Give a Chance

AIDS Awareness in Ivorian High Schools

Field study in Abidjan and Abengourou

N'Da Bian Jean-Marie

Md Sadik Pavel
Abderrahim Boukellouda
Muhammad Qahraman
Mohamedou Bouasrya
Muhammad Rezaul Kabir
Field Mission | Master 2 Development Economics and International
Project Management Universit Paris-Est Crteil Val-De-Marne | March
2016

Acknowledgement
We would first like to thank Save The Children International Cte dIvoire for its support
throughout the different phases of this project. Their advices have helped us in improving our
knowledge for the conduct of a project of this magnitude. We particularly thank Dr Semd
and Dr Mahan for their full involvement during our stay in Ivory Coast.
We are also grateful to SIDA SOS Belgium for their support and information provided that
helped us during the awareness campaigns.
Enable us to say thanks to the students in Ivory Coast and the schools staff, who granted us a
warm welcome and accepted to share with us details about their knowledge on AIDS. We
really hope more actions will be taken to inform and protect them from this incurable disease.
We will never be enough grateful to all people who have participated in the realization of this
project, especially the donors. We thank them for their investment as this has helped many
teenagers to be more informed on HIV
We are grateful to Mrs Durand Delga for her assistance in the conduct of our project.

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Contents
Acknowledgement .................................................................................................................................. 1
Background ......................................................................................................................................... 4
Empirical analysis ................................................................................................................................ 5
Interest in AIDS issue in Ivory Coast ................................................................................................... 5
Students Awareness actions in France ............................................................................................... 5
Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 6
1.

Context of the study ....................................................................................................................... 8

1.1.

Geographical and historical context of Ivory Coast .............................................................. 10

1.2.

Project: Give a Chance .......................................................................................................... 11

1.2.1.

Why intervention in schools ?....................................................................................... 11

1.2.2.

Our Logo ........................................................................................................................ 11

1.2.3.

Our Associated Partners ............................................................................................... 12

1.2.4.

The financial statement ................................................................................................ 12

1.3.
2.

3.

Implementation .................................................................................................................... 14

Result and Evaluation of the Project............................................................................................. 17

2.1.

Methodology......................................................................................................................... 17

2.2.

Data on awareness................................................................................................................ 17

2.2.1.

Girls awareness ............................................................................................................. 19

2.2.2.

Boys awareness ............................................................................................................. 20

2.2.3.

Boys vs girls awareness ................................................................................................. 20

2.2.4.

Awareness analysis by class .......................................................................................... 21

2.2.5.

Analysis per questions .................................................................................................. 23

Self-evaluation and critical analysis .............................................................................................. 24

3.1.

Achievements........................................................................................................................ 24

3.2.

Limits ..................................................................................................................................... 24

Conclusion and Recommendations ..................................................................................................... 25

References ............................................................................................................................................ 29
Appendix............................................................................................................................................... 30

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Synthesis of the project

Ivory Coast is in a post-crisis period since 2011, with a goal to be an emerging
country at 2020 horizon. As this country is in the spotlight due to its political
background and its economical growth, it was important to ensure AIDS
awareness was on the right track also. We have therefore oriented our study on
high schools students because they constitute a part of the vulnerable
population. It is important that they be part of the pronated emergence with good
health and the opportunity to grow safe. This paper deals therefore with AIDS
awareness in Ivorian high schools, based on a field mission realized on March
2016 in Abidjan, Abengourou and Niabl.

Table 1: Synthesis of the Project

Title of the project

Give a Chance & Save The Children

Awareness Campaign in high schools Against HIV/AIDS
in Ivory Coast.

Project description

Organize awareness sessions regarding HIV/AIDS

issues, which enable teenagers to know the routes of
transmission and prevention methods and accordingly
adopt responsible behavior.

Area of intervention

Three regions of Ivory Coast : Abidjan, Niabl &

Abengourou

Duration (preparation)

4 Months ( December 2015 -March 2016)

Duration (Implementation)

2 weeks (March, 13th to March, 27th 2016)

The pre-mission period has lasted for 4 months. During this period, we have worked on the
feasibility of the project. We with the support of Save The Children have prepared a draft
protocol that constituted the heart of our mission (Cf Appendix D). In this draft we defined
the context and the objectives of our intervention.

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In order to clearly plan our activities, we have at the beginning of our work formulated one
general objective and three main specific goals to reach. These are summarized in the
following table:
Overall objective

Specific objectives
Provide information to young
people about HIV / AIDS

Planned activities
Organize awareness sessions for
students in the 5 selected schools

Provide guidance to young people Distribute questionnaires

Reduce the vulnerability who want to do the testing for HIV
of young people to HIV / / AIDS
AIDS in schools in
particular and society in
Raise the level of knowledge and Produce posters, flyers
general.
awareness among teenagers.
T-Shirts.

Distribute brochures.

Background
The crisis of 2011 in Ivory Coast has affected many families, with many orphans infected by
HIV. This crisis has amplified the level of contaminated people, which was already
considerable. Conscious of this fact, on May 19th 2015, Save The Children has launch the
project named REVE (Ressources pour llimination de la vulnrabilit des enfants) in order
to take care of infected people and vulnerable orphans children.
Abidjan and Abengourou being among the regions where there is the higher number of
infected people, we have decided with Save The Children to conduct awareness campaigns in
high schools for teenagers to be more informed on this topic in these regions.

