Project title: Rural education movement on HIV prevention by utilizing FPA network

Implementing body: China Family Planning Association (CFPA)

Aim: To develop a new approach to improve HIV/AIDS awareness and service capacity in rural areas

As the first deaths were reported in rural Chinese villages, popular myths about HIV/AIDS transmission flourished.

Fear and stigma also thrived in an information-starved environment. Lack of accurate, appropriate and timely information is largely responsible for HIV infections among Chinese youth and women of childbearing age.

Young people often leave the countryside in search of work and can't cope with the challenges of an urban context. The HIV infection rate among injecting drug users in China is also increasing and provides an opportunity to address the sexual and reproductive health (SRH) needs of this community.

To help improve the situation, the China Family Planning Association (CFPA) built on the work of an earlier JTF/IPPF-funded project that targeted 'floating' youth.

This time, CFPA hoped to educate young people before they moved to the cities and also to generate HIV/AIDS awareness within the wider family group.