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ICAP’s Charity Day Helps Adolescents Affected by HIV

LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM – ICAP Charity Day, now in its 24th year, has collectively raised nearly £127 million to date and has supported more than 2,000 projects worldwide. For one day a year, ICAP and its brokers are committed to donating all revenues and commissions to a select group of charities around the world to guarantee that they receive a sizeable contribution to fund much needed projects and initiatives. This year on ICAP Charity Day, two beneficiaries – mothers2mothers (m2m) and Sentebale, – are joining forces to amplify the voices of adolescents girls, and boys, and young women and men, in sub-Saharan Africa affected by HIV.

Significant progress has been made in recent years in the fight against HIV/AIDS, including a dramatic reduction in AIDS-related deaths, a significant increase in the number of people on antiretroviral therapy (ART), and a continually growing number of babies born HIV free. Yet, the new Prevention Gap Report from UNAIDS warns of continued challenges, such as how young women in sub-Saharan Africa face a dramatically higher risk of becoming infected with HIV during the transition from childhood to adulthood. In 2015, nearly 7,500[i] young women, age 15-25, became infected with HIV every week, the vast majority in southern Africa. Just as alarming, HIV/AIDS is now the number one cause of death in Africa among adolescents, and the second cause of death globally[ii].

Stigma and discrimination and a lack of age-appropriate health services continue to push young people into the shadows, discouraging them from seeking HIV testing and counseling, and accessing lifesaving treatment. It is estimated that only 15 percent of young women, age 15-24, know their HIV status. One in four children and adolescents under the age of 15 have access to live-saving antiretroviral treatment. It is therefore imperative we tackle this taboo by normalizing testing so that everyone knows their status and receives access to treatment.

ICAP’s support of Sentebale and m2m couldn’t be more timely. Both organisations educate and support young people to develop the skills and knowledge necessary to make the right choices to keep themselves healthy and protect the next generation from HIV. As Michael Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS states, “We need a prevention revolution, with young people at the centre.”

Empowering adolescents and young people with knowledge and skills makes them better able to negotiate safer sex, resulting in increased condom use and reduced HIV transmission risks. In addition, educated and empowered adolescents and young people are more likely to stay in school longer and are more likely to complete their education, resulting in further beneficial effects for themselves, their families, and their communities.

m2m’s adolescent health and positive youth development initiatives in South Africa and Sentebale’s work delivering psychosocial support to adolescents living with HIV in Lesotho and Botswana are designed to empower adolescents to make informed, positive life choices and become agents of generational change.

“What I believe is that we cannot beat HIV without giving young people in every country the voice they deserve. Without education and without empowerment, HIV will win.” Prince Harry, Durban AIDS Conference, July 2016

Following the immensely powerful youth-led panels that m2m and Sentebale each organised at the 21st Annual International AIDS Conference in Durban this July, the two organisations are now collaborating on ICAP Charity Day 2016 to encourage more people to raise their voice and tackle stigma in a challenge they call; #BiketoBeatHIV. Sentebale and m2m Founders, Patrons, Ambassadors, Celebrities and ICAP brokers will go head to head in their bid to #BiketoBeatHIV on #ICAPCharityDay.

“Today’s adolescent girls and young women are tomorrow’s mothers. We must manage the HIV epidemic with an eye to the future. We must invest deeply in sustaining the efforts that have been successful in stemming the infection and find solutions to challenges not yet addressed.” says m2m Founder Dr. Mitch Besser.

For more information please contact:
Alice Lycett Green, Sentebale: [email protected]
Annabelle McGregor, mothers2mothers: [email protected]

About Sentebale
image010Sentebale is a charity co-founded by Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso of Lesotho – a country bordered by South Africa with the world’s second highest prevalence of HIV. Prince Harry visited Lesotho in 2004 and was struck by the devastating effect the HIV/AIDS epidemic was having on the nation and particularly its children. Prince Harry and Prince Seeiso founded Sentebale, meaning ‘forget me not’ in Sesotho in 2006 – a charity aiming to rewrite the future for the impoverished population of Lesotho, providing the thousands of children and young people affected by HIV/AIDS with vital access to care, education and critically psychosocial support.

In 2015, Sentebale announced plans to expand into four to five sub-Saharan Africa countries by 2020, delivering psychosocial support to 10 to 19 year olds who were struggling to come to terms with living with HIV.

In the last financial year, Sentebale in partnership with the Ministry of Health delivered adolescent-friendly HIV testing and counseling services to over 21,000 people. 100% of those 10 to 19 year olds who tested HIV-positive were referred to treatment and received psychosocial support through Sentebale’s monthly clubs. Sentebale delivered residential camp to over 1,000 children and adolescents at the newly opened Mamohato Children’s Centre and over 2,400 are registered at Sentebale’s clubs.

On 27th November, Sentebale launched the first weeks of camp in Botswana, which will deliver psychosocial support to 150 young people.

www.sentebale.org, FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

About mothers2mothers
mothers2mothers (m2m) is a leader in the global efforts to end paediatric AIDS and create healthy families and communities by training, employing, and empowering HIV-positive mothers to be frontline healthcare workers. Since m2m was founded 15 years ago, it has reached nearly 1.5 million HIV-positive women in nine countries in sub-Saharan Africa with its scalable, high-impact peer approach and has achieved the virtual elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV for the second year in a row among the women it serves.

In recent years, m2m has significantly expanded its reach, with one in four HIV-positive women who delivered their babies in countries support by m2m receiving education and support from a Mentor Mother.* In 2015 alone, mothers2mothers reached an estimated 860,500* women, infants, children, adolescent girls and young women, and men – a 35% increase from the previous year. This is due to our facility-to-community approach that links women, children, adolescents, and families in communities to health centres. Furthermore, mothers2mothers’ Model has been shown to save significant money in averted treatment costs.

FacebookInstagram, and Twitter.

*m2m direct services and services provided by implementing partners; national comparisons from estimates published in UNAIDS 2015 Progress Report on the Global Plan.

About ICAP
ICAP is a leading markets operator and provider of post trade risk mitigation and information services. The Group matches buyers and sellers in the wholesale markets in interest rates, credit, commodities, FX, emerging markets and equity derivatives through voice and electronic networks. Through its post trade risk mitigation and information services ICAP helps customers manage and mitigate risks in their portfolios. For more information, go to www.icap.com ICAP announced in November 2015 that it intends to sell its global hybrid voice broking and associated information business to Tullett Prebon, including ICAP’s associated technology and broking platforms (including iSwap and Fusion) and certain of ICAP’s joint ventures and associate companies (“IGBB”). On completion of the transaction with Tullett Prebon, the ICAP brand will be transferred to Tullett Prebon. The remaining ‘NewCo’ business comprising of Post Trade Risk and Information services and Electronic Markets will be renamed NEX Group plc.

NEX Group plc will be headquartered in London and will employ 1,850 people in offices worldwide.

Background Information on Charity Day
ICAP Charity Day was founded in 1993 to grow its charitable giving programme through an innovative fundraising initiative that would make a significant difference to charities. Made possible through its unique position in the financial markets, the Group and its brokers committed to donating all revenues and commissions on one day a year, to a select group of charities around the world to guarantee that they would receive a sizeable contribution to fund much needed projects and initiatives. Now in its 24th year, ICAP, its customers and partners have collectively raised nearly £127 million to date supported more than 2,000 projects worldwide. www.icapcharityday.com

[i] Press release, UNAIDS announces 18.2 million people on antiretroviral therapy, but warns that 15–24 years of age is a highly dangerous time for young women, 21 November 2016
[ii] Press release: UNAIDS announces 18.2 million people on antiretroviral therapy, but warns that 15–24 years of age is a highly dangerous time for young women, 21 November 2016

iii UNAIDS Gap Report, 2014

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