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and

Empirical analysis
This field mission has been conducted in two regions but three towns Abidjan, Abengourou
and Niabl. We have met high schools students and exchange with them and they answered a
questionnaire of 15 questions. Based on their answers, we have made a quantitative analysis
to evaluate the level of awareness with a differentiation between girls and boys and also
between teenagers of the capital Abidjan and of Abengourou and Niabl.

Interest in AIDS issue in Ivory Coast

Many organizations have set projects in order to improve the lives of persons affected by
HIV and also to emphasize on prevention. Apart from NGOs IRC and JPIEGO that are
working in collaboration with Save The Children on REVE project, the government is also
involved in helping infected persons and also focus on prevention. In September 2014,
USAID has given the authorization to 15 private clinics to provide health care to infected
people. Indeed, this was previously exclusively reserved to public hospitals. All these actions
aimed at the welfare of vulnerable people already infected or exposed to AIDS.

Students Awareness actions in France

Compared to developing countries like Ivory Coast, France has more actors involved in the
sensitization of students in France. Stakeholders like SIDA Action make available many tools
like DVD, CD rooms, internet website, a blog in their operation called Pour la vie. The
Pour la vie operation since 2005 is taking place in the colleges, high schools and outside
schools. This project is realized in collaboration with some other actors such the National
education ministry and France 5. We really hope actions of this magnitude will be taken in
Ivory Coast in few times. Moreover, since 2008 there are automatic condoms distributors in
high schools. With the different culture in Ivory Coast this step of condoms distribution in
schools will surely not be implemented soon. But we really hope more budget will be
allocated to sensitization by the Ivorian government.

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Introduction
Globally, an estimated 40 million people were living with HIV/AIDS at the end of 2005.
More than 10 million of them are young people aged 15 to 24 years. Half of the 4.2 million
new infections in adults in 2005 occurred in this age group. Each day 5 0006 000 new
infections occur among young people.

Sub-Saharan Africa contains almost two thirds of all young people living with HIV or AIDS
(6.2 million); 76% of them are female (Figure 1). The region with the second highest
prevalence is Asia, which has an estimated 2.2 million young people who are living with the
Virus. The regions where young people account for the biggest share of the overall number of
infections are Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where nearly half of adults living with HIV
or AIDS (600 000/1.3 million) are younger than 25 years; most of them are male.

The AIDS epidemic is a major public health emergency, and young people are bearing the
main brunt of new infections worldwide. There is an urgent need to work towards a
consensus on what should be done in order to meet the internationally accepted goals for the
prevention of HIV among young people that were defined at the United Nations General
Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001. These global goals give
specific targets for improving access to information, skills and services; reducing
vulnerability; and reducing HIV prevalence.

With an estimated population of 21 million people and an overall adult HIV prevalence of
3.4%, Cte dIvoire is among the most affected countries in sub-Saharan Africa with respect
to the HIV pandemic. Approximately 450,000 people are currently living with HIV and in
2009 alone, the most recent year for which estimates are available, 36,000 individuals died as
a result of AIDS. Children under the age of 15 have been particularly vulnerable to the
epidemic, with approximately 63,000 children testing HIV-positive and 440,000 children
have lost at least one parent to AIDS in 2009.

Therefore, we decide at our level to contribute to more awareness in this country with great
potential. Our mission consists of campaigns conducted in high schools with questionnaires
to answer and informative flyers distributed.
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The remainder of this report is organized as follows:

We first explain in details the context of our study, then we present the result and analysis of
data gathered. Finally we make a self-evaluation and critics on our findings.

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1. Context of the study

The most recent national data available are from the AIDS Indicator Survey (AIS), which
describes a generalized epidemic in Cte dIvoire marked by important gender and regional
divides. Women were more likely than men to have acquired HIV, with current estimates
putting the number of adult women infected with the virus at 220,000. Gender differences
were especially pronounced among those aged 2024 years, with prevalence rates at 4.5%
among women versus 0.3% among men. HIV prevalence peaked among women aged 3034
years at 14.9%, while male prevalence peaked at ages 4044 at 7%.

While HIV prevalence rates in urban settings as compared with rural settings only showed
marginal differences (5.4 % versus 4.1%), the epidemic was especially severe in certain
geographic pockets in the country. To illustrate, in the northwestern part of Cte dIvoire,
prevalence is approximately 1.7%. However, prevalence is almost 5.5% in the southeastern
part of the country, which includes the commercial capital of Abidjan, a major city with the
highest prevalence rate in the country at 6.1%.
As part of our master Development Economics and International Projects Management, we
are driven to achieve a field mission Give a Chance & Save the Children Campaign against
HIV/AIDS in Ivory Coast. The aim is to inquire into the method of conducting a
humanitarian project in a developing country. A clear understanding of the situation of young
people and their needs is required to design and successfully implement interventions to stem
the tide of infections among young people. It is in this perspective that our project was
implemented. Before we gathered the information, the scale of the response required and the
focus and relative urgency of the interventions remained unknown to us. Governments must
strategically target their resources to interventions that respond to the specific situation in
their country.

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Figure 1: Worldwide prevalence of HIV among young women and men aged 1524 years.
(The size of the pie chart indicates the size of the population affected)

Figure 1: Geographical and Historic Context of Ivory Coast

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1.1.

