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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 7, 2002
New Guide Developed To Help Those Working in Francophone
Africa to Prevent the Spread of HIV/AIDS
Le Sida Parlons-En Offers Lessons in Developing HIV/AIDS Messages BALTIMORE—More than 70 communication experts from 12 French-speaking African nations gathered together last year to develop a guide for crafting messages to prevent HIV/AIDS infection and to address care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS.
Their efforts resulted in le SIDA parlons-en, a 114-page primer written in French on how to develop messages for eleven specific audiences: young people, truck drivers, migrant workers, soldiers, people living with HIV/AIDS, journalists, political leaders, religious leaders, health workers, communities, and commercial sex workers.
The Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs (JHU/CCP) through its Santé Familiale et Prévention du SIDA (SFPS) project organized a workshop in Burkina Faso in early 2001 with representatives from groups working with the various specific audiences. SFPS-JHU/CCP published the guide with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
“We are pleased to have organized this effort to consolidate our collective knowledge about how to reach a variety of audiences with the appropriate message on preventing HIV/AIDS and caring for those who are infected,” said Claudia Vondrasek, Chief of Party, BCC, SFPS Regional Project. “The workshop participants are on the frontlines of this fight and have shared valuable expertise in the development of this guide.”
Each chapter of the guide is devoted to a specific audience and includes a brief overview of the characteristics of each group. The overview provides insights that will assist readers in tailoring more effective messages. After the overview, each chapter lists the desired behavior change, barriers to reaching that audience, possible message content or idea, and supporting arguments for those possible ideas.
In the chapter on reaching migrant workers, for example, one of the desired changes in behavior listed is condom use coupled with immediate clinical treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Migrant workers are particularly susceptible to these infections and their complications because they usually live far from their families, have multiple sexual partners, and rarely seek medical attention when signs of infection appear. The infection is often treated poorly by traditional healers, ends up costing more because of the delay, and can result in complications.
Possible messages could be crafted around the idea of urging migrant workers to stay healthy and save money by using condoms with each sexual encounter, seeking medical attention at the first sign of infection, and avoiding treatment of the infection on their own. The guide does not provide the actual message or slogan since that needs to be designed with the specific culture and situation in mind. Forty thousand copies of the guide are available in French and an English translation is planned.
To obtain a copy of the guide, contact: Michele Beaupin at mbeaupin@jhuccp.org in Baltimore or Anne-Edith Kouassigan at aek@sfps.or.ci in Abidjan.
JHU/CCP is a pioneer in the field of strategic, research-based communication for behavior change and health promotion that has helped transform the theory and practice of public health communications. With representatives in more than 30 countries, JHU/CCP has been a leader in the development of projects based on systematic needs assessments and clear strategies for positioning and presenting the benefits of health interventions to appropriate audiences.
For more information contact: Kim Martin at Johns Hopkins Center for Communication Programs, 111 Market Place, Suite 310, Baltimore, Maryland 21202, USA. Tel: 410 659-6140; Fax: 410 659-6266 e-mail: press@jhuccp.org. PRESS ROOM: http://www.jhuccp.org/pressroom
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