History

The Comité Contra el SIDA (CoCoSI) began on August 29, 1999 when five youth from the communities of Santa Marta and el Zapote joined together to create a youth-run group with the goal of raising the awareness of the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS.

Cabañas was a conflict zone inhabited by guerillas during the recent civil war and remains a rural area plagued by extreme poverty which has little support from the Ministries of Health and Education. When the youth realized that the Ministry of Health was not going to take action to educate the communities about the transmission and prevention of HIV/AIDS, they decided to take things into their own hands.

The Rehabilitation Center in Santa Marta invited the group to give its first workshop on HIV/AIDS to popular teachers and students soon after its creation. And, in 2000, the group added new members and formed a formal plan of action.

The members of CoCoSI are voluntary students between the ages of 15 and 23 who give charlas (workshops) in various parts of El Salvador, mostly in Cabañas, and in the communities on the Honduran border.

Since its creation in 1999, CoCoSI has become an internationally recognized organization lead by 30 youth which continues to inform, educate, and raise the awareness of the general population in distinct themes which effect the general population including, but not limited to, HIV/AIDS, sexuality, violence, national reality, and machismo.