Geographical and historical context of Ivory Coast

President: Alassane Ouattara (since 2011)

Prime Minister: Daniel Kablan Duncan (since 2012)
Land area: 122,780 sq mi (318,000 sq km); total area: 124,502 sq mi (322,460 sq km)
Population (2014 est.): 22,848,945 (growth rate: 1.96%); birth rate: 29.25/1000; infant
mortality rate: 60.16/1000; life expectancy: 58.01
Capital: Yamoussoukro (political capital), 966,000 inhabitants; Abidjan (administrative
capital)Largest city and administrative center: 4.288 million inhabitants
Monetary unit: CFA Franc
Cte d'Ivoire (also known as Ivory Coast), in
western Africa on the Gulf of Guinea, is a little
larger than New Mexico. Its neighbors are
Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Ghana.
The country consists of a coastal strip in the
south, dense forests in the interior, and savannas
in the north.
Cte d'Ivoire was originally made up of
numerous isolated settlements; today it represents

Figure 2: Ivory Coast's Map

more than sixty distinct tribes, including the Baoul,

Bt, Senoufou, Agni, Malink, Dan, and Lobi. Cte d'Ivoire attracted both French and
Portuguese merchants in the 15th century who were in search of ivory and slaves. French
traders set up establishments early in the 19th century, and in 1842, the French obtained
territorial concessions from local tribes, gradually extending their influence along the coast
and inland. The area was organized as a territory in 1893, became an autonomous republic in
the French Union after World War II, and achieved independence on Aug. 7, 1960. Cte
d'Ivoire formed a customs union in 1959 with Dahomey (Benin), Niger, and Burkina Faso.
The nation's economy is one of the most developed in sub-Saharan Africa. It is the world's
largest exporter of cocoa and one of the largest exporters of coffee.

10 | G i v e a C h a n c e

1.2.

Project: Give a Chance

HIV has a relatively higher impact on children; those impacts are direct and indirect. The
direct impact comprises child mortality and indirect impact concerns social and economic
perspective. Millions of children became orphans due to HIV/AIDS, as a result most of them
dropped out from school and finally low education causes lower income. There are also other
impacts, but the above mentioned are more important and for these reasons we concretely
establish this project named Give a Chance. The principal objective of the project is to raise
awareness which increases the ability to protect thems (Child) from HIV/AIDS epidemic;
give a chance to the children to grow up blooming in a wonderful, HIV/AIDS free world.

1.2.1. Why intervention in schools ?

Schools are well placed to achieve the ultimate goal of decreasing HIV prevalence among
youths. In many societies, they are the one institution that is regularly attended by youngest
people. Of those youths who attend school, most do so before they begin having sexual
intercourse, and many are enrolled in school when they actually initiate sex. Thus, schools
provide an opportunity for interventions to achieve high coverage of young people before or
around the time they become sexually active.
They also offer the opportunity to encourage young people to delay the onset of sexual
activity and increase their use of condoms and contraceptives after sexual initiation. Of
course, school-based interventions are less useful where many or most adolescents are no
longer in school.
1.2.2. Our Logo
Once the objective of the project has been established, it was essential to identify our project
by a meaningful logo. Our logo's red color describing the risk, vulnerability of child due
to HIV/AIDS, and green color describing the opportunity, hope for an opportunity.

Figure 3: Give a Chance Logo

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1.2.3. Our Associated Partners

One of the main tasks of our project was to find associated partners to implement our project.
To implement our project, we found two established partners named Save the Children and
SIDASOS.
Save The Children

Save the Children is the world's leading independent organization for children. They
work in around 120 countries. They improve through their activities children's lives; they
fight for child's rights. Their mission is to realize immediate and long run changes in
children lives.

SIDA SOS

Sida'sos is a non-profit association created for youth, by youth. Its mission is to educate
young people to the AIDS virus and Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) on the basis
of dialogue to change attitudes and improve behavior in the long term.

Then, since the success of our project depended on peoples willingness to participate
financially, for that we have created the Facebook page and the website. These two web
pages were complementary because some people only used one of them to stay informed
about our project. As a result, we got some financial support for our project.

1.2.4. The financial statement

The financial statement of our project is shown in the following table with financial support
and project members contribution. The total budget of our project was 3650 , in which only
1030 was collected through donation and grants.

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GIVE A CHANCE CTE DIVOIRE 2016

SENSITIZATIONOF HIGH SCHOOLS STUDENTS AGAINST HIV AND AIDS IN IVORY COAST
(MARCH 13THTO MARCH27TH, 2016)
PROJECT IMPLEMENTED WITH SAVE THE CHILDRENINTERNATIONAL CTE DIVOIRE
FIELD MISSION PROJECT REPORT
__________________

Table 2: CASH FLOW STATEMENT

(Amounts expressed in Euro)
EXPENDITURES

Fly tickets ( 4 members )

AMOUNT

RESOURCES

2 100,00 Financing granted

Food costs

550,00 Personal contribution

Transportation cost Abidjan& Abengourou

450,00

T- shirt printing& Flyers printing

200,00

Accommodation cost Abidjan& Abengourou

250,00

Purchasing of chocolate

100,00

Sub Total

Cash balance

TOTAL

AMOUNT

1 030
2 620

3 650

3 650 TOTAL

3 650

As shown in the financial statement, the field mission costs have been covered by both,
personal contribution and donation. The website we have created has helped us in raising
funds for our mission. The financing granted takes the form of account credited and also the
payment of accommodation fees for our stay.
13 | G i v e a C h a n c e

1.3.

Implementation

We share here the details on the implementation of our two weeks mission in Abidjan,
Abengourou & Niabl.

