Ma Vie, Ma Décision!

The mainstays of this campaign are the television spots and entertainment-education radio programmes. Campaign activities will run through to November 30 2007, in Abidjan and four other cities across the country. In addition to radio and TV spots, local non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are helping roll out a community outreach component. Campaign materials - such as discussion guides to accompany the radio programmes for discussions among youth groups, posters, and brochures - are available for use by religious organisations working with young people, school groups, and other youth community groups.

The project uses mass media and community outreach/interpersonal communication, including the following strategies.

• A mini-poster, a billboard, a TV spot, and a 5-minute radio infomercial on condom use portrays a couple with a message "For sex, speak the same language - use a condom to avoid AIDS" According to the organisers, this message was created as a response to baseline research findings that showed that girls who propose the use of condoms were considered of low moral value and possibly thought of as prostitutes.
• Another mini-poster, billboard, TV spot and 5-minute radio infomercial on abstinence portrays a couple with a message "sex can wait - abstinence is the safest way to avoid AIDS". The message was in response to baseline research findings, in which boys think that abstinence is not realistic and that girls who practice abstinence are not cool and can't keep their boyfriends.
• Along with being broadcast, all the radio infomercials target use in youth group discussions through youth associations, youth clubs, and youth-serving community-based organisations. A print colour photo novella, discussing abstinence, condom use, and HIV testing, was distributed to youth through the community networks. The mini-posters, the photo novella, and promotional items such as T-shirts and key chains were used as prizes in youth contests, as well as in other youth games and activities organised by youth groups, youth-serving community-based organisations, and local radio stations.

According to the organisers, the strategies employ edutainment in their approach - including use of transcripts of actual conversations for live drama, the photo novella, and the television spots. The project team made a point to use actual young Ivorians' typical language to make sure the materials would be appealing, appropriate for the general youth population, and fit within the youth culture in Côte d'Ivoire.

HIV/AIDS, Reproductive Health.

The organisers decided to launch this campaign because they found that the HIV prevalence rate in Côte d'Ivoire had reached a "worrisome" threshold (4.7% among sexually active 15-49 year olds - CF HIV indicators survey, 2005), with a women-to-men infection ratio of 2.2, suggesting a feminisation of the epidemic in the country. Young women, particularly, are at increasing risk of contracting the virus.

Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programmes (CCP) looked at the social and gender norms in Côte d'Ivoire that are detrimental to HIV prevention practices among youth. The baseline research revealed that 78% of young men and women consider that women should tolerate violence in the couple, and both young men and women think it is ok for men to have multiple partners, while both young men and women disapprove of girls carrying condoms. Although 54% of young women and 47% of young men are sexually active, less than 50% of them used a condom at last sex. Finally, only 12% of youth surveyed ever had an HIV test.