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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 9, 2001
Baltimore City Public Schools, Africa Alive! Team Up toConnect
Students to African Youth Living with the Impact of HIV/AIDS
Postcards from Africa Project Promotes Greater Understanding
BALTIMORE—In an effort to help students here better understand the plight of young people growing up in a world ravaged by HIV/AIDS, the Baltimore City Public School System (BCPSS) today announced a pilot partnership with Africa Alive!, a program supported by The Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) that promotes HIV/AIDS prevention.
The new initiative was introduced at an event sponsored by the Red Ribbon Question Mark Campaign, another JHU/CCP program that encourages high-risk individuals in Baltimore to get tested for HIV. The event was held to honor the city's community outreach workers, who are on the frontlines in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Under the partnership, BCPSS students will become penpals for African youth that participate in Africa Alive!'s Postcards from Africa project. Postcards from Africa is a way for young people there to share their experience living in an area hard hit by AIDS. Worldwide, more than 7,000 young people become infected each day with the virus that causes AIDS, according to the United Nations. Seventy-five percent of the 36 million people living with HIV/AIDS are in sub-Saharan Africa. Africa Alive!, collects personal stories from young people in seven African countries and posts them on the Africa Alive! website at http://www.africaalive.org/postcards/post01.htm.
“We welcome this opportunity to provide Africa Alive! with penpals while at the same time educating our students about AIDS,” said Patricia Brownlee of the Baltimore City Public Schools' Office of Science and Health Education. “Not only can they learn more about HIV/AIDS, they can develop their writing skills, learn about the geography of Africa, and experience a whole new culture through the eyes of their penpals.”
BCPSS plans to introduce the program through its health curriculum in middle and high schools around the city. Eight schools have already agreed to participate. BCPSS students, with the assistance of their teachers, will choose a penpal from the Postcards website and write a letter, either electronically or by regular mail, to begin the dialogue. The correspondence will take place between BCPSS classrooms and youth groups based in Africa.
In addition to the more structured participation of BCPSS students, young people around the world can log on to Africa Alive!'s web site, read these personal stories and become a penpal to someone in Africa.
“Africa Alive!'s goal with Postcards is to open up a dialogue between young people in Africa and the rest of the world,” said James Williams, associate director of JHU/CCP. “This dialogue may help the world begin to understand what's happening in Africa and that understanding may eventually lead to change for the better.”
Africa Alive! is an African-based network of youth organizations that raises funds, provides technical assistance and partners with African NGOs working to combat HIV/AIDS. Africa Alive! operates with support from JHU/CCP in Baltimore, Maryland, the U. S. Agency for International Development, and the U.K.'s Department for International Development. Africa Alive! is based in Durban, South Africa, and works in six other participating countries: Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
JHU/CCP is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for behavior change and health promotion that has helped transform the theory and practice of public health communications. With representatives in more than 30 countries, JHU/CCP has been a leader in the development of projects based on systematic needs assessments and clear strategies for positioning and presenting the benefits of health interventions to appropriate audiences.
For more information contact: Kim Martin, Tel: 410 659-6140; or Patricia Brownlee for BCPSS, (410) 396-8811. Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6300; Fax: 410 659-6266 e-mail: press@jhuccp.org.
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