SOUTH AFRICA: Youth HIV/AIDS programme to benefit from US $44 milion AIDS pact
JOHANNESBURG, 23 July 2001 (PlusNews) - South African Deputy President Jacob Zuma announced on Thursday that his government is set to sign a US $44 million agreement on AIDS prevention programmes with the American Kaiser Family Foundation, SAPA reported. This would mean a public-private partnership in support of the LoveLife HIV/AIDS programmes for the youth. Speaking at the launch of a LoveLife youth centre in Mandeni, KwaZulu-Natal, Zuma said the partnership was a “considerable undertaking” that would see the government investing US $3 million a year over the next three years. The foundation would provide an investment of US $12 million a year over the same period. A memorandum of intention was signed on Wednesday night by the foundation and the health ministry, and would be followed in three months by a formal agreement. Using pamphlets, newspaper advertisements, billboards, television and radio dramas and sporting events, LoveLife represents South Africa’s most hard-hitting campaign aimed at changing sexual behaviour among 15 to 20 year olds. It seeks to engage young people in frank discussions about sexuality to promote sexual responsibility. In one pamphlet entitled loveFacts, loveLife talks about how to have that “tingly, warm, lekker (good) feeling” in a healthy way, discussing everything from Tantric Sex and the “power of your love juices” to masturbation. “We have to be radically different from what (programmes) we have had in the past. There’s no place for half measures. We have to go all out,” loveLife Chief Executive David Harrison told Reuters earlier this month. “We are emphasising informed choice, shared responsbility and a positive healthy approach to sexuality,” he was quoted as saying. The organisation’s aim is to halve the number of HIV infections among South African youth within the next five years. For more details see: http://www.lovelife.org.za/llwebsite/
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