Bulawayo city council programme to prevent sexual transmission of HIV among vulnerable groups : final report phase one

In October 1989; Dr B Nyati; Director of the Bulawayo City Health Services Department undertook to implement a community-based intervention for sexually vulnerable groups; including sex workers; clients and STD patients in Bulawayo; Zimbabwe's second largest city (pop. 710 000). The programme has the following components: policy dialogue; definition of target groups; baseline research; identification of messages; training of health and community workers; peer education; community outreach; condom distribution; improved STD services; drama/musicgroups; support for PWA groups; income generating activities; evaluation; expansion and replication. Over 60 peer educators have been recruited and trained and have spearheaded a vigorous communtiy outreach. To date; the programme has held over 2732 meetings and distributed 151 2857 condoms. Including repeat participoants; 236 533 males habe participated in meetings; 8 000-10 000 of whom may be clients and 30 896 of whom are STD patients. 52 974 women habe participated in meetings; of whom 15000 to 2000 may be sex workers and 3774 are STD patients. The programme has reached far more sex workers; clients and STD patients than it undertook to and it has been extended to include vigorous community-wide programmes and to develop and test models for workplace and youth projects. Income generating activities have also been initiated to share some of the costs of peer education; expand the pool of peer educators and tackle the economic underpinnings of sexual vulnerability among women. [abstract terminated]

A community-level AIDS prevention programme among sexually vulnerable groups and the general population in Bulawayo; Zimbabwe

"Epidemiology models demonstrate the efficacy of interventions among ""core"" or vulnerable groups. However; in central Africa; where interventions among vulnerable groups omit large secondary risk groups; an optimal STD/HIV prevention strategy may be to combine targetted interventions among vulnerable groups with community-wide outreach. This paper describes such a community-level intervention in Bulawayo; Zimbabwe's second largest city (population 719 000); where vulnerable group members; including men and women involved in commercial sex; have been recruited and trained as outreach workers and condom distributors; both to their peers and the wider community. The programme's theoretical foundations lie in social diffusion theory; which argues that interpersonal communication is most effective in changing behaviour and that interventions may hasten behaviour change by encouraging interpersonal and community discourse about AIDS. It has 11 intergrated components: baseline research; training of educators; peer education; community outreach; condom provision; improved STD services; drama/music activities; support for PWAs; income generating activities; evaluation; and replication. [abstract terminated]"