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To reduce the incidence of HIV risk behaviors as well as the transmission of HIV
To provide HIV/AIDS education and information to street kids and people working
with them
To reduce the stigma associated with HIV/AIDS among street youth and those
working with them
To offer social support for street youth living with HIV or AIDS

Train street youth as peer health educators
Conduct HIV stigma-reduction workshops on-site, in the streets, and in shelter for
both youth and people working with them
Provide access to sexual and reproductive health information, services & products
Offer a forum for social support and exchange for youth living with HIV/AIDS
Develop HIV/AIDS prevention and education training curriculum for use by other
organizations working with street kids

Street life is inherently full of risks for HIV/AIDS transmission. In 2004, a survey of
health risk behaviors of street kids found that nearly 100% of respondents were
sexually active, nearly 100% exchanged sex, 97% had been raped, 50% had been
raped at their sexual debut, and 45% had parented children of their own. The
near-universal youth of multiple illicit substances and subsequent impairment of
judgement also puts street kids at risk for contracting the disease. In October of
2004, the U.N. announced that AIDS epidemic in Ecuador resembles that of
sub-Saharan Africa and the Caribbean were in a decade ago, and warned that if
drastic measures were not taken immediately, the dynamics of the epidemic would
soon develop to resemble the epidemic proportions currently seen in the
worst-affected regions of sub-Saharan Africa. Street youth, without access to
information, health care or education would bear a disproportionate social, physical,
and emotional burden of the disease.

The Caminando Juntos: HIV/AIDS Initiative works to limit the vulnerability of street
youth to the disease and reduce their common risk behaviors.

Since June 2005, we have:

Trained 4 peer health educators
Conducted HIV and health outreach in the streets at least once a week
Distributed over 3,000 condoms to sexually active kids
Provided HIV education workshops and Volunteer Counseling and Testing to nearly
100 kids