Young people living with HIV

GNP+ has recently finalised and published two documents which aim to enhance the greater and more meaningful involvement of young people living with HIV within the HIV response. Supported by funding from the HIV Young Leaders Fund, GNP+ conducted research among 350 young people living with HIV, and among over 175 youth led organisations and networks living with HIV, to identify the key barriers faced by YPLHIV to engaging more meaningfully in the HIV response. The findings from this research led to the development of these two tools:

• the GIYPA Roadmap: Supporting Young People Living with HIV to be Meaningfully Involved in the HIV Response
• and GIYPA Guidebook: Supporting Organisations and Networks to Scale Up the Meaningful Involvement of Young People Living with HIV.

You can download the tools here.

Young people living with HIV are finding it hard to find employment, even though they have the necessary competence and skills. The practice of mandatory HIV testing remains common. Job applicants are often denied employment if they are found to be HIV- positive.

“It’s already hard to find a decent job and if you’re a young person living with HIV, it becomes twice as hard,” says Yahir Zavaleta, 27, from Mexico City, Mexico. Yahir shares his own experience of being denied a major career opportunity because of his HIV status. “I had successfully completed my apprenticeship with the company and I was about to be hired when I was told that I was not ‘medically suitable’ for the job.”

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GNP+, in partnership with UNESCO, have published, Positive Learning: Meeting the needs of young people living with HIV (YPLHIV) in the education sector. 

This document outlines roles and responsibilities for the education sector in supporting young people living with HIV to realize their personal, social and educational potential. It provides practical recommendations for all those involved in the education sector, and further suggested actions for those in the health sector and for civil society. It is a tool for networks of people living with HIV and specifically young people living with HIV to advocate for more appropriate, conducive and supportive education systems. GNP+ and UNESCO adopted the framework of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention for the publication to place the needs and well-being of the young person living with HIV at the centre of the discussion.

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GNP+, in partnership with the World AIDS Campaign (WAC), recently held two consultations with YPLHIV from around the world. The first, an e-consultation, helped to shape the agenda and the content for a face to face consultation in June, in Amsterdam. During this second meeting, participants further explored issues that came from the e-consultation and were asked to elect a YPLHIV Advisory Group to support the programme with GNP+.

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Participants in a four-day international meeting on addressing the service needs of adolescents living with HIV acknowledged the progress that had been made over recent years. However there was a consensus that while much had been done, so much more effort was needed not only to identify the specific needs of this group, but also to tailor appropriate responses accordingly, considering not only clinical services but considering the needs of adolescents living with HIV through the lens of Positive Health, Dignity and Prevention.

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