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  • Title: Community-based capacity building in rural Senegal.
    Author: Ventmiglia DH.
    Journal: Aidscaptions; 1995 Jul; 2(2):24-7. PubMed ID: 12291825.
    Abstract:
    In 1992, a Senegalese Muslim woman with experience in community development founded L'Association Rurale de Lutte Contre le SIDA (ARLS), a community-based association to fight HIV/AIDS. She and the other founders trained themselves as HIV/AIDS educators and used their own resources to initiate IEC (information, education, and communication) activities in six villages within 6 months. By 1994, the group received a grant which enabled them to receive training and expand their activities. The volunteers became active in HIV/AIDS prevention because they realized that the disease could undo all that they had accomplished in their previous development work. One of the first things they did was approach the local Islamic elders to make them aware of the dangers and the proposed organization. HIV/AIDS is currently at "preepidemic" levels in Senegal, but poverty and labor migration place the country at risk. ARLS awareness sessions involve whole villages and promote fidelity and abstinence as the primary prevention tactics. Condom use is also demonstrated. ARLS also trains village-level volunteers to carry on the education, and the group has inspired the growth of similar organizations in other parts of Senegal. While villagers still resist condom use, and condoms are in short supply, some behaviors and attitudes are changing, and villagers are seeking more information as well as condoms. Noting the link between poverty and labor migration, ARLS is offering literacy training and is seeking funding for village-level income-producing activities.
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