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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE New Hopkins Report Details Effective Strategies for Reaching Young PeoplePrograms Urge Youth to Practice Healthier Behaviors Such As HIV/AIDS PreventionBALTIMORE—As world leaders gather in New York this week to consider how to improve the lives of young people, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) released a new report showing how to reach young people with communication programs designed to encourage healthier behaviors. The United Nations Special Session on Children plans to explore, among other things, the successes and failures of strategies designed to reduce the number of preventable deaths among young people. Ten million of the world's 2 billion children die each year from preventable causes. The new report, Reaching Youth Worldwide, details successful youth projects that have focused on preventing reproductive health problems, developing healthy life skills, and preserving the environment. Based on work conducted over the past 15 years in more than 25 countries, researchers determined that some of the most successful strategies begin by involving young people in the development of the program. “Designing effective programs for young people requires an understanding of their needs and concerns,” said the report's author, Anne Palmer, senior program officer at JHU/CCP. “By involving them in both the development and execution of the program, you can ensure the approach is interesting, relevant and engaging.” For example, the Zambia HEART program was designed in 1999 by young people to promote abstinence and condom use to prevent HIV/AIDS. The program's songs, promotional materials, community outreach, and television and radio announcements focused on young people aged 13 to 19 that were either sexually active or abstaining from sex. According to the report, the HEART campaign reached more than 50 percent of its intended audience. About 74 percent of male viewers and 68 percent of female viewers said the television spots prompted them to either talk with others about the ads, decide to abstain from sex, or to use a condom. In addition to involving youth in the design of programs, the report also recommends:
Examples of each of these approaches are detailed in the report, as well as an inventory of select adolescent programs that have been implemented with JHU/CCP technical assistance from 1995-2000. A successful program that used information technology was Peru's electronic counselor called “Isabel.” The interactive CD-ROM allowed young adults to access sensitive information about reproductive health, sex, and family planning anonymously at a health-care clinic. Follow-up research found that 96 percent of users (typically, users were female between the ages of 13 to 24) liked Isabel, 73 percent said Isabel allowed them to access new information that was easy to understand, and 60 percent said they found it easier to interact with Isabel than a traditional counselor. 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 or a copy of the report, please contact Kim Martin at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6140; Fax: 410 659-6266 e-mail: press@jhuccp.org. PRESS ROOM: http://www.jhuccp.org/pressroom |
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