Zaire mass media project : a model AIDS prevention communications and motivation project

The evaluation covers the period 1988-91. The project's strategy has been to target youth between the ages of 12-19 and prospective parents between 20-30. It draws on Zaire's rich traditions in music and drama to send messages that influence social norms and counter high-risk practices. Innovative media materials, based on audience research, have been used in television and radio spot announcements, dramas, music videos, talk shows, interviews, student notebooks, and comic-strip calendars. Even though the project was suspended in November 1991, when USAID withdrew funding due to Zaire's political and social instability, it succeeded in meeting its objectives. The target population reflects an improved attitude and intended behavior related to safer sexual practices. Research, including media post-tests and longitudinal KAP (knowledge, attitudes, and practice) studies, conducted over the length of the project, present evidence of: (1) increased awareness regarding asymptomatic carriers; (2) increased acceptance and reported practice of abstinence and mutual fidelity for AIDS prevention; and (3) increased knowledge, acceptance, and reported use of condoms for AIDS prevention. It is significant that during the same period, annual sales of condoms, by the implementors of USAID's Condom Social Marketing Project, increased by more than 1,000%. Family Health International's AIDSTECH program estimates that, as a result of increased condom sales, close to 7,200 cases of AIDS will be prevented in Zaire during 1991. The intensity of the project's campaign and its use of traditional Zairian forms of communication to convey AIDS messages were key elements in its success. Ultimately, reducing the spread of HIV transmission requires each society to undertake the extremely gradual and complex process of examining and altering its customs as well as its social and economic structures. Zaire's experience demonstrates that through systematic use of available mass media channels, and marketing and distribution of high-quality condoms sold at affordable prices, it is possible to motivate people to take positive actions to stem the spread of AIDS.