In a World AIDS Day message, the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland has said that health services must become more youth oriented if the spread of AIDS among young people is to be slowed. Half of all new infections are now in young people aged between 15 and 24 years old. These statistics are a chilling reminder that we are failing our young. We in the health sector must take our share of the responsibility. Health services must become more youth friendly with staff who can talk to young people about issues that affect their lives.
Young people can help themselves.
Streamlining health services to cater for youth is very important. Unfriendly staff, excessive paper work or the perceived lack of confidentiality can all deter young people from using health services. When a young person contracts a sexually transmitted disease, including HIV, they may take a long time to come to terms with it because of the association with sex. It may take weeks, months or in the case of HIV years for them to seek medical treatment. An unfriendly health facility which further stigmatises youth will only make matters worse.