Implementing Multiple Gender Strategies to Improve HIV and ... - ICRW

MAMA’S CLUB
LEAD ORGANIZATIONS:
COUNTRY:
HIV PROGRAM AREA:
Mama’s Club
Uganda
Prevention, Care and Support
OVERVIEW:
Mama’s Club trains HIV-positive mothers as peer educators to sensitize and train community
members in life skills, prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), infant care, and
human rights. The program also seeks to improve the economic status of HIV-positive mothers by
training them in life skills and income-generating activities. The peer educators’ community outreach
activities include giving HIV prevention talks at schools, conducting outreach to encourage men to be
supportive of their partners, and using song, dance and drama to engage community members. A
violence-reduction component involves counselors and human rights lawyers in working with the
women, and enlists supportive men to sensitize other men. The program has found that first-hand
testimonials from HIV-positive women can catalyze social change, and that men need to be involved
in gender-based programs.
BACKGROUND
HIV & AIDS
Program Goals
The primary aim of Mama’s Club is to empower HIV-positive mothers to
become community peer educators who encourage women to attend
antenatal clinics, where they can access antiretroviral medication to prevent
PMTCT. The program also seeks to improve the quality of life of HIVpositive
mothers through psychosocial support and teaching of life skills
and income-generating skills to improve their economic status.
Gender Strategies
Addressed
Reducing violence and coercion
Addressing male norms and behaviors
Increasing women’s legal protection
Increasing women’s access to income and productive resources
Other:
Description of
Intervention
Mama’s Club trains HIV-positive mothers as peer educators to sensitize
and train communities in life skills, PMTCT, infant care and human rights.
Peer educators use song, dance and drama to reach out to women. They
also encourage men not to reject their HIV-positive partners and to get
involved in family-based PMTCT programs. Peer educators talk about their
experiences on radio and TV shows, calling for a reduction in stigma and
discrimination in health facilities and in communities, and give prevention
talks in schools.
Mama’s Club addresses gender-based violence and coercion, which
characterize the lives of most of the peer educators, through testimonials
and counseling sessions. Female lawyers and human rights activists train
peer educators in dealing with violence. Peer educators also make homebased
visits and organize group interactions, which provide opportunities to
discuss violence and related issues with men.
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