PATA 2018 Youth Summit: Commitments to Action
We, the young people gathered at the PATA 2018 Youth Summit, join our voices and efforts to uphold a series of commitments to action. We recognise the importance of working collectively, across national and generational boundaries, and in partnership with health providers, governments, donors, policy-makers and civil society to achieve the 90-90-90 targets. Together, we have the power and responsibility to participate actively in the change we desire. As young leaders, we amplify our pledge to serve and represent our peers. It is in this unified spirit that we commit to:
- Supporting adolescent-friendly and youth-centred, non-discriminatory, stigma free, integrated HIV and sexual reproductive health and rights services that are free and available to all young people in their diversity
- Empowering and equipping ourselves and our peers with knowledge, confidence and capacity to advocate for access to comprehensive and holistic HIV services, including treatment and monitoring with regular viral load testing
- Recognising young people as equal and accountable partners in the HIV response, where mechanisms and platforms that enable meaningful youth participation are supported, strengthened and provided at all levels of programming and policy development
- Being active and equal partners in our own health as well as informing and leading programmes and services that affect us
- Acknowledging the efforts of frontline health providers and collaborating with them as partners in our health and as central youth advocates
- Advocating for the provision of training, tools and guidance for frontline health providers so that they may deliver services that are sensitive, client-centred and responsive to the needs of adolescents and young people living with HIV
- Promoting peer support as a vital intervention for adolescents and young people in the HIV response that must be adequately resourced and reported against
- Advocating for greater investment in peer supporters’ long-term capacity-building, mentorship, career progression and fair remuneration
- Creating safe spaces for our peers that are context-specific and provide psychosocial support in an environment of trust, privacy, and confidentiality
- Increasing attention to adolescent mental health with improved screening at health facilities
- Establishing and investing in clinic-community partnerships for holistic collaboration, comprehensive development and a linking to the broader community where the needs of young people can be situated in the broader context of the SDGs
- Holding national governments accountable in prioritizing services that are targeted for hyper-vulnerable and inadequately served youth populations
- Driving programme and policy decisions that are informed by data that is age- and gender-disaggregated, and is accessible and disseminated to frontline providers to inform daily practice and decisions
- Investing in the growth and development of youth leadership, while making space for succession and emerging youth leaders
