Few Tips for Busy Mom

If you’ve got kids and you find yourself constantly juggling the daily routine of preparing meals, grocery shopping, school activities and work, how do you find the time to shop? It’s certainly considered a luxury to be able to take time for yourself and get rewarded for all your hard work. That’s why online shopping is such a god-send.

Online shopping cuts down on the time and stress spent piling the kids in the car, driving to the mall, looking for a parking spot and waiting in long check out lines. Not to mention, when you’re actually in the store, can you actually concentrate on finding what you need with all the distractions of kids, salespeople and background music? It’s quite a challenge. However, thankfully, online shopping offers a great alternative.

Online shopping is a huge convenience. You can shop anytime and anywhere you’d like. So, instead of worrying about store hours, you can browse after the kids have gone to bed, or in the morning over coffee. If interruptions are an issue, then simply save the items in your shopping cart, and continue whenever you’re ready.

Besides the time and stress factors, online shopping saves you money. You’ll no longer have to worry about driving from store to store in search of what you’re looking for. Instead, you can easily compare and search for products in just a few minutes. You can access other reviews from moms just like you, to find out valuable insight into large ticket purchases, before you bring them home.

Just think, the money that you save with online shopping could actually mean that you could buy more and spend less. And you can do it anytime you want, from anywhere that you choose. Online shopping is quickly becoming a favorite among moms and anyone else that is looking to save time and money.

Building Link For Free

In these turbulent economic times, every penny saved can help in the sustenance and survival of businesses, especially when it comes to small and medium businesses. The best method to secure a credible online presence is link building.Links pointing to a web page play an integral role in Search Engine Optimization. Along with giving more importance to the number of links a web page has, search engines also pay close attention to linkage patterns. So it is not only the number of links pointing to your web page that decides your position in the search engine results page, but also the quality of those links. The quality of a link is determined by two factors: authority of the web page linking to you and the link anchor text. What link building does is help you not just in improving your page rank in search engines, but also in generating quality traffic to your web page.Listed below are five easy ways that you can utilize for building links without spending a penny:CREATE CONTENT WORTH LINKING TO: Nobody wants to link to a web page which has irrelevant or bogus content. Content on your web pages must be useful to your readers or web page visitors. This will generate traffic as well as help your page in ranking well in search engines.
It really costs nothing to come up with original and useful content. Once you do this, gaining links from various trusted or authoritative sources will be a lot more easy. GET LINKS FROM DIRECTORIES: Links in the major directories help provide context to search engines. The two major directories are the Yahoo! Directory (dir.yahoo.com) and the Open Directory Project (dmoz.org). Yahoo! Directory is part of the Yahoo! Search system and Open Directory Project feeds results to Google directory. The Open Directory also feeds results to hundreds of other sites thereby helping in further link building.If you want to submit your website to specialized directories relevant to your business, find these by typing your primary keyword followed by the word 'directory' in Google. Make sure you read the submission tips before submitting your website in any of these directories.Websites that are submitted to directories are subject to human review. Make sure your site has quality (relevant and original) content and follows all guidelines specified. If you manage to do this, you are very likely to secure links from these directories.SOCIAL NETWORKING: One great way to ensure quality link building is social networking. Currently, most search algorithms are driven by link reputation. Eventually, search engines will have enough user feedback data with which they will be able to augment the links with how users tag web pages and their usage data. If a site with exceptionally high link popularity scores rarely gets tagged, search engines may not count the relevancy for that site or flag that site for human review.Spread the word about your website, business ideas and developments on social networking sites. Build communities and start discussions. Again, ensuring quality and relevant content must be your priority. Use these sites to build links to your web pages as well as to develop your existing network of friends. Some of the popular social networking sites are Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn and Orkut.SOCIAL BOOKMARKING: Another way of popularizing your website is social bookmarking. Visitors who like content on your site can bookmark this for their own reference as well as others. Since all social bookmarking sites attract heavy traffic, getting bookmarked can generate a good reader base for your website. What this also means is that you'll get quality links which will help your website gain credibility. Some of the popular social bookmarking sites are del.icio.us, reddit, Digg, Technorati and StumbleUpon. Google has indexed millions of pages from del.icio.us and Digg.Indexing links from social networking and social bookmarking sites, along with the links from other websites provides Google with more popularity information. If you track what types of information people are tagging, you can develop good ideas to create free viral link popularity.POST COMMENTS ON BLOGS: Many bloggers allow people who post comments to have a link back to their site. Spot blogs that are relevant to your business or website and post comments. Never post a comment that is solely dedicated to popularizing your site. Make sure you have something constructive to say and if possible, provide a link back to content on your site that supports your comment or the blog post.Here are some tips for commenting on blogs:
• Don't put a keyword phrase as your name
• Avoid blog spamming: Leave meaningful comments. Don't say "Nice post" or "I found this very useful." Why did you find it useful? What can you add to the conversation?
• Try to be interactive. Even though link building is your priority, don't make it very apparent. Post a comment that directly deals with the blog post in question and casually add a link back to your website.<

