AEGiS-14IAC: South African youth culture and youth participation in HIV prevention.

14th International AIDS Conference

Barcelona, Spain - July 7-12, 2002

South African youth culture and youth participation in HIV prevention.

Int Conf AIDS 2002 Jul 7-12; 14:(abstract no. LbPp2204)

Smith A, Mitchell C
University, Johannesburg, South Africa

ISSUES: Youth worldwide are one of the most vulnerable populations for risk of infection of HIV. Young women are particularly at risk. Too often, however, prevention programs tend to be ?about? young people or are ?for? young people but are not developed with young people themselves. Moreover, such programs often ignore the significance of youth culture.

DESCRIPTION: In this in-depth project (funded by the Canadian Society for International Health) involving 20 young people (males and females) from several township schools in the Cape Town region, the focus was on youth and youth culture. What messages do they think people their age need to see? What media are most effective? How might they themselves participate in creating those messages? How does gender play into youth culture? These young people encountered hip-hop artists, graffiti artists, a television producer, young adult writers, filmmakers and photographers through participating a series of workshops over a period of several months. At the same time as they were meeting up with these artists they were also producing their own creative projects (graphic novels, photographs, rap poetry, fiction and so on). At the end of the project, young people evaluated their own ?new knowledge? and potential for behaviour for change.

ISSUES: The creative process cannot be ignored in developing prevention programs. Youth culture artists (hip hop, graffiti and so on) have a powerful role to play in AIDS prevention. Constructions of masculinity and femininity can be addressed through youth culture.

RECOMMENDATIONS: There is a need for more youth-focused programs. Health care workers and educators need to look beyond conventional forms of message transmission. As much as possible the media forms needs to be authentic.

Keywords: AEGIS, Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, HIV Infections, Interpersonal Relations, Adolescent Behavior, Adolescent Health Services, HIV Seropositivity, Adolescent Psychology, Television, North America, Canada, Adolescent, Human, Female, Male, Adult, prevention & control

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LbPp2204