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THE JOIN IN CIRCUIT ON AIDS, LOVE AND SEXUALITY (J-IC) IN GHANA



The National Centre for Health Education in Germany (BZgA) developed the Join-In Circuit (J-IC) concept, a mobile learning system on the core topics of reproductive health and HIV/AIDS, which targets especially young people for behavioral change.
The J-IC is part of a larger behavior change campaign called “Don’t give AIDS a chance” and was first developed in 1994 to work with person-to-person communication in order to give an opportunity for discussion to provide information in an open and fun atmosphere.
Mr Hamza Abass, Executive Director of Hats Community Empowerment Programme (HACEP-Ghana), an NGO based in Tamale said that in 2001, the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) entered into partnership with the BZgA to support national initiatives that fell in line with HIV prevention to reduce the pandemic.   
He said HACEP-Ghana earlier this year, initiated the first step (Phase 1) to adopt the J-IC initiative because it is a participatory and interactive tool that is designed to break the culture of silence in reproductive health and HIV/AIDS prevention issues. 
Mr Abass indicated that the J-IC had been successfully adapted and implemented in more than 22 countries across the world.
He said the J-IC programme uses interactive exercises, pictorial support and education and entertainment strategies to promote behavior change among young people.
He said central to the J-IC concept is the belief that love, sexuality in young people are pleasurable experiences in their life and that youth based programmes needed to emphasize on those exciting aspects as they appealed to young people.
 Mr Abass emphasized that innovative strategies enabled young people to talk more openly about HIV/AIDS and help them to confront the challenges they face as they pass through adolescent cycle.
HACEP-Ghana is an NGO operating in the Northern Region in the areas of Reproductive Health and rights issues with the focus on HIV/AIDS prevention among young people.
For more information about the JIC adaptation process in Ghana, please contact +233249129882