HIV rates are on the rise across Australia. Annual rates of HIV diagnoses have increased by almost 50% over the past five years, and a substantial proportion of these new infections are occurring amongst groups not previously identified as high risk. Australia’s effective HIV infection control mechanisms in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s are now failing, and there exists a clear need for education and prevention efforts to both increase public awareness about this disease, and to halt and prevent the spread of infection in line with the UN Millennium Development Goals.
Youth Empowerment Against HIV/AIDS (Y.E.A.H.) is Australia\'s first not-for-profit health promotion organisation that aims to reduce Australian HIV infection rates through education of ALL young people. Y.E.A.H. provides HIV/AIDS education services to schools, universities, libraries and the general community, with a focus on empowerment through knowledge. Y.E.A.H. plays a critical role in ensuring HIV/AIDS is addressed as part of the public agenda in Australia, and focuses on the relevance of HIV/AIDS issues to the nation’s youth. This paper outlines the history and philosophy of Y.E.A.H., and introduces two of the organisation\'s major projects as examples of innovations in HIV education. The first project is the 2006 national distribution and educational development of the documentary film, \"A Closer Walk\". The second project is Y.E.A.H.\'s upcoming \"Shades for AIDS\" awareness day, to be implemented in high schools nationally in 2007. Through these projects, Y.E.A.H. is able to connect young people with the global proportions of the AIDS epidemic, while also enabling them to acknowledge the Australian context of HIV/AIDS and take action to reduce local rates of infection.
Conflict of Interest: None Disclosed
Recorded in Sweden in June 2009
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