![[Swaziland] AIDS leaves a trail of orphans and granny-headed households in its wake. [Date picture taken: 2004]](https://assets.thenewhumanitarian.org/s3fs-public/styles/responsive_large_2x/public/images/20063159.jpg.webp?itok=BhY2BZd2 "With the highest HIV prevalence rate in the world, Swaziland has a rapidly growing population of OVCs")
In the past four months Gerald Ndwandwe, 22, has buried three friends he has known since primary school. He does not want to lose any more.
"So many of my friends have HIV. They won't admit it, and that makes my job harder," the peer educator told IRIN. "But if I don't intervene now, they will suffer later, and they will die early."
Ndwandwe works in rural areas, where 80 percent of the roughly one million population live, teaching people about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent transmission of the disease. Testing is rare outside of urban centres, although UNAIDS puts the country's prevalence at 33 percent, the highest in the world.
He still mourns the loss of his friends, but their families refuse to accept that their deaths were AIDS-related. "They want to explain the terrible wasting away of their loved one's bodies by blaming TB [tuberculosis]. They still consider AIDS as payment for the sin of sex, so they say there is no proof of AIDS," Ndwandwe said.
"A lot of the stigma comes from a feeling of shame that you or your loved one is HIV positive. But a lot of it is people being irresponsible - they deny the disease because they don't want to change their behaviour."
One of the greatest challenges to his work is overcoming isolation in the field. "It is hard because I am on my own. I am a trained peer educator - the Health Ministry put me through a [two-week] course and gave me a certificate. But I work by myself here," he said.
It is a common complaint by the more than 300 unpaid volunteers. According to Marjorie Mavuso, Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, "Swaziland has all these skilled and dedicated peer educators working with the youth of their communities, but there is no strategy of coordination."
An approach linking peer educators has now been formulated in partnership with the Swaziland Youth Congress. "The grassroots approach is the best. The peer educators know their communities better than administrators in [the capital], Mbabane. What will now be provided to them are resources," Mavuso told IRIN.
The initiative is currently bringing peer educators together for refresher workshops on 'Youth Behaviour Change Strategy', which will run into next year.
Peer educators will also participate in nationwide campaigns by the health ministry on condom use, sexual abstinence and faithfulness to one sex partner. "Youth responds best to youth -people relate to their contemporaries," said Maxwell Jele, national director of the youth congress. "If we are to turn the corner on AIDS, it will be by utilising youth."
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"So many of my friends have HIV. They won't admit it, and that makes my job harder," the peer educator told IRIN. "But if I don't intervene now, they will suffer later, and they will die early."
Ndwandwe works in rural areas, where 80 percent of the roughly one million population live, teaching people about HIV/AIDS and how to prevent transmission of the disease. Testing is rare outside of urban centres, although UNAIDS puts the country's prevalence at 33 percent, the highest in the world.
He still mourns the loss of his friends, but their families refuse to accept that their deaths were AIDS-related. "They want to explain the terrible wasting away of their loved one's bodies by blaming TB [tuberculosis]. They still consider AIDS as payment for the sin of sex, so they say there is no proof of AIDS," Ndwandwe said.
"A lot of the stigma comes from a feeling of shame that you or your loved one is HIV positive. But a lot of it is people being irresponsible - they deny the disease because they don't want to change their behaviour."
One of the greatest challenges to his work is overcoming isolation in the field. "It is hard because I am on my own. I am a trained peer educator - the Health Ministry put me through a [two-week] course and gave me a certificate. But I work by myself here," he said.
It is a common complaint by the more than 300 unpaid volunteers. According to Marjorie Mavuso, Resident Representative of the United Nations Population Fund, "Swaziland has all these skilled and dedicated peer educators working with the youth of their communities, but there is no strategy of coordination."
An approach linking peer educators has now been formulated in partnership with the Swaziland Youth Congress. "The grassroots approach is the best. The peer educators know their communities better than administrators in [the capital], Mbabane. What will now be provided to them are resources," Mavuso told IRIN.
The initiative is currently bringing peer educators together for refresher workshops on 'Youth Behaviour Change Strategy', which will run into next year.
Peer educators will also participate in nationwide campaigns by the health ministry on condom use, sexual abstinence and faithfulness to one sex partner. "Youth responds best to youth -people relate to their contemporaries," said Maxwell Jele, national director of the youth congress. "If we are to turn the corner on AIDS, it will be by utilising youth."
jh/go/he
This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
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