UN Presented With First Ever Crowdsourced AIDS Recommendations

The spread of HIV and AIDS continues to spread amongst young people (aged 15-24 years) with an estimated five million living with HIV as well as 3000 newly infected each day.  Youth leaders from around the world have presented a set of crowdsourced recommendations for AIDS response to UNAIDS, the United Nation's joint program for tackling HIV and AIDS. The strategy is designed to help better prevent and contain the spread of AIDS amongst young people through 2015, and on 24th April 2012 the findings were presented to Michel Sidibé, Executive Director for UNAIDS. 

Recent surveys carried out in low and middle income nations that on 24% of young women and 36% of young men demonstrated accurate knowledge of HIV/AIDS prevention and transmission. These results combined with continued rate of infection amongst the young prompted UNAIDS to launch CrowdOutAIDS, an innovative youth-led policy project. Using crowdsourcing and social media techniques the project gathered voices and views from over 5000 young people in over 79 countries, and produced the first every crowdsourced AIDS related report in UN history.

“I am so impressed by the dedication, energy and enthusiasm that young people have shown through theCrowdOutAIDS initiative. The recommendations they have presented to UNAIDS will help us mobilize a new generation of young leaders and we will work together to stop new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths.” - Michel Sidibé, Executive Director UNAIDS

The project spent five months gathering and collating views and information, culminating in the   Strategy recommendations for collaborating with a new generation of leaders in the AIDS response, and will help UNAIDS Secretariat as part of its New Generation Leadership Strategy. The report presents six key recommendations which include strengthening young people's leadership skills at all levels of AIDS response, diversifying and enhancing strategic networks between UNAIDS and youth networks, and increasing the active roles of young people in AIDS response at regional, national and global levels. 

Image Credits; Julian Rotela Rosow