Reaching young people with sexual and reproductive health information and education for the prevention of HIV/AIDS : An appraisal of the strategies and activities of the Kabushi Health centre in Ndola District
Date
2012-04-10
Authors
Kaimba, Henry
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Abstract
This report is a result of the attachment and study of the sexual and reproductive health services provided to young people in Kabushi Township of Ndola by the Ndola District Health Management Team. It is a culmination of an attachment to such services in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Communication for Development Degree at the University of Zambia. The study intended to appraise the activities and the communication strategies used to disseminate sexual and reproductive health information and education especially HIV/AIDS prevention to young people in Kabushi Township of Ndola. The report presents what was found out in terms of the activities and strategies that were used to reach young people. The report starts by introducing the problem and the rationale for the study. It discusses the methodologies used to collect data and presents the results or the findings. The findings of the study show that although a lot of young people identified HIV/AIDS as the most urgent and serious health concern, most of them did not access adequate information, education and services for HIV prevention. The approaches used so far of static service at the health centre were not so effective in attracting young people to information and services. There is need for wider approaches that take into consideration the fact that HIV is not a health problem only but a developmental problem too, requiring multi dimensional approaches, if the objective of reducing the further spread of the disease especially among young people has to be realized. The major conclusion of the report is that, HIV/AIDS service delivery programmes should be designed to face complex tasks. Behaviour change strategies typically require the use of various channels to communicate messages. Because the disease is complex, it affects all aspects of human society from the cultural sphere to the religious, political and economic spheres and therefore must be tackled using multiple strategies. The strategies and activities employed in Kabushi Township to attract young people to information and education on HIV/AIDS prevention need to be supplemented with a lot of community outreach activities. Some of the strategies and the activities that can be used to have an effective programme in Kabushi in particular and other communities in general come as recommendations at the end of the report.
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Communication - Ndola , HIV/AIDS -- Youth -- Kabushi,Ndola , Youth -- Sexual behaviour - Kabushi,Ndola