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DAILY UPDATE
DAY TWO
Tuesday 27 April 2010
LACK OF APPROPRIATE INFORMATION
and
education is putting young people at risk
according to representatives from Youth Rise.
Each made the case for non-judgemental
interventions, tailored for the youth audience.
Most injecting drug users started practising
before the age of 25, yet few HIV prevention pro-
grammes focused on youth, said Chantale Kallas,
from the Lebanon,
pictured above with colleagues
Anita Krug and Lynn Itani
. Local data showed that
72 per cent of IDUs were less than 30 years old
and more than 80 per cent shared needles. Risky
behaviour was linked to inadequate information
and no access to health centres.
Five per cent of all deaths between ages five
and 29 were attributable to alcohol use in a 1990
study, and a significant number of the estimated
13.2m IDUs worldwide were young people. Nearly
half of HIV infections related to young people aged
14 to 24, and 5.4m young people worldwide were
infected with HIV.
Consultation led by UN groups called for a
package of confidential adolescent-friendly
services that respected the rights of children to be
heard and have their views taken into account.
‘We need to help children to build resilience and
be better problem-solvers,’ said Ms Kallas,
advising that any initiatives should be appropriate
to the overall context of their community. This
could be achieved by incorporating peer
education and integrating young people’s services
with other sectors of the community, as well as
making sure health providers were specifically
trained in youth-friendly approaches.
‘It’s important that outreach teams go to places
where young people hang out,’ she said. Talking to
them confidentially in their own environment made it
more likely they would participate in voluntary coun-
selling and testing for HIV and hepatitis B and C.
‘Our Youth Rise experiences have shown we
can customise services, she added. ‘Youth culture
is different from adult culture, so you need to be
flexible. Information must be written for a youth
audience. It is also important to differentiate
between use and abuse – if you get young people
involved you will know the best language to use.’
To demonstrate that initiatives for young people
were a worthwhile investment, she quoted feedback
from a former Youth Rise member: ‘Provide
resources to us and we will do so much with them.’
Youth Rise lead the call for
young people’s involvement
HIGHLIGHTS
Tuesday 27 April
PLENARY SESSION
Martin Acuna
examines the recent
shift towards decriminalisation in
drug-related policies in the
Argentine Republic and Latin
American countries.
Genevieve Harris
explores room
for manoeuvre in the global drug
prohibition regime governed by the
UN-based treaty system.
The innovation and evidence that
back up the Portuguese national
strategy on drugs, presented by
Alex Stevens
.
Steve Rolles
tells delegates what
an evidence-based drug policy
based on public health and harm
reduction might look like.
DIALOGUE SPACE
12.30 – 17.30
Beginning with
Jamie Bridge
and
Elie Aaraj
’s talk show
Dogma
versus stigma
, there will be lively
discussions on a variety of subjects.
FILM FESTIVAL
Showing films from around the
world from 12.30 in the cinema,
auditorium level, and continuing at
17.15 at FACT movie theatre – see
map on the back of the programme.
Lunch break from 12.30 – 14.00