The use of National Youth Service Corp members to build AIDS competent communities in rural Edo State Nigeria

This paper focuses on the community component of a larger action research project on HIV Prevention for Rural Youth (HP4RY), funded by the Global Health Research Initiative (Canada). It began with ethnographic research in 10 communities selected using geographic representative sampling and random assignment to one of three research arms. Using the AIDS Competent Community (ACC) model developed by Catherine Campbell, the ethnographic research identified factors in six domains that contributed to youth vulnerability to HIV infection. This was followed by recruitment, training and deployment of three overlapping cohorts of young adults (n = 40) serving in Nigeria's National Youth Service Corp (NYSC), to mobilize youth and adults in the communities to increase communities' AIDS competence over a nearly 2 year period. Monthly reports of these Corpers, observations of a Field Coordinator, and community feedback supported the conclusion that communities moved towards greater AIDS competence and reduction in youth vulnerability to HIV infection.