We arrived at Abidjan, the capital of Ivory Coast the night of March 13th. On Monday 14th
March we have directly started our mission. In the morning we have participated to the
weekly meeting of Save the Children Cte dIvoire (SCI-CI) along with the staff in Abidjan
Offices. We had a security debriefing as the country has been attacked by terrorism the day
before.

Figure:4 Map of the Capital of Cte dIvoire (Abidjan)

Working place (Cocody)

Following that, we have travelled to Abengourou which is at around 230km of Abidjan in the
east of Ivory Coast.

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Figure:5Map of eastern region of Cte dIvoire

Working place (Abengourou & Niabl)

Once there, in the beginning of the afternoon, we had a meeting with the Director of SCI-CI
Abengourou. Following that, we have gone for our first intervention in Collge Amoikon
DIHYE. This intervention was preceded by a brief interview of 5 minutes with the school
administrative staff. We then presented ourselves to the students, we explained them our
project and distributed them the questionnaires we had prepared. 15 minutes later we have
taken back the answered questionnaires and responded to the students questions on
SIDA/VIH. Our intervention was done under the supervision of our partner SCI-CI. The
questions of the students concerned also the studies perspectives in France as they showed an
interest in pursuing their studies in France after obtaining the Baccalaureate. After the
discussions, we have distributed some chocolates to all students and gave some reward to
those who gave the best answers and this was done in a joyful ambiance. Then, we have
handed over some tee-shirts to the students responsibles. We have gone back to our hotel at
around 7 p.m.
In the morning of March 15th we have gone to a town called Niable located at 30 km from
Abengourou. We have conducted our activity in Lyce Nanan Kouakou Kouahoin the same
way than in the previous school. We then came back in Abengourou at around 12 a.m. and

15 | G i v e a C h a n c e

realized the same activity in lyce Moderne Abengourou. Then at 3 p.m we did a debriefing
of our mission to the Director of Abengourou. We came back to Abidjan the same afternoon.
On Wednesday 16th March morning, we have conducted the same activity in Lyce Moderne
dAngr.
On Thursday 17th March, we realized our activity with the student of 2nd, 1re & Terminale of
the private school Thanon Namanko.
On Friday 18th we have taken a break and visited some places in Abidjan.
On Monday 21st we started the data counting and started the analysis.
On Thursday 22nd morning, we made the presentation of our mission and of the results to the
Head of REVE Project and to the staff of SCI-CI. They appreciated our work and reaffirm the
importance of sensitization in schools in Ivory Coast. They provided us some advices for our
report writing.

16 | G i v e a C h a n c e

2. Result and Evaluation of the Project

2.1.

Methodology

We have prepared a questionnaire of 15 questions about HIV and STD basic knowledge for
the students, who answered before we delivered our HIV/STD awareness speech. All
questions were open questions, with an equal weight of 1, total marks being 15 (table 3). We
gave them 20 minutes to answer all the questions. Then we have evaluated their answers
using mean because it helps us in assessing on an average the HIV awareness for male and
female.

2.2.

Data on awareness

We have met 393 students from8 classes of 6 academic organizations, in which 198 persons
were female and 195 persons were male (figure 7 and table 4).

The questions asked are summarized in the following table but the full questions are in the
appendix B:

Table 3: Question List translated in english

Question

Question

Weight

01

"seropositive" for HIV means

02

Find all STIs (Sexually Transmitted Infection)

03

For better protection, can I use the male condom at the same time 1

Number

that women preservative?

04

Can be contaminated with the AIDS virus by a piercing or a tattoo?...

05

Which of hepatitis is an STD?...

06

Is there a risk of contamination of the pregnant mother to the child?...

07

Where can I get a screening test for AIDS and STDs?...

08

When you think about taking risks:

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HIV is a sexually transmitted infection (such as genital herpes, 1

09

hepatitis B, chlamydia ...) in general:

10

One cannot be infected with HIV-AIDS / STD, if:

11

With the latest treatments against HIV: ..

12

A young minor may apply to do an AIDS test without parental 1

consent
From how many days after infection can be detect the presence of 1

13

HIV virus in the blood?...

When a person is infected with the AIDS virus, it may take a long 1

14

time (over 5 years) before the first visible symptoms appear

How can we be infected with HIV

15

1
15

TOTAL

The level of participation was different from one college to the other as shows the following
figure:

NUMBER OF PARTICIPANT PER CLASS

100
90
80
70
60
50
40
30
20
10
0

91
73
59
42

50
36

28
14

Figure 6: Academic Organization and Level of Participation per class visited

The numbers of male and female students met were almost the same. This gives more credit
to our interpretation based on gender, though this criterion is not exhaustive.
18 | G i v e a C h a n c e

STUDENTS' GENDER
Male; 195
Gender

Female; 198
Total; 393

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

450

Figure 7: Students' Gender

Data Analysis

2.2.1. Girls awareness

Total percentage of answers (FEMALE)

Percentage of Bad
Answers
38%
Percentage of Good Answers
Percentage of Good
Percentage of Bad Answers
Answers
62%

Figure 8: Girls awareness

Girls got 62% of good answers; which is above the average but is not sufficient for AIDS
awareness. It is really important that every teenage girl has the knowledge to reach a better
level of prevention. They are future mothers and as such will in their country represent the
socle of their families.

