Aniqua “Anika” Tasnim Rahman Antora is in her first year of college at Viqurunnissa Noon School and College. Anika believes that the situation related to HIV prevention, sexual and reproductive health and its care among youth differs from country to country. As a Global Youth Partner, she hopes to share and exchange ideas with fellow members from other countries and backgrounds and eventually make a universal approach towards these important issues. She also believes that this is the time for youth to work together to control and prevent HIV.

Sanjoy Kumar Chowdhury is passionate about what he does and believes in doing it to perfection. He says about preventing HIV, “the most fortunate thing I find with the current scenario is, still it’s all in the state of mind. We should be able to prevent it, we just need to try.”

He looks forward to his role as an advocate for young people’s empowerment, especially in HIV prevention and the promotion of sexual and reproductive health. But just like other teenagers, he enjoys doing relaxing things in life such as reading, fishing, listening to music and watching the stars.

Associated with Bangladesh since 1974, the primary objective of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) is to improve the quality of life of both women and men in Bangladesh by reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and infant mortality by providing contraceptives to reduce unwanted pregnancies, and stabilizing population growth in the country. Through its efforts, UNFPA has been helping the Government in its efforts to achieve its demographic objectives of achieving Net Reproductive Rate (NRR) = 1.

UNFPA Bangladesh has been assisting the Government of Bangladesh through its National AIDS and STD Programme (NASP) Office on an HIV/AIDS Prevention Project (HAPP). This particular project addresses primarily the need for urgent and rapid scaling up of targeted interventions, institutionalizing HIV prevention initiatives through mainstreaming HIV/AIDS work into other major national development programmes. Besides this project, prevention of HIV, particularly among youth and adolescents, is integrated into several projects supported by UNFPA. One of such initiative is “Improving Reproductive Health of Adolescent Girls in Bangladesh through Peer Education and Personal Social Education”, with support from United Nations Foundation (UNF). This project aims at improving the reproductive health of rural married adolescent girls in Bangladesh. In this initiative, UNFPA is focusing on educating married adolescent girls on their reproductive rights and health, while sensitizing parents, community leaders and health service providers on the RH needs of adolescent girls. UNICEF is complementing this initiative by supporting unmarried adolescent girls in realizing their potential as agents of social change.

Another example of a youth-targeted HIV prevention project is Advocacy on Reproductive Health and Gender issues through Youth Clubs, executed by the Ministry of Youth and Sports and implemented by the Department of Youth Development. One of the main activities in the project is to train youth leaders and scouts on RH. HIV/AIDS prevention is an integral part of this training. Reproductive Health education for in-school adolescents through peer education and family life education for out-of-school adolescents through non-formal sessions are also two major projects assisted by UNFPA Bangladesh, where HIV/AIDS-related information is provided and awareness development activities are part of these projects.

All the projects are in operation, are part of UNFPA’s sixth country Programme, and were planned in consultation with the Government of Bangladesh, the private sector and local NGOs. The projects are funded by UNFPA and are monitored by both UNFPA and the government. While the projects in the short run will lead to increased awareness of HIV/AIDS among different high risk groups, the long term objective for all above-mentioned projects with regard to HIV/AIDS is to contribute to the prevention of HIV.