Links between AIDS and mental health highlighted by YONECO research

Malawian youth organisation, YouthNet and Counselling (YONECO), have won a major new award from Oxfam for the best piece of published writing on HIV and AIDS to come out of Africa in the last year

YONECO won the inaugural Susie Smith Memorial Prize, named after the organisation’s former Deputy International Director who died in 2006, as a result of research conducted by the organisation in their effort to understand the link between HIV/AIDS and Mental Health among young people in Malawi.

The young people involved in the research demonstrated awareness of a two-way interaction between HIV/AIDS and mental illness; the latter increasing the incidence of suicide and HIV risk-taking behaviour.

Commenting Oxfam’s, Martin Kalungu-Banda, one of the judges of the award, said:

“ YONECO’s work does not simply demonstrate the link between HIV and young people’s mental health, but also brings to the fore what happens when society does not deal will issues of stigma and the consequent effects of discrimination.

“ Among many other effects, discrimination prevents sections of society such as people living with HIV, sex workers and intravenous drug users, from accessing the services they need and are entitled to, thereby creating conditions in which the pandemic perpetuates itself.

“ The award of this prize not only celebrate excellent work, but is an opportunity to renew our commitment to continuing to address the devastating impact of the HIV pandemic on human lives, especially young people.”

Ends.

Contact: Malcolm Fleming: 0141 285 8854 / 0771 891 8346

Notes:

1. The Susie Smith memorial prize of £3000 is awarded to an already published piece of work on HIV and AIDS from sub-Saharan Africa. Any type of piece – (e.g. poetry, fiction, article, chapter of a book) – of up to 10,000 words, in English, is eligible.
2. YouthNet and Counselling’s award winning entry "Young Malawians on the interaction between mental health and HIV/AIDS" is available from www.oxfam.org.uk/susiesmith
More about the work of YouthNet and Counselling can be found at http://www.yoneco.org.mw/index.htm.
3. Susie Smith, Oxfam’s former Deputy International Director, touched the lives of many people around the world in her 30-year career with Oxfam. In her later years with Oxfam, Susie championed the cause of HIV and AIDS and pioneered new approaches to tackling the pandemic. She died in 2006.

 

 

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