The training is part of Adolescent Girls and Young Women (AGYW) project implemented by Girls Empowerment Network (GENET) in the district.

AGYW Project Monitoring and Evaluation Officer at GENET Biata Banda Kadammanja said the objective of this training is to reduce incidences of HIV among girls aged between 10 and 24.

“National statistics indicate that HIV incidences in adolescent girls and young women is 8 times higher than males in the same age group and Mulanje cannot be better at all considering that it is the highest in HIV prevalence of the districts in Malawi,” said Kadammanja.

18-year-old Alinafe Kaliwo from Chinyama village said poverty and peer pressure should not drive girls into promiscuous behaviors.

“As a peer educator my focus will be to discourage sexual immoralities among the teenagers and end child marriages in my community.

Chairperson of Mulanje District Aids Coordinating Committee Asimenye Fweta believes peer educators can better disseminate STIs including HIV/AIDS messages to their peers than anyone else.

“Sometimes youths shun HTC services just because of shyness, others do not know where to access the service, so this will be the role of these peer educators to guide their peers,” said Fweta.

At the end of this four-day peer education training on Sunday in Mulanje, the peer educators received certificates of completion in peer education in HIV/AIDS. 

GENET is implementing a three-year AGYW project in Mulanje with support from Global Fund through World Vision International.