The Drum Beat 134 - Youth, Communication and HIV/AIDS

"Physical, psychological, and social attributes of adolescence make young people particularly vulnerable to HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs)... Societies often compound young people's risk by making it difficult for them to learn about HIV/AIDS and reproductive health."

This issue examines the social environment that HIV/AIDS has created for youth as well as advocacy and communication strategies to address the epidemic and is based on excerpts from JHU/CCPs Population Reports - 'Youth & HIV/AIDS: Can We Avoid Catastrophe?'.

For more information, please click on the links included and/or contact Ruwaida Salem rsalem@jhuccp.org

 

ENVIRONMENT

1. The impact of the AIDS epidemic could have been reduced substantially had political leaders taken it seriously and responded at once. As the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS noted in 2001, "strong leadership at all levels of society is essential for an effective response to the epidemic". In countries with effective approaches, national policies provide a supportive environment in which projects and programmes can operate and be sustained... Upon the first indications of HIV/AIDS in 1986, the government of Senegal moved to confront the epidemic, galvanizing community groups, working with religious leaders, and introducing AIDS prevention in the school curriculum in primary and secondary schools. Communication campaigns also reached people by radio, in mosques, and at the markets. Parents and other adults were encouraged to speak to their children about HIV/AIDS. As a result, HIV prevalence among pregnant women has remained under 2%, with no upward trend. In addition, condom use has risen among young men. Today, only about 10% say they do not use condoms with casual partners... Click here for more information.

2. Many adolescents are at risk because no one - including parents, educators, counselors, health care workers, or the media - has taught them about HIV/AIDS or about how to protect themselves and others. While the importance of education about HIV/AIDS is widely recognized, 44 of 107 countries studied recently did not include AIDS education in their school curricula. In interviews with 277 secondary school principals in South Africa, 60% acknowledged that their students were at moderate or high risk of HIV/AIDS, but only 18% of the schools offered a full sex education curriculum. At the same time, traditional ways of educating youth about sex have diminished or disappeared altogether. As a result, more young people are sexually active but without adequate information to protect themselves. Click here for more information.

PERSPECTIVE: Youth Living with HIV/AIDS

3. "Some people from MTV who wanted to do a documentary on young people living with HIV visited the counseling center. They asked me if I would be in the documentary, and I agreed. It was shown on Zambian national television. Many people had seen the documentary, and I thought this would be a way for me to start talking about my situation. But to come out in the open and say that I had HIV was shocking to many people. I experienced a lot of stigma. People who knew me did not want to come close to me or shake my hand. Sometimes people went as far as to call me a murderer. That hurt a lot. But I do not regret having gone public because I want to let other young people know how I got infected. Anyone can get HIV, and young people are most at risk. I go into communities, schools, and colleges to talk to the young people on ways they can protect themselves from getting infected. I tell them that if they are not careful, they could end up like me - another statistic." Click here for more information in PDF format.

STRATEGY

4. Addressing the Epidemic - a combination of approaches should include: 

• Advocacy - efforts to inform and motivate policy-makers and communities - at international, regional, national, and local levels.
• Education & Communication - alert young people to the risks of HIV/AIDS and promote healthier behavior - through...curriculum-based programmes in schools, mass-media campaigns, peer education, and community outreach...

Click here for more information.

5. Strategies That Work
 

• AIDS education in schools can delay sexual debut and increase condom use. Changing peer norms that encourage risky behavior is important.
• A variety of mass media communication can reach young people effectively through entertainment programmes and can lead to healthy behavior.
• Parents and other adults can be important partners in HIV prevention.

Click here for more information.

6. Youth-Centered Approach: Key Components

 

• Promoting a choice of protective behaviors, including delayed sexual debut, abstinence, consistent condom use.
• Youth participating in every aspect of programmes, from needs assessment to delivering the message.
• Using all opportunities, from classroom to community to television.
• Entertaining while educating.
• Developing risk-avoidance skills such as refusing sex, negotiating condom use.
• Encouraging self-efficacy - feeling confident and able to avoid HIV.

Click here for more information in PDF format.

EDUCATION

7. There is considerable disagreement over HIV/AIDS education - including what to teach, at what age, in what setting, by whom, and to what end. Political pressures often keep sex education - and thus HIV/AIDS education - out of the classroom. Sensitivities about sexuality and young people's behavior often obstruct AIDS education even where there is a strong national commitment to address the AIDS crisis... [However,] in Thailand a comprehensive education programme for young people included problem-solving exercises, role playing, and analysis of "triggers" for unsafe sexual behavior... This programme helped to achieve a 50% decline in new HIV cases, and the incidence of STIs among young men in the programme was one-seventh of that among a control group without AIDS education... Many strategies for youth now make peer education a key approach. ...Training of the peer educators is essential... Training not only should ensure that peer educators know how to teach about HIV/AIDS but also that they are able to see things from the perspective of the young people they are trying to reach. Click here for more information.

MASS MEDIA

8. In a 23-country study among... children [age 12] whose homes had electricity, over 90% watched an average of 3 hours of television per day. In virtually all developing countries most women ages 15-19 have regular access to television and radio. In Zambia adolescents exposed to a TV campaign promoting abstinence and condom use were 87% more likely to use condoms. In addition, viewers were 46% more likely to be abstinent or to have resumed abstinence. In Uganda self-reported condom use among sexually active young men rose from 33% to 70% following The Safer Sex or AIDS Campaign, and from 58% to 73% among young women. Experience shows that the most effective communication programmes involve both mass media and face-to-face communication, such as peer education in small groups. Click here for more information.

PARENT-CHILD COMMUNICATION

9. Parents greatly influence their children's health behavior. Communication between parents and their children about sex is often difficult. Parents and children alike often are embarrassed to talk about sex and tend to avoid the topic. In South Africa adolescent women said they were afraid to talk to their parents about sex. In Zimbabwe young people said that communication with parents about sex was often one-sided, with the parents mainly warning about the dangers of sex. In Mexico young people also cited such communication barriers as lack of time, not getting along with their parents, and lack of trust in their parents' advice... Click here for more information.

PERSPECTIVE: Parent-Child Communication

10. "It is not easy for an African parent to sit down and talk to their children about sex. The topic has been taboo for as far back as African tradition goes. But our teenagers today are going around getting wrong information from their peers and from magazines, and they end up infected with HIV/AIDS... I am an African man, but when it comes to my children's health, I put my traditional beliefs aside. I talk to my children about sex... A lot of teenagers fear talking to their parents about sex because they think that their parents will accuse them of sleeping around. Instead, they go to their friends... Teens make their own decisions, but parents can have a lot of influence. Parents have to do away with traditions and start to talk openly to their children about sex." Click here for more information in PDF format.

 

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