The battle against HIV/AIDS and its devastating impact is the area of increasing concern to the UNESCO as a whole. UNESCO's focus on preventive education represents an important niche in the worldwide campaign to arrest and reverse this scourge.

HIV/AIDS is a social issue. It involves every human being. But young people and especially young girls are among the most affected by the HIV/AIDS pandemic.

From the beginning of the pandemic some powerful metaphors were built around the HIV/AIDS. These metaphors produced and spread by the mass media strength the stigmatization and discrimination. Moreover, they make some people have inexact ideas about the disease and deny that they are able to be infected by the virus or affected by the AIDS.

Good communication on HIV/AIDS can allow young people to revise the metaphors and stigmas and to develop new projects in order to prevent the virus. Therefore, awareness-raising campaigns supported by non-formal education and access to information sources are crucial for reducing the prevalence of HIV/AIDS among youth.

UNESCO has undertaken a number of activities with the aim to increase awareness of HIV/AIDS prevention among young people based on the new possibilities offered by ICT, such as online information, media campaigns and youth information centres. It continues to promote access to comprehensive and reliable youth-friendly information in quest of behavioural changes with the special emphasis on disadvantaged young people.

23-12-2010 (Paris) 

UNESCO launches first computer game for young people on HIV and AIDS

26-11-2010 (Paris) 

Positive Life: New DVD series on HIV and AIDS

02-11-2010 (Windhoek) 

Idasa-GAP and UNESCO assess HIV and AIDS coverage in journalism education

31-08-2010 (Cape Town) 

Educating journalists as architects of democracy

12-07-2010 (Brasilia) 

Comics inform young people about AIDS, pregnancy and homosexuality

09-07-2010 (Tashkent) 

Training on HIV issues for e-media in Uzbekistan

20-04-2010 (Almaty) 

Communicating on HIV: UNESCO workshop in Almaty

30-09-2009 (Kuala Lumpur) 

Getting the Story and Telling it Right: UNESCO publishes handbook on HIV and AIDS

04-08-2009 (Nairobi) 

East African young TV producers join the Global Network

17-07-2009 (Paris) 

Interactive multimedia tools for youth to help combat HIV and AIDS

17-03-2009 (Phnom Penh) 

‘Love and Relationships’: Film festival in Cambodia addresses HIV prevention

06-08-2008 (Paris) 

UNESCO workshop for media on culture, gender and human rights at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico

16-06-2008 (Dushanbe) 

Training journalists to report on HIV and AIDS

Boyan Radoykov

Chief of Section