The United Nations will be getting input from an ISU student this month.Neema Mgana, junior in preparation for human medicine, is traveling to New York City for the United Nations Conference on the Commission on the Status of Women. Mgana, a native of Tanzania, will be representing the continent of Africa during the conference, which starts today and will run through March 16.The conference is held annually to discuss different topics affecting women globally. Topics such as HIV and AIDS and racism are on the agenda this year.”I got active in this global fight against HIV/AIDS in 1996 when I was working at a major referral hospital in Tanzania,” Mgana said. “I met very special people who were already active in this fight and were dedicated to fighting this disease.”Mgana will give a 10 minute speech on Thursday about community-based programs and their role in the fight against HIV/AIDS. She said she is particularly concerned with the plight of women and children in developing countries.”The disease has orphaned 13 million children in Africa under the age of 15,” she said. “That number is projected to reach 20 million within 10 years.”As a Youth Caucus representative, Mgana said she’ll be discussing community-based programs as an alternative for countries faced with finding cost-effective ways to provide care for the increasing number of people with HIV/AIDS. “Because of the huge demand for care combined with inadequate financial resources, the worst-affected countries often are those least able to provide care to HIV/AIDS patients,” she said. Shireen Lee, coordinator for the Non-Government Organizations Youth Caucus at the U.N. Conference, said the program serves an important purpose. “We started about three years ago because we realized that young women were nowhere to be seen in the process of reviewing issues of importance to women globally,” she said. The issue of HIV is particularly important to the Youth Caucus because it disproportionately affects young women. She said 50 percent of new HIV infections worldwide are women between the ages of 18 and 25. The Youth Caucus will include representation from various international organizations throughout the world, and hundreds of people will be attending the conference, Mgana said.”I think that meeting so many people involved in women and children’s issues will bring much insight to actions to improve our conditions,” she said.