Enhancing HIV prevention for youth through effective life skills-based education: A sustainable and scalable model

This presentation will: 1. Describe the design and execution of life skills-based education for youth and adolescents in sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and HIV prevention; 2. Discuss strategies to enhance program sustainability and scale-up.

Gaps in SRH/HIV education for Vietnamese youth are a key vulnerability factor. Thus, Pathfinder supported youth-friendly life skills-based SRH/HIV education by hosting extracurricular educational activities for 10,579 in- and out-of-school young people (aged 15-24) in Can Tho City and Thai Nguyen province (2010-2012). Youth were also informed about local youth-friendly SRH clinics. The project's final evaluation (deploying qualitative methods, analysis of pre/post-tests, in-depth interviews, and focus group discussions) highlighted improvements, key project outcomes, and sustainability strategies.

Participants demonstrated improved knowledge of SRH/HIV and life skills, and increased healthcare-seeking behavior. Of the 10,579 participants: 95% of in-school and 90.5% of out-of-school youth demonstrated good knowledge of HIV prevention; 92% and 90% had positive attitudes toward people living with HIV; and 98% and 88% had the basic life skills to address their SRH needs, compared with under 50% in the pre-test. Numbers of young people in both provinces seeking services at youth-friendly clinics increased on average by 27%.

Advocacy strategies resulted in the model's integration into local Youth Unions' and schools' programs, benefitting 3,000 more youths. The donor agreed to fund a scaled-up program in another province (2013).

The project demonstrates that life skills-based education can result in improved knowledge, attitudes, healthcare-seeking behavior, and HIV prevention practice among young people. A participatory design/implementation process leads to sustainability.