Peer education as a strategy to increase contraceptive prevalence and reduce the rate of STIs/HIV among adolescents in Cameroon

Authors

Institut de Recherche et des Etudes des Comportements (IRESCO)

Document Type

Report

Publication Date

2002

Abstract

The Institute for Behavioral Studies and Research completed an operations research project entitled “Among Youth” targeting adolescents in the Mokolo neighborhood of Yaoundé, Cameroon. The results presented in this report show that adolescents in Mokolo, more often than their counterparts in the control site, adopted behavioral changes to prevent STI/HIV transmission and unwanted pregnancies as a result of the intervention. The report concludes that peer education combined with mass media campaigns form an important strategy for targeting youth with reproductive health and family planning messages and can help adolescents translate knowledge into healthy lifestyles. Integration of reproductive health messages into popular youth activities, such as sports and cultural events, was also found to be a successful strategy for reinforcing messages and discussing sensitive issues affecting adolescents’ lives in greater depth.

Recommended Citation

Institut de Recherche et des Etudes des Comportements (IRESCO). 2002. "Peer education as a strategy to increase contraceptive prevalence and reduce the rate of STIs/HIV among adolescents in Cameroon," FRONTIERS Final Report. Washington, DC: Population Council.

DOI

10.31899/rh4.1130

Language

English

Project

Frontiers in Reproductive Health