HIV Education in Zimbabwe

Introduction: This summer, I was tasked with designing and developing a 50-page HIV education guide to be used in schools across Zimbabwe. Teachers were my main target audience. The aim of the guide is to stimulate life-saving conversations amongst young people living with HIV about disclosure, stigma, and the importance of social support. The internship was facilitated by the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and I was hosted by the Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI) in Harare, Zimbabwe.

The Team
Supervisor: Dr. Rashida Ferrand, Professor LSHTM and Sexual Health Physician in HIV
Collaborators: Tendai Muchena, BRTI Project Coordinator & HIV Health Advocate
Karen Pitt, Teacher

Why is this important?: In sub-Saharan Africa, HIV is still the leading cause of death among adolescents. In a stunning 2015 estimate, UNICEF reported the number of adolescent deaths had tripled over the last 15 years. This population not only fails to test for HIV but there is also a distinct culture of stigma surrounding HIV. This results in adolescents not receiving the information they require to make informed health decisions and engage in safe sexual practices. In Zimbabwe, this issue is particularly acute where less than 50% of young women and men have comprehensive knowledge about HIV (ZDHS 2015).

Background: The facilitation guide I developed is part of an emerging effort in Zimbabwe to use film as an innovative tool to engage adolescents within schools. This is led by a joint coalition between the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), Welcome Trust Foundation, Zimbabwe’s Biomedical Research and Training Institute (BRTI), and the Ministry of Health and Education. Chiedza’s Song is a feature-length film that tells the story of a young girl and her life experiences growing up with HIV in Harare, Zimbabwe. The film stemmed from Dr. Ferrand’s large-scale research study that investigated how to improve HIV testing and care among adolescents in Zimbabwe. The film’s key messages were derived from community focus group discussions, field in-depth interviews at primary healthcare clinics, and a collection of more than 50 stories from young people living with HIV in Harare. The film was released in 2015 on World AIDS Day.

My Experience: My internship experience began in Geneva, Switzerland with a meeting with the Youth Programmes Coordinator at UNAIDS to discuss the state of adolescents in the global AIDS response and brief him on my work in Zimbabwe. In July of 2017, I arrived in Harare, Zimbabwe with the understanding that over the last decade, the international community has seen significant progress in the HIV/AIDS response. Yet, challenges persist.

Today’s challenges are unique in that the methods of HIV prevention and treatment are clear but the social complexities of structural violence, stigma, discrimination and social exclusion remain key barriers and require interventions beyond health facilities. This challenge initially attracted me to the work I signed up for in Zimbabwe. As a lifelong youth advocate and young person, I firmly believe that education plays a crucial role in overcoming the barriers adolescents face. A key part of my start with LSHTM and BRTI was figuring out how to create a HIV education guide that not only breaks the silence surrounding young people living with HIV but also how to design it in a way that sparks conversation and empowers youth voices. A few weeks into my time in Harare, I was called by the Youth Programmes Coordinator to serve on UNAIDS’ selection committee to review grants from youth-led organizations around the world. The committee is an outgrowth from the #uproot campaign, a joint coalition between UNAIDS and 25 youth-led organizations to address the root structural causes putting young people at increased risk of HIV. We reviewed 34 applications from youth advocates and organizations and funded more than $25,000 for each successful grant.

Beyond my work with UNAIDS, my days in Harare were spent with visits to the Ministry of Education to meet with the Department of Curriculum Development, I took part in HIV support group meetings at Harare Central Hospital, I met with the UNAIDS Country Director to Zimbabwe and I worked extensively with Tendai Muchena, my biggest collaborator, on several drafts of the guide.

I learned key lessons in developing effective education tools, dealing with government departments while in the field, and that innovative partnerships demonstrated by Chiedza’s Song, represent the best of what can be accomplished when joining forces across academic and professional disciplines.

It is also important to note that the development of the guide fell outside the scope of the original Chiedza’s Song public engagement budget. Therefore, I was brought on to help extend the life of the project as it took form in a new phase for schools. I used part of my IPS summer budget to fund the development of the guide and the fees charged by the Ministry of Education for its evaluation. IPS helped fill an important gap in the scope of this project.

I am immensely proud that my deliverable is just beginning its impact. This fall, the guide and film will be disseminated to schools in Harare. In the long-term, my deliverable will be translated into multiple languages and used across schools Zimbabwe and Southern Africa.

Next Steps: Currently, I am co-writing an op-ed with a PhD candidate from LSHTM to highlight the work of Chiedza’s Song and to further underscore the importance of education in the AIDS response. I also intend on figuring out how to continue this work while at Stanford. The team behind Chiedza’s Song will be designing a new public engagement campaign to further roll out the film in communities.

Suggestions for IPS: I have limited suggestions for IPS regarding the summer internship process since my experience was organized via an untraditional route. I leveraged existing relationships with LSHTM professors to extend the life of a field project that was wrapping up. After my summer, I would encourage IPS to continue to develop relationships like this. Traditional application processes come with a nice structure but there is also value in building an experience that is tailored to your skillset. In my case, my project in Zimbabwe perfectly combined my interest in policy, storytelling, and global health. Many thanks to IPS for the support in this work!


Written by Jamal Edwards, IPS 2nd year MA Candidate, Concentration in Global Health, Stanford University.

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