Teens discuss HIV/AIDS

This evening the Alliance Against Aids and the Women Issues Network of Belize invited high school students and other young people from across the country to share their concerns, opinions and make suggestions about HIV and AIDS. According to one of the coordinators, Martha Carrillo, the disease continues to affect the young population especially women. Carillo says they invited key decision makers and guest artist Tanya Stephens to the event to help raise the awareness and see what they can do together to protect those who are most vulnerable.

Martha Carillo, Coordinator, HIV/AIDS Forum
?We have a group of young representatives from agencies as well as schools, who will posing questions to someone who is living with HIV and also a woman who has experienced domestic abuse. She is also here to share her experience and we also have the Power for Women Organization from Dangriga here with us today. Most importantly, I cannot forget to mention is that we have also invited key decision makers here. Like I told them, they need to take the hot seat and so the young people will also be posing their concerns to them.?

Jacqueline Woods
?How effective are these forums??

Martha Carillo
?Well we know that we have to pair it up something like Tanya Stephens. We know and we accept that if we would just say HIV and Gender-Base violence, it would probably have the young people coming but not with the kind of enthusiasm that we are experiencing here today because Tanya Stephens is here.?

Carillo says gender-based violence continues to be one of the factors fueling the HIV/Aids epidemic among the female population in Belize.