14 Facts About Peer education

Peer education is an approach to health promotion, in which community members are supported to promote health-enhancing change among their peers.

Rather than health professionals educating members of the public, the idea behind peer education is that ordinary lay people are in the best position to encourage healthy behaviour to each other.

Peer education has become very popular in the broad field of HIV prevention.

Peer education is associated with efforts to prevent tobacco, alcohol and other drug use among young people.

Peer education is useful in promoting healthy eating, food safety and physical activity amongst marginalized populations.

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Peer education programme is usually initiated by health or community professionals, who recruit members of the target community to serve as peer educators.

Peer education educators are seen as opinion leaders—respected and admired by other members of the community.

Peers and peer education are an important influence and approach in changing health behaviours.

Peer education has been identified as a more economical way to deliver health training.

Peer education educators help to bridge many of the gaps in service that occur through fear and suspicion of official health care providers, and to facilitate effective communication with community members and professional provider.

Peer education is empowering from both the standpoint of the peer educator and the individual receiving service.

Peer education has been operative in encouraging knowledge, attitudes and intention to change behavior in AIDS prevention.

Peer education offers the educators the opportunity to benefit from taking on meaningful roles.

An important analysis on the development of many peer education projects is that it is led by adult constructions of adolescence and adolescent health behaviour.