HIV - AIDS

HIV/AIDS is the global issue of new era of science and technology and we should know that the problem of widespread AIDS is challenge for human survival. Children and young people need to be equipped with the knowledge, attitudes, values and skills that will help them face these challenges and assist them in making healthy life-style choices as they grow. Education delivered through schools is one of the ways through which children can be helped to face these challenges and make such choices.

Providing information about HIV (transmission, risk factors, how to avoid infection) is necessary, but not sufficient, to lead to healthy behavioral change. Programs that provide accurate information, to counteract the myths and misinformation, frequently report improvements in knowledge and attitudes, but this is poorly correlated with behavioral change related to risk taking and desirable behavioral outcomes. Education can be effective in the more difficult task of achieving and sustaining behavior change about HIV/AIDS. The schools can either be a place that practices discrimination, prejudice and undue fear or one that demonstrates society’s commitment to equity.School policies need to ensure that every child and adolescent has the right to life education; particularly when that education is necessary for survival and avoidance of HIV infection.

HIV infection is one of the major problems facing school-age children today. They face fear if they are ignorant, discrimination if they or a family member or friend is infected, and suffering and death if they are not able to protect themselves from this preventable disease.

It is estimated that 40 million people, worldwide, are living with HIV or have AIDS, at least a third of these are young people aged 15-24. In 1998 more than 3 million young people worldwide became infected including 590,000 children under 15. More than 8,500 children and young people become infected with HIV each day. In many countries over 50% of all infections are among 15-24 years old, who will likely develop AIDS in a period ranging from several months to more than 10 years.

Studies have shown the enormous impact HIV and AIDS have on the education sector and the quality of education provided, particularly in certain regions of the world such as Sub Saharan Africa. Consequences of the AIDS epidemic include a probable decrease in the demand for education, coupled with absenteeism and an increase in the number of orphans and school drop out, especially among girls. Girls are socially and economically more vulnerable to conditions that force people to accept risk of HIV infection in order to survive. A decrease in education for girls will have serious negative effects on progress made over the past decade toward providing an adequate education for girls and women. Reduced numbers of classes or schools, a shortage of teachers and other personnel, and shrinking resources for educational systems all impair the prospects for education.

Effective HIV/AIDS education and prevention is needed in all schools for all children so that no one is left ignorant. Yet in many places schools are apprehensive about providing sex education or discussions of sexuality because of cultural demands to protect adolescents from sexual experience. Women often lack skills needed to communicate their concerns with their sexual partners and to practice behaviors that reduce their risk of infection, such as condom use, which is often controlled by men.

The school can either be a place that practices discrimination, prejudice and undue fear or one that demonstrates society’s commitment to equity. School policies need to ensure that every child and adolescent has the right to HIV/AIDS education; particularly when that education is necessary for survival and avoidance of HIV infection.

A UNAIDS review (1997) of 53 studies which assessed the effectiveness of programs to prevent HIV infection and related health problems among young people concluded that sex education programs do not lead to earlier or increased sexual activity among young people, in fact the opposite seems to be true. 22 reported that HIV and/or sexual health education either delayed the onset of sexual activity, reduced the number of sexual partners or reduced unplanned pregnancies and STD rates. 27 studies reported that HIV/AIDS and sexual health neither increased nor decreased sexual activity, pregnancy or STD.

The review concluded that school based interventions are an effective way to reduce risk behaviors associated with HIV/AIDS/STD among children and adolescents.

There are three main objectives for this paper to integrate the education effectively with the HIV/AIDS preventions and other health aspects related with it.

These are as follows:

Objectives:

1) Health education focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention.

2) Raising awareness about HIV/AIDS among educators and learners.

3) Stimulate peer support and HIV/AIDS counseling in schools.

The main focus of the paper is to give the importance to the HIV/AIDS precaution with the health education raising the awareness about it among all the students as well as their teachers also and provide the supportive environment for the HIV/AIDS education for all.