19 | G i v e a C h a n c e

2.2.2. Boys awareness

Total percentage of answers (MALE)

Percentage of Bad
Answers
37%

Percentage of Good Answers

Percentage of Good
Answers
63%

Percentage of Bad Answers

Figure 9: Boys awareness

The percentage of good answer is sensibly identical to that of female. The urgent need of
awareness for the high schools students in Ivory Coast is confirmed. Steps need to be taken at
all the levels as soon as possible to allow youngster to be informed about prevention.

2.2.3. Boys vs girls awareness

Looking into the answers per class, we remark that there are for male and female an equal
number of classes with more good answers.

Percentage of correct answer per gender & classes

T NAMAKO Terminale
T NAMAKO Seconde C
T NAMAKO Seconde A2
T NAMAKO 1ERE A&C
LYCEE NIABLE
LYCEE d'ABENGOUROU
LYCEE ANGRE
KJ ABENGOUROU
0

0,1

0,2
FEMALE

Figure 10: Boys vs girls awareness

20 | G i v e a C h a n c e

0,3
MALE

0,4

0,5

0,6

0,7

But looking more in details into the result, as shown in the table 6, the male students mean of
knowledge about HIV/STD was 12.52 where female students knowledge was 12.47,
suggesting that on average, male students have slightly better basic knowledge than female
students. This might be explained by the fact that male teenagers are earlier interested by
questions on sex compared to female and therefore they make more research on this topic.

Table 4: Average Total Marks by Student's Gender

Student's Gender

Total Marks (Mean)

Number of students

Female

12.47

198

Male

12.52

195

Total

12.49

393

From these analyses, we would like to recommend more attention to be paid to improve the
situation and knowledge about HIV/SIDA among all students, both girls and boys.

2.2.4. Awareness analysis by class

In addition, the cross analysis between the eight classes reveals that students of Lyce
NIABLE have comparatively better knowledge than others and students of Seconde A2 of
Thanon Namanko have comparatively lowest knowledge. Table 7 shows the mean and
percentage of correct answer of students total marks by academic organizations and gender.

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Table 5: Average Total Marks by different Academic Organization

MEAN OUT OF 20
Percentage of correct
answers
Mean/20
57,70%
11,5396825
60,18%
12,0359844
61,20%
12,2407407
61,37%
12,2748256
62,42%
12,4845008
64,59%
12,9188034
65,14%
13,0277778
67,11%
13,4227941
62,47%
12,4931387

SCHOOLS
T NAMAKO Seconde A2
KJ ABENGOUROU
T NAMAKO 1ERE A&C
T NAMAKO Seconde C
LYCEE ANGRE
LYCEE d'ABENGOUROU
T NAMAKO Terminale
LYCEE NIABLE
TOTAL

The following figure illustrates the percentage of correct answers for each class.

Percentage of correct answers for each school and class

67,11%
65,14%
64,59%
62,42%
1
61,37%
61,20%
60,18%
57,70%
52,00%

54,00%

56,00%

58,00%

60,00%

62,00%

64,00%

66,00%

68,00%

LYCEE NIABLE

T NAMAKO Terminale

LYCEE d'ABENGOUROU

LYCEE ANGRE

T NAMAKO Seconde C

T NAMAKO 1ERE A&C

KJ ABENGOUROU

T NAMAKO Seconde A2

Figure 11: Proportion of correct answers per class

The public opinion may sometimes believe that people of the capital are more informed and
cultivated than others. But our sample though small reveals the opposite. Still the awareness
is needed both in Abidjan and in the other counterparts of the country.

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2.2.5. Analysis per questions

We make here an analysis per question to find the exact areas in which the students do not
have good knowledge.

Total percentage of correct answers regarding gender

1
0,9
0,8
0,7
0,6
0,5
0,4
0,3
0,2
0,1
0

Male

female

Figure 12: Proportion of correct answers per gender

The analysis shows that basic knowledge about HIV transmission remains unknown by the
students. This is very critical that these students do not know all the transmission means.
They even have small knowledge about the Sexually Transmitted Infections. This is
important to inform them for more successful prevention. The number of days after which a
person can be infected and the number of years before making the disease are also unknown.
Else they dont know if minors can make a screening test without the parents permission,
whereas this question concerns them directly as they are minor. Another area where
emphasize is needed concerns the question of using both masculine and feminine preservative
at the same time for more effectiveness. Moreover, there are not informed of places where it
is possible to make the screening test.
Apart from these questions where they have scored badly, the questions where they scored
better are not fully known by everyone. It is important to inform them which hepatitis is a
Sexually Transmitted Disease.

23 | G i v e a C h a n c e

3. Self-evaluation and critical analysis

3.1.

Achievements

We have been able to organize awareness sessions with the help of our partner (Save the
children international). This enabled children to know the routes of transmission and
prevention methods and accordingly adopt responsible behavior. Today these teenager know
that HIV / AIDS is transmitted by means other than sexual one, that AIDS is incurable; they
have a reservation to touch the bleeding wounds of their comrades and refuse to share sharp
objects used by othersetc
We have reached 393 students and exchanged basic knowledge about HIV and STD. It is
expected that, those 393 students will exchange their knowledge with other students and their
families and it will be continued. But the real impact will depend on the continuity of such
project each year. We really hope that most of our recommendations will be followed for the
welfare of teenagers in Ivory Coast.
This report has come up with great findings that can help NGOs and other stakeholders to
emphasize on the need of awareness and therefore raise funds for this sake.
On our concern, we know how to conduct a project from the preparation to the
implementation. The expertise of Save The Children has helped us in gaining experience in
the field. We have decided to contact the next promotion Master DEIPM students in order to
show them the importance of AIDS awareness in high schools. We will encourage them in
conducting another activity of this kind and will be available to share our experience and
knowledge with them.

