Photo: © UNICEF
On April 9, 2015 Vera Brezhneva, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, met with the members of youth volunteer organizations in the Republic of Belarus, to discuss the opportunities of using the Internet and social media to promote healthy lifestyle and prevent HIV among adolescents.
In November 2014 Vera Brezhneva, a well-known singer, actress and TV-presenter, has been appointed as a Goodwill Ambassador for the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) in Russia and CIS countries to actively participate in HIV-prevention campaigns throughout the region. As a part of her visit to Belarus, on April 9, 2015 Vera met with the members of youth volunteer organizations which promote healthy lifestyle and HIV-prevention through "peer-to-peer education" programmes, peer counseling and training.
The overall focus of the discussion was the use of social networking, video blogs and other Internet services in HIV prevention work. Youth leaders told Vera about existing online resources on healthy lifestyle for teens which they use and help to develop. Among those:
- "All Teens Can" – a video blog which was recently created by the group of young bloggers with the support of National Public Organization "Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs" to promote healthy life and HIV prevention. The team of "All Teens Can" project shared their plans to make a series of videos on the topics which might be of great interest for youth: love, relationships, education, beauty, reproductive health and others. These videos will include important messages with regards to healthy lifestyle, healthy and non-violent relationships, prevention of sexually transmitted infections (including HIV), etc. The project team will invite volunteers throughout the region to participate, as well as other young video bloggers who are already succeeded in the area of blogging and video producing.
In order to raise awareness on the youth channel "All Teens Can", in April 2015, "Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs" will launch the regional contest of videos shot by teenagers for "All Teens Can" blog. The contest will be held with the support of UNICEF Belarus Country Office and UNESCO Moscow Office.
- Teenergizer! – an Internet platform for adolescents living with HIV which contains information on HIV, as well as on problems and issues which young people face because of their HIV-positive status.
Vera Brezhneva addressed the audience with a request to be more loyal to HIV-positive adolescents: "If you know someone with a problem, do not turn away and better help!"
- teensLIVE – a comprehensive Internet resource for youth. Being supported by the UNESCO Moscow Office and "Women's Health and Family Planning" Foundation, the portal contains more than 60 educational materials about peer relationships, love and reproductive health. The resource has its pages in three languages (Russian, Ukrainian and Romanian), provides information on the youth-friendly centers and clinics in the region and has an online counselling tool.
Vera stressed that the information about youth-friendly centers and clinics is very important. "Such centers and clinics are of high value for youth", - said Vera and added that she would visit such centers by herself with a pleasure.
As an active social media user and an owner of a personal video blog, Vera Brezhneva shared with youth leaders some tips on how to efficiently use the Internet-services to promote healthy lifestyle, and encouraged participants to inspire and motivate others through personal experience and example:
"If you share something with regards to healthy lifestyle, [..] - it should be your own example! Show the way how you do it! Show how your family, your friends do that! Show how this can be done and how cool is it!"
Vera Brezhneva openly answered all the questions, while discussing the issues of self-determination, ways to succeed and problems, which she faced in adolescence. Vera even demonstrated some exercises that she makes to keep fit.
In conclusion, Vera asked all the participants to write about their meeting and HIV/AIDS in their own blogs or pages in social networks, and thus raise awareness on HIV.
The meeting of the UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, Vera Brezhneva with youth leaders was jointly organized by the UNESCO Moscow Office, UNICEF Belarus Country Office and National Public Organization “Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs” in coordination with UNAIDS Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia.
Source: UNESCO Office in Moscow