Impact of the HEART campaign : findings from the youth surveys, 1999 & 2000

This report evaluates the impact of phase one of the campaign on youth in Zambia. Campaign goals were largely met. Among the salient findings were the following: (1) Television is an effective way to reach young people. The HEART campaign reached over 50% of its intended audience; 71% of urban and 37% of rural youth saw one or more of the health communication spots. Young women both urban and rural were as likely as were young men to have seen some or all of the spots. (2) Comprehension of the messages was good. Between 60% and 90% of viewers spontaneously identified the correct message with any given advertisement. (3) About 74% of male viewers and 68% of female viewers said that the health communication spots prompted them to talk with others about the spot, decide to abstain from sex until more mature, or use a condom. (4) On average, male as well as female viewers discussed abstinence or safer sex with a significantly wider range of people than did their counterparts. (5) Among women who are sexually experienced, 82% of campaign viewers vs. 69% of baseline and 64% of impact survey nonviewers reported they feel confident that they have "the ability to say no to unwanted sex." (6) Among both men and women, the perceived efficacy of using condoms was positively and significantly correlated with viewership. (7) Overall, viewers were more knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS than were nonviewers. Nearly 86% of viewers of a spot entitled Mutale & Ing"utu, compared with 72% of nonviewers, recognized that a person who looks healthy can still be HIV+. (8) Using logistic regression and holding constant the independent variables of age, educational attainment, urban/rural residence, and sex, data show that viewers are 1.68 times more likely to report primary or secondary abstinence than were non-viewers. (9) There was a dose effect: the more health communication spots recalled, the greater the likelihood that the respondent was abstinent. (10) Logistic regression analysis found that viewers were 1.91 times more likely to have ever used a condom and 1.63 times more likely to have reported condom use during last sex when contrasted with nonviewers (holding sex, age, residence and education constant). Older, better-educated respondents were more likely than others were to use condoms. Interestingly, women were more likely to report condom use than were men when background characteristics were held constant. Includes recommendations for designing the next phase of the campaign.