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South Africa

Highlights of evaluation results from Tsha Tsha, the South African TV Drama for Young People

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The South Africa TV serial drama Tsha Tsha, which focuses on the lives of several young people exploring love, sex, and relationships in a world affected by the realities of the AIDS pandemic, reached an average of 1.8 million viewers each week, for a cost per person of $.55 during its first year of broadcast.

During this year the viewership rose to over 2.6 million viewers per week, thus reducing the per person cost even further. Recall of the drama content served to measure exposure. The percent of respondents that recalled the program increased from 57.6% after 13 episodes to 67.6% after 26 episodes. Recently the series was nominated for ten awards from the South African Broadcasting Corporation (South Africa's equivalent of the Emmys).

Some of the common attitudes that were evaluated and tracked during the project were:

1. Getting aids is the result of sinning.
2. It is a waste of money to train/educate someone who is HIV positive.
3. People who know they are HIV positive should not have sex.
4. I would be embarrassed to be seen with someone who everyone knows has HIV/AIDS.
5. When you learn that you have HIV your life is over.
6. People with HIV will soon lose their friends.

Viewers and non-viewers differed significantly on the following variables after controlling for the effects of propensity to view the series.

• Compared to the statistically created control group, viewers were more likely to have positive attitudes about HIV issues addressed in Tsha Tsha, including stigma towards people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Viewers were more likely to practice HIV preventive behaviors, such as abstaining from sex, being faithful to one partner, having sex less often, using a condom to prevent HIV, or using a condom at last sex.
• Viewers were more likely to undergo Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) to determine their HIV status.
• Viewers also reported an increased sense of responsibility for the well-being of others as "Tsha Tsha" portrayed the dynamics of living openly with HIV and the problems and challenges involved in sharing one's status with others. It provided strong, positive images of young people confronting their HIV positive status.
• The qualitative data reflected a high level of visual literacy amongst viewers, and in interest in engaging with the series and its characters. Viewers saw the series as realistic, captivating, entertaining, and educational. They considered the rural setting novel and the show appealed to both rural and urban residents. Knowledge and general awareness about HIV/AIDS increased, and various self-reported shifts in HIV attitudes, beliefs, practices, and behaviors occurred.

Back to South Africa

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