By Our Reporter
Uganda Network of young people living with HIV & AIDS (UNYPA) has unveiled their strategic plan for the next five years. The plan was unveiled during the annual Y Plus Summit which was held at Hotel Africana under the theme, “changing the narrative for young people living with HIV”.
Addressing guests at the summit, Olga Daphne Namukuza, the UNYPA Programs Manager revealed that they are expanding their HIV prevention program to target young people who don’t know their status and also integrating aspects like mental health awareness, gender based violence and malaria response among others in their strategic plan for the next five years.
“National and international trends of HIV are changing and so this is what is guiding us,” she revealed. “We will expand HIV prevention program to target young people who do not know their HIV status through intensified behavioral change messaging to prevent further new infections.”
According to UNAIDS, 1.4 million people in Uganda were living with HIV by the close of 2018. Further more, for every 1,000 new infections, a third are young people between the ages of 15 and 25.
“Young people are struggling with mental health issues and are also are at a big risk for gender based violence. If we therefore don’t address also these issues, we are doing big disservice to the young people.” She added.
As part of the 5-year strategic plan, UNYPA will also strengthen social mobilization, movement building and advocacy for inclusive participation of young people living by HIV in policy, legal and program development to ensure that their unique needs are met.
The strategic plan was developed with consultations from donors, implementing partners, district leaders and youth at district level.
