Knowledge, Attitudes and Behaviours Related To HIV and AIDS among Students in Higher and Technical Education Institutions in Tanzania

There is a paucity of studies that have systematically and comprehensivelyinvestigated the knowledge level, attitudes and pattern of sexual behaviours related to HIV and AIDS in higher and technical education settings in sub-Saharan African countries in general and Tanzania in particular. This study attempted to fill this void in knowledge. A cross-sectional descriptive design was used employing a selfadministeredquestionnaire as the main data collection tool. More than 500 higher andtechnical education students completed a questionnaire assessing their knowledge, attitudes and behaviours related to HIV and AIDS. About three quarters of the respondents demonstrated comprehensive knowledge about HIV and AIDS, with a statistically significantly higher proportion of students in higher education reporting higher level of comprehensive knowledge than their counterparts in technical education institutions. More than half of the respondents reported having used condom during their last sexual intercourse. About a third of the respondents reportedhaving two or more sexual partners in the past 12 months. The article concludes that the level of knowledge and the pattern of attitudes and sexual behaviours among students in higher and technical education institutions does not differ significantly from the rest of the youth in the Tanzanian general population. There is, therefore, a need to strengthen HIV and AIDS education intervention in higher and technical education institutions in Tanzania.Key words: Knowledge, attitudes, sexual behaviours, Tanzania, higher educatio

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East Africa’s Lake Victoria provides resources and services to millions of people on the lake’s shores and abroad. In particular, the lake’s fisheries are an important source of protein, employment, and international economic connections for the whole region. Nonetheless, stock dynamics are poorly understood and currently unpredictable. Furthermore, fishery dynamics are intricately connected to other supporting services of the lake as well as to lakeshore societies and economies. Much research has been carried out piecemeal on different aspects of Lake Victoria’s system; e.g., societies, biodiversity, fisheries, and eutrophication. However, to disentangle drivers and dynamics of change in this complex system, we need to put these pieces together and analyze the system as a whole. We did so by first building a qualitative model of the lake’s social-ecological system. We then investigated the model system through a qualitative loop analysis, and finally examined effects of changes on the system state and structure. The model and its contextual analysis allowed us to investigate system-wide chain reactions resulting from disturbances. Importantly, we built a tool that can be used to analyze the cascading effects of management options and establish the requirements for their success. We found that high connectedness of the system at the exploitation level, through fisheries having multiple target stocks, can increase the stocks’ vulnerability to exploitation but reduce society’s vulnerability to variability in individual stocks. We describe how there are multiple pathways to any change in the system, which makes it difficult to identify the root cause of changes but also broadens the management toolkit. Also, we illustrate how nutrient enrichment is not a self-regulating process, and that explicit management is necessary to halt or reverse eutrophication. This model is simple and usable to assess system-wide effects of management policies, and can serve as a paving stone for future quantitative analyses of system dynamics at local scales

Public policy, health system, and community actions against illness as platforms for response to NCDs in Tanzania: a narrative review

This review was supported by grants from the Netherlands Organization for International Co-operation in Higher Education and the Ifakara Health Institute, Tanzania

The application of Intervention Mapping in developing and implementing school-based sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in a developing country context: the case of Tanzania

Aims: Effective sexuality and HIV/AIDS education programmes are needed to protect young people against HIV/AIDS and teenage pregnancy in Tanzania and other Sub-Saharan African countries. Using a theory- and evidence-based approach and adapting the programmes to local contexts, increases the effectiveness of these programmes. This paper describes and discusses the challenges and opportunities concerning the application of Intervention Mapping (IM) in the development and implementation of a sexuality and HIV/AIDS education programme targeting young people aged 12—14 in Tanzania. Methods: The sexuality and HIV/AIDS programme was designed in a participatory manner, involving researchers, curriculum developers and teachers' and students' panels. The programme comprised five lessons, organized around 23 sessions with the aim of delaying the onset of sexual intercourse and increase correct and consistent condom use among young people. The programme was delivered by trained teachers as an extracurricular lesson. Conclusions: The IM protocol facilitated the development of a comprehensive sexuality and HIV/AIDS education programme relevant and appropriate to the social cultural context and the needs of learners in Tanzania. The paper has demonstrated that, although the IM was developed in the Western context, it can be used in a flexible manner to adapt to local contexts such as those in Sub-Saharan Africa

Family Life Education Development, Implementation, and Evaluation in Tanzania

This chapter examines the socioeconomic, historical, and cultural context of the United Republic of Tanzania and how it has shaped the country’s family life and family life education throughout the precolonial, colonial, and postcolonial eras. The context includes social factors such as changes in family structures and functions, emergence of HIV/AIDS, sexuality and family life education programs, and related family and health policies. Utilizing the socio-ecological perspective, the article delineates family strengths, gaps, and opportunities available to key stakeholders to meet the contemporary family life education needs for the Tanzanian families