Need of HIV/AIDS education:

In area such as HIV/AIDS prevention individual behavior, social and peer pressure, cultural norms and abusive relationships may all contribute to the health and lifestyle problems of children and adolescents. There is now increasing evidence that in tackling these issues and health problems, a healthy approach to HIV/AIDS and sex education works, and is more effective than teaching knowledge alone. T

here are numerous studies indicating that providing information about issues such as sex, STDs (Sexually Transmitted Diseases) and HIV (transmission, risk factors, how to avoid infection) is necessary, but not sufficient, to lead to healthy behavioral change (Hubley, 2000). Programs that provide accurate information, to counteract the myths and misinformation, frequently report improvements in knowledge and attitudes, but this is poorly correlated with behavioral change related to risk taking and desirable behavioral outcomes (Gatawa 1995, UNAIDS 1997a). HIV/AIDS with health education can be effective in the more difficult task of achieving and sustaining behavior change.

Health education with HIV/AIDS is widely applicable:

This problems largely affecting men and women as well as older children and adolescents, both this age group and younger children also face a wider range of health problems where education can play a vital role in sustainable prevention and management. Health education with HIV/AIDS programs plays a vital role in preventing infections. This is done through promoting knowledge of areas such as symptoms, transmission, and behaviors that are specifically relevant to many infection in each community; attitudes such as responsibility for personal, family and community health, confidence to change unhealthy habits; skills such as avoiding behaviors that are likely to cause infection, encourage others to change unhealthy habits, communicate messages about infection to families, peers and members of the community (WHO, 1996).

This kind of health education with HIV/AIDS prevention focuses upon the development of Knowledge, Attitudes, Values, and Skills (including life skills such as inter-personal skills, critical and creative thinking, decision making and self awareness) needed to make and act on the most appropriate and positive health-related decisions. Health in this context extends beyond physical health to include psycho-social and environmental health issues.

This approach utilizes student centered and participatory methodologies, giving participants the opportunity to explore and acquire health promoting knowledge, attitudes and values and to practice the skills they need to avoid risky and unhealthy situations and adopt and sustain healthier life styles.

HIV/AIDS – a critical need for health education:

HIV/AIDS is an area where the scale and impact of the problem is such that the urgency of implementing preventative measures, including health education, is critical. Health education programs are being increasingly adopted as means of reaching children and young people to help halt the spread of this crippling epidemic. Studies from African countries show that children between the ages of 5 and 14 have the lowest prevalence of HIV infection. Below the age of 5 they are susceptible to mother to child transmission and after they become sexually active, the rate of infection increases rapidly – especially for girls (Kelly, 2000). Children aged 5-14 need to be reached at this critical stage in their lives and offer the ‘window of hope’ in stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Health Education with HIV/AIDS prevention Does Change Behavior:

There is now strong evidence from an increasing number of studies that health education HIV/AIDS prevention applied in an appropriate context, changes behavior – including behavior in sensitive and difficult areas where knowledge based health education has failed.

For example: Sexuality and HIV education –USA:

This study was implemented in 4 schools in New York City with 9th and 11th grade students (867 students), in intervention (AIDS prevention program) and control classes (no AIDS prevention program). The program focused on correcting facts about AIDS, teaching cognitive skills to appraise risk of transmission, increasing knowledge of AIDS-prevention resources, changing perceptions of risk-taking behavior, clarifying personal values, understanding external influences and teaching skills to delay intercourse and/or consistently use condoms. An evaluation carried out three months after the end of the program found that the intervention group showed the following positive behavioral outcomes when compared with the control group: decrease in intercourse with high risk partners, increase in monogamous relationships and an increase in consistent condom use. (Walter & Vaughan, 1993).

HIV/AIDS prevention-Nigeria:

Health education programs are being implemented in many schools in Nigeria to increase levels of knowledge, influence attitudes and encourage safe sexual practices among secondary school students. A study to evaluate one such program was conducted comparing 223 students who received comprehensive sexual health education with 217 controls. Students in the intervention group received 6 weekly sessions lasting 2-6 hours, with activities including lectures, film shows, role-play stories, songs, debates, essays and a demonstration of the correct use of condoms. Following the intervention, students in the intervention group showed a greater knowledge and increased tolerance of people with AIDS compared to the control. The mean number of sexual partners also decreased in the intervention group, while the control group showed a slight increase. The program was also successful in increasing condom use (Fawole et al., 1999) Above mentioned studies shows that health education with HIV/AIDS prevention does change the behavior of students especially adolescents.

