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Namibia

Take Control

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Activity Dates

2004 and ongoing

Activity Summary

HCP/NLT supports Namibia’s national HIV/AIDS media campaign, Take Control, coordinated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). In partnership with representatives from governmental, nongovernmental, private, and international organizations, Take Control uses radio, television, and print media to coordinate a national response to HIV/AIDS.

Take Control’s 1999-2001 “Safe Sex Saves Lives” campaign targeted youth with messages on correct and consistent condom use and established Take Control as the leading HIV/AIDS prevention brand. It contributed to a rise in condom use, especially among urban youth and those with casual sex partners.

The introduction of the “Be your own hero” theme in 2002 aimed to get people involved and active. The universality of the message facilitated the promotion of a wide variety of solutions. “Be your own hero” could mean abstaining from sex as much as it could mean to take a step towards living positively. HCP/NLT strengthened campaign components on abstinence/delayed sexual debut, partner reduction and partner testing, and living with HIV/AIDS. NLT’s Community Action Forums (CAFs) brought the campaign issues to the community level through outreach, material distribution, and the promotion of service partners. CAFs also served to feed content back into the campaign, such as through the “What are you doing about HIV?” interview series in The Namibian, the country’s largest selling daily newspaper.

Take Control’s current focus is on promoting safer and happier relationships. Many of the current challenges--condom use, multiple partners, gender issues, partner testing, treatment and care, and stigma, for example--are clustered around relationships. Given that previous and ongoing campaigns have popularized risk-reduction behaviors, this campaign drive seeks to address the context in which these behaviors are performed most of the time. The overarching campaign goals are to promote quality sexual and other close relationships that foster HIV/AIDS risk reduction, care and other supportive behaviours, and to strengthen aspiration towards loving and caring relationships over non-committal relationships, exploitative relationships and relationships for material gain. The campaign promotes open communication, care, respect, responsibility, trust, and honesty as key characteristics of high-quality relationships, and targets sexually active 15-49-year-olds, with special emphasis on men, young people, and people living with HIV/AIDS.

In a separate but related initiative with the Coalition on Responsible Drinking (CORD), Take Control has set out to tackle the very real and often neglected issue of alcohol abuse from an HIV perspective. “Alcohol aids HIV” seeks to raise awareness on the links between alcohol abuse and HIV infection and HIV progression and to encourage controlled and responsible drinking patterns. HCP/NLT developed an outreach package for use by the Community Action Forums and Catholic AIDS Action volunteers, consisting of leaflets, posters, fact sheets, and a T-shirt. HCP/NLT also supports the print and radio media backdrop for outreach activities.

In addition to MIB and HCP/NLT, Take Control partners include UNICEF, the Social Marketing Association (SMA), UNAIDS, UNFPA, Catholic AIDS Action, Lironga Eparu, IBIS, MOHSS, and the Ministry of Education.

Materials & Tools

	Title: "I am not having sex - and I am proud of myself.": Martin: Wait to have sex. It's the best way to protect your future from HIV. Be your own hero: Take control Type of Material: Poster		Title: "Getting tested together was a sign of our love." : Magnaite & Petunia : Make the commitment to one partner and go for an HIV test together. Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster
	Title: "Sex can wait - my future comes first." : Soraya : Wait to have sex. It's the best way to protect your future from HIV. Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster		Title: "Be with one partner and cherish that relationship." : Carina & Gerhard : Stick to one partner and know each other's status - for a better and safer relationship. Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster
	Title: "If I had kept it inside I would have exploded" : David : Speak to someone about being HIV positive, it's the first step to getting your life back : Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster		Title: "HIV is a good reason to talk with your kids about sex" : Danny Glover : UNICEF goodwill ambassador : Speak to your children about sex, HIV and AIDS. : It could save their lives. : Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster
	Title: "I talked to my kids about sex and HIV" : Deputy Minister Pohamba Shifeta : Speak to your children about sex, HIV and AIDS. : It could save their lives. : Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster		Title: "After I talked, all thoughts about killing myself were gone" : Endelika Fillander : Speak to someone about being HIV positive, it's the first step to getting your life back. : Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster
	Title: "Keep your guard up." : Tyson : Make it a habit to stay safe. : Just always use a condom : Be your own hero : Take control Type of Material: Poster		Title: ["Be with one partner and cherish that relationship." : Carina & Gerhard : Stick to one partner and know each other's status - for a better and safer relationship. Be your own hero : Take control] Type of Material: Poster
	Title: 4 good ways to control your drinking : 4 good reasons to control your drinking Type of Material: Pamphlet

• Radio and TV spots would be in English and 4 local languages

Audience

Namibians that fall in the main age bracket of sexual activity (15-49 years). Special attention is to be given to the following subgroups:  Men, youth, people living with HIV/AIDS.

Partners

Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, Ministry of Health and Social Services, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Catholic AIDS Action, UNICEF, Social Marketing Association, Coalition for Responsible Drinking, UNAIDS, UNFPA, Ibis and Lironga Iparu.

Back to Namibia

Note about materials: Some of the materials and resources listed on each page are available in their full form, others are represented by image or citation only. For more information and resources, go to www.jhuccp.org