HIV and AIDS response program, Mongolia - Australian Red Cross

Peer educator and peer support groups were central to the program. Photo: Australian Red Cross.through schools; educational institutions;and elsewhere. Peer educators alsoreported a greater degree of difficulty ingetting participation in HIV informationactivities.Peer educators’ experience with this groupalso showed up some of the deficiencies inmessage targeting. Counselling forabstinence was not considered useful;also, when talking about exercising greatercaution outside of ‘long term faithfulrelationships’, they found that youngpeople might well consider a six-monthrelationship as ‘long-term’. Centralmessages need to be fine-tuned todecrease risk.As with the three other target groups,young people who were recruited as peereducators reported high satisfaction withtheir work and its effectiveness, and theknowledge and skills they had gained.Reducing stigma throughworking with journalistsA total of 246 journalists working in printmedia, television and internet weresuccessfully targeted by the program,specifically to improve media coverage byreducing sensationalist stories likely toincrease discrimination and maintainconfusion about the causes of AIDS andtransmission of HIV. Final results in mediastories run during the project lifetime weremixed, partly due to one high-profile casein Mongolia of a blood donor being foundto be HIV-positive. However, focus groupdiscussions among journalists who hadparticipated showed significant change inknowledge and attitude for the better, anda greater preparedness to present storiesbased on fact, and to include the voices ofpeople living with HIV, and of those in highriskgroups.ConclusionHARP’s most important achievement hasbeen in laying a basic foundation for theon-going response to HIV in Mongolia. Theprogram has broken important newground in not only demonstrably increasingthe capacity of Mongolian Red Cross andits branches, but in establishing a peereducation model which can effectivelyreach high-risk groups and effect realknowledge and behaviour change there.Mongolian Red Cross’ own knowledgeand capacity to implement promotionaland educational activities around HIV hasincreased, as has its ability to workthrough CBO partners and to use nontraditionalmodels of communityeducation. The community developmentwhich has taken place within high-riskgroups is a very distinctive and importantachievement, and it is hoped that this canbe built on further.- 2011