NGOs work to raise STD awareness during World Cup

As South Africa is hosting the World Cup this summer, public health NGOs are working hard to remind locals and visitors that the country has some of the highest rates of HIV and other STDs in the world. Some partnerships are also working to stem the tide of these infections.

For example, Global Camps Africa (GCA), an American HIV/AIDS prevention and education program founded in 2004 by Phil Lilienthal, has teamed up with HIVSA, a South African-based NGO, to hold residential camps and bi-weekly Kids Clubs for children aged between 11 and 16 mostly from Soweto. They are modeled after Camp Winnebago, which the Virginia attorney ran in Maine for 30 years.

American psychologist Judy Kuriansky, who is a faculty member at Columbia University Teachers College, said that "the camp was powerful in teaching the girls HIV risk reduction behaviors and income generating activities crucial to [helping them resist] being seduced into 'transactional sex' for money for food, clothes or school."

GCA also warns that border control relaxations during the World Cup may make tourists more susceptible to risky behaviors such as drugs and prostitution. Americans returning from South Africa may consider purchasing an online HIV testing kit that offers greater comfort and privacy than STD clinics.