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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
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The 130th Annual Meeting of APHA |
Jo-Angeline Kalambo, BSc and Nkem Dike, BA. Yale School of Medicine, Department of Epidemiology and Public Health, Yale University, 60 College Street, New Haven, CT 06510, (203) 436-2214, jo-angeline.kalambo@yale.edu
Sex education can be an effective means of curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS amongst adolescents and university students. However, misinformed knowledge and unavailability of contraceptives can deter the effect of health education. In Africa, socio-cultural stigmas and the lack of transparency in discussions on reproductive health have contributed to the rapid increase of infection in the above group. Recently, health promotion work was done in Tanzania and Nigeria to address the issues of educating adolescents and university students on sexual health respectively. In the Tanzania project, a key focus was on getting feedback from youth on what types of programs would be most useful and lucrative in expanding sexual health education programs. In Nigeria, contraceptives were provided and promoted, while awareness was stressed on the proper use of the contraceptives by handing out pamphlets and putting them up in the hostels. There was also a focus on opening up dialogue on reproductive health in the usually conservative atmosphere in Nigeria. A similar program was done in Tanzania, except contraceptives were not provided to the adolescents, but their use was strongly encouraged. By the end of the programs, it was ascertained that increase in dialogue developed an interest in the use of contraceptives and the students increasingly asked questions relating to their proper use. Also, the lack of contraceptives and limited knowledge of their correct use, affected the poor usage and increase in the spread of STIs.
Learning Objectives:
Keywords: Adolescents, International, Health Promotion
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.