Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2007. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies - November 28, 2007
Jean-Luc Martinage, International Federation
Clementine Ngono, Achille Nnomo and many other members of the club meet regularly with their schoolmates to raise awareness about HIV and sexually transmitted diseases. Meetings take place in a classroom, or sometimes even in the playground.
The children gradually gather together in a circle. After some hesitation at the thought of discussing very personal issues in public, the questions follow: questions about prevention, condoms, contraception. The pupils, who are also volunteers with the Cameroon Red Cross, answer the questions, referring, where necessary, to the teachers supervising the meeting.
The new headmistress, Elizabeth Ntonga, is very much in favour of such awareness-raising events at her school. "The meetings are not just a good idea, they are essential," she explains. Madame Ntonga knows what she's talking about. She has only been in post three weeks and she has already learned of eight unwanted pregnancies among the pupils.
"The girls are frequently approached by boys, but also by married men looking for an extramarital affair," explains Clementine. "Some girls find it hard to say no but, sometimes, it's their lives that are at stake. Teenage pregnancies are viewed very negatively within families. Parents sometimes throw their daughters out of the house. They quickly have to meet new people in order to survive and many of them then fall into sex work," she adds.
Some of these girls will also end up being infected with HIV. Despite the boards carrying prevention messages, placed conspicuously by the school entrance, it's sometimes difficult to get through to the children. "They have to be reminded that HIV is still a threat," explains Achille at the end of the information session. "Boys sometimes tend to put the issue to the back of their minds, thinking that with all the treatments that they hear about, that perhaps it's not such a serious problem as it was in the past. It's up to us to tell them they should remain vigilant," he adds.
There then follows a discussion between the club members, the head and some teachers. All stress the pupils' need for reference points: "During the information sessions, girls regularly ask us how to dress properly for the classroom," Clementine explains.
The head adds: "Very often, teachers tell me about pupils who have trouble staying awake during lessons. When they question them, they learn that they spent half the night watching porn films on pay-TV channels that they've managed to pirate, which then also leads to them take risks as far as HIV infection is concerned," Madame Ntonga adds.
The activities of the 'Friends of the Red Cross' club at the Nkol Eton secondary school could be replicated at other schools. They complement other programmes run by the Cameroon Red Cross with support from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as part of the response to against HIV, like the 'Filles Libres' project, which seeks to raise awareness about HIV among female sex workers and their clients.
Such work with key vulnerable populations is critical but it is also clear that prevention should start as soon as possible with all young people and the activities of the 'Friends of the Red Cross' club is certainly a good example.
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