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Momodou
Denmark
11787 Posts |
 Posted - 22 Feb 2008 : 19:30:09
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NOVA SCOTIA-GAMBIA ASSOCIATION EMBARKS ON HIV/AIDS BASELINE SURVEY
PRESS RELEASE
Nova Scotia-Gambia Association (NSGA), in it efforts to promote health in The Gambia, in collaboration with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), has embarked on a countrywide HIV/AIDS baseline survey.
The 6-month baseline study will reveal the current level of HIV/AIDS awareness and knowledge among identified vulnerable groups, including truck drivers, vendors and commercial sex workers in all the major motor parks in The Gambia.
This survey is the first of its kind which specifically targets individuals considered “high-risk”, due to their frequent trade routes throughout The Gambia and within the region, including Senegal, Guinea Bissau, Guinea, Mali, Mauritanian and Sierra Leone.
It’s also the first time NSGA has been involved in such a project.
For twenty years, NSGA has worked extensively in schools and communities across the country with their Peer Health Education Program, drama troupes, community film shows and group discussions. All these efforts have focused on promoting health awareness issues, including HIV/AIDS, STIs, reproductive health, malaria and gender equity.
Now they can add data collection to their roster of abilities.
NSGA hired consultant, Cherno Jallow, conducted a successful six-day training for thirteen staff members for the baseline survey. He said that “They were quick to grasp the questionnaire, to translate it into local languages and to role play the interview situation. I am very confident they can all go out there, be consistent with the questions and do a good job.”
NSGA staff will do one-on-one confidential interviews using a 16-page questionnaire to get factual, in-depth information from the interviewees.
The data collected from over 2300 interviews will allow for improved targeting of specific HIV/AIDS education in this region and provide a foundation to measure the success of further interventions.
Jallow said that, NSGA is well-suited for the task.
“They have worked with the Drivers’ Union in the past, so a rapport already exists.”
Jallow said that the training also gives NSGA staff the necessary expertise to conduct surveys of this magnitude in the future.
The staff will split into four groups to cover the entire country, conducting several interviews a day.
Joseph Demba and Binta Jadama are the baseline survey project managers for NSGA. Demba said that the funding provided by UNDP for this survey has provided a great opportunity of growth for the Nova Scotia-Gambia Association.
“It has built our capacity in developing the new skills of baseline survey data collection,” says Demba. “I feel very comfortable that we now have the confidence to get into the field and ask very difficult, personal questions.”
For further information please contact:
Lamin Fatty, Nova Scotia-Gambia Association media liaison representative, at 449-6927 or 993-1513
Source: Foroyaa Newspaper Burning Issues
Issue No. 22/2008, 22 – 24 February, 2008
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