Greater HIV awareness amongst youth needed

Despite efforts to raise the level of HIV/AIDS awareness in Kazakhstan, young people remain inhibited about speaking openly about the issue and how it may impact their lives. "Most people don't know a great deal about AIDS," Lucy Soliyanova, sipping tea with two friends at a café in the commercial capital, Almaty, told IRIN. While some information had been introduced within the country's schools and universities to raise awareness levels amongst young people, she believed that much more was needed to put that awareness into everyday practice. "They should give us more," the 20-year-old university student asserted. Lucy's friends agreed. "I would like to know how this will affect my health and how I can minimise my risks," 22-year-old Veronica Cherekova told IRIN. Yet open discussion about a pandemic that has claimed millions of lives worldwide remains largely taboo in Central Asia's largest nation. "This is a difficult subject to openly discuss in Kazakhstan," 22-year-old Biba Shakova told IRIN, citing traditional conservative values found throughout the country of 15 million. "Our parents teach us not to have sexual relations so we don't know how to speak openly about it." But with an increasing number of young people actually engaging in premarital sex, that reality needs to change. "Forty-four percent of young people have sexual relations before marriage, with 17 percent of them having more than 10 sexual partners during a one year period," Kazbek Tulebaev, deputy director general of the Kazakh National Centre for Problems of Healthy Lifestyle Development, told IRIN, in Almaty. "We need to change the behaviour of young people. We need a systematic approach in doing that," he added, with some concern. Dr Issidora Yerassilova, general director of Kazakhstan's Republican AIDS Centre in Almaty agreed with Tulebaev. She told IRIN that although the country enjoys a low prevalence of the condition, the risk of its spread remains real. Officially some 4,600 HIV/AIDS cases have been registered in the former Soviet republic, the vast majority through intravenous drug use. However, experts believe the true number to be closer to 20,000 and with a gradual shift towards sexual transmission, many are worried. "In some regions of the country, sexual transmission accounts for 35 percent of all cases," Yerassilova explained, noting that while their programmes were funded, the money was insufficient to deal with the problem. The funding issue, coupled with a shift towards sexual transmission, makes the problem of awareness amongst young people particularly important. As part of the government's efforts, since 1998 between the fifth and 11th grades, students receive education on reproductive health and HIV. But financial resources remain limited in a country that spends just 2.6 percent of its GDP on healthcare. Venera Baisugurova, department chief for preventive programmes at the Kazakh National Centre for Problems of Healthy Lifestyle Development, told IRIN that the level of awareness varies in different parts of the country. Between 50 and 80 percent of young people aged 11 to 18 have a strong knowledge of HIV but continue to take risks in their sexual behaviour. "They lack the necessary skills to use the knowledge they have," she explained, noting that of the 44 percent who engaged in premarital sex, 29 percent regularly used condoms. "The others don't use or use infrequently," she said. "They know the risks but in their practical life fail to use this knowledge." Meanwhile, Tulebaev accentuated the lack of advice and information available to raise awareness amongst the country's youth. One possibility proposed would be the establishment of a peer counselling unit manned by young people. The idea is supported by the Kazakh Ministry of Health but no funding has been made available for such a service. "There is no real peer counselling available," he maintained, noting the country lacked a specific office to deal with the problem. "We don't have separate organisations in Kazakhstan that work strictly with young people," he said, adding that although medical health care offices might deal with the issues, young people are reluctant to go. "They might be afraid to go there," he said, citing the issue of confidentiality. "Sometimes there is also a cost." "The establishment of a counselling centre for young people may not be considered a first priority due to financing, but in general, the problem of HIV prevention is a primary one," said Tulebaev, appealing to the UN for assistance.