The Bahamas is "on track" to reduce HIV/AIDS among young people by 25 percent this year, according to the United Nations HIV/AIDS program.

As a country that bears a "high burden" of HIV/AIDS prevalence compared with other countries globally - with around three per cent of the population known to be infected with the virus - it was also noted in this year's UNAIDS report as one which is making significant strides towards curtailing its prevalence within its borders.

"A ground-breaking study for UNAIDS led by the International Group on Analysis of trends in HIV prevalence and behaviors among young people shows that these countries with high burden of HIV have either achieved or are on track to achieve the international goal of reducing HIV prevalence among young people by 25 percent in 2010, as agreed at the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994," said the UNAID's "Outlook 2010" report released yesterday.

Sixteen out of 25 countries most affected by HIV/AIDS have seen HIV rates among young people fall - a "breakthrough essential for breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic," according to UNAIDS.

Those countries that have achieved the 25 per cent reduction goal already are: Botswana, Cote D'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Namibia and Zimbabwe.

Eighty per cent of young people living with HIV/AIDS live in sub Sahara Africa.

The Bahamas was identified as one of those countries "likely to achieve" the 25 per cent goal, along with Burundi, Lesotho, Rwanda, Swaziland and Haiti.

This news comes after Dr Perry Gomez, Director of the National HIV/AIDS Programme in The Bahamas revealed in a press conference in October 2009 that if infection trends seen in the early part of that year continued to year end there would be an overall rise in the number of new HIV infections in 2009 over the previous year.

At around the same time, Health Minister Dr Hubert Minnis released the findings of a study involving public and private school students, between the ages of 15 and 17 in New Providence and the Family Islands, which he said showed that while some youngsters are knowledgeable about the deadly virus, many are not taking the necessary precautions to prevent it.

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