Honduras elected incumbent and alternate members that will represent the youth sector at the Country Coordinating Mechanism (CCM), where all national stakeholders involved in the response to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria participate.

By: Catherine Aurora Calderon


In Honduras, the youth sector has had an uninterrupted representation at the CCM for several years, which was vital and somehow worthy of applause, as in other countries the participation of young people is low or null in such a structure; which is the only entity recognized by the Global Fund in the Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria as the interlocutor for the design and implementation of the proposals that it funds.

Youth participation is vital in the response to HIV and to achieve the 90-90-90 goals, especially if we take into account that in Honduras, 67% of the new infections occur among the young population and within this group, the most affected ones are garífunas, men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender woman and female sex workers (FSW), in addition to teenagers.

Notwithstanding the statistics on the epidemic situation among the young population, the Concept Note recently submitted to the Global Fund did not show comprehensively the challenges and risks faced by Honduran young people, key populations especially, due to lack of evidence and updated studies.

The involvement of the youth sector in the CCM is vital to put actions in the agenda that will ensure a comprehensive care and break the legal barriers that limit the access to the Honduran youth. Juan Ramon Ramirez, representative from UNAIDS said a year ago at the workshop “Making the Global Fund Money Impact on Youth”, that half of the CCM seats are taken by the government from its ministries and institutions (health, education, human rights, youth, finances, among others); the remaining seats are taken by international cooperation (USAID, UNAIDS) and civil society representatives (MSM, trans, sex workers, garífunas, churches and youth, among others). He highlighted then, when young people from all over the country got together to define working areas, he highlighted real possibilities through sector representatives for channeling many demands that the youth has for the Global Fund by means of a Concept Note.

It is worth noting that the organizations Go Joven and The Pact held the above mentioned workshop in February last year, to advocate and try to include in the Concept Note strategic lines that approach the topic of HIV in youth. At the workshop some challenges were identified as well as actions to be implemented. For instance, an urgent topic was gathering and analyzing existing information on youth and HIV developed between 2012 and 2015, in addition to carrying out a study based on the gaps identified in the analysis of the youth current problematic in front of HIV.

Several representatives from organizations of key populations working on HIV, human rights and LGTBI population, agreed to create an advocate action plan for the inclusion of adolescent and young population in the Care Plans of HIV and AIDS in Honduras and to submit two proposals to the CCM, which should be included in the Concept Note: (1) to have a crosscutting approach on the topic “Adolescence and Youth” under the Framework Law of Youth and the Ibero American Convention on Youth Rights and (2) to ensure the easy access of key populations (youth, MSM, FSW and transgender women) to male and female condoms and post-exposure prophylaxis.

Unfortunately, little progress was made in the plan designed and the lack of evidence was one of the main reasons why specific actions for youth were not included in the Concept Note, given that according to the instructions or requirements from the Global Fund, current evidence must be available about the problem to be dealt with or to respond to through the proposed activities.

According to some comments from the young people involved, both in the workshop and in the election of representatives, the Concept Note approved by the Global Fund was not socialized with them, whom had been working on the plan seeking to include some significant actions.

In addition, some of them were absent in the new process to elect the representatives from the sector. This was not well received regarding the decision making of such a vital representation for the country where 50% of the Honduran population is young.

During the elections on January 8, although there was a significant participation of the young garífuna population and representatives of organized groups, important for the response to HIV, young people who work with or represent people with HIV and LGTB community were absent. The call for this type of meetings and elections should be broad, in such a way that an equitable participation is ensured for all the young populations, especially the key populations.

The young people involved in these processes agreed to support the representative of the sector and other representatives from civil society (FSW, transgender woman, MSM and people with HIV), to have more strength in youth topics at the CCM and greater transparency in civil society.

Although this note tries to show the new context of Honduras, it might not be very objective, as I participated in the youth group and, with Iveth Casildo, I was elected as alternate member in the youth representation for the CCM. This new role will allow me to be closer to the work in Honduras regarding the Global Fund processes, which I will try to report through Key Correspondents.

After the elections we committed ourselves to work as a team with the organizations and sectors involved in the response to AIDS, as well as with the sectors represented at the meeting (Liaison of black women, Cultural groups, Intellectual black youth, among others).