Method for implementing Health Education with HIV/AIDS prevention:

Although there is strong evidence that HIV/AIDS prevention is effective when properly applied and supported, implementing this approach and achieving this success on a larger, countrywide scale is one of the greatest challenges to be faced.

To be effective, HIV/AIDS prevention programs must address the following areas:

•Reassure stakeholders that these messages are beneficial:

Talking and teaching about reproductive health and HIV/AIDS issues does not result in earlier initiation of sex or promiscuity. The evidence suggests that well implemented skills-based programs, conducted in an atmosphere of free discussion of all the issues, is likely to lead to young people delaying the initiation of intercourse and reducing the frequency of intercourse and number of sexual partners (Kirby et al. 1994, UNAIDS 1997a).

•Provide support to teachers: The lack of support for implementation of new programs is one of the most important factors affecting success. For most teachers both the content and methods of HIV/AIDS prevention programs are new and perhaps sensitive, and yet the approach has great potential to assist teachers both in their work and also their personal lives since HIV/AIDS is, of course, also affecting teachers. Sufficient support, training, practice and time needs to be available to teachers, in both pre- and in-service training sessions and workshops, to facilitate reflection and development of their own attitudes, and to motivate them to apply their new knowledge and skills, rather than continue with the more didactic, traditional teaching methods, which are often focused on information alone (Gatawa 1995, Gachuhi 1999). In addition, sufficient time and an appropriate place must also be given in the curriculum so that all students have access to HIV/AIDS prevention.

•Start early: As well as targeting adolescents, programs need to be targeted at children at an early age, with developmentally appropriate messages, before they leave school (Gachuhi 1999, Partnership for Child Development 1998). Because younger children are generally not sexually active, these programs will address the building blocks for healthy living and avoiding risk, rather than the very specific issues related to sexual relationships and HIV/AIDS which are progressively introduced to programs for older ages. However, the large number and diverse age range of children within primary schools is an enduring challenge, especially when addressing sensitive issues. Active and self-directed learning methods which are commonly used in education can be helpful in overcoming these classroom management issues to some extent.

•Provide a supportive environment: Schools need to have strong policies and a healthy supportive environment in terms of behavior of students towards each other, teachers and school personnel. Sexual abuse can occur in schools, with both boys and girls reporting abuse by school staff (Kinsman et al. 1999, Lowensen et al. 1996). Programs need to address this potential problem by training and supporting teachers, so that they can become role models rather than neutral or adverse figures in relation to sexual behavior.

•Respond to local needs: Many of the models for HIV/AIDS prevention have been developed in western, developed countries. The available evidence from developing countries, although more limited in scope than the studies from non-developing countries, supports skills-based health education for HIV/AIDS and reproductive health (Hubley, 2000). The main issue is that wherever programs are to be implemented they must be shaped to meet the local socio-cultural norms, values and religious beliefs, and need to include ongoing monitoring (Kirby et al 1994, UNAIDS 1999, Kinsman et al.1999).

Elements of a Health Education for HIV/AIDS prevention:

Reviews of school-based HIV/AIDS prevention programs (23 studies in the USA (Kirby et al. 1994), 37 other countries (reported in UNAIDS 1999) and 53 studies in USA, Europe and elsewhere (UNAIDS 1997a) have identified the following common characteristics of successful programs:

1.Focus on a few specific behavioral goals, (such as delaying initiation of intercourse or using protection), which requires knowledge, attitude and skill objectives.

2.Provision of basic, accurate information that is relevant to behavior change, especially the risks of unprotected intercourse and methods of avoiding unprotected intercourse. 3.Reinforcement of clear and appropriate values to strengthen individual values and group norms against unprotected sex.

4.Modeling and practice in communication and negotiation skills particularly, as well as other related “life skills”.

5.Use of Social Learning theories as a foundation for program development.

6.Addressing social influences on sexual behaviors, including the important role of media and peers.

7.Use of participatory activities (games, role playing, group discussions etc.) to achieve the objectives of personalizing information, exploring attitudes and values, and practicing skills.

8.Extensive training for teachers/implementers to allow them to master the basic information about HIV/AIDS and to practice and become confident with life skills training methods.

9.Support for reproductive health and HIV/STD prevention programs by school authorities, decision and policy makers, as well as the wider community.

10.Evaluation (e.g. of outcomes, design, implementation, sustainability, school, student and community support) so that programs can be improved and successful practices encouraged.

11.Age-appropriateness, targeting students in different age groups and developmental stages with appropriate messages that are relevant to young people. For example one goal of targeting younger students, who are not yet sexually active, might be to delay the initiation of intercourse, whereas for sexually active students the emphasis might be to reduce the number of sexual partners and use condoms.