3.2.

Limits

This study is based on our observation and on the data collected during our two weeks field
mission in Ivory Coast. We were unfortunately unable to cover all the main regions of Ivory
Coast to reach a larger audience. Our interpretations and conclusions are thus solely based on
it. The relatively short time of observation and our restricted sample may affect our
conclusions but still the need of more awareness for teenagers cannot be denied.
Unfortunately, we did not raised more funds, so we lacked some sensitization tools like audio
visual. Also we could not distribute more sensitization tools.
24 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Conclusion and Recommendations

Conclusion

Since November 2015, we have prepared our field mission with Save The Children. The four
months preparation period helped in refining our project and clearly defining the objectives.
It was important to set a realizable goal considering the time and resources constraints.
We have chosen Abidjan and Abengourou for our intervention as these towns are among the
zones where they are the highest levels of infected people. The relatively short distance
between the two regions has also facilitated the implementation.
The campaigns have involved the staff of Save The Children, college staff and also almost
four hundred students.
Through our project named Give a Chance, we have tried to raise the awareness of HIV/
AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Diseases (STD). The campaigns conducted in Abidjan,
Abengourou and Niabl helped in sharing information about AIDS prevention. The students
we exchanged with were very interested in receiving knowledge on this matter. It is
important to increase the implementation of these kinds of actions in Abengourou and
Abidjan where the rate of HIV infected people is high but also throughout the whole country.
Our analysis showed that girls are less informed as compared to boys. A particular attention
should then be given to young girls. Indeed not only they are vulnerable but also they could
be the reason of high infection spread because of pregnancy.
Data collected reveals that there are some taboos and insufficient communication on AIDS
issue. It is true that in the Ivorian culture, the topic on sex is not widely addressed in the
families. But the lack of knowledge itself could increase the level of infections. Therefore,
raising awareness in schools is vital as school is the main place where they can discuss freely
on this topic and get all the information required. This does not mean that we discourage
young people in practicing abstinence; we rather encourage them on this path to focus at this
age on their study. But it is better for them to be aware of the consequence magnitude of their
actions to prevent them from the worst. The more informed they are the more conscious they
are and the more they will think before taking a decision.

25 | G i v e a C h a n c e

These kinds of project that have been used to raise awareness about HIV and Sexually
Transmitted Diseases is to encourage but it is not enough to simply have one education
project that goes to schools, although this can make a big difference. They must be able to get
support and information and get easy access to prevention measures like testing, and
counseling.
At the end of our journey, we are sure that campaigns should be held not only in high schools
but also in universities, which concentrate the main part of the youth. This is also important
because many students of universities have their partners in high schools. A good
sensitization of all may result in a drastic rise on awareness.
Finally, all the population should be involved in this process. The more parents are informed
of the consequence of ignorance, the more they will share and discuss with their children to
protect them from Sexually Transmitted Diseases. The more the government is involved,
budget will be allocated for this awareness sake. If schools staff are themselves more
knowledgeable, they will surely take steps to inform their students on the consequences of
risky behaviors.
At the end of this project we have a feeling of non achievement because we discover how
these teenagers were in need of information. But we remain positive as we are sure that steps
will be taken to improve communication on AIDS.

26 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Recommendations

Our field mission has revealed that steps are already taken for more HIV awareness but there
are a lot to be done in high schools.
The real spread of awareness will depend on the continuity of such kinds of projects as
frequent as necessary in Ivory Coast. Therefore for more attention to be given towards these
teenagers, we make some recommendations.
The recommendations we formulate are on three levels : Government, Save The Children and
high schools.

Government

Periodically assess staff and academic organizations capacity to deliver services, to

create a care and support center in all academic organization

Build organizational capacity to deliver HIV/ STD services through staff recruitment

Encourage the sharing of information about rights and responsibilities of persons with
HIV regarding confidentiality, privacy, protection from discrimination, and partner
notification

Collaborate more with HIV prevention service providers (e.g.; Save the Children,
SIDASOS) and community organizations to support adequate coverage for HIV
prevention and care services

Encourage communication that does not stigmatize or negatively judge persons or

their family members with HIV

Promote HIV training in all academic organizations for non-HIV specialists and task
sharing (e.g., training physicians, nurses, pharmacists, and health educators to provide
adherence support)

Promote initiatives to expand access to HIV prevention and care, particularly health
insurance or medical assistance programs that offer primary care and skilled provider
networks to access HIV prevention tools

Create a website making available online directories of organizations and providers in

public and private sectors that offer HIV prevention and care services or other
medical and social services that influence HIV transmission

27 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Promote the access to information (in video format, maybe drama will be best
medium to increase the visibility of those video among all students) about basic facts
like modes of transmission of HIV/AIDS should be made available to the students as
well as to the general public. Those video could include the following information:
a. general awareness about the disease
b. awareness about the impact of the disease
c. provides information about how to prevent the spread of the disease; and
d. clarifies misconceptions about the disease.

Save The Children

Increase the number of AIDS awareness campaigns in high schools and cover all the
towns of Ivory Coast

Initiate one week campaign per year in all the universities of Ivory Coast, with
discussion time, quiz, conferences, distribution of condoms, projection of films, etc.

