World Association Of Girl Guides, Scouts Launches HIV/AIDS Toolkit

Main Category: HIV / AIDS
Also Included In: Women's Health / Gynecology;  Pediatrics / Children's Health
Article Date: 15 Jul 2008 - 10:00 PDT

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The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts has created a toolkit that aims to educate young women worldwide about the disease, South Africa's The Star reports. The international launch of the toolkit was held on Thursday at the association's conference in Boksburg, South Africa. The toolkit was created based on the experiences of association members addressing HIV/AIDS issues in Brazil, India, Kenya, Malawi and Peru. "We wanted to develop teaching methods which would get the message to young women that they are at risk" of the disease, association CEO Mary McPhail said, adding, "We wanted to get across that they can also be responsible for empowering their own lives and making their own decisions." According to McPhail, the toolkit's format will enable young women to have conversations about HIV/AIDS in their communities and with their partners.

The information included in the toolkit is presented through games, according to The Star. "Games create no blocks to learning," association member Maria Luiza Mury Alves said, adding, "When you get young people to relax, all these blocks disappear." McPhail said that the toolkit will be delivered to association leaders and that training will be conducted. She added that the association hopes to put the toolkit online (Serrao, The Star, 7/11).

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