HIV/AIDS Awareness

Guide Me Initiatives (G.M.I) strive to combat a destructive disease, HIV/AIDS which is not only a life-threatening condition, but it also affects economic and human development, while exacerbating the cycle of poverty. Despite no cure or vaccine being available, education has proven to be among the most cost-effective ways to prevent the spread of this disease. In fact, education can save lives, by providing individuals with the knowledge to reduce their risk of becoming infected.

   Educating children, and providing them with the knowledge and skills which can influence good choices to be made later in life, will protect them as they reach their most vulnerable years. Similarly, educating young people about how this disease is transmitted, prevention practices as well as encouraging sporadic testing can yield the maximum return on education investments. Education raises awareness. Educated women are more likely to prevent the spread of the disease to their children, as they understand the importance of testing during pregnancy and are mindful of the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission via breastfeeding.

This is particularly true for adolescent girls and young women, who continue to be the most vulnerable and highest risk groups.

Our Main goals

·       Provision of necessary knowledge and skills about HIV and AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs)

The assumption underlying this objective is that it would enable effective drawing of the HIV and AIDS education program’s content and learning experiences which would expose the learners to the right knowledge and skills. That is, the content that gives the youth relevant knowledge from time to time to enable them adopt and adapt such behavior that would be in tandem with prevention and control of HIV and AIDS spread among the youth in general

·       Develop life skills that would lead to AIDS free life

The present study holds that a learner should develop a positive attitude towards a program like the HIV and AIDS education before developing the life skills.  Discussions with students revealed that they believed to have developed life skills like negotiation for safer sex, promotion of information regarding HIV and AIDS prevention among the youth and community at large.

·       Identify appropriate sources of information on HIV/AIDS related issues

The objective refers to students’ ability to develop attention to selected content of the program. The student therefore expresses interest, appreciation, values and develops emotional sets towards the HIV and AIDS mate-rials. The present study revealed that students never get time to identify resources in order to improve their knowledge and skills about HIV and AIDS. The student respondent reported that in schools the HIV and AIDS education resources just gather dust in the libraries since they are not updated therefore are boring to read. Some of the content does not reflect on the learners’ expectations since the content was not developed with the learners’ literacy level in mind. Therefore, language used in writing these materials should be simplified for better understanding of the concepts by the learners

TARGETED PROGRAMS

Guide Me Initiatives (G.M.I) targets to develop programs that will enable youth to have awareness or HIV/AID these include:

·       Peer Educators training programs

The aim of the program is to up-skill peer educators as sources of information, careers and a support system. Peer educators are the key personnel in any effective strategy in terms of the communication of HIV/AIDS program decisions made by an organization.