A four-year programme aimed at increasing awareness on HIV/AIDS
prevention and treatment amongst internally displaced youth and
those in the receiving communities is ending this week in Colombia.

The World Fund Project in Colombia (PFMC by its Spanish
acronym), also known as Project Colombia, reached some 620,0000
Colombian youngsters through innovative strategies that brought the
message of responsible sexual behaviour to Colombia's vulnerable
youth.

An IOM staff psychologist created and played "Doctor Love", the
host of a weekly radio programme that opened its telephone lines
and microphones to thousands of young people eager to ask questions
and discuss HIV/AIDS and sexual behaviour.  Many parents took
the opportunity to call Doctor Love to ask for his advice on
dealing with sexual issues facing their teenage children.

The four-year programme was carried out in 48 municipalities
with large percentages of displaced population and a high
prevalence of reported cases of HIV and AIDS.  The project
worked with 338 educational institutions and 947 civil society
organizations to strengthen sex education projects and trained some
500 teachers.

According to official figures, there are an estimated 1,190,000
internally displaced persons in Colombia.  Preliminary surveys
carried out before the project's implementation showed a displaced
population of 665,000 in the 48 chosen municipalities; 222,000 of
them aged between 10 and 24.  At that time and in those same
municipalities, the number of HIV positive cases was 32,000.

Centres for Friendly Service for Youth were opened in 125
healthcare facilities, serving more than 323,000 young
people.  At the same time, 57,529 HIV tests were administered
in the 48 municipalities where the project was implemented; 440 of
those tests were positive.  The project also distributed more
than 8 million condoms throughout the country.

Another initiative was the creation of 306 small enterprises
created by youth which is providing income generation and the
acquisition of vital life skills.

The project's campaign titled "You Have Every Right", focused on
promoting healthy and responsible sexuality, along with prevention
and treatment for sexually transmitted disease and HIV and
AIDS. 

This project was financed the "paragraph-link-no-underline" href=
"http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/" target="_blank" title="">The
Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria with an
allocation of USD 8.6 million. 

It was implemented by a Country Coordination Mechanism (MCP)
consisting of 18 governmental and non-governmental organizations
along with academia and United Nations agencies that determined its
general, political and technical orientation.  The MCP was
headed by the Ministry for Social Protection.  IOM was
selected by the MCP to be the main recipient of funds for Colombia
and to be responsible for the project's administrative and
financial management, along with its implementation in accordance
with MCP guidelines and World Fund policies.

For more information please contact:

Jorge Andrés Gallo

IOM Bogota

Tel: +57 1 5946410 Ext 142

E-mail: "mailto:jgallo@iom.int">jgallo@iom.int