Background: The increasing number of sexually transmitted infections including HIV/AIDS among the youths
in sub-Saharan Africa indicates that successive efforts towards preventing the scourge remain inadequate in the
continent. Preventing the spread of HIV infection among youths aged 15 – 24 years is critical to reducing the
incidence of new HIV infection. This paper therefore presents HIV prevention programme among Out of School
Youths (OSYs) in Kogi State, Nigeria.
Methods: This intervention was carried out among out-of-school youths in 7 randomly selected Local
Government Areas (LGAs) in the state with a total target population of 19600 OSY. One hundred and twenty
(120) OSY comprising (68 males and 52 females) were recruited and trained as Peer Educators. Activities
carried out included structural, behavioural and biomedical interventions using the Minimum Prevention
Package for Intervention (MPPI) strategy. Data were documented using various monitoring and evaluation
tools and entered in the DHIS2 platform. The data were later exported into Microsoft Excel and analysed using
same.
Results: Three hundred and three community dialogues were held within the 2-years period with 672
participants and 25787 peers recruited by the peer educators resulting in 131.6% of the estimated target
population. A total of 18812 of out of school youths were counselled, tested and received results for HIV. Among
these, a total of 275 (1.5%) were tested positive.
Conclusion: Effective implementation of minimum prevention package for intervention in HIV/AIDS prevention
programme carried out in these communities could be attributed to the dialogues held at the commencement of
the project. However, there are still shortfalls in attainment of the expected results. It is therefore recommended
that there be increased integration of services and decentralization of MPPI activities to primary health care
centers and rural communities, stepwise supervision and monitoring of HIV prevention activities be
strengthened and engagement of all tiers of governance to engender political commitment and ownership of the
HIV response with a view of ensuring sustainability of these programmes.