Impact of Health Education programmes on preventing HIV/AIDS in rural Tanzania: the case study of SPW Vikula in Iringa region

This research project looked at the topic of whether health education programmes aimed at primary school children had a reducing the spread of HIV. It was argued that as no cure for AIDS has yet been discovered, the best tactic at the moment is to educate vulnerable people about the risks of AIDS, providing them with knowledge about means of preventing HIV infection, plus empowering them to put those means into practice. The researcher visited two neighboring villages in rural Mufindi district, Iringa region. The NGO, SPW had more implemented a five month AIDS education campaign in one village, Vikula, focusing on teaching in the primary schools and focus group discussion with villagers to determine whether the people of Vikula had more knowledge about AIDS, more positive attitudes, and were more likely to engage in safe behavior, than people in Wami. Results of data analysis showed that Vikula and Wami school pupils had very similar education programme had produced no impact, so other data sources were examined, leading to the conclusion that the control group of Wami pupils had unusually high levels of knowledge. The SPW programme probably had produced a difference in Vikula, but further research is required to determine precisely how Wami pupils had so much about AIDS,