Aid for AIDS

¿Cuánto sabes de VIH y SIDA?

¿Cuanto Sabes de VIH y SIDA? ( How much do you know about HIV and AIDS? is an HIV primary prevention effort targeted at teenagers in the developing world. Currently, the program operates in Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela, and is in the process of being implemented in Mexico. The program is based on a peer-as- educator model, where youth are trained to teach healthcare messages to their peers. The program incorporates rather novel concepts of Neuro Linguistic Programming to enable peer educators (known as ‘multiplying agents’ or agentes mutltiplicadores), to frame discussions of HIV transmission and prevention principles in ways that have maximum impact on each unique audience of teenagers. In addition, Cuanto Sabes incorporate important life skills identified by the World Health Organization (WHO). Specifically, these skills are: social or interpersonal skills, including communication, negotiation/refusal skills, assertiveness, cooperation, and empathy; cognitive skills, including problem solving, understanding consequences, decision making, critical thinking, and self-evaluation; and emotional coping skills, including managing stress, managing feelings, self-managements, and self-monitoring . These life skills contribute to basic education, gender equality, democracy, quality of life, and promotion of life-long learning..

The fundamental goal of this program is to reduce HIV transmission rates in particular geographic regions of interest, with a primary emphasis on empowering young people in the LAC to become leaders in the fight against AIDS. The program also aims at bringing prevention and advocacy to the community level: primary prevention education, advocacy to testing and care, and reduction in the stigma and discrimination that impede people from protecting themselves, getting tested, and seeking care. Of equal importance is AFAI’s goal to normalize how governments, schools, corporations, NGOs, media, and individuals within Spanish-speaking societies of the LAC discuss HIV/AIDS issues. Together, these different groups can take a more comprehensive and coordinated approach to reducing the threat that HIV poses to their citizens.

Our program methodology aims to instruct youth in the communication strategies of Neuro-Linguistic Programming and the “life skills” outlined by the Pan American Health Organization and recognized internationally as a priority for promoting school health. We recognize a great need for prevention education as well as empowerment and community mobilizing to fight the AIDS epidemic in this region.

¿Cuánto Sabes de VIH y SIDA?

History: How Much Do You Know About HIV? was developed in 2004 by the Program Director based in Caracas, Venezuela, along with the collaboration of the original Peer Educators and AFAI head quarters office . These first Peer Educators gave workshops in schools across Caracas, dramatically increasing their peers’ knowledge of HIV and AIDS by 45%. In 2006, the program grew to include six countries: the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Totaling 311 in 6 countries, our Peer Educators now provided workshops in their own and other schools, reaching a total of 34,183 youth. In 2007, we were able to expand the program to 2 new countries: Colombia and Ecuador. In addition, we are currently in the process of establishing program offices in Mexico. Meanwhile, our experienced staff is in their third year of program replication and will continue to recruit and train new groups of Peer Educators, as well as contribute to implementation of promising new strategies and the ongoing evaluation of the program.

The design of ¿Cuanto Sabes? has proven to be extremely scaleable and adaptable for different types of communities, schools and individual country circumstances.

Undoubtedly you will understand when we say that ¿Cuanto Sabes? is extremely important to all of us at AFAI for many reasons, not the least of which is that we have put so much of our emotional capital into this initiative. We are extremely pleased that the program has been enthusiastically embraced by teenagers and schools in so many countries and we are sustained by the knowledge that ¿Cuanto Sabes? can without doubt be incredibly beneficial to countless more youth.

Program Content:

• Oratory techniques base in Neuro Linguistic Programming and mental maps.
• Important information and facts about HIV and AIDS
• The differences between HIV and AIDS.
• The difference between transmission and contagion.
• The HIV Test
• Routes of HIV transmission.
• Adolescence..
• Adolescents and sexuality
• Healthy and responsible behavior for adolescents.
• Risk reduction and prevention techniques, for STIs and pregnancy .
• Human, sexual, and reproductive rights of people living with HIV and AIDS..
• Life Skills

Program Highlights:

- Current countries: Dominican Republic ( Santo Domingo ), Honduras ( San Pedro Sula ) , Guatemala (Guatemala City ), Panama ( Panama City ) , Colombia ( Cali ), Venezuela ( Los Teques ), Ecuador (Guayaquil) y Peru ( Lima ).

- 1030 adolescents as multiplying agents (agentes mutltiplicadores)

- More that 100,000 youth reached.

- World AIDS Day Celebration 2005: more that 2400 school-aged adolescents gather in the first event in Cali – Colombia

- World AIDS Day Celebration 2006: Un Batazo Contra el SIDA - Over 4000 youth participated in a day-long workshop and celebration of their efforts to fight AIDS in the Dominican Republic.

- Peer Educator from the Dominican Republic was selected and sponsored to participate in the First Latin American and Caribbean Conference for Women, Girls, and Adolescents living with HIV, held in Panama in October 2006.

- 50 psychologists were trained in Cali, Colombia to become Program Facilitators. These facilitators will, in turn, train another 450 individuals and bring this model to the entire state of Valle del Cauca.

The program is primarily funded by generous grants from the MAC AIDS Foundation
and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation