AFRO-NETS> New Guide: Working in Francophone Africa to Prevent the Spread of HIV/AIDS

[Dieter Neuvians MD <neuvians@mweb.co.zw>]

New Guide: Working in Francophone Africa to Prevent the Spread of HIV/AIDS
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"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 ad-
dress 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 au-
diences: young people, truck drivers, migrant workers, soldiers, peo-
ple 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 rep-
resentatives 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 col-
lective 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 Re-
gional 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 in-
cludes 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 de-
sired 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 immedi-
ate 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 in-
fection, 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
mailto:mbeaupin@jhuccp.org
in Baltimore 
or 
Anne-Edith Kouassigan
mailto:aek@sfps.or.ci 
in Abidjan

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