Teen Peer Education in Mali

GAIA Vaccine Foundation Scientific Director Annie De Groot says that “Teenagers are the ‘canary in the goldmine’” because they show that HIV transmission is continuing to be a problem in Mali. In 2012, our team
realized that most of the new infections being reported at Chez Rosalie (our mother to child HIV transmission prevention program) were being reported for teen mothers. This suggested that not only were teenagers at risk of pregnancy, but they were also at risk of acquiring HIV infection with their first pregnancy.

The Teen Peer Education Program was pilot-tested in 2012, and fully implemented in 2014. This program actively recruits the next generation of Malians, 14 to 18-year-old adolescents and young adults, in an engaging, co-ed, teen health education program on STDs, HIV, HPV and reproductive health each week with the aim of addressing health issues faced by youth in Mali. In 2018, this program reached 1,469 youth!

One of the Chez Rosalie founders, Rokia Sangare, who is also a founding member of the ASACOMSI, is part of a team at the Hope Center Clinic working with young women to maintain school enrollment, increase literacy rates, provide reproductive health education including teen pregnancy prevention, and expand young women’s access to health care. In 2019, GAIA VF aims to both sustain this program while also seeking funding partners to conduct outreach to female teen participants who do not attend school and to offer female teen-only health clinic afternoons. The Teen Peer Education Program will also continue to work with the community to identify additional key services for young and adolescent women.

“We live in a very underserved neighborhood where people are poor and illiteracy rates are over 90%. We have women and girls who have never gone to school. We even have young girls who are now mothers and are not able to continue their studies. We want to keep working with GAIA to address these issues.”

~Rokia Sangare, a GAIA clinic administrator who leads adult literacy classes for women at the HCC also continuing to reach teens who are not enrolled in school

The creation of GAIA’s Teen Peer Education Program was in direct response to significant challenges faced by young women in Mali. In low-income areas, first pregnancies often coincide with acquisition of the HIV virus, making the early teen years a crucial time to provide critical health information. Maternal mortality rates are among the highest on the continent (587 per 100,000 live births), and global statistics show that younger women aged 15-19 have a 28% higher risk of maternal mortality than women aged 20-24 years. In GAIA’s Teen Peer Education program, 42 of GAIA’s 555 female teen participants do not attend school. In comparison, only 2 of 141 male teen participants do not attend school. The Teen Peer Education Program includes frank discussions about sexually transmitted diseases, and also informs girls that teen pregnancy is a risk to her health and to her ability to pursue her education.

 In the words of Rokia Sangare, a clinic administrator who leads adult literacy classes for women,

“We live in a very underserved neighborhood where people are poor and illiteracy rates are over 90%. We have women and girls who have never gone to school. We even have young girls who are now mothers and are not able to continue their studies. We want to keep working with GAIA to address these issues”

In 2018, GAIA plans to train female peer leaders to recruit new female teen participants who do not attend school. GAIA’s team will continue to work with the community to identify additional key services for young and adolescent women. Your support will enable GAIA to engage more out-of-school, adolescent teenagers in the Teen Education Program than were engaged last year.

Will you join the GAIA team, and community leaders like Rokia Sangare, to provide more opportunities to women and girls in Mali?