Background
Unwanted pregnancies, insecure abortions, sexual violence, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV infections are some of the sexual and reproductive health challenges facing young people in Mozambique. The Institute of Health Sciences, in Nampula province, has around 600 students. The majority of these students are young people without access to sexual and reproductive health services.

About the project
This project was created to provide sexual and reproductive health services to adolescents and young students from the Institute of Health Sciences. The project team selected peer educators from all courses and classes at the institute, to ensure that they would be able to reach all students. Nurses, midwives and teachers were also selected to participate in the peer-educator training, which covered a wide range of topics, including sexual and reproductive rights, puberty, masturbation, cultural values, gender issues, peer pressure, contraceptives and sexually transmitted infections. A clinic was then established on campus, using a small house that was renovated and stocked with necessary equipment.

Results
By the end of the project, 17 peer-educators had been trained and 400 students visited the clinic over the first three months. The main reasons for the visits to the clinic included counselling, access to condoms and other contraceptive methods, sexually transmitted infections and reference for voluntary testing.

Year: 2006