Involving Young People in the Care and Support of People Living with HIV and AIDS in Zambia

Executive Summary

Horizons, in collaboration with CARE International and Family Health Trust, conducted a quasiexperimental intervention study to determine which care and support needs of people living with HIV/AIDS and their families could be met by trained youth, and to establish whether youth engaged in formalised care and support activities would increase their adoption of protective behaviours or reduce the stigma faced by members of AIDS-affected households.

The study was conducted in semi-urban and rural communities in two provinces of northern Zambia located 700 to 1,000 kilometers from Lusaka. Thirty clubs in Luapula Province served as intervention sites; an equal number in Northern Province served as comparison sites.

All 60 clubs in both intervention and comparison areas received basic training in club management and HIV prevention, as well as materials for recreational activities (e.g., footballs, netballs, drums). Clubs in the intervention area also received enhanced training in care and support, with an emphasis on how to network with existing resources and services, such as NGOs, programmes for orphans and vulnerable children (OVC), clinics, and home-based care (HBC) teams.

Each club received two bicycles to help with transport needs, and a regularly replenished care kit containing items to help the caregivers treat sores and prevent infections. Quantitative surveys and qualitative data collection exercises were carried out before and after the intervention. Participatory dissemination workshops were conducted with club members and stakeholders to shed light on the emerging results.

Conclusion

This study demonstrated that trained youth caregivers were able to meet a range of client and OVC needs, to the satisfaction of their clients, and that their efforts may be laying the foundation for decreased isolation and stigmatisation of AIDS-affected families. Despite the limitations of the study design, which required researchers to use a comparison group rather than a strict control, the study findings suggest how youth can be empowered to confront the realities of HIV/AIDS in their own lives and communities, while simultaneously serving as a valuable resource to people in their communities who are living with HIV/AIDS.