Education is key to stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS in Peru
Christian Mejia and Jane O'Brien, UNICEF
© UNICEF/ HQ95-0726/Balaguer
In Peru, a woman from the Ashaninka indigenous group holds her infant daughter.
CUSCO, Peru (Updated July 6, 2008) — The vast majority of people infected with HIV/AIDS in Peru and throughout Latin America and the Caribbean region are young adults—most of whom have no idea they are carrying the virus. The most common route of transmission is through sexual contact, but taboos surrounding the subject have hindered attempts to raise awareness.
"In [Peru] it is still very hard to talk about sexually transmitted diseases and HIV because this subject is still taboo or because adolescents have the wrong information," says Carla Aragón Vallenas, a nurse in the Andean town of Cusco.
© UNICEF/HQ95-0728/Balaguer
In Peru, a woman from the Ashaninka indigenous group carries her baby in a sling.
Seventy percent of the population in Peru is under 25. Educating young people and children is crucial to fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS. An increasing number of cases of AIDS are being reported in this age group.
UNICEF has started HIV/AIDS education workshops for students in Cusco in partnership with CERETS—a referral center for sexually transmitted diseases and AIDS. The center is run by the Antonio Lorena Hospital and is the first of its kind in Cusco.
"From the preventative work we have been doing we can see that the HIV problem is still taboo. And now we plan to attack this problem through the educational centers in a project together with UNICEF," says Alipio León Torres, a psychologist with CERETS.
Free diagnosis and treatment
© UNICEF/HQ02-0645/Balaguer
In Peru, a smiling schoolgirl stands next to an anatomy model showing organs in a human torso. She is holding a mannequin of a sleeping baby during a class in the UNICEF-supported primary school in the town of Nueva Unión in the Amazon.
The center also organizes peer counseling among sex workers. Sonia is a sex worker who also talks to other women about the risks. "Sometimes I talk alone, sometimes accompanied by another health promoter who is also a sex worker," she says. "We take some pamphlets and give them some kind of information. Many of these girls don't know that HIV/AIDS is a sexually transmitted disease."
Sex workers are particularly vulnerable and peer education is often the best way of reaching them.
There are 86 known cases of HIV/AIDS in Cusco although the real number is thought to be nearer a thousand. Most people do not seek medical treatment until they have advanced symptoms. The clinic at Antonio Lorena Hospital is open to everyone and offers free diagnosis, anti-retroviral drugs and counseling.
