HEART program offers Zambian youth hope for an HIV / AIDS-free future.

Abstract

Poor socio-economic conditions and the HIV/AIDS pandemic can portend a grim future for Zambian youth, but an innovative HIV/AIDS prevention program provides hope to some young adults for a future without HIV/AIDS. In 1998 the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) asked the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and its implementing partner, the Zambia Integrated Health Programme (ZIHP), to work with young people to address the HIV/AIDS problem, with the support and guidance of the Central Board of Health (CBOH), the National AIDS Council and Secretariat (NAC), and other nongovernmental organizations. Designed by youth for youth, the Helping Each other Act Responsibly Together (HEART) program informs young adults about HIV/AIDS, discusses ways to prevent HIV/AIDS, and promotes abstinence and condom use. With USAID support, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and Population Services International help implement HEART. The program's first three phases focused on promoting abstinence, or in the absence of abstinence, correct and consistent condom use. HEART also tried to dispel beliefs that a person can tell if someone is HIV positive just by looking at him or her. This issue of Communication Impact! focuses on HEART's third phase. (excerpt)