About the Campaign

Support and promote responses that address the continued vulnerability of girls to HIV and AIDS

Significant numbers of young people continue to be infected with HIV each year, and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, remain vulnerable. Urgent attention is needed to address the greater HIV risks to girls of multiple concurrent partnerships, intergenerational sex, transactional sex and gender-based violence. Nearly 50% of all sexual assaults are committed against girls 15 years or younger. As more working age women are living with HIV, struggling to provide for their families and often in need of care themselves, caregiving duties shift increasingly to older women and younger girls. In addition, AIDS frequently forces girls and young women to withdraw from school to fulfill caregiving duties and to help compensate for lost family income, heightening their risks of sexual exploitation and HIV infection.

What is Unicef doing:

UNICEF focuses on primary prevention responses such as national school-and community-based life skills interventions, peer education, adolescent-friendly services, counselling and testing, and mass media and interpersonal communication interventions. Moreover, teaching adolescents and young people risk reduction skills - to make informed decisions, solve problems, think critically, cope with emotions and stress, and negotiate - can endow them with the ability to manage challenging situations, to adopt healthy behaviors, and the power to act on their own decisions.