Prevention - HIV/AIDS

EDC and Medgar Evers College of the City University of New York are developing and pilot testing the Keep It Up program targeted to African American and other Black young men in high-poverty communities with high rates of HIV. Keep It Up embeds HIV behavioral prevention in a broader health promotion campaign. The goal is to reduce the stigma surrounding HIV and reach a population that bears a disproportionate burden not only of HIV/AIDS, but also other health problems—hypertension, high cholesterol, diabetes, asthma, and other STIs.

EDC has produced a dissemination package for Safe in the City, a brief video-based HIV/STD prevention intervention for STD clinics. In a large, multi-site efficacy trial, Safe in the City was found to be effective in reducing new cases of STDs among clinic patients. The intervention has been selected for national dissemination through CDC’s Diffusion of Effective Behavioral Interventions program. EDC was a collaborating partner in the development and evaluation of this intervention.

EDC developed a comprehensive set of national materials to educate primary and secondary school students in Botswana about HIV and AIDS and STIs, and teach them skills to make healthy choices. A collaborative effort with the Botswana Ministry of Education and CDC-Botswana, the curricula and related materials are culturally appropriate, behavior-change focused and interactive. EDC is assisting the Botswana government with coordinating the logistics for curriculum implementation, developing a national training plan, training master trainers, and creating an evaluation plan.

EDC’s Health and Human Development Division in Asia works with local partners in four countries in South and Southeast Asia (Cambodia, India, Thailand, and Vietnam—and previously Lao PDR) to provide care and support as well as prevention education to children affected and infected with HIV and AIDS. Project activities include providing financial and in-kind assistance to orphaned children to attend school, vocational training for young people who must support their families, and training peer educators so they can educate their friends in their own communities about HIV prevention.

Working with YMCA in Nakhon Pathom, EDC’s Health and Human Development Division in Asia provides educational scholarships to 30 children in grades 5–7 (between 11 and 14 years old). The project provides life skills and health education training to the children, their peers and families, and communities and networks of people living with HIV and AIDS. Peer educators who participate in the project share their knowledge with peers in primary and junior high school through condom use demonstrations and educational seminars about the disease.

Padres Unidos por la Salud y el Éxito de Nuestros Hijos will assess an intervention aimed at reducing behaviors among youth that lead to elevated levels of HIV/AIDS in urban Latino communities. The intervention, Salud y Éxito, consists of parent education delivered through bilingual audio-CDs to promote positive parenting practices. Salud y Éxito Más will also be tested. This enhanced version of the parent-mediated approach integrates audio-CD parent education with a school-based parent involvement program, PALMS Tools for Latino Family Outreach.

The RISE Project expands learning opportunities for pre-primary and primary age children in Mainland Tanzania and Zanzibar, in part by helping overage and underserved children make a successful transition to, and progress in, primary school. To reach these children in Zanzibar, RISE is developing and adapting Interactive Radio Instruction (IRI) programs and learning materials for pre-primary, Standard One and Standard Two levels. The programs air in both government schools and non-formal learning centers.

The new HELP Training and Technical Assistance (T/TA) center will promote the effective delivery of evidence-based behavioral interventions, early HIV counseling, testing, and referrals to African American and Latino communities which are disproportionately burdened by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

EDC will conduct a global literature review to identify experiences in applying principles for Greater Involvement for People Living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA), and document best practices and lessons learned. Based on the literature review and surveys with coordinators of regional networks, we will develop a training module with tools on how to apply GIPA in the education sector’s response to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. We will conduct a training and pilot-test the use of these tools in two Caribbean countries.