In order to access more audience, organize campaigns on streets with distribution of

informative flyers, the conduct of quiz on awareness, invitation of artists that can help
in conveying the message; invitation of infected person willing to share his story

Create a community of high schools ambassadors. The ambassadors that will be

appointed by Save The Children will have to share their contact will schools so that
students could directly enter in contact with them to discuss more about AIDS or get
prevention tools.

High schools staff

On each 1st December, the world day of fight against AIDS, information should be
given to students. Professor could before that day tell students that they will be
questioned on this topic, to get more attention from them.

Professors might ask students to make group presentations on AIDS prevention to

ensure their make research on this topic.

28 | G i v e a C h a n c e

References

1. UNAIDS. AIDS epidemic update 2005. Geneva, UNAIDS, WHO, 2005.

2.United Nations. Declaration of commitment on HIV/AIDS. United Nations General

Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, 2001.

3. UNAIDS, UNICEF, WHO. National AIDS programs: a guide to indicators for monitoring
and evaluating national HIV/AIDS prevention programs for young people. Geneva,
UNAIDS, 2004.
4. http://news.abidjan.net/h/511796.html , 2014, consulted on 14/01/2016
5. http://news.abidjan.net/h/552084.html , 2015, consulted on 01/02/2016
6. http://media.education.gouv.fr/file/sida/24/8/manuel_operation_plv_39248.pdf , consulted
on 15/03/2016
7.http://eduscol.education.fr/cid45613/prevention-du-sida-et-des-infections-sexuellementtransmissibles-ist.html , consulted on 15/03/2016

29 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Appendix
Appendix A: Implementation Timeline
Hour

Activities

Responsible

Type of activity

Day 1 : Sunday 13 march 2016 : Arrival from Paris of the 4 participants to the mission
Day 2 : Monday 14 march 2016 : Save The Children Abidjan & Abengourou
8h00

Arrival at Save the Children Abidjan /

Meeting with Dr Semd Director of
REVE program

Dr Mahan

Welcome

8h 30-9h00

Security Meeting

Office Chief Abidjan

Staff Meeting in
Save the children

9h00-9h-30

Security Meeting

Security Team Save the

children

9h30-10h-00

Tuning before departure to Abengourou

Como Fatou

Tools checking

10h 00 -13h

Travelling to Abengourou

Como Fatou

GoingTrip

13h -13h 30

Break

13h 30-14h 30

Meeting with Abengourou Team &

Office Chief

Kouakou Urbain Welcome

14h 30 -15h 00

Setting at Collge Amoikon DIHYE

Abengourou

Team SCI -CI

Meeting with the

school
responsibles

15h 00 -17h00

Interview with the students

Mission Team

Discussions

17h 00

End of activity Day 2

Day 3 : Tuesday 15th march 2016 : Abengourou Niabl & Abidjan

8h -8h30

Setting at Lyce Nanan Kouakou Kouaho Team SCI - CI

Niabl

Meeting with the

school
responsibles

8h30 10h

Interview with the students

Mission Team

Discussions

10h 30 11h

Setting at lyce Moderne Abengourou

Team SCI - CI

Meeting with the

school

30 | G i v e a C h a n c e

responsibles
11h -12h 30

Interview with the students

Mission Team

Discussions

15 h

End of mission of Abengourou

Abengourou
Office

Feedback to the
Office Chief
Abengourou

15h

Return trip to Abidjan

Day 4 : Wednesday 16 march 2016 : Abidjan

9h00 10h

Office Save the Children

Mission Team

Discussions

10h 30- 11h

Setting at lyce Moderne Angr

Team SCI - CI

Meeting with the

school responsible

11h00-12h-45

Interview with the students

Mission Team

Discussions

13h

End of activity Day 4

Day 5 : Thursday 17 march 2016 : Abidjan

7h - 7h30

Setting at Group THANON

NAMANKO

Team SCI - CI

Meeting with the

school responsible

7h30 8h30

Interview with the students of 1ere

Mission Team

Discussions

9h 9h45

Interview with the students of 2nde

Mission Team

Discussions

10h 10h45

Interview with the students of Tle

Mission Team

Discussions

11h

End of activity Day 5

31 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Appendix B: Question list provided to students

QUESTIONNAIRE
Veuillez sil vous plait cocher la ou les bonnes rponses
1."Sropositif" pour le VIH signifie :
Porteur du virus du SIDA (VIH) avec ou sans signe de la maladie
Porteur du VIH mais qui ne peut pas le transmettre une autre personne
2.Trouvez toutes les IST (Infection Sexuellement Transmissible)
La syphilis
La chlamydiae

L'hpatite A

Le VIH
Le condylome
L'herps gnital

3.Pour une meilleure protection, peut-on utiliser le prservatif masculin en

mme temps que le prservatif fminin ?
Vrai
Faux
4. Peut-on tre contamin par le virus du SIDA en faisant un piercing ou un
tatouage ?
Vrai
Faux
5. Laquelle de
Transmissible) ?

