Grassroot Soccer (GRS) recently participated in the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Infections in Africa (ICASA), a major bilingual international AIDS conference held in Kigali, Rwanda.
The convening gathered thought leaders, researchers, individuals living with HIV, and organizations committed to ending the epidemic. ICASA 2019 provided a space for researchers from around the world to share the latest scientific advances in the field of HIV, learn from one another’s expertise, and develop strategies for advancing collective efforts to end AIDS by 2030.
GRS was proud to join over 10,000 delegates from nearly 150 countries. In addition to leading GRS programming demonstrations in the Youth Pavillion, GRS had three abstracts accepted to the conference. Presented by GRS Zambia Managing Director Boyd Mkandawire and GRS Zimbabwe Managing Director Bheki Moyo, these three poster presentations included:
- Qualitative findings from a study out of Nigeria with Youth Development Initiative (YEDI) which demonstrated that soccer is a promising tool that can shift the attitudes and behaviors of adolescent boys and young men around health and gender equality.
- Early lessons from the Goals for Girls cluster randomised controlled study in collaboration the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation and ViiV Positive Action focusing on school-based implementation of sexual and reproductive health programming for adolescent girls.
- Findings from a pilot project in Tanzania between GRS and Jhpiego, under the USAID / PEPFAR AIDSFree project, aimed at increasing knowledge of HIV and HPV prevention methods among adolescents using an adolescent-friendly, sex-specific educational module.
View more GRS images from ICASA 2019 below.
