"To Take the Information Down to the People": Life Skills and HIV/AIDS Peer Educators in the Durban Area.

The failure to consider the effectiveness of existing measures as a relevant part of the context of AIDS is evident not only through its absence from the literature. It is also apparent from discussions with health and education practitioners working in Durban, the site of this study. Many of them f...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:African Studies Vol. 61; no. 1; pp. 169 - 192
Autor principal: James, Deborah
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Taylor & Francis Ltd Jul2002
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Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
Descripción
Sumario:The failure to consider the effectiveness of existing measures as a relevant part of the context of AIDS is evident not only through its absence from the literature. It is also apparent from discussions with health and education practitioners working in Durban, the site of this study. Many of them feel that a lack of research into the effects of their programmes means they are destined to work with little sense of how, and to what extent, they are succeeding in influencing AIDS-related behaviour. Although compendia of effective AIDS intervention models do exist and are debated in various fora, on-the-ground practitioners point out that their hectic schedules and the stringent conditions set by individual funders impede broader collaboration, thus limiting the extent to which they can learn from each other's and their own experiences. While each separate life skills peer education programme has to give an account of its activities to its own specific funders, there is little external or independent assessment of the broader, overall impact of these efforts.