Examining the Sustainability of the Youth Peer Health Education Network within Primary Schools in Njombe, Tanzania

Abstract

Youth Peer Health Education (YPHE) is a health promotion technique that promotes sharing information, values, and behaviours among demographically matched peers. YPHE is increasingly being utilized in schools in sub-Saharan Africa to address the need for HIV prevention. Since September of 2010, a YPHE program has been ongoing within 50 primary schools in the Njombe region of Tanzania, where the prevalence of HIV is the highest in the country at 5.1% among youth aged 15-24. The program is managed by volunteers of the non-governmental organization Highlands Hope Umbrella (HHU), with no external source of funding since 2014. This qualitative research study examined the facilitators and barriers to the future sustainability of the program. Data was collected from individual interviews with key informants, participant observation during YPHE meetings, and focus group sessions with youth peer health educators and teacher-mentors. Facilitators for sustainability included an increase in leadership abilities among youth, a sense of moral responsibility to decrease the prevalence of HIV in the region, and ongoing support from adults in positions of authority. Barriers to sustainability included a lack of teaching materials, inadequate communication between involved members, scheduling issues, and no continuous source of funding. These findings will help inform sexual health programs for youth in low-recourse settings, and can be used to promote the integration of YPHE programs into school curriculums, leading to changesin health and education policies.