Youth should be and are actively involved in HIV and AIDS work, and this message was carried to Mexico City by young adults from several faith and cultural backgrounds.
Youth delegations attended the Ecumenical Pre-Conference in advance of the XVII International AIDS Conference, including Lutheran, Presbyterian and YWCA groups. Members of all three groups participated in a workshop that focused on engaging youth in HIV and AIDS work.
The topic of youth engagement is a complex one. "In El Salvador a youth activist is 15 [years old]; in North America it's 25," said Rev. Brian Rude, a Lutheran missionary from Canada speaking as a workshop participant. Other risks are universally present from an early age.
Michelle Verwey, a Presbyterian young adult from Canada, said that youth need to have a better invitation from their church to participate. She added that youth may not be aware of their church's programming or partnerships in HIV and AIDS work, and might get lost when navigating church language in HIV and AIDS related documents.
Yet Verwey said that youth living within a faith community with an interest in HIV and AIDS activism are likely to participate in programs run by faith-based organizations, if given the chance.
Verwey said that churches can add something to the HIV and AIDS prevention message that secular program can't exactly replicate, including "…the underlying message that you're of value, that your body is temple."
– courtesy of Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, which sponsored the Ecumenical Pre-Conference ahead of the IAC in Mexico City in August.
