Mpherembe Youth Empowerment for Sustainable Wellbeing
Project location: Mpherembe, Mzimba
Target audience: Youth
Funding from: PEPFAR
Status: Ongoing
The challenge
One hundred and twenty young people in Mpherembe have been diagnosed with HIV from January, 2019 to July 2020. The community through Mpherembe health center continues to be overwhelmed with cases of teenage pregnancies among young people living with HIV. In 2019, 15 teen girls living with HIV got pregnant. In addition, January 2020 to July, 2020, out of 750 young people who got tested, 60 were boys and 690 were girls representing 8% and 92% respectively. Out of the 750 that got tested, 11 boys and 28 girls tested HIV positive. This demonstrates lack of knowledge of HIV prevention and reluctance of male young people to get tested. Therefore, there is need for awareness to increase the knowledge levels of young people in HIV prevention and treatment. The area also has limited access to HIV services such as testing, ART due to topography and distances to and from testing centers. As such, bringing HTC services in the community and formation of post-test clubs will address the gaps that exist
Project goal
The overall goal of the project is to contribute to the prevention of HIV infection and mitigate the impacts of HIV and AIDS
Project objectives
The specific objective is to contribute to the reduction of new HIV infections. These will be achieved through the following objectives:
-
Improving knowledge in accessing HIV information among 900 young people in Mpherembe by August, 2021
-
Enhancing access to quality YFHS services for 900 young people in Mpherembe by August, 2021
-
Promoting sexual behavior change among 900 young people living with HIV and AIDS in Mpherembe by August, 2021
Project activities
-
Identification of youth clubs in the 4 targeted areas
-
Strengthen demand creation and community mobilization for YFHS.
-
Training youth community members in YFHS activities
-
Establish/strengthen 4 teen clubs (pre & post-test clubs)
-
Develop a specific and relevant information package for cultural initiators
-
Train 12 young people in SRH
-
Conduct counseling and guidance on sexual behavior change
-
Back to school campaign