Abstract #284  -  WhizzKids United and HIV prevention for adolescents: Utilising the power of football for HIV prevention in KwaZulu-Natal
Authors:   Presenting Author:   Mr Thomas Farrar - Africaid
Additional Authors:  Mr Marcus McGilvray, Dr Tomas Campbell, Ms Catherine Donoghue,
Aim: HIV/AIDS is a serious problem in South Africa. 1 in 10 South Africans is HIV+ and prevalence in the 15-24 age range is approximately 16.2%. KwaZulu-Natal continues to have the highest HIV prevalence with an estimated rate in pregnant women of 37.4 % in 2007. Young people in particular are at high risk of contracting HIV. Young women are 4 times more likely to be HIV+ than men of the same age group. Females account for 87% of recent HIV infection in the 15 -24 age group. Condom use is low: 57% of women aged 15-24 age group had never used contraception. WhizzKids United (WKU) is an innovative HIV prevention strategy targeted at young people in KZN to facilitate acquisition of sexual health information and negotiation skills through the medium of football.
Method / Issue: The WKU programme engages with local school communities to normalise HIV education. Football is used to illustrate valuable life skills: personal goal-setting, self-control, self-care, social skills and knowledge about HIV and prevention. The programme aims to harness interest and motivation by appealing to young peoples’ passion for football to establish essential skills in their daily life behaviour. The programme is equally targeted at boys and girls. The first component of WKU is Life Skills football training. WKU teaches professional football skills which are then used to illustrate essential life skills. The six-session, 10-hour course strives to motivate participants to lead healthy, productive lives and achieve their goals, and empower them with the life skills they need to do this. Specific skills covered include how to use a condom/femidom, condom negotiation skills, and confidence to take an HIV test with a new partner. The second component, Peer Education, addresses difficulties that young people have accessing information/support about sexual behaviour/issues. Participants who showed exceptional leadership and aptitude in the Life Skills course receive additional training as Peer Educators. Seven two-hour workshops which reinforce the lessons of the Life Skills course are held in their school environment. Life Skills and Peer Education are both temporary, school-based interventions. The third component of the programme – the Health Academy – is designed as a permanent, community-based venue to sustain the behavioural changes initiated by Life Skills and Peer Education. WKU Health Academies are ‘teen clinics’, intended to be user-friendly. Teen clinics will offer a wide range of health and counselling services to an exclusively adolescent population. A key outcome of the Health Academies is to encourage regular HIV testing amongst adolescents.
Results / Comments: WKU has been highly successful at engaging young people in the programme. The approach has proved to be a highly successful strategy to deliver key HIV prevention messages. Young women have benefitted particularly. Data will be presented to illustrate key outcomes of the programme.
Discussion: Points for discussion include: - How WKU harnesses the power of football to induce behavioural change in youth by building self-efficacy and life skills - How WKU uses peer education to challenge social norms that facilitate the spread of HIV - How WKU meets the challenge of providing adolescent-friendly health services (AFHS) and increasing adolescent uptake of VCT
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