TIGblogs TIG | TIGblogs GROUP TIGBLOGS LOGIN SIGNUP
Bahamas Blog International
Bahamas Blog International
HIV/AIDS Awareness Message Hits The Streets Of The Bahamas
Related to country: Bahamas

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

HIV/AIDS Awareness In Rawson Square:
By Sasha L. Lightbourne -
Nassau, Bahamas:



With HIV/AIDS on the increase among young persons in The Bahamas, one group felt it necessary to take the message of awareness and prevention to the streets.

Youth Ambassadors for Positive Living (YAPL) took to Rawson Square on Friday to educate and inform young people about the overwhelming epidemic of HIV/AIDS within The Bahamas.

Keith Kemp, chairman of YAPL, told the Bahama Journal that there was a need to take a different approach to awareness and prevention education.

"We are here in Rawson Square because we as a youth organization are moving our information from a classroom type setting or church or youth group in terms of presentation and are looking at bringing information to the streets to the average persons," Mr. Kemp said.

He said that his group has found that many young persons don’t attend youth groups and they don’t attend churches.

"They aren’t going to churches anymore where they can learn this information so what we are doing is a demonstration of many campaigns that we have coming up in bringing the information about prevention, about drugs, about sexuality, about HIV to the streets," Mr. Kemp said.

He said the reason his group chose to use Rawson Square was to come to an area where there are scores of people.

The group gave out care packages that included condoms and informative flyers.

Also on hand in Rawson Square were the Bahamas Family Planning Association, who gave out information about contraceptives, and the Bahamas National Drug Council, who handed out information about drugs.

"Our aim was to turn Rawson Square into an information centre but the first message of prevention is abstinence so we encourage persons who do engage in sexual intercourse to be faithful and if they can’t be faithful to use prevention," Mr. Kemp said.

On hand for the informative display was the U.S. Ambassador to The Bahamas, Ned Siegel, who said it was a privilege to come and spend some of his time with the youth ambassadors.

"Last Thursday I had the opportunity to be with Prime Minister [Hubert] Ingraham and U.S. President [George] Bush and one of the major topics discussed was the president’s emergency relief for AIDS program," Mr. Siegel said.

"The president talked about how important it is to invest in youth and make sure they attain the necessary education and awareness not only on HIV/AIDS but on all subjects that affect their potential."

Mr. Siegel said President Bush commended all youth that are taking the time to participate and make a difference in peoples lives.

"Youth all over the world are changing how people think so to be here is definitely a privilege and an honour because the next generation are the leaders of tomorrow for the Bahamas and we need to protect them and educate them," Mr. Siegel said.

Mr. Kemp said that in the Bahamas young persons ages 15 – 19 are the fastest growing group of persons contracting HIV.

"Within that age group females outnumber males 2:1 and with new HIV infections the ratio is 3:1," he said. "We have also noticed in the country that persons between the age of 15-29, AIDS has become the leading cause of death."

YAPL is a branch of the Commonwealth Youth Programme Caribbean Centre and is a non-profit organization that seeks to deter sexual promiscuity among the nation’s youth and to encourage them to make healthy lifestyle choices.

The group conducts presentations and workshops on HIV and AIDS, decision-making, drug abuse and prevention among other topics.

March 29, 2008

March 29, 2008 | 6:30 PM Comments  0 comments

You must be logged in to add tags.


Dennis Dames's Profile


Latest Posts
Meatless Mondays: Do...
Regional integration...
Call for unity as the...
Slow Down: How Our...
The situation in Honduras

Monthly Archive
December 1969
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
August 2007
September 2007
October 2007
November 2007
December 2007
January 2008
February 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009

Change Language


Tags Archive
america american bahamas bahamians bush caribbean crime cuba development economic enfusion engagement global health ict4d individualeconomy international investment networkbuiding obama organisationalchange people personaldevelopment political president socialentrepreneurship trade war world

Links
A+ Links Int'l
Bahamas Blog
Bahamas Dames
Bahamas Hotels
Bahamas Search
Bahamian WebRing
Blog Directory
Blogadr
BlogExplosion
Cheap Int'l Calling Cards
Crooks Blog
Dating Network
Free Paid Web Directory
LS Blogs
Politics Blogs
Top 100 Women Websites
Top Web Blogs
Vote For Me


695693 views
Important Disclaimer