Educating the Youth Population on HIV Prevention

The HIV/AIDS epidemic has had its most profound impact to date in sub-Saharan Africa. The majority of people living with HIV/AIDS (68%), new HIV infections (69%), and AIDS related deaths (76%) are in this region, which only accounts for 11% of the world?s population. HIV is the leading cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. Women comprise the majority of those living with HIV/AIDS in the region, and young people are at particular risk. The impact on young people is exacerbated by the fact that the population of sub-Saharan Africa is quite young relative to other regions in the world, with 43% of the population below the age of 15. Most children living with HIV/AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa.

Our goal at Emofra Africa is to educate the youth population on HIV prevention. Emofra Africa will hold monthly workshops in various regions to educate young children about the AIDS/HIV. We will also work with the school systems to establish awareness campaigns that will reach a wide and diverse audience.

Emofra Africa is also engaged in working with health care professionals to lowering the risk of HIV contamination from mother to child. Mother-to-child transmission (MTCT) is when an HIV positive woman passes the virus to her baby. This can occur during pregnancy, labor and delivery, or breastfeeding. Without treatment, around 15-30% of babies born to HIV positive women will become infected with HIV during pregnancy and delivery. A further 5-20% will become infected through breastfeeding. In the United States the incidents of MTCT has been dramatically reduced due to advanced training and medication.

Emofra Africa partners with organizations to provide free HIV/AIDS medication to children to help ensure a longer life span. Many families in Africa do not have access to the money to attain these very expensive drugs and it is our believe that all children must have access to medication that can save their life.

Please contact Emofra if you would like to assist with our HIV/AIDS programs.