Publications on Young People

This report was commissioned by the Australian National Council on Drugs and summarizes the available literature on the structural determinants of youth drug use.

This action kit is for young people and adults who run youth programmes that are looking at issues of sexual and reproductive health, such as life skills and HIV (Human Immuno-deficiency Virus).

The aim of the manual is to introduce teachers and others who work with young people to a way of teaching drug education and other health issues such as HIV/AIDS, based on the development of links between knowledge values and skills.

Effective and innovative responses to the psychosocial needs of young people and children (including counseling) require investment in addition to VCT services. The United Nation’s Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has a crucial role to play in this area.

The Regional Strategy has an objective of reducing HIV and other sexually transmitted infections among young people aged 10-24, and to increase access to care and support services for those affected by the epidemic by 2003 in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

The summary report gives the key findings and conclusions of the HIV/AIDS Behavioral Surveillance Survey (BSS) conducted between October 1999 and March 2001 in selected areas of Maharashtra.

In badly affected countries, the socioeconomic effect of this most destructive disease is measured in declining per capita incomes, shrinking profits in labour-intensive businesses, loss of productivity from cultivated land, and deteriorating public services such as health, welfare and education, as key staff fall ill and die. AIDS undermines the future, too, as families and communities struggle with the burdens of sick people and orphaned children, building up debts and frequently having to remove children from school because of lack of funds or because the labour of even the littlest is needed to help the family survive.

The impending demands of adulthood make adolescence a time of intensive preparation. Success depends greatly on the health care and basic education provided during these fleeting years. For young women, greater control over sexuality and reproduction may benefit every social and economic aspect of their lives.

This document presents valuable data about HIV/AIDS-related knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors, based on the behavioral surveillance surveys conducted in Indonesia in 1996, 1997 and 1998.