There have been several reports on the increase of HIV infections and teenage pregnancies amongst adolescents in some parts of Copperbelt and Lusaka Provinces and in an effort to curb the vice, Copper Rose Zambia (CRZ) under the USAID CHEKUP 1 project is leading various initiatives to mobilize youths who are at risk of contracting HIV through dialogue meetings to promote adoption of HIV preventive behaviors and service uptake. CRZ is leading community dialogue meetings every quarter to explore the resources, skills, and competence young people need to increase their participation in HIV prevention activities. Through these dialogues CRZ has reached out to over 600 young people in Lusaka and Copperbelt Province.
The dialogue meetings are interactive sessions where mentors discuss various topics with young people with the aim of sharing knowledge on HIV prevention and Gender Based Violence as well as traditional and cultural norms.
The dialogue meetings are held in hotspot areas where adolescents are at high risk of contracting HIV. These areas were identified during community assessments with the help of community leaders. Some of the identified hotspots include markets, football grounds, and youth recreation facilities. The community leaders shared that some of the young people do not use the recreational facilities for the intended purpose instead, they use these facilities as venues for sexual activities. Therefore, holding these community dialogue meetings in the identified hotspots will help CRZ take advantage to capture the target audience and share more information on HIV prevention. During these meetings, adolescents are split into groups according to their age range, this allows them to open up and interact freely with the facilitators and healthcare workers. To make the discussions more lively and exciting, the facilitators and participants incorporate several activities such as energizers.
“So far the response has been overwhelming. We have observed that after the dialogue sessions, some of the young people have enrolled in the safe space sessions that happen in the Dream centers. Some of them interact with the nurses and ask about the activities that happen at the facilities such as HIV testing services. So already that’s an impact right there,” Rabson Sakala, USAID CHEKUP 1 Chingola District Coordinator. The Chingola District Coordinator also added that CRZ under the USAID CHEKUP 1 project hopes to see a reduction in teenage pregnancies and HIV infections in the next few months as the dialogue meetings have been very helpful to the young people. In order to accelerate this gesture, Copper Rose Zambia hopes to engage parents so that they can fully support young people to freely access Sexual Reproductive Health Services in order to achieve the goal of reducing teenage pregnancies and HIV infections amongst adolescents.
