ZAMBIAN GOVERNMENT ASKS NEW ENGLAND CHARITY TO IMPLEMENT INNOVATIVE YOUTH HIV/AIDS EDUCATION PROGRAM

The Zambian Ministry of Education has invited New Hampshire-based non-profit Students Partnership Worldwide (SPW) to establish its community health education program in Central Province this year, with a view to expanding it nationwide. Uniquely, SPW teams together trained young African volunteers with young American, British and Australian volunteers and places them in rural African communities as peer health educators.

(PRWEB) July 28, 2003 -- The announcement comes shortly after President Bushs recent tour of 5 African nations last week. During his tour, the President highlighted the devastating impact HIV/AIDS has had on the Continents people, where 5,000 people die every day from the disease.

SPWs Executive Director, James Cogan, stresses how young people have often been overlooked as a valuable resource in the fight against communicable disease and poverty. There are enormous numbers of young people across Africa passionate about fighting issues such as HIV/AIDS. Considering that peer pressure is the single most influential factor determining sexual behavior among youth, its ridiculous not to recruit and train these young people as peer health educators, particularly when theyre excited to volunteer their time to do this work."

Part of the attraction for the African volunteers is the opportunity to work with international volunteers, and it is the efforts of these international volunteers that enable the program to run. Without a secure source of funding from government or private sources, the organization relies heavily on the fees fundraised by the international volunteers to offset the training and placement costs of the local volunteers.

While larger international development agencies are spending millions searching for a low-cost approach to health education that can effectively reach impoverished rural communities, SPW has been quietly empowering the people most at risk there with an opportunity to make a difference in their communities.

Robyn Munford (from North Conway, NH) volunteered with SPW. She said it was a shock to realize how basic the health services were in her community. When we arrived, the 500 school children were sharing one pit latrine. Working with my counterpart volunteer, Sarita, we taught them about sanitation though fun activitiesthat made them pay attention, and also showed them how to build latrines."

Most importantly of all, the young people that SPW works with recognize the importance of the programs. Christine Athieno,15 year old girl from Nakaloke Secondary School, Uganda declared Before the SPW volunteers came, I knew there was a disease called AIDS but I never thought the disease could even catch me. Now I know it can catch me but I know just how to avoid it thanks to the knowledge the SPW volunteers have imparted to us"

SPW was established in 1985 and runs programs in South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe, India and Nepal. Its US office is in New Hampshire. The organization recruits 18-28 year olds Americans to work on programs in Uganda, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa, India and Nepal.

More information is available on the web at www.spw.org.