16th International AIDS Conference Toronto, Canada - August 13 - 18, 2006

ASSESSING A NATIONAL HIV BEHAVIOR CHANGE CAMPAIGN FOCUSING ON MULTIPLE CONCURRENT PARTNERSHIPS IN SWAZILAND

Int Conf AIDS. 2006 Aug 13-18;16 Abstract No. MoAc0201

Halperin D.¹, Andersson N.², Mavuso M.³, George B.^4
1USAID, Southern Africa HIV-AIDS Program, Mbabane, Swaziland, ²Centro de Investigación de Enfermedades Tropicales (CIET), Acapulco, Mexico, ³United Nations Family Planning Association, Mbabane, Swaziland, ⁴Centers for Disease Control (CDC), Monitoring and Evaluation, Pretoria, South Africa

BACKGROUND: Swaziland is currently experiencing the world´s most severe HIV epidemic, at over 40% in pregnant women (2004 survey). Researchers, planners and donors increasingly consider the pervasive pattern of concurrent multiple partnerships to be a key epidemiological driver in the spread of HIV, especially in such high prevalence, generalized epidemics (Halperin and Epstein, Lancet. 2004 Jul 3-9;364(9428):4-6). A government national multi-media campaign proposed to generate increased awareness on this issue in the hope of eventually reducing HIV risk-taking behavior and associated social norms.

METHODS: A baseline survey was conducted to explore sexual attitudes and social norms of behavior among over 2000 adults in 12 randomly selected communities (4 urban and 8 rural), just prior to the launch in June 2005 of the government (NERCHA)-led behavior change communication campaign. A follow-up survey of over 2000 adults in the same communities in June 2006 measured the potential contribution of and processes involved in the campaign (recognizing that other significant behavior change efforts may also have impacted on behavioral patterns and norms). In addition, three rounds of intensive focus group discussions were held in each of the 12 communities (one for each gender, or 72 groups in total).

RESULTS: The large majority of respondents in the baseline survey and the first two focus group rounds reported that “lishendes”, or multiple concurrent partners, were “very common” or “common” in their communities. Over the course of the study, a substantial number of people reported that such behaviors were detrimental for the HIV-AIDS crisis, and considerable numbers of them, especially females, felt that “choosing to have only one partner” could/should be an important prevention approach for the country´s fight against the deadly epidemic.

CONCLUSIONS: The study ended up helping guide the development of the government BCC campaign, and could also help inform similar such behavior change interventions carried out elsewhere in the region.

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2006-08-13
MoAc0201

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