“I Know, Do you Know?” Campaign in South Africa

 

1.     Justification

According to the most recent population based surveys in low- and middle-income countries, only 24% of young women and 36% of young men responded correctly when asked five questions on HIV prevention and HIV transmission.

 

The “I know, Do you Know” campaign presents a platform to reach Adolescents and other community members with correct information on HIV testing, treatment, adherence and family planning. Although significant progress has been made in providing HIV Testing services to the community, such services are not widely accessible to young people due to policy related challenges. The campaign takes a family centred approach in order to be all embracive in accelerating the reduction of AIDS related deaths and new HIV infections among adolescents as part of the global push to end AIDS by 2030.

 

Restrictive policies limit accessibility to in-school adolescents. SAfAIDS holds the “I Know, Do you Know” campaigns during school holidays to enable in-school adolescents to attend the events at community level. SAfAIDS uses innovative and evidence informed youth savvy HIV prevention and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights interventions that showcase fresh ways of communicating with the adolescents, their gatekeepers and circle of care. This is done through:

• Intergenerational dialogues
• Music bashes
• KKA (Know your Constitution, Know your rights and Act) dialogues and hash tagging the event on social media.
• Question and Answer Sessions (Quiz-topical issues on HIV and SRHR)

 3. The Campaign Goal

The overall goal of the “I Know Campaign, Do you Know” Campaign on EndingAdolescentAIDS in South Africa is to contribute towards 90x90x90 and the reduction of new HIV infections and AIDS related deaths amongst adolescents, by creating an enabling environment for reduction of HIV through scaling up of youth friendly HIV prevention and Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights, treatment, adherence, care and psychosocial support services.

 

3.1 Campaign Objectives

The objectives of this intervention are to:

• Create community level platforms for adolescents to engage their leaders, service providers and parents/guardians on HIV prevention and adolescents’ disclosure through use of family centred approaches.
• Mobilise and  create demand for HIV Testing, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision, Family Planning among Adolescents and their families
• Raise awareness amongst young people on sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR), including HIV prevention. 

3.2 Expected Outcomes

The intervention is expected to achieve the following outcomes:

• Increased access to Health Care Services i.e. HIV Testing services among adolescents, Voluntary Medical Male Circumcision
• Increased access to short and long term family planning services to adults
• Increased correct knowledge on preventing HIV, teenage pregnancies, treatment, adherence and how adolescents can navigate the difficult issues of disclosure.
• Long term meaningful parent to child communication   

3.3 Target Group

The I Know, Do you Know? Campaign is targeting adolescents aged between 10 and 18, parents, guardians and service providers through family centred, edutaining and youth savvy innovative methodologies to promote trust.

 

4. Campaign Key Messages

The theme of the campaign is “I Know My HIV Status – Do You Know Yours?”

Key campaign messages include:

• I Know My HIV Status & My Family Knows
• I Know My HIV Status & My BFF Knows
• I Know My HIV Status & I Am Moving On
• I Know My HIV Status -  It’s Cool to Know
• I know My HIV Status-I adhere to my treatment
• My Family and I Know our HIV status-Get tested together with your family today!