Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2006. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
South African Press Association - November 6, 2006
Thomas Hartleb
"The survey shows that communication programmes have made a significant impact on key areas such as increasing condom use and HIV testing," Dr Warren Parker, executive director of the youth drama series Tsha Tsha, said on Monday.
Half of those who have been tested for HIV/Aids in South Africa were tested in the past year. This, Parker said "with great confidence", was largely due to programmes and print campaigns.
He noted that it was "somewhat cynical" of e.tv to air wrestling at the same time as the South African Broadcasting Corporation's (SABC) Tsha Tsha and potentially draw viewers away from an educational programme.
Tsha Tsha was found to have had "significant impacts" on condom use, HIV discussion and testing and helping people with HIV/Aids. It had been seen by 14-million people at one time or another. Soul City reached 70% of the population and had significantly affected stigma reduction.
Condom use increased from 34% among those not reached by any of the programmes to 60% among those exposed to 10 or more programmes, said Dr Lawrence Kincaid, associate scientist in the department of health at Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He said the TV and radio programmes create an environment that allows communities to discuss Aids.
Dr Sue Goldstein, who works on Soul City, said the lack of a common message and the "large confusion" created by the South African government since 2000 over whether HIV caused Aids have ensured the country's Aids death toll is still largely unchanged.
She cited Uganda as an example where "a national response" has made inroads into combating the spread of the disease.
Goldstein said white people are "particularly under-accessed" by the programmes. This, she said, is partly due to the SABC's requirement that 80% of programming be in indigenous languages.
Dr Saul Johnson said that deciding to focus more on black people was partly an "economic decision" due to budget constraints. It was also due to the fact that HIV prevalence is much worse in this section of the population.
"We should be spending a lot more money [on Aids-awareness programmes]," he added.
While he predicts a drop in HIV-prevalence rates due to the impact of media programmes, he said the effects of behaviour change will take five to 10 years to work their way through the population.
He said more research is needed to increase the sophistication of the messages the public is sent. He said fear-based messages do not work, and the ABC -- abstinence, be faithful and condomise -- message is not enough. "There are a lot of underlying factors about why you can't do these [ABC] things. You have to start digging down."
Johnson is currently research manager for the consortium managing Khomanani -- the South African government's Aids mass-media campaign.
The survey was conducted by the Johns Hopkins University, Health Development Africa, the Centre for Aids Development, Research and Evaluation, and the Soul City Institute.
It questioned more than 8 000 people across South Africa between the ages of 15 and 65.
The survey looked at, among others, the effect of the SABC's Tsha Tsha, Soul City, Takalani Sesame, the government's Khomanani programme and the loveLife campaign.
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