Project Lead(s): Madeleine Buck
Issue
According to the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (2008), the town of Njombe in southern Tanzania has the highest prevalence of HIV in the country (14.8%), with the incidence increasing in young adults.
In this town, knowledge on HIV prevention and control is low and there is no formalized HIV education program in local schools.
A proper educational HIV/AIDS program is essential in order to empower Njombe’s youth in making appropriate health decisions.
Solution
This project was developed as a follow-on to the pilot HIV Youth Peer Health Education (YPHE), which was well received in five elementary schools in Njombe.
The project involved rigorous training and mentorship of 17 volunteer trainers in the YPHE program, to train students and teacher mentors.
Three core leaders (a registered nurse, a lead program coordinator/trainer and an assistant lead trainer) provided consistency and ensured quality over the 18 months of the project.
Ten YPHEs (generally five boys and five girls, evenly spread across Grades 4, 5 and 6) were selected to represent their schools.
Groups of 30–40 YPHEs would come together for two days each week, for a five-week period, to be trained in leadership skills, children’s rights and responsibilities, gender equality, communication and teaching skills, and sexual/reproductive health. A pre- and post-test measured knowledge and attitudes related to sexual health.
Outcome
The team successfully implemented a pilot, educational HIV/AIDS program, essential to empower Njombe’s youth in making appropriate health decisions in 50 primary schools.
The 17 dedicated trainers taught 500 children (251 boys and 249 girls) to be youth peer health educators to other children within their schools.
In tandem, 73 volunteer teachers received training so that they could support the YPHEs and ensure sustainability of the program within the 50 schools.
Youth knowledge and attitudes related to sexual health improved significantly, with pretest score means of 63% rising to 80%.
Two school districts formally adopted the YPHE program and identified goals of implementing the program into select schools in their districts over the next five years.
Teachers stated that they were going to change some of their teaching strategies to include inductive and participatory learning approaches, similar to those employed in the YPHE training program.
The team intends to monitor, support and continue to develop the skills of these 500 children.
As some of the children will be transitioning to high school, the project would like to host a ‘youth summit’, whereby the trained youth would participate in an intense, one-week gathering to learn about how they have implemented the YPHE program in their schools and the next steps with respect to sustaining the program, as well as implementing the program in their high schools.
There is a commitment from a group of business people in Montreal to fund 20% of the project. Additional funding was provided by the Kibena Women Association.