World AIDS Day in Ghana

Name of the activity: World AIDS Day in Ghana

Country/NMO: Ghana (FGMSA)

Program: HIV/AIDS & Other STIs

Contact information: [email protected]

Type of the activity: Campaign. Combination of education and advocacy. Campaigns create awareness in society about a certain topic (education aspect) and try to funnel this awareness into pressure on the decision makers to adapt policies accordingly (advocacy aspect).

General description:

Friday 30th November 2018

HIV/AIDS Quiz competition between the 3 medical schools in Accra and an allied health institution. The quiz focused on specific questions around

– Prevention and Treatment

– Transmission and pathophysiology

– Global health statistics

– Stigma and Discrimination

Participants were provided with educational materials, and an extensive curriculum which we developed with experts at the Ghana National AIDS Control Programme. Participants also underwent a day of training to ensure that they were adequately prepared, not only to win the quiz, but to provide answers that correctly inform the audience

Saturday 1st December 2018

Flashmob in Accra:

We created an exciting flashmob in front of Oxford Street(the busiest street in Accra) This drew a wide range of audience including, community members and pedestrians, after which we embarked on massive public education,distribution of condoms/communication materials and did free HIV Testing

Focus area:

STI education or training for future health-care professions

Problem statement:

According to a 2017 report released by Ghana National AIDS and STI Control Programme,national HIV prevalence is 1.67% with the number of people living with HIV/AIDS estimated at 313,063 persons. This is made up of 284,860 adults and 28,203 children living with HIV and AIDS representing 91.0% adults and 9.0% children respectively. The adult incidence rate in 2017 is estimated at 0.68%, there were 19,101 new infections and 15,694 AIDS deaths. Youth prevalence also rose from 1.1% to 1.5% in 2017

Target groups:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students, Children, Youth, Women, Elderly people

Beneficiaries:

General population, Medical students, Healthcare Students, Children, Youth, Women, Elderly people

Objectives and indicators of success:

– To educate medical students, and allied health students on HIV/AIDS pathophysiology, prevention, treatment guidelines, and other scientific aspects of the disease.

– To create awareness and educate the general public on HIV/AIDS

– To offer free HIV testing to the general public

– To promote the uptake of services geared towards the prevention and treatment of HIV/AIDS

– To foster greater collaboration between youth led and youth centered organisations in Ghana on issues of sexual and reproductive health

Methodology:

By implementing the HIV/AIDS quiz competition, we will adequately educate medical and allied health students on HIV/AIDS

The flashmob/mass public education and HIV testing will engage all stakeholders to ensure that we achieve all our objectives

Plans for evaluation:

We will send a feedback survey to quiz participants and contestants to assess their HIV/AIDS knowledge after spending time to study and actually participate in the quiz

It will be challenging to evaluate the flashmob and mass public education, because we are targeting pedestrians and members of the community.

For the HIV testing, we will record all tested individuals and refer those who are positive to the appropriate health facility