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Programs and interventions focused on reducing the risk of HIV and early pregnancy, improving school attendance, and empowering girls can have significant and powerful effects for adolescent girls. Simultaneously, these programs may have unanticipated effects that inhibit the program's success.

Male Champions Bring Couples Closer Together  “I was always sick and tired. I could barely do anything,” Laurinda Emiliano tells us during an interview. Laurinda, 19, lives in the Bairro Cimento within the village of Zalala, Quelimane District, Zambézia Province.

The Impact of Community-Based Information, Education and Communication Initiatives and Importance of Community Adherence Support Groups 
 
 Abudo Nicuacua was diagnosed with HIV in 2006. Today, Abudo is an antiretroviral treatment (ART) adherence role model, but this was not always the case.

Sangariveira Secondary School: A DREAMS-Friendly School
 
 Sangariveira Secondary School (SSS) was established in 2012 in Quelimane, Zambézia Province. Currently, the school has 4,980 students, 2,610 male and 2,370 female, who are divided into 42 groups, with morning, afternoon and night student rotations.
 
 Located in the outskirts of Quelimane, SSS has a gloomy past. It was infamous for high levels of drug use, early and unwanted pregnancies, prostitution, and illness. 

Health Counselors Improve Patient Satisfaction in Quelimane
 
 Farias Fernando Romane recently moved from the Coalane neighborhood to Canecos, within Quelimane District. The move meant that he also changed the health facility where he receives HIV care. When our team met him, it was only his second visit to 24 de Julho Health Center. He was already pleased with the quality of care he has been receiving.

Participative Theatre Transforms a Life in Namacurra
 
 Ducha António was first diagnosed with HIV in 2008, during an antenatal consultation. She was just sixteen years old and did not fully understand what HIV was or the impact it could have on her life. She refused treatment for herself, and she was also reluctant to have her infant daughter tested. “I was a teenager with little knowledge of things, so I just ignored treatment.”

Teletónio Samuel Rangeiro is a married 23 year old who lives with his wife, Hernésia Tomé, 22, in Seresse, a rural community outside of Zambézia’s provincial capital of Quelimane. When Teletónio’s wife became pregnant, he surprised many people in his community by accompanying his wife to all of her antenatal care (ANC) visits at the Maquival health facility and continued doing so after the delivery of their healthy twins—an unusual practice for men in this community.

By Rui Esmael
 
 Dreams Can Come True: Over a decade on combination antiretroviral therapy (ART) with two HIV-uninfected daughters

In the rich farmlands of Birua Village, in Furquia Locality, Namacurra District, Zambézia Province, lives 52 year old Paulina Raposo. She has been a traditional birth attendant for 36 years.

"The health counselor is the key member of the team. They are the true pillar. It is with the health counselor that patients have their first contact, on which everything else depends."
 
 ~Mauro Timana – Chefe Médico at Mocubela


 Tânia now dreams of one day becoming a nurse.
 
 
 
 "Next year, I'm going back to school because when I grow up I want to be a nurse to help other people." -Tânia

Amélia Sebastião and her seven year old daughter, Juliana, are healthy and making long-term plans for their lives. Amélia is a Peer Educator assisting patients in her community and Juliana wants to be a District Administrator when she grows up. But this was not the case just a few years ago.

This story was submitted and written by Zacarias Chuquela, District Community Involvement Assistant for Friends in Global Health (FGH), Vanderbilt's affiliate organization working in rural Mozambique.

Walking through life together - Community HIV ART adherence in rural Mozambique