Training the community to popularise a safety-first "highway code". Special report: Tanzania
Aids Analysis Africa 5(2): 8-10
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 1016-8974 PMID: 12288608 Document Number: 289265
Frustrated with the failure of top-down health messages to change behavior, designers of awareness and prevention programs have turned to peer education as the only effective alternative to prevent the spread of HIV. Peer educators live or work with the people NGO staff or government health workers are trying to reach. Peers, unlike experts, are accepted as equals and can constantly reinforce the prevention message. In Tanzania, the African Medical and Research Foundation (Amref) has applied the approach with great success. The organization in 1989 launched a small project targeting truck drivers and prostitutes along the country's major highways. Both target populations have high rates of HIV-seropositivity. The program involves peer education, condom promotion, and encouraging people to seek treatment for sexually transmitted diseases. NGOs and the government have since joined the effort so that the scheme now covers the entire nation and a range of occupations. Much of Amref's program success is likely due to the organization's determination to ensure that everyone in the community fully understands and accepts the project.