AIDS education campaigns fail young men

Young Zambian men are falling through the cracks of the country's HIV/AIDS education efforts, a leading social marketing organisation study has found. Population Services International (PSI) said the country's HIV/AIDS information and awareness campaigns were failing to reach the country's poor and less educated young men, giving rise to misconceptions and folk beliefs about the disease. "Folk explanations linking HIV infection to the strength of individuals' blood, menstruation or sorcery were common," PSI research analyst Nkenda Sachingongu told the UN news service PlusNews. He said incorrect information and denial were causing the risk perception of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) to be especially low among young males who had dropped out of school. While conducted on a small scale, Sachingongu said the study raised questions about whether this group had somehow been "left out" of youth awareness and education campaigns.