ini!a!ves between Brazil,

Jamaica and Belize for the

preven!on against HIV among

adolescents and the youth

With the objec!ve of promo!ng the dissemina!on of good prac!ces and ini!a!ves that foster the

availability of public services of preven!on and diagnosis of HIV/Aids, syphilis and viral hepa!!s among

young people, UNICEF’s South-south coopera!on unit allowed for a true exchange of experiences last

June, in Fortaleza. Around 150 people par!cipated in the ac!vi!es, among whom were members of

governments, UNICEF staff, representa!ves of social movements and of civil society from Brazil,

Jamaica and Belize, as well as guests and partners of the Youth Aware project.

The agenda included the Interna!onal Seminar Brazil/Jamaica/Belize of Preven!on against HIV/Aids

among adolescents, which provided the exchange of experience and strategies to overcome challenges

in this field. During the event, Jamaica presented the Bashy Bus, a project which similar to Brazil’s Youth

Aware, which drives along the streets of the country offering rapid tests and informa!on.

Along with the seminar, the agenda of the mission included a visit to two centers that hosts

adolescents under social and educa!onal measures: Educa!onal Center Aldaci Barbosa Mota, the only

one to take girls, and Passaré Social and Educa!onal Center for boys. At the la$ er, the delega!on had

the chance to see the Youth Aware bus which carried out rapid tests for HIV/Aids, syphilis and viral

hepa!!s with interns of the center.

The city of Eusebio, 25 km away from Fortaleza, also welcomed the delega!on. During the visit, the

mission got to know the experience of project Adolescent Health Agent (ASA), also supported by

UNICEF, which acts by bringing schools closer to health care centers, and vice versa, through the ac!on

of young volunteers trained to work on themes related to health promo!on and preven!on against

STD and to build a bridge between schools and health facili!es.

Novia Condell, Programme Specialist for UNICEF Jamaica's Adolescent Health and Empowerment

Programme, considers Brazil to be “an older and more experienced” country and believes that the

whole experience was helpful and generated knowledge for the Jamaican team. “Our expecta!ons

were met and we are returning home with a lot of useful informa!on to help us secure wider access to

reproduc!ve health by our adolescents”, she pointed out.

It’s the Youth Aware Project hand in hand with other expericences around the world, in a common

effort to fight the HIV epidemia among young popula!ons and ensure that adolescents and the youth

have their sexual and reproduc!ve rights respected. Come aboard!

Now it is the Law!

Brazil celebrates an important step in the struggle

to erradicate the s!gma and prejudice: President

Dilma Roussef passed, last June 6th, the law

12.984/14, which makes discrimina!on against

people living with HIV/Aids a crime. The law

establishes punishment with imprisonment from

one to four years and a fine for a) tudes such as

denying a job, segrega!ng at workplaces and in

schools, and spreading the condi!on of a person

living with HIV with the inten!on to offend as

well as refusing to have them properly welcomed

at health services.

In order to file a complaint, the person who has

been discriminated against should go to a police

sta!on, report the incident and present proof that

the discrimina!on took place.

Before passing, the bill was voted at the Senate

and the House of Representa!ves. According to

the rapporteur of the law, senator Aloysio Nunes,

people living with HIV are welcome to work at the

Senate. Nunes has received recomenda!on by the

Interna!onal Labor Organiza!on (ILO) sta!ng that

there mustn’t be any discrimina!on or

s!gma!za!on against workers because of the

disease and that, if fired, dismissal should be

based on the same criteria applied to the rest of

the workforce. A*er ensuring protec!on to

workers, the next step is to mobilize the

community to take the rapid test for HIV, given

the importance of the early diagnosis and, for

cases found reagent, to start and s!ck to the

treatment. That is the goal of the Youth Aware!

It’s a crime to discriminate against

people living with HIV.

The Youth Aware Project started in Fortaleza, Ceará -Brazil in 2013. Its goal is to increase the number of rapid

tests taken for HIV/Aids, syphilis and viral hepatitisamong young populations aged 15 to 24 years old. It also

aims to estimulate the adherence and retention totreatment for cases diagnosed reagent for HIV.