UNESCO celebrate World AIDS Day with Ghana

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 A message from Ms Audrey Azoulay - Director-General of UNESCO




During the last two years of COVID-19, progress against HIV pandemic has stalled.

According to UNAIDS, 38.4 million people globally were living with HIV in 2012. There were more than half a million AIDS - related deaths and 1.5 million new infections. 

Some 49% of these new infections were among  women and girls. In Sub-Saharan Africa, girls accounted for six in seven new HIV infections among adolescents aged between 15 and 19.

As these statistics underline, stark inequities hamper the fight against HIV: young people are still disproportionately at risk, with young women and girls particularly vulnerable to infections due to limited access to education and health information and services. 

In other words, the international community still  has  wide  gaps  to close  if  we  want  to  realize our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. That is why, on this year’s World AIDS Day, it is our duty to “equalize.”  

Here at UNESCO, we believe that equalizing depends on education – education that is equitable,  inclusive  and  relevant.  This  message  was  underlined  at  the  Transforming  Education  Summit,  which  took  place  during  the  United  Nations  General  Assembly  in  September 2022. 

During this milestone event, leaders from all regions of the world came together to call for  schools  that  accept  every  young  person  so  that  they  feel  welcome,  cared  for  and  protected.  As  the  United  Nations  Secretary-General,  António  Guterres,  shared  in  his  Vision Statement, education systems should include age-appropriate curricula that equip learners with the knowledge and skills to lead healthy lives. 

At UNESCO, we are working towards this goal through initiatives like the “Our Rights, Our Lives, Our Future” programme, which supports countries to prevent school dropouts through quality comprehensive sexuality education. In just four years, this programme has supported more than 30 million learners across 31 sub-Saharan African countries. 

On this year’s World AIDS Day, we are taking this challenge to the world. On this day, we are calling on the international community to “equalize”. Together, we must close the gaps by ensuring all learners, including young people living with HIV, are able to enjoy the right to quality education. 

When we end inequalities, we can end AIDS.    

 

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