Healthy Women in Georgia (HWG)

HWG's behaviour change and communication change (BCC) component draws on a variety of strategies and activities to engage youth, including:

• Healthy lifestyles sessions (HLS) - These courses are held after school; students attend on a volunteer basis. With the permission of the Headmaster, HLS course announcement posters are placed in the school, and teachers hand out flyers and brochures. In the sessions, students learn healthy lifestyles and RH through games and interactive methods, which include winning prizes. Participants are encouraged to express their thoughts, feelings, and ideas about topics which are, in this culture, understood to be "taboo".
• Health awareness activities - The purpose of these activities is to engage youth in "fun" activities while they learn about RH. Since the beginning of the project, health awareness activities have included 45 sport competitions, 60 health quizzes, 5 art exhibitions, 35 newspaper wall displays, and 10 other events planned around days that are celebrated internationally as well, such as World AIDS Day, AIDS Memorial Day, and Breast Cancer Walk.
• Radio programmes and spots - A set of five 30-minute radio programmes were developed and recorded, with local radio stations broadcasting each programme twice. A key feature is an information, education, and communication (IEC) counsellor, who discusses in detail one health topic as well as answering some of the most frequently asked questions (FAQs) on the topic. In addition, a set of 15 short radio spots were developed, recorded, and broadcast on local radio stations. These spots run for nearly 1 minute and present key messages on a particular health issue, such as sexually transmitted infections (STIs), HIV/AIDS, harmful consequences of drug use, smoking, or alcohol consumption.
• Peer education training and outreach - Peer educators attend 2 days of intensive training and then conduct various outreach activities, including counselling and training. Organisers believe that, having become competent to discuss the topics being addressed in these activities/sessions, the trainers can make students feel as if they are just an
  older peer; the fact that they take the time to listen to student concerns and opinions has been found to be crucial. One school director said, "I don't think the trainer must be a teacher, as children will not get similar information from the teacher so openly. The barrier between the teacher and the pupil is still very big."
• Theatre performances - Designed to teach healthy lifestyles and convey RH messages, these plays have been conducted either by professional actors or by peer educators. The professional actors are trained in the area of "forum theatre techniques" by a consultant as part of the Guria Adolescents Reproductive Health Project implemented by CARE International.
• IEC materials such as booklets, posters, calendars, a breast self-examination handout, and peer educator guidelines.
• Telephone hotline service - Developed and staffed by the local NGO, CLARITAS, this hotline features a toll-free number which is announced on the radio, during all activities, and printed on all the distributed materials.

Youth, Health, Reproductive Health, Women.

According to organisers, a study of RH conducted in 1999 concluded that Georgia has a very high rate of abortion - 3.7 total abortions per woman, on average, which is possibly the highest in the world - and a low prevalence of modern methods of contraception. This study found only 20% of married women age 15 to 44 using modern methods of contraception. Moreover, it found little to no demand for contraception, or abortion, until after the first pregnancy, with two-thirds of all married women having had an abortion. According to another study, conducted in 2004, Georgia has many more providers of abortions than family planning services. In addition, this area is characterised by a health care philosophy that has historically favoured curative rather than preventative approaches to family planning, relying on abortion as birth control due to isolation from the development of modern, safe, and effective contraception elsewhere in the world. A lack of public information and discussion on RH has exacerbated silences that the initiative described here has sought to shift.