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The joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) has unveiled the 2024 edition of the Y+ beauty pageant, an initiative for empowering young people living with HIV and promoting infection prevention in Uganda.

Held annually, the Y+ beauty pageant is an initiative of the Uganda Network of Young People Living with HIV (UNYPA) which started in 2014. Through it, young persons living with HIV (YPLHIV) are selected to serve as champions and advocates for the community where they engage in school and community outreaches and present the views and concerns of their colleagues at national and international high-level meetings.

Ms Sarah Nakku, the UNAIDS Country Community Mobilisation and Networking Adviser, said the initiative has been essential in fighting HIV infections in the country.

“The Y+ beauty pageant helps us to fight stigma mainly among adolescents and young people. When you look at the infections in the country, as of last year, we registered 38,000 new infections and 15,000 of those are among adolescents and young people, and 80 percent of that 15,000 were among adolescent girls and young women. The beauty pageant, for the past ten years since it started, has played a critical role in fighting stigma and discrimination,” she said.

Mr Trevor Emojel, the Mr Y+ 2022, said in his tenure, he has represented the young positives in platforms where policies and laws are developed.

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