USAID/Guinea: Combining Girls' Soccer and HIV/AIDS Prevention Successful in Guinea

APRIL 29, 2005

Combining Girls' Soccer and HIV/AIDS Prevention Successful in Guinea

A USAID-sponsored program is successfully encouraging both the development and organizaiton of girls' soccer, AND public awareness about HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.

A girls’ soccer program sponsored by USAID in Upper Guinea promoting prevention of HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies proved so successful that UNICEF and the Guinea Ministry of Youth decided to replicate the program for young adults in Middle Guinea.

girls' soccer team organized through a USAID health project in Mandiana, in Upper Guinea

Young girls enjoy soccer a give out important informaton on HIV/AIDS. Read Portraits of Prevention

The soccer program, developed by USAID partner PRISM International, is part of USAID’s strategy to reach Guinean youth with messages designed to prevent HIV/AIDS, sexually transmitted infections (STI), and unwanted pregnancies. Banking on the popularity of sports among youth in the country, USAID collaborated with local youth authorities and soccer team leaders in Upper Guinea to develop a communication strategy linked to girls’ soccer, and with an emphasis on conveying messages about the prevention of both HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancies.

During a series of soccer games, theatre troupes performed sketches with prevention messages during half time, while youth peer educators disseminated messages to the crowd. Banners were displayed with the program’s slogan, “My right: information. My duty: abstinence or condom,” while also distributing pamphlets on STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and unwanted pregnancy prevention.

UNICEF, along with Guinea’s Ministry of Youth recognized the program’s effectiveness in Upper Guinea and decided to collaborate with PRISM to organize a similar initiative in Labé (Middle Guinea), with a soccer tournament held this month celebrating women’s rights.

“I want to thank PRISM for supporting youth activities, especially girls’ soccer,” said Fode Soumah, Guinea’s Minister of Youth and Sports. “I urge other NGOs and projects in the country to do the same.”

USAID supported two teams—the Sankaran Football Club of Faranah and the Hirondelles of Kankan—during the tournament held April 2 to April 10. USAID also financed the contribution of materials, including brochures, banners, T-shirts, and caps. The teams were encouraged to sing songs promoting abstinence, fidelity, and condom use. Each time a goal was scored, the girls would lift their jerseys to display a T-shirt underneath emblazoned with prevention messages.

The two PRISM-supported teams were not only successful at spreading prevention messages at the tournament, they also both made it to the finals with Faranah’s Sankaran Football Club taking home the championship.
Local government representatives in Labé now want PRISM to continue its efforts throughout their region.

The USAID-sponsored “PRISM” project in French stands for “Pour Renforcer les Interventions en Santé Reproductive et MST/ SIDA,” or “Strengthening Interventions in Reproductive Health and STD/AIDS.” The project is part of an overall health program put into place by USAID in Guinea to increase the use of family planning products, services and practices, improve maternal and child health, and prevent the transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Targeting the youth population for HIV/AIDS prevention is one key strategy for USAID/Guinea’s HIV/AIDS program. The USAID sponsored national HIV/AIDS sero-prevalence survey conducted in 2001 in fact revealed that HIV/AIDS rates among all Guinean youth aged 15-24 were at 2.5%, and 3% for out-of-school youth. Hence, addressing the youth, considered a high risk group, with effective communication strategies is critical to the overall stability and prosperity of Guinea. National rates among gold miners were at 4.7%, and among transporters at 7.3%—both high-risk groups identifed in Upper Guinea and equally benefiting from USAID’s HIV/AIDS prevention activities.

Since focusing on Upper Guinea, USAID has been able to help the Government of Guinea, along with other health partners, keep HIV rates in check in that region. A Demographic Health Survey with the latest HIV seroprevalence rates for Guinea is expected to be released by September, 2005.”

Strategic communications such as those used by USAID in the health sector in Guinea are designed to influence political dialogue, promote collective action, and encourage individual behavior change. By increasing access to good information, innovative activities such as the Girls’ soccer program are helping improve the health and health care of Guineans, including better and broader knowledge by all about HIV/AIDS.

A halftime, soccer players hold up a banner during an HIV/AIDS awareness presentation which says: "With PRISM, we play for life. From 2001 to 2005, the national HIV seroprevalence rate went from 2.8% to 4.2%. That's too much, and we should react quickly and immediately. The Kankan Swallows are committed to sending out messages about abstinence, fidelity, and condoms."

Story by Kim Martin, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health/Center for Communication Programs