Although Bermudian Hayley Faries hasn?t yet graduated from medical school in England, she is already working to prevent the spread of sexually transmitted diseases ? on a global scale.

Miss Faries is currently a fourth year medical student at the University of Newcastle-Upon-Tyne in England. She is also a member of a group called Sexpression, a British network of student-led sex education initiatives.

?We are all medical students with the hope that we would have a greater basis and the knowledge to teach younger people about reproductive health,? said Miss Faries. ?It is meant to be fun as well.?

Members of Sexpression go to schools in Britain and teach young people about the proper use of birth control and the dangers of sexually transmitted diseases such as HIV. They also talk with the youngsters about what constitutes a healthy relationship.

Her interest in global health issues started when she was a student at the United World College (UWC) in New Mexico.

?While I was at UWC I was doing peer education,? she said. ?It was mostly HIV and AIDS awareness.?

Peer education involves training young people to teach other young people.

?In New Mexico I was teaching HIV and AIDS awareness, but since I have come to Newcastle it has been broadened and we go into the local schools again and we do teaching about sexually transmitted diseases, as well as how to put on a condom.?

When Sexpression talks to young people they start by laying ground rules about confidentiality, and the right to not contribute to the discussion. Students don?t have to talk about their emotions and experiences if they don?t want to.

?We have (plastic) condom demonstrators and they love it,? said Miss Faries. ?At first the cool kids are sitting back and they won?t get involved.

?Initially, you do giggle about these things,? she said. ?But you (the facilitator) do need to be the one who can be quite serious. You let the kids have a laugh, but make it a learning experience as well.?

The plastic condom demonstrators are donated by local drug companies and are often a hit with the students.

?The condom demonstrators are really beneficial,? she said. ?I think that it gives them the courage and it breaks barriers. We emphasise that it is okay to put on condoms. We try to make them less intimidating. We try to break any myths that they have as well.

?We encourage the kids to talk as much as possible, and we encourage them to tell us what they know. Sometimes they know more than we do. You learn something new every time you do it with them. We do three sessions and in the last session we address homosexuality as well and try and break some barriers that the kids might have.

?We get them to think about what it might be like to come out to your friends. We and try and get them to think about being more supportive to someone who might be gay in their class, for example.?

Sexpression is a branch of a larger group called Medsin, Medsin-UK is a British network of healthcare students who raise awareness of and take action on global health issues. In turn, Medsin is the United Kingdom branch of the International Federation of Medical Students Associations (IFMSA).

IFMSA is recognised by the United Nations and the World Health Organisation. Ninety-one countries are members of IFMSA including places like Taiwan and Palestine that are not recognised by the United Nations.

Miss Faries was thrilled to attend an IFMSA conference earlier this summer to learn more about world health and reproductive issues.

?I went to the IFMSA general assembly meeting in Egypt,? Miss Faries said. ?The conference brought together medical students from around the world, and it was a forum for us to discuss ideas on community issues and also global issues. It was a fantastic sharing of ideas and a broadening of horizons. It was a fantastic experience.?

At the conference, she joined a committee focused on reproductive health and AIDS. One of her duties as part of the group is to design a World AIDS Day T-Shirt.

?It was fantastic sharing these ideas with students who have a perspective completely different from your own,? she said. ?For World AIDS Day we are hoping to get an international medical student effort. We haven?t come up with the one idea yet, but we will possibly be releasing red balloons at the same time or be chiming bells at the same time. We have not committed to one idea yet, but I designed this T-shirt.

?My cousin is helping me to get it on the computer. My design shows the world wrapped in a red AIDS ribbon. It will say ?together against HIV and AIDS? on the back. It will have the IFMSA logo on the sleeve. We are hoping the shirt is as inclusive as possible. We want it to appeal to everyone so they don?t feel that only our committee could wear it. We thought it could be very powerful if everyone wore red T-shirts on that day. We liked the idea of it being everyone coming together against HIV and AIDS.?

Her group is also working on a god-fathering project to get similar peer education set up in countries like Nigeria. However, setting up such a programme in Nigeria is not cut and dried.

?One of the really interesting parts of the conference is the difference between us,? she said. ?I need to step back and appreciate the cultural differences.?

In Nigeria it is taboo to talk about condoms, and condom demonstrations are out of the question. Their peer education is based on the ABC system ? Abstinence, Be Faithful and then Condom.

?In the UK you can come straight in and pull out the condom demonstrators,? said Miss Faries. ?There is a contrapack which includes every type of contraception to clarify what the kids have heard. Yet all of a sudden when we were working with Nigeria we had to take on this completely new approach.