Catch Them Young
(Original)

Urom Nnenna Obele
(Age 24, Nigeria)

INTRODUCTION

My heart bleeds as I see so many young people get pregnant and subsequently drop out of school. Majority of them are also acquiring the dreaded HIV virus. The HIV/AIDS pandemic is the world’s most deadly war. It has constituted a serious social and economic problem. Africa has so far borne it’s burnt due to sheer negligence. My community is one of the most affected areas. Students in primary and secondary schools are the group in the society that is most vulnerable to HIV. The biggest population of people dying from HIV/AIDS is the 20-29 years age range. With the incubation period of 4-10 years, that means that most of these people are acquiring this disease in their teenage age. It was on this basis that my organization [YOUNG AND LIVELY] decided to come up with a project titled “CATCH THEM YOUNG”. The project is aimed at providing education and sensitization on HIV/AIDS and other related sexually transmitted infections and promotion of abstinence among students in primary and secondary schools as well as out-of school youths through peer education, rallies, workshops, life building skill programmes, debate and quiz competitions as well as film shows. We have been able to work in collaboration with other organizations and our State Action Committee on AIDS.

WHY I HAD TO GET INVOLVED

Young people in my community and in many parts of the world are denied sexual health education because parents and other authorities fear it encourages early sexual activity. But there is compelling evidence from studies conducted around the world and in many different cultures that in fact, sex education encourages responsibility. Young people are at a high risk of HIV infection because of their low-risk perception, low assertive skills, peer pressure, self-perceived freedom, drug and alcohol abuse, regular patronage of female sex workers [for males] and transactional sex [for females].As a result, the youths [aged 15-35] constitute 60% of people living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria according to the 2005 national sero-prevalence survey report. It is this horrifying scenario that inspired me to embark on this project .I decided to develop friendly, creative and innovative approaches which will be adopted in capturing the interests of the youths.

METHOD/APPROACH

a. PEER EDUCATION APPROACH: Young people are more likely to hear and personalize messages resulting in change attitudes and behaviors if they believe the messenger belongs to their group and shares the same concerns and pressures with them. Thus, we decided to employ the peer education approach as one of our strategies. We trained some peer educators in some selected schools as well as communities. The trainings were to ensure that the peer educators develop right skills, attitudes and knowledge necessary for effective delivery of sexual health education among their peers. The peer educators are used to provide factual and correct information and education to their peers through lectures, drama and songs in the schools at different settings including classrooms, assembly ground, Ant-HIV/AIDS club meetings, social gatherings, during leisure hours as  well as paying outreach visits to the villages. Qualities such as wide acceptability in the class, ability to communicate clearly and persuasively with their peers, good interpersonal and non-judgmental attitudes were sought for in the peer educators. The use of peer educators guarantees the sustainability of the programme.

b. COMMUNITY INTERVENTION: To address issues of sexual and reproductive health and rights and HIV/AIDS with youths in the rural communities, we decided to carry out a bi-monthly intervention work, selecting a rural community per month .Peer educators and facilitators are usually sent to rural communities to intervene on sexuality issues affecting these communities.

c. USING THE MEDIA: We developed a catch them young bill board, radio/TV advertisements and jingles, catch them young caps and T-shirts, catch them young rallies, catch them young IEC materials. This reached almost every youth in my community [both in school an out of school youths].

d. COMPETITIONS: We organized series of competitions ranging from essay, debate and quiz. This was to test the knowledge of young people in areas concerning HIV/AID and sexuality. Winners were adequately rewarded. This challenged many young people to beef up their knowledge on these issues.

RESULTS

The project is in its second year of existence and from survey carried out; we have observed that there is an increase in the knowledge of young people on sexuality and HIV/AIDS. Young people can now maker better choices. There is a reduction in the cases of unwanted pregnancies and school drop outs.

CONCLUSION

This programme has contributed immensely to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the society. Funding remains our greatest handicap. We continue to seek for partnerships so as to broaden our reach and widen our scope.