POP/782

REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SPECIALIST CHOSEN TO HEAD $57 MILLION FUND FOR HIV/AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN AFRICA

22 November 2000


Press Release
POP/782


REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH SPECIALIST CHOSEN TO HEAD $57 MILLION FUND FOR HIV/AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAMME IN AFRICA

20001122

Audrey Elster, South Africa, Will Manage Gates Foundation Effort; Youth of Botswana, Ghana, Tanzania, Uganda to Be Campaign Targets

NEW YORK, 21 November (UNFPA) –- Ms. Audrey Elster, a reproductive health specialist and former head of South Africa’s Planned Parenthood Association, has been selected to manage the largest-ever privately funded HIV/AIDS programme targeting youth.

Last April, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced that it would fund a $57 million, five-year initiative to expand national campaigns in Botswana, Ghana, Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania that will educate youth about preventing HIV/AIDS and ensure that they can protect themselves against the disease.

The programme, called the African Youth Alliance, is being implemented by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and two United States-based international non-governmental organizations, PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health) and Pathfinder International.

Ms. Elster, who was selected by the three partners from a pool of nearly 140 applicants in a worldwide executive recruitment search, is currently completing a research fellowship at the Center for Population and Development Studies, at the School of Public Health at Harvard University. Before that, she was Chief Executive Officer of the Planned Parenthood Association of South Africa, where she was responsible for restructuring the organization and positioning it as a leader in the field of sexual and reproductive health education, training and service delivery. Ms. Elster is a British national and permanent resident of South Africa. She was educated at the University of Glasgow, National University of Mexico and Harvard University.

Dr. Nafis Sadik, Executive Director of the UNFPA, said Ms. Elster would bring great skill and experience to her new position. Her understanding of Africa, and the tremendous challenges of the HIV/AIDS pandemic there, would be vital in the successful execution of the programme.

In sub-Saharan Africa, where AIDS is ravaging families, communities and national economies, half the population is under age twenty. Half of all new cases of HIV infection are among young people aged fifteen to twenty-four.

- 2 - Press Release POP/782 22 November 2000

Currently, few young people in the countries concerned are being reached with HIV/AIDS-prevention programmes. The four countries in the African Youth Alliance were chosen based on need and on their demonstrated commitment to HIV/AIDS prevention among youth. Field staff of the three participating organizations have developed specific projects at the request of the four governments, and the collaboration will include both public and private organizations. Efforts will vary in each country according to local conditions, but all will include education programmes in both rural and urban areas, peer counselling for young people in and out of school, accessible reproductive health services (provided in youth centres, for example) and job training for disadvantaged youth. A regional support network will facilitate the sharing of national experiences.

For further information, please contact: UNFPA at www.unfpa.org; Abubakar Dungus, tel. 212-297-5031, E-mail: dungus@unfpa.org, or William Ryan, tel. 212- 297-5279, E-mail: ryanw@unfpa.org.

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For information media. Not an official record.