Evaluation of a school-based HIV prevention intervention among Yemeni adolescents

Abstract

Abstract Background This article describes an evaluation of a school-based peer education intervention for HIV prevention among students in twenty seven high schools in Aden, Yemen. The intervention was developed after a survey among the same population in 2005, which revealed a high level of stigma towards people living with HIV (PLWH) and a low level of HIV knowledge. Methods In a quasi-experimental design students who received the peer education intervention (78.6%) were compared with students who did not receive the intervention (21.4%). No systematic procedure was applied in selecting students for the intervention condition. Data were collected using a self-administered questionnaire from a sample of 2510 students from all 27 high-schools in Aden governorate. To increase internal validity, students were also compared with a cohort control sample surveyed in 2005, which was a random sample of 2274 students from the same schools. Results Sixty eight percent of students targeted by peer education had good knowledge scores, compared with 43.3% of students not targeted by peer education (χ2 = (df = 1) = 111.15, p Conclusion The school-based peer education intervention has succeeded in improving levels of knowledge on modes of transmission and prevention, and in decreasing levels of stigma and discrimination in a culturally conservative setting.