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EDUCATION
/ CAPACITY- BUILDING
Sensitization
| prevention | equipment | resource development
| students | VCT
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“The purpose of
education is to replace an empty mind with
an open one” (anonymous)
Overview
The Education/Training programme
seeks to address the concerns of local communities
in light of the fact that many parents neglect
to educate their children about HIV/AIDS
and more still its opportunistic infections.
Herein we seek to use su ch
methods as counselling, sensitization campaigns,
destigmatization drives as part of our behaviour
change communication tools. This programme
envisions the provision of updated, intelligible
health care messages concerning sexual and
reproductive health tailored to the unique
needs of local communities at grass root
level.
. .....
........ .... . . . . . . . .. . . . . .
.. .. .. . . . .Students
in a typical rural classroom.
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Problem
Statement
"Tell me a place where you can mine
money from the ground.."(Okeyo, 1979)
an African woman once said when she was
asked about her living conditions &
her problems. [Women Money & Development,
Lisette,(1986)]. The Ugandan Women's cry
for help coupled with rising unemployment
rates in a predorminantly young population
--average age 15.6 years (Omundi index)
-- has heightened the need for counselling
services. This will help to initiate positive
behavioural change in a world espousing
sexual revolution among the young &
the old alike, the sex worker & faithful
spouse alike.
Uganda is one of the smallest
East African Countries with a land mass
of 241,000 square kilometres. It is also
among the developing countries south of
the Sahara with a population of -- As a
third world country, Uganda is not exempted
from socio-economic challenges such as poor
health conditions, low life expectancy,
poverty, moral fibre breakdown, prostitution,
civil wars e.g. The Lord's Resistance Army
in Northern Uganda, unemployment, high levels
of ignorance, corruption and the HIV pandemic.
These social evils have grossly hindered
the development of people economically,
politically and socially directly or indirectly.
According to Dr. Steven Malinga,
Uganda's Minister of Health as reported
in the government run New Vision of 23.07.07,
the poor conditions of health i the country
are due to "serious underfunding"
of the health sector. With these serious
challenges comes the reluctance of people
to go to public centres for HIV/AIDS counselling
and testing. The lack of health literature
in local languages , the brain drain, the
inadequate sensitization campaigns to educate
sex workers and the general populace about
HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections, the
lack of facilitation to help family-centered
endeavours for affected families and the
lack of career guidance to students to convince
them to join health sector and curb the
brain drain.
HIV/AIDS
& Public Health
HIV/AIDS is not only a public
health issue in Uganda, but also a major
development problem. The problem has been
confronted by almost all households, in
all parts of the country and across all
sectors of the economy. The cumulative number
of HIV-infected people in Uganda is now
estimated at 1.9 million - or nearly 10
per cent.
As early as 1986, the Government adopted
a strategy of openness towards the presence
of HIV/AIDS in Uganda and moved swiftly
to establish the National AIDS Control Programme
in the Ministry of Health. In 1990, the
Government also adopted a multi-sectoral
approach to HIV/AIDS control and prevention.
To date, the National AIDS Control Programme
has made significant strides in providing
information on the spread of HIV and its
prevention, blood safety, patient care,
STD and TB control, research and resource
mobilization. It has also built capacity
for the planning and implementation of HIV/AIDS
interventions. A number of NGOs have been
formed and have contributed to the prevention,
control, and mitigation of the personal
impact of HIV/AIDS, as well as promoting
healthy living.
As a result of these concerted efforts,
data from the HIV-infection sentinel-surveillance
sites show declining trends in infection,
especially in urban areas. The HIV infection
rate was reduced from 32 per cent of the
total population in 1991 - 1992 to an estimated
8 per cent in 2000. The decline is most
marked among the young. This is generally
attributed to the promotion of condom use
through social marketing organisations,
which have reached large parts of the population
to promote safer sexual practices. Due to
these successful efforts, Uganda has received
together with Senegal international praise
for its commitment to fight the spread fo
HIV.
(Source: United Nations Conference on
Trade and Development, UNCTAD, 2001, An
Investment Guide to Uganda: Opportunities
and Conditions March 2001, p. 25)
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Goal &
Development Objective
The goal of the Education
/ Capacity-building programme is illiterate,
literate and semi-literate locally accessing
affordable, customised informational resources,
improved institutional service delivery
capacity and informed decision-making.
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Expected
Outcomes
• Increased awareness of HIV/AIDS
and its transmission
• Increased ownership of projects
by beneficiary communities
• Destigmatisation and demystification
of the HIV/AIDS scourge
• Reduction of suicidal tendencies
among newly infected people
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References
United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development, UNCTAD, 2001,
An Investment Guide to Uganda: Opportunities
and Conditions March 2001, p. 25
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