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Holding peer-led discussion groups
in communities has contributed to a significant drop of HIV/AIDS transmission
in Ethiopia. KMG-Ethiopia, a community-based advocacy organization, initiated
community conversations to halt cultural practices that often lead to HIV/AIDS
and other sexual health issues. According to KMG, practices such as female
genital mutilation and forced marriage fuel HIV/AIDS.
According to KMG, “Young women are
given away to men who are much older than themselves. Young women in these
communities do not have a choice. This harmful practice violates young women’s
rights to choice and freedom of association and puts them at risk of HIV and
AIDS.”
By asking communities to elect peers
for facilitator training, KMG said there are now 50 peer-led community
conversations throughout Ethiopia that discuss basic facts about AIDS,
relationship power structures, and negotiating condom use.
Ethiopia’s HIV transmission rates
have dropped by 90 percent between 2001 and 2011, the largest drop in all
African countries. Additionally, the country has seen a 53-percent drop in
AIDS-related deaths, from 113,825 to 53, 831 people from 2005 to 2011. Due to
KMG’s success, the government has recently added community conversations into
its HIV/AIDS prevention strategy.
Persuading communities to let go of
their traditions can be difficult, but after a trip to observe the Ethiopian
community conversations, Michel Sidibé, executive director of the Joint United
Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, noted that during the discussion groups, people
would change their opinions about taboos and misunderstandings surrounding sex,
HIV, and age-old practices like arranged marriages.
Dr. Moustapha Gueye, who first
developed the method, took the idea to the United Nations Development Program,
which then reached out to KMG to run a trial program in Ethiopia. KMG Founder
Bogaletch Gebre won the first African Development Prize, sponsored by the
Belgium-based King Baudouin Foundation, for her work on this project.
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus.
To learn more about The Friends of
AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
