GENEVA, 09 February 2022 / PRN Africa / — Adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa continue to be disproportionately affected by the AIDS epidemic. Every week, approximately 4200 adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa acquire HIV. In 2020, five in six adolescents aged between 15 and 19 years newly acquiring HIV in the region were girls. And an estimated 23 300 adolescent girls and young women died from AIDS-related illnesses, making it in 2020 the second leading cause of death of adolescent girls and young women after maternal mortality. The figures represent lives disrupted and lost as AIDS remains a public health threat to survival, well-being, human rights and fundamental freedoms.
The Education Plus initiative, launched in 2021 and co-led by UNAIDS, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF and UN Women is a timely response in the face of the COVID-19 crisis that has aggravated the risk of HIV infection, with high incidences of teenage pregnancy, sexual and gender-based violence and early marriage. Through the initiative, countries work to guarantee free and universal access to quality secondary education, while providing a Plus package to protect health rights and deliver on gender equality and the empowerment of girls and young women in Africa.
As a high-level political advocacy drive, the Education Plus initiative rallies for accelerated action and investments to prevent HIV, centred on the empowerment of adolescent girls and young women and the achievement of gender equality in sub-Saharan Africa—with secondary education as the strategic entry point.
Ahead of the European Union/African Union summit, the Education Plus initiative will hold a virtual event on 15 February 2022, featuring speakers from the African Union, the European Union, African champion countries — Benin and Sierra Leone , cosponsoring governments of Finland, France, Portugal and Spain, the Global Network of Young People Living with HIV and the United Nations co-lead agencies. During the European Union/African Union week, from 14 to 18 February 2022, stakeholders from Africa and Europe will come together to strengthen partnerships between the two continents through a series of policy events and cultural performances on the margins of the sixth European Union/African Union summit, taking place in Brussels, Belgium.
The Education Plus pre-summit event will assess the progress made so far and new opportunities to advance universal secondary education as a critical gamechanger for adolescent girls and young women in sub-Saharan Africa. It will result in key recommendations for consideration by heads of state and country leaders during the European Union/African Union summit.
SOURCE United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)