More than 3000 youths, families, friends and members of the general public showed up for a fun filled day of activities and awareness raising for the World Youth AIDS Day event held on 8 December 2013 in Kandawgyi Nature Park in central Yangon.Proudly displaying red ribbons painted onto their faces, the participants engaged in various activities ranging from exhibits, games, role playing, singing, dancing, drawing, painting, fundraising as well as consulting a fortune teller, all designed to help highlight, inform and reducing the stigma related to HIV/AIDS under the banner “Red Ribbon Hours”. 

Proudly displaying red ribbons painted onto their faces, the participants engaged in various activities ranging from exhibits, games, role playing, singing, dancing, drawing, painting, fundraising as well as consulting a fortune teller, all designed to help highlight, inform and reducing the stigma related to HIV/AIDS under the banner “Red Ribbon Hours”. 

“The purpose of today’s event is to disseminate correct information on HIV/AIDS at the community level, especially amongst the youth, by using non-traditional ways to attract interest. We also wanted to use the occasion to build management capacity for our youth volunteers and teach them how to convey the HIV/AIDS message to other youths within their communities,” said Dr Ne Win, UNFPA’s Assistant Representative and expert on Adolescent, Youth and Reproductive Health. 

The day culminated with several youth dance performances to the tunes of a specially created song for the occasion dubbed “HIV Free Generation” with the catchy lyrics saying “Let’s all join hands and make our generation HIV free”. Famous Myanmar vocalist Ma Khaing Su Thar also performed long into the wee hours of the night. 

“I want to do my part in reaching out to the young people living in my community by informing them of HIV/AIDS preventative measures, as well as help reduce the stigma attached,” said 20 year-old Thein, a youth peer educator and volunteer, who recently finished her leadership training at the UNFPA supported Youth Development Programme (YDP). 

She also stated that she wanted to “help Myanmar youths that are in trouble and don’t know about HIV/AIDS.” Thein is currently studying to become a doctor. 

The motto of the World Youth AIDS Day is Getting to Zero, which means ensuring zero new HIV infections, AIDS related deaths and zero stigma discrimination. The World Youth AIDS Day event collected nearly 1 million kyat (USD$978.000,00) which will be donated to persons affected with HIV/AIDS. 

On a global scale 35.3 million people are living with HIV. In Myanmar the number of persons living with HIV is estimated to be approximately 215,000. Out of the 215,000 infected 53,709 has access to antiretroviral therapy drugs (ART) or 43%. The target for 2013 is to increase the number to 60.618 or 48.5%. 

The World Youth AIDS Day event was organised jointly by UNFPA and the Youth Development Programme (YDP).