Across the world, but especially in parts of sub-Saharan Africa, young people are taking action to protect themselves from HIV, says a new study by UNAIDS.
"Young people have shown that they can be change agents in the prevention revolution," the agency said in asupplement to the OUTLOOK Report 2010, released ahead of the International AIDS Conference starting in Vienna, Austria, on 18 July.
HIV prevalence among young people has been going down in 16 of the 25 countries most affected by AIDS, and in at least half of them the declines have gone hand-in-hand with positive changes in sexual behaviour among those aged 15 to 24.
In Malawi, Zambia, Cameroon and Ethiopia, young men and women are waiting longer before becoming sexually active. In seven of the countries surveyed, both sexes had fewer partners in the last 12 months than in previous years, and in 10 countries condom use by young women increased.
Data from antenatal clinics showed that HIV prevalence in pregnant women aged 15 to 24 fell by at least a quarter in 12 countries, with some of the steepest drops in Kenya, Ethiopia, Malawi and Cote d'Ivoire.
In countries where data from repeated population-based HIV surveys was available, significant declines in
red HIV prevalence were seen among men in South Africa and Tanzania, and among women in Botswana, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
