a sourcebook of hiv/aids prevention programs volume 2

Integrated Sectorwide HIV/AIDS Preventive Education, The Gambia 49Between 1994 and 1996, with funding from Health Canada (Canada’s FederalDepartment of Health), NSGA extended the peer health education programto another 10 senior-secondary schools throughout the country.These teams in turn introduced peer health education in another 16schools. Activities were sustained at a relatively low level until 2001, whenthe secretary of state for DoSE, one of the original teachers trained inCanada in 1990, asked NSGA to extend the program throughout thenation’s secondary schools. NSGA accepted this challenge and expanded theprogram, with funding from CIDA (2001–03) and the World Bank(2003–05), through the National AIDS Secretariat (NAS).In 2001 the HIV/AIDS Rapid Response Project was established,through a $50 million loan from the World Bank. Under the terms of theproject, the NAS was created to implement the decisions of the NationalAIDS Council, a group chaired by the president of The Gambia and madeup of secretaries of state, religious leaders, representatives of NGOs, peopleliving with HIV/AIDS, and other stakeholders. In 2002 NAS and DoSEsigned a Memorandum of Understanding to establish an HIV/AIDS unitwithin DoSE. This unit is responsible for coordinating all HIV preventionactivities in The Gambia, including both those led by DoSE and those ledby NGOs.With funding from the government of Canada and in cooperation withDoSE, in 2005 NSGA created a new program, Improving CommunityHealth through Youth Development and Leadership. This program enablesthe 60 school-based peer health education teams (nearly 2,000 trained peerhealth educators) that have shown the greatest sustainability to work withNSGA’s community-based drama troupes to extend the benefits of theprogram to 100 communities throughout the country.Since 2004 The Gambia has been part of an interactive network of ministryof education HIV/AIDS “focal points” (ministry officers charged withoversight of the issue) drawn from all 15 francophone, anglophone, andlusophone countries in the Economic Community of West African States(ECOWAS) and Mauritania (box 3.1). The objective of the network is toaccelerate the education sector response to HIV/AIDS in the region by:• creating a framework for sharing information and experiences,• proposing guidelines and promoting good practices,• providing information to the Conference of Ministry of Education ofECOWAS and Mauritania on the progress of the education sectorresponse to HIV/AIDS in the region,• advocating for broad-based commitment and support to the educationresponse to HIV/AIDS,(c) The International Bank for Reconstruction and Development / The World Bank