Training of Peer Health Educators
Freetown (Sierra Leone) 26 August - 6 September 2002

With assistance from UNESCO, the Nova Scotia - Gambia Association (NSGA) has begun a pilot project in school-based peer health education in seven schools in Freetown, Sierra Leone. The project is based upon a successful peer health education model which the Canadian NGO has implemented in senior and junior secondary schools throughout The Gambia.

The pilot program, with the full support of the Ministry of Education, was initiated in Freetown on August 26 with 108 students and twelve teachers from seven Freetown high schools commencing a ten-day training program for peer health educators. The training team consists of five Sierra Leoneans who have been working for NSGA in The Gambia. All of them came to The Gambia some years ago as refugees from the civil war and all are excited to have this opportunity to return to Sierra Leone to assist in the rebuilding and reconciliation process, and especially to contribute to the mental, emotional and physical health and well being of children and youth.

The seven schools involved in the pilot program are:

The coordinator of the training team, Amadu Jalloh, reports from Freetown that the new peer health educators (PHEs) have been participating actively in the information and training sessions and "are learning a lot." He said that, as a consequence of the war, these high school students have "an appalling ignorance of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases," but, he said, "they are highly motivated and eager to learn." In general the trainees "had only heard of two STDs, gonnorea and syphilis," and, "while most had heard of AIDS, their lack of knowledge and misinformation would leave them greatly at risk in the post-war environment."

While AIDS prevention is a key focus of the program, the NSGA approach in Sierra Leone as in The Gambia is a holistic one. Reproductive health, the harmful effects of tobacco use, drug and alcohol abuse, tuberculosis, and healthy relationships are integral components of the program. The Sierra Leonean Ministry of Education has also asked the training team to integrate a module dealing with conflict resolution, trauma, reconciliation and peace building.

The training sessions are scheduled to be completed just before schools re-open in Freetown for the new academic year. At that point the pilot project will be formally "launched" by NSGA and the Ministry of Education and the seven school-based PHE teams will implement strategies to bring the information which they have learned during the ten day training program effectively to the attention of their fellow students between mid-September and the Christmas recess.

This will be a formidable task as the seven schools have a combined student population in excess of 11,000. For this reason, the training sessions include a great deal of attention to the development of communication skills and strategies on the part of the peer educators. The skills to be developed will include proficiency in public speaking, role playing and dramatic abilities, discussion techniques, poster-making and other presentation and communication skills.

Amadu Jalloh was greatly encouraged not only by the excellent support of the Ministry of Education and administrators of all the participating schools, but by the considerable attention which the national media has paid to this program. The opening ceremonies were carried on national television and radio and by various newspapers, and the TV cameras are returning at a mid point in the training sessions to interview peer educators about what they have been learning.

The pilot project will be formally evaluated in December and at that time the Ministry of Education and the Nova Scotia - Gambia Association will be in a position to decide whether to seek ways and means, including donor support, of extending this program throughout the country.