Skyrocketing: HIV and Aids infection rates in much of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, with young people comprising the majority of new cases, the United Nations Children’s Fund warned in a report released on Wednesday. Nearly 80% of newly registered infections from 1997 to 2000 in the Commonwealth of Independent States, the grouping of former Soviet republics, occurred among people under the age of 29. Unicef found that less than 70% of teenagers in Belarus, Ukraine and Latvia knew that condoms offered protection against HIV, while 97% of French teens and 87% of German teens were aware of that.
HIV-positive muppet: Moshe, Zikwe, Zuzu and Neno will be back on television and radio for the second season of Takalani Sesame with a new friend, Kami, a muppet living with HIV. The programme is targeted at the seven out of eight young children who have little or no exposure to formal early childhood development programmes. Speaking at the launch, Minister of Education Kader Asmal said South Africa was the first country in the Sesame Street family to introduce a radio component. Another first concerned the muppet living with HIV. ”For us it is our responsibility as a nation, as a government, and more specifically as partners with the education sector, to respond to the needs of many of our children who are infected and affected by HIV and Aids,” Asmal said.
Sources: Sapa, www.redribbon.com