ces

L'hpatite A
32 | G i v e a C h a n c e

hpatites

est

une

IST

(Infection

sexuellement

L'hpatite B
L'hpatite C
6. Existe t-il un risque de contamination de la mre enceinte l'enfant ?
Vrai
Faux
7. O peut on faire un test de dpistage du SIDA et des IST ?
Dans un laboratoire
Dans un centre de dpistage volontaire (CDV)
A lhpital
8. Lorsqu'on pense avoir pris un risque :
On attend des signes de la maladie
On se lave l'eau trs chaude pour liminer le virus
On se rend dans un hpital le plus rapidement possible pour valuer la
possibilit de prendre un traitement d'urgence
9. Le VIH est une Infection Sexuellement Transmissible (comme l'herps
gnital, l'hpatite B, le chlamydia...), en gnral :
On les remarques rapidement : on sait donc quand il faut consulter
Les IST, ce n'est pas grave !
Ca ne se voit pas toujours : il faut donc consulter un mdecin et/ou se faire
dpister aprs une relation sans capote
10. On ne peut pas tre contamin par le VIH-SIDA/ IST, si
La fille prend une pilule contraceptive
La fille utilise un spermicide
La fille ou le garon utilise une capote
Vous tes vierges
Le garon se retire avant d'jaculer
33 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Vous tes fidles

11. Avec les derniers traitements contre le VIH

Les personnes sropositives peuvent gurir du sida
Les effets indsirables n'existent plus
Les personnes sropositives prennent un mdicament de temps en temps si
elles se sentent fatigues
Les personnes sropositives qui ont commenc un traitement doivent le prendre
vie
12. Un jeune mineur peut-il demander faire un test du SIDA sans autorisation
de ses parents ?
Vrai
Faux
13. A partir de combien de jours aprs l'infection peut-on aujourd'hui dtecter
la prsence du virus du SIDA dans le sang?
A partir du 1er jour
A partir du 15me jour
A partir du 30me jour
14. Lorsqu'une personne est contamine par le virus du SIDA, il peut se passer
longtemps (plus de 5 ans) avant que les premiers symptmes visibles
n'apparaissent
Vrai
Faux
15. Comment peut-on tre contamin par le VIH ?
En ayant un rapport sexuel non protg
En se faisant piquer par un moustique
Lors d'un rapport bouche/sexe (fellation, cunnilingus)
En buvant dans le verre de quelqu'un d'autre
34 | G i v e a C h a n c e

En touchant du sang contamin

Appendix C: Answers list provided to teachers

REPONSES
A utiliser pour lvaluation du questionnaire, les bonnes rponses sont en vert

1."Sropositif" pour le VIH signifie :

Porteur du virus du SIDA (VIH) avec ou sans signe de la maladie
Porteur du VIH mais qui ne peut pas le transmettre une autre personne
2.Trouvez toutes les IST (Infection Sexuellement Transmissible)
La syphilis
La chlamydiae

L'hpatite A

Le VIH
Le condylome
L'herps gnital

3. Pour une meilleure protection, peut-on utiliser le prservatif masculin en

mme temps que le prservatif fminin ?
Vrai
Faux
4. Peut-on tre contamin par le virus du SIDA en faisant un piercing ou un
tatouage ?
Vrai
Faux

35 | G i v e a C h a n c e

5. Laquelle de
Transmissible) ?

ces

hpatites

est

une

IST

(Infection

sexuellement

L'hpatite A
L 'hpatite B
L'hpatite C
6. Existe t-il un risque de contamination de la mre enceinte l'enfant ?
Vrai
Faux
7. O peut on faire un test de dpistage du SIDA et des IST ?
Dans un laboratoire
Dans un centre de dpistage volontaire (CDV)
A lhpital
8. Lorsqu'on pense avoir pris un risque :
On attend des signes de la maladie
On se lave l'eau trs chaude pour liminer le virus
On se rend dans un hpital le plus rapidement possible pour valuer la
possibilit de prendre un traitement d'urgence
9. Le VIH est une Infection Sexuellement Transmissible (comme l'herps
gnital, l'hpatite B, le chlamydia...), en gnral :
On les remarques rapidement : on sait donc quand il faut consulter
Les IST, ce n'est pas grave !
Ca ne se voit pas toujours : il faut donc consulter un mdecin et/ou se faire
dpister aprs une relation sans capote
10. On ne peut pas tre contamin par le VIH-SIDA/ IST, si
La fille prend une pilule contraceptive
La fille utilise un spermicide

36 | G i v e a C h a n c e

La fille ou le garon utilise une capote

Vous tes vierges
Le garon se retire avant d'jaculer
Vous tes fidles

11. Avec les derniers traitements contre le VIH

Les personnes sropositives peuvent gurir du sida
Les effets indsirables n'existent plus
Les personnes sropositives prennent un mdicament de temps en temps si
elles se sentent fatigues
Les personnes sropositives qui ont commenc un traitement doivent le prendre
vie
12. Un jeune mineur peut demander faire un test du SIDA sans autorisation
de ses parents
Vrai
Faux
13. A partir de combien de jours aprs l'infection peut-on aujourd'hui dtecter
la prsence du virus du SIDA dans le sang?
A partir du 1er jour
A partir du 15me jour
A partir du 30me jour
14. Lorsqu'une personne est contamine par le virus du SIDA, il peut se passer
longtemps (plus de 5 ans) avant que les premiers symptmes visibles
n'apparaissent
Vrai
Faux
15. Comment peut-on tre contamin par le VIH ?
En ayant un rapport sexuel non protg
37 | G i v e a C h a n c e

En se faisant piquer par un moustique

Lors d'un rapport bouche/sexe (fellation, cunnilingus)
En buvant dans le verre de quelqu'un d'autre
En touchant du sang contamin

38 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Appendix D: Draft protocol of Intervention & Flyers

39 | G i v e a C h a n c e

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41 | G i v e a C h a n c e

42 | G i v e a C h a n c e

43 | G i v e a C h a n c e

Appendix E: Some Photos

1|Give a Chance

2|Give a Chance