Pillars & Plants: Prevention, Support & Empowerment Program for young people (PAPSE)

Support for activities under the Pillars & Plants banner was first established in 2017 following receipt of funding from the United Methodist Church’s General Board of Global Ministries. The Zimbabwe Health Board worked with the Africa University Clinical Research Centre to successfully implement an HIV prevention program (2017-2018) during which HIV self-testing was established and continues to run at the AU clinic, more than 5000 youths were reached through various community engagement efforts with peer educators who were trained at Africa University and these same peer educators supported activities to strengthen the peer education network at Nyadire Teachers’ college and within the United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) of the church in Mutare district and at Old Mutare.

In July 2019 Africa University received the announcement that the Global Health Unit (GHU) of Global Ministries had approved another grant to the UMC Zimbabwe Health Board and Africa University Clinical Research Centre under the SPSARV 2019 funding mechanism. The United Methodist Special Program on Substance Abuse and Related Violence (SPSARV) is a church wide ministry harnessing the church to address issues of alcohol and substance abuse through prevention, intervention, treatment and advocacy. This new activity would focus on expanding the work of the first grant to strengthen and expand the delivery of HIV self-testing, strengthen peer networks at AU, Nyadire and United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) groups to facilitate mobilization of youths to take up HIV testing services.

The project also embarked on new areas with aactivities aimed to promote access to HIV Prevention, Mental Health support and Addiction counselling and peer support group (PSG) services and follow up for youth and young adults within and outside of the church. In order to facilitate engagement with young people the project utilized peer education structures within educational systems (at Africa University, Nyadire Teachers’ College and at 7 Mutare Urban High schools) and the United Methodist Youth Fellowship (UMYF) in all 26 circuits of Mutare district and Old Mutare circuit of Mutasa district. Clinical support for adolescents living with HIV and struggling with substance abuse were offered through the AU CRC while counselling/psychological support were offered through a collaboration with Dr Machinga (CSSTHE) and the Pastoral Care & Counselling Services. The project also adapted and rolled out the WHO orientation on Adolescent Health training among health workers from Victoria Chitepo Provincial Hospital, Old Mutare Mission Hospital and the 7 clinics from Mutare City Health directorate. Bbeneficiaries included up to 7,000 youths aged 13 to 30 from High schools in Mutare and Mutasa, UMYF members from Old Mutare, Nyadire and Mutare district, students from AU and Nyadire and health workers from AU Clinic, Old Mutare Hospital and city clinics within Mutare.

Since the beginning of 2021, following successful technical and financial close-out of the SPSARV supported activities in December 2020, the Lifestyle & Prevention Medicine Unit (LPMU) of the Clinical Research Centre has continued to offer PAPSE research and outreach activities making use of resources mobilized through various internal fund-raising mechanisms. This iteration of the project has been dubbed PAPSE 2.

PAPSE 2

In the midst of the COVID pandemic, during the 2020/2021and 2021/2022 academic years, the project continued to offer virtual peer support groups for students recovering from substance use to AU Students and UMYF via Google meet, Whatsapp platforms and physically. The AU support group was led by 5 champions and 2 counsellors, while the UMYF had 2 champions and 1 counsellor. Both these groups were very popular with the young people quickly becoming oversubscribed for the capacity of the project. The sessions were held every fortnight and covered the six stages of behaviour change. The project also supported the establishment of an adolescent clinic at Old Mutare Hospital (OMH), now called the Adolescent & Youth Friendly Hub (AYFH) and conducted a number of sessions which covered various health topics which affect young people.