Education Mali Project #17568

Teen Peer Education in Mali

by GAIA Vaccine Foundation

Project Report | Mar 19, 2025
Knowledge is the Key

By Anja Schneider | Content and Community Manager

Education is one of the key factors in protecting at-risk youth against the transmission of HIV, and studies have proven that adolescent girls are the most vulnerable sector for new HIV infections. Not only are young girls more susceptible to the transmission of HIV, they also risk other unintended consequences such as pregnancy, having to abandon their education, and losing crucial personal relationships. All of these together can create a financial burden as well. In order to protect the young population of Bamako against HIV and its aftermath, our team created the Teen Peer Education Program.

The goal of the Teen Peer Education Program is to provide a safe and positive environment where qualified healthcare professionals can teach the youth of Bamako, Mali about potential risks they may face. We also have teen educators, trained by adult HIV educators, to promote confident discussions about the adolescents’ wellness. Each session also provides condoms and free HIV- testing.

These weekly meetings reach young people that are in school, and those that are not. The program continues to promote open communication for youth about risks they may face, and encourage them to apply the information they learn to real life situations in order to avoid risky sexual encounters. In time, we hope to greatly reduce the number of girls who become HIV+.

With a donation of $10, you would be sponsoring 2 teens in attending a single program session. With a donation of $20, you would be sponsoring 4 teenagers as they attend one of our weekly discussion meetings. With a generous donation of $50, you would be providing one of our HIV educator’s ENTIRE salary, ensuring they are present and able to support our program and its participants. If you were to donate $75, it would be because of YOU that GAIA Vaccine Foundation is able to host an ENTIRE session, and provide potentially lifesaving information that the participants can take with them as they face the world. We thank you for your continued support for our Teen Peer Education Program, and are hopeful for the future of GAIA Vaccine Foundation.

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Nov 25, 2024
Protecting Teens Through Education

By Anja Schneider | Content and Community Manager

The most at risk population for HIV are teens, more particularly, adolescent girls. This portion of the population is also susceptible to teen pregnancy, thus having to quit their education, and potentially risk losing financial and emotional support.

The primary way to protect these young people from these unwanted consequences is through education. GAIA Vaccine Foundation recognizes this, and in order to increase the population’s access to important knowledge, we founded the Teen Peer Education Program.

The Teen Peer Education Program has been proven to help raise awareness among adolescents about the risks that they face. GAIA Vaccine Foundation is conscious of the fact that in order to ensure the success of the program, it would be most valuable for teens to receive their education from fellow teens. Therefore, we have teenage educators trained through our local adult HIV educators and partners in Bamako, Mali. These teenage educators are fully equipped with the proper communication tools to connect with the adolescent students who attend the weekly discussions.

In time, our program hopes to greatly reduce the number of teenagers who contract HIV. With a donation of $10, you would be sponsoring 2 teens in attending a program session. With a donation of $20, you would be sponsoring 4 teenagers as they attend one of our weekly programs. With a generous donation of $50, you would be providing one of our HIV educator’s ENTIRE salary. If you were to donate $75, it would be because of YOU that GAIA Vaccine Foundation is able to host an ENTIRE session! These sessions are so crucial for ensuring that the young people of Mali are fully equipped with potentially life-saving knowledge. We thank you for your continued support for our ongoing programs, and are hopeful for the future of GAIA Vaccine Foundation.

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Jul 31, 2024
Education and HIV Prevention

By Anja Schneider | Communications and Community Manager

In Mali, some of the most at risk members of the population are youth, and more specifically, teen girls. However, providing education in a safe and effective environment can greatly reduce the risk of transmission among this age group. GAIA Vaccine Foundation has found that the best way to communicate the risks of HIV to young people in Mali is through peer to peer education.

Our Teen Peer Education Program has been proven to help raise awareness within the adolescent population about the risks they face. GAIA Vaccine Foundation employs teenage educators through our local partners in Bamako, Mali. These teen educators are trained by our adult HIV educators and collaborate frequently with local health services to revise and implement communication skills for these adolescents by providing weekly discussions.

Our Teen Peer Education Program hosts a weekly discussion session with the goal of allowing Malian teens to talk about issues they may be facing, and how to avoid risky sexual encounters. By hosting these meetings, adolescents in the community are able to broaden their HIV knowledge, a statistic that GAIA Vaccine Foundation will evaluate before and after participation in the program in order to gauge its effectiveness.

In time, our program hopes to greatly reduce the number of teenage girls who contract HIV. In doing so, we would need to expand our reach, which would not be possible without your support. With a donation of $10, you would be sponsoring 2 teens in attending a program session. With a donation of $20, you would be sponsoring 4 teenagers. With a generous donation of $50, you would be providing one of our HIV educator’s entire salary. If you were to donate $75, it would be because of YOU that GAIA Vaccine Foundation is able to host an ENTIRE session! We thank you for your continued support for our ongoing programs, and are hopeful for the future of GAIA Vaccine Foundation.

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