12.Gender sensitive, for both boys and girls.

Conclusions:

Health Education with HIV/AIDS prevention offers an effective approach to equipping children and young people with the knowledge, attitudes and skills that they need to help them avoid risk taking behavior and adopt healthier life styles. The scope of health education means that it can be applied to a wide range of areas, especially STDs and HIV/AIDS prevention, but also including violence, substance abuse, unwanted situations such as early pregnancy and all areas where knowledge and attitudes play a critical role in promoting a healthy lifestyle for children and young people growing up in the 21st century. We can sum it in following points- •The constitutional rights of learners and educators must be protected equally.

•There should not be compulsory disclosure of HIV/AIDS status.

•No HIV positive learner or educator may be discriminated against.

•Learners must receive education about HIV/AIDS and abstinence in the context of life- skills education as part of the integrated curriculum.

•Educational institutions should ensure that learners acquire age and context appropriate knowledge and skills to enable them to behave in ways that will protect them from infection.

•Educators need more knowledge of, and skills to deal with HIV/AIDS and should be trained to give guidance on HIV/AIDS.

Suggestions for implications for policies and programmes:

•Male and female condom promotion efforts need to recognize, identify and address gender issues including sexual and other forms of violence, that inhibit condom use.

•HIV/AIDS, peer education, and sex education programmes for adolescents that incorporate gender equality issues into their framework should be fostered. Such programmes should enable a better understanding of how norms related to masculinity and femininity may increase risky sexual behaviour, and help young people begin thinking about how to work towards equal and responsible relationships.

•Voluntary Counselling and Testing (VCT) services should take into account the risk of violence and other adverse consequences when evaluating different approaches to disclosure. For example, patients can be given the choice of counsellor-mediated disclosure if that would help minimise adverse consequences.

•Both men and women should be involved in Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMtCT) programmes. Antenatal services can educate men about sexuality, fertility and HIV prevalence to raise their awareness and sense of responsibility. This would avoid reinforcing the belief that women alone are responsible for pregnancy and for HIV transmission to the infant.

•Community Home Based Care (CBBC) approaches need to include a special effort to promote the role of men as care-givers in the family and community, and to provide adequate support and guidance to enable male participation. At the very least, such programmes should acknowledge that reliance on “home care” is, at present, largely reliance on “women’s care”.

References:

1.Fawole, I.O., Asuzu, M.C., Oduntan, S.O., Brieger, W.R. (1999). A school-based AIDS education program for secondary school students in Nigeria: a review of effectiveness. Health Education Research – Theory & Practice, 14: 675-683.

2.Gachuhi, D. (1999). The impact of HIV/AIDS on education systems in the Eastern and Southern Africa region and the response of education systems to HIV/AIDS: Life Skills Programs.

3.Gatawa, B.G. (1995). Zimbabwe: AIDS Education for schools. Case Study. UNICEF Harare Zimbabwe.

4.Hubley, J. (2000). Interventions targeted at youth aimed at influencing sexual behavior and AIDS/STDs. Leeds Health Education Database, April 2000.

5.Kelly, M.J. (2000). Standing education on its head: Aspects of schooling in a world with HIV/AIDS. Current Issues in Comparative Education. 3(1).

6.Kinsman, J., Harrison, S., Kengeya-Kayondo, J., Kanyesigye, E., Musoke, S. & Whitworth, J. (1999). Implementation of a comprehensive AIDS education program for schools in Masaka District, Uganda. AIDS CARE, 11(5): 591-601.

7.Kirby, D., Short, L., Collins, J., Rugg, D. et al. (1994). School-based programs to reduce sexual risk behaviors: a review of effectiveness. Public Health Reports, 109(3): 339-361.

8.Lowensen, R., Edwards, L. & Ndlovu-Hove, P. (1996). Reproductive health rights in Zimbabwe. Training and Research Support Centre (TARSC).

9.UNAIDS (1997a). Impact of HIV and sexual health education on the sexual behavior of young people: a review update.

10.UNAIDS (1997b). Learning and teaching about AIDS at school. UNAIDS technical update, October 1997.

11.Walter, H. & Vaughan, R. (1993). AIDS risk reduction among a multiethnic sample of urban high school students. JAMA, 270(6): 725-730.

12.WHO (1996). Preventing HIV/AIDS/STI and related discrimination: an important responsibility of health promoting schools. WHO series on school health, document six.