Hotline Support and SYMPA Projects

Dates: 2001-2003

Themes: STI/HIV/AIDS/RH, Youth, Service Delivery

• Overview
• Partners
• Objectives
• Activities
• Outputs
• Impact
• Unique Features
• Future Plans

Overview

The BCC component contributes to SFPS's efforts to increase youth's access to quality RH services. Such services include providing youth with information and counseling on STI/HIV/AIDS prevention and care and support to PLWAs. SFPS/BCC is working to make FP/RH clinics youth friendly so that young people will feel comfortable accessing them and made to feel welcome when they do. Known as "SYMPA" (French word for friendly, standing for "SFPS Youth Minimum Package of Activities") the youth friendly clinics are designated by a logo directing youth where to find them. Knowing that some youth prefer to receive information anonymously, SFPS/BCC is supporting two AIDS hotlines in Burkina Faso and Cote d'Ivoire.

Partners

For SYMPA

• CAFS
• JHPIEGO

For AIDS Hotlines

• SWAA Burkina -AFAFSI
• PLAN International Burkina
• Ruban Rouge Côte d'Ivoire
• Ministry of AIDS in Côte d'Ivoire
• (Potential Partners: UNFPA and World bank in Côte d'Ivoire)
  

Objectives

For SYMPA

• Provide youth with quality confidential RH services through training of service providers in youth friendly IPC/C.
• Provide youth with access to useful educational materials and tools made available at the SYMPA clinics.
• Promote SYMPA clinics through mass-media and community activities in order to increase use by youth.

For AIDS Hotlines

• Provide quality and confidential HIV/AIDS information to youth through the phone.
• Strengthen the administrative and management system capacity of the supported hotlines.
  

Activities

For SYMPA

• Logo contest in the region to determine a logo/mascot to identify the SYMPA clinics.
• Youth friendly IPC/C training for SYMPA clinic service providers.
• Mass-media and community promotion of SYMPA clinics.
• Distribution of materials to clinics, including STI and HIV/AIDS pamphlets, Planètes Jeunes with Clé-De-La-Vie comic strip, posters.
• Distribution and training of service providers in using the RA/RR tool (this tool enables providers to help their clients assess their risk and make a healthy life plan to avoid getting infected).

For AIDS Hotlines

• Regional training of trainers of hotline counselors.
• Development of a reference booklet for hotline counselors with frequently asked questions and standard answers.
• Development of a regional hotline logo.
• Radio and limited TV promotion of the hotlines.
  

Outputs

For SYMPA

• 40 providers trained in youth friendly IPC/C.
• Establishment of 10 SYMPA clinics in Burkina Faso and 10 in Togo.
• The SYMPA logo.
• Distribution of a youth IEC flipchart.

For AIDS Hotlines

• 25 providers from Burkina Faso, Côte d'Ivoire, and Togo trained in HIV/AIDS hotline counseling. Among them, nine were trained as trainers to allow subsequent training of additional hotline counselors in their respective countries.
• A regional logo.
• Promotional flyers for the Burkina Faso hotline.

Impact

• 4,000 calls at the Ruban Rouge hotline in Côte d'Ivoire the first month (December 2001).
• An average of 300 calls a month at the AFAFSI hotline in Burkina.

Unique Features

• Gold Circle Quality Teams will be trained in youth friendly IPC/C and outreach to make the link with youth in the community.
• The AIDS hotlines and SYMPA clinics reinforce one another by referring youth to one or the other.
• The SYMPA clinics and AIDS hotlines are linked to the youth campaign in which specific messages will call youth to use these services.

Future Plans

• Continued training of SYMPA providers.
• Continued support to SYMPA clinics.
• Development of additional youth oriented IEC materials for providers to distribute.
• Support to an additional AIDS hotline in Togo.
• Production of reference guides for each hotline to refer callers for additional services.
• Monitoring and impact evaluation of the activities at SYMPA clinics and AIDS hotlines.
  

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