On 27th November, JOICFP’s Youth Task Force, and U-COM held a workshop showing ways to improve communication with young people on HIV/AIDS at the "4-t" youth drop-in center in Tokyo, where people can obtain information on HIV/AIDS.

The workshop was attended by public health nurses, university students and other interested people.

Under the title of "Things you can’t learn at school," the workshop explained the situation of youth and HIV/AIDS around the world, and introduced tools and teaching methods to explain HIV/AIDS to young people.

U-COM introduced its activities, and gave a quiz on STIs, including HIV, to raise awareness of the risk of contracting an STI, whether a person is promiscuous or not.

U-COM then made a presentation using the Maggie Apron to show the mechanism of pregnancy.

U-COM members showing the mechanism
of pregnancy using the Maggie Apron

When connecting with and attracting young people, and in raising awareness, U-COM has five rules which will be useful information for participants: -

Go to places where many young people gather
Put a lot of energy into public relations
Create a youth-friendly atmosphere
Use interactive participatory methods, and get feedback from participants
Learn about participants to understand their needs.

U-COM put emphasis on the importance of public relations since without advertising their activities to as many people as possible, they cannot get a chance to talk to them.

U-COM explained as well about the challenges it had faced, such as no change in public awareness on HIV/AIDS over the last seven years, and difficulties in organizational sustainability.

As U-COM has been implementing their activities since 2000, they shared their experiences, lessons learned and teaching tools with the participants, who are expected to utilize U-COM experiences into their own activities.

Explaining the importance of emotion-driven communication, JOICFP divided the participants into two groups and asked them to write a short story based on risky sexual behavior, and a love story to motivate young people to better reproductive health.

This teaching method involves young people in the process so they have a chance to realize how sexual health is related to their own lives.

JOICFP staff explain how to make a picture
drama for behavior change

The two groups were then given digital cameras and asked to shoot ten shots to make a ‘mini picture drama’ to illustrate their stories.

One group showed how a woman worried about pregnancy and STIs the day after having unprotected sex, and the other showed how a woman who had aborted pregnancies several times when young was later unable to conceive in marriage.

Participants discuss how to make scenes
for their mini picture drama

JOICFP then showed The Endless Goodbye, a picture drama used to fight HIV/AIDS and stigma, explaining its development and use, emphasizing the emotional component and method of delivery.

Many participants gave feedback saying they had great interest in making the picture story, and also said this method would be a good way to gain the attention of youth on matters of sexual health.