0.3 Sexuality/personal relationships  (Page 2/4)

Changes during puberty

Puberty happens to every young person some time after the age of 8. It is the transition into woman/manhood when the sex organs growand develop and the body becomes ready and able to reproduce. These changes can make you feel proud and happy, and they can also make you feel confused orembarrassed.

• Your height, weight, and muscles develop
• Your sex organs grow
• You become fertile
• The glands in your skin become more active and can give you spots
• Your sweat glands develop
• Hair starts to grow under your arms and around your genitals
• You may experience rapid mood swings
• You may begin to be attracted towards members of the opposite or same sex

Changes that affect girls:

• Your breasts develop and may feel painful as they grow
• Your nipples begin to stand out
• Your hips get rounder
• Your ovaries start to produce ova or egg cells
• Later in puberty, menstruation starts

Changes that affect boys:

• Your chest and shoulders develop
• Your voice deepens
• Hairs start growing on your face and may grow on your chest
• Your penis and testicles grow larger
• Your testicles drop into the scrotum and start to produce sperm
• You may have erections without warning
• You will experience your first ejaculation when liquid called semen comes out of your penis (this can also happen when you are asleep.)

The a-b-c approach

Abstaining from sexual activity, faithfulness, and condom use are three behaviors that can prevent or reduce the likelihood ofsexual transmission of HIV infection. These behaviors are often considered together as the "ABCs" of HIV prevention - A for abstinence (or delayed sexual initiation among youth), B for being faithful (or reducing one's number of sexual partners), and C for condom use, especially for casual sexual activity and other high-risk situations.

Understanding and promoting these behaviors are key elements in combating the spread of HIV/AIDS. Based on a growing body ofevidence from a number of developing countries, USAID supports the ABC approach because it can target and balance A, B, and C interventionsaccording to the needs of different at-risk populations and the specific circumstances of a particular country confronting the epidemic.

Background: The Decline of HIV Prevalence in Uganda

As one of the world's earliest success stories in confronting AIDS - and probably the most dramatic - Uganda experiencedsubstantial declines in HIV prevalence during the 1990s. According to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau and UNAIDS, national prevalence peakedat around 15 percent in 1991 and fell to 5 percent by 2001. Among pregnant women in urban areas, prevalence declined from a high of approximately 30percent to about 10 percent, while among rural pregnant women it fell from more than 10 to less than 5 percent. Uganda's vivid decline in HIV prevalenceremains unique worldwide. In other sub-Saharan African countries with epidemics of comparable severity and longevity, similar declines have yetto occur. Accordingly, Uganda's success has been the subject of intense study and analysis.