COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR
COMMUNICATION CAMPAIGNS ON CONCURRENT SEXUAL PARTNERSHIPS
AND SEXUAL NETWORKS IN TANZANIA
Haneefa Saleem1, Caitlin Kennedy1, Lusajo Kajula-Maonga2, Samuel Likindikoki2, Timothy Mah3, and
Jessie Mbwambo2 1Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland USA, 2Muhimbili University of Health and Allied
Sciences, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 3United States Agency for International Development, Washington, DC USA
Recommendations (continued):
• Target HIV prevention campaigns to individuals
living in rural villages. Some participants felt that there
is a deficiency of HIV prevention messaging in rural
villages, despite high rates of risky sexual behaviors
such as lack of condom use during sexual intercourse.
I would like to advise the government or different
organizations to go into the villages because I know
what is happening in my village now. Now when you
look at the HIV infection rate; it’s high in villages
compared to cities. Focus group, Dar es Salaam
• Segment messages by economic status. Participants
felt that some of the current campaign messages might
not resonate with the poor due to the perceived higher
economic status of the characters portrayed.
That message is talking of high life… even that
house that the picture was taken is the house of
people with higher life. So the one with poor life when
they see it they will say that this message is directed
to certain people. Male, Focus group, Dar es Salaam
• Intervene in schools to reach young people. Young
people were perceived by some participants as being
particularly vulnerable to HIV acquisition due to
engagement in risky sexual behaviors, including multiple
sexual partnerships and sexual networks.
There should be seminars like in schools, starting
from primary schools, you see? As you can see that
now with globalization, the [sexual] network, you may
find that a primary school child has a lover, you see?
Focus group, Dar es Salaam
Haneefa Saleem, MPH. [email protected]. Johns Hopkins
Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland USA
Contact
• Twenty four in-depth interviews and 16 focus group
discussions were conducted with a total of 90 women and
68 men between the ages of 18 and 39 years in Dar es
Salaam and Iringa, Tanzania.
• Relevant communication campaign materials were
presented to participants to elicit their perceptions of
campaign messaging content, reach, and design, and to
allow participants to make recommendations for improving
HIV prevention campaigns presented to them.
• Interviews and focus group discussions were conducted
in Kiswahili by trained ethnographers, transcribed, and
translated to English.
• Thematic analysis was used to analyze transcripts.
Transcripts were read through by members of the
research team. A coding scheme was developed based
on a priori themes guided by research questions and
themes that emerged from a subset of transcripts.
Transcripts were coded using the coding scheme with
additional codes added as they emerged. All coding was
conducted using QSR Nvivo version 9.1.
Methods
Sophisticated health communication campaigns include a
variety of communication channels and segmented messages
by target audience. Findings from this qualitative study with
both urban and rural Tanzanians support using diverse
messaging channels to increase reach and segmentation of
messages by economic status to improve resonance of
messages. Results also suggest there may be benefits to
intervening in schools to better reach younger populations.
Conclusions
Introduction
• HIV prevalence in Tanzania is estimated at 5.7%.1 There
are over 1.3 million people living with HIV in Tanzania.1
• Concurrent sexual partnerships and sexual networks have
been speculated as being factors driving the HIV epidemic
in many sub-Saharan African countries, including
Tanzania.2,3 Multiple sexual partnerships have been found
to be associated with increased prevalence of HIV
infection in Tanzania.4
• To address the link between concurrent sexual
partnerships and HIV infection, several HIV prevention
communication campaigns in Tanzania have focused on
messages to reduce concurrent sexual partnerships and
explain the concept of sexual networks.
• The purpose of this study was to elicit community
perspectives and recommendations for HIV
communication campaigns on concurrent sexual
partnerships and sexual networks in Tanzania.
Key Findings
The study was implemented by USAID | Project SEARCH, Task Order No.2, which is funded by the U.S. Agency for
International Development under Contract No. GHH-I-00-07-00032-00, beginning September 30, 2008, and supported
by the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. The Research to Prevention (R2P) Project is led by the Johns
Hopkins Center for Global Health and managed by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for
Communication Programs (CCP).
www.jhsph.edu/R2P
Presented at AIDS 2012 – Washington, D.C., USA
Community Perspectives:
• Few participants had been exposed to existing HIV
communication campaigns on concurrent
partnerships and sexual networks.
• When presented HIV campaign materials on sexual
networks and concurrent sexual partnerships,
participants generally liked the design and delivery.
They were also able to correctly describe the intended
message.
• Many participants suggested that campaigns have
difficulty reaching individuals who live in rural areas
in Tanzania. They highlighted how many rural residents
do not have regular access to television or radio.
Recommendations:
• Use a mix of media to reach a broader audience.
Participants recommended the use of a mix of media
channels to reach those who may not have access to a
television or radio, including billboards, flyers, and home
visits. Discussion groups were also recommended as a
method for spreading messages on the risk of concurrent
partnerships and sexual networks.
Key Findings (continued)
References
1 UNAIDS. (2010). Global Report: UNAIDS Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic,
2010. Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS. 2 Morris, M. (2010). Barking up the wrong evidence tree. Comment on Lurie &
Rosenthal, "Concurrent partnerships as a driver of the HIV epidemic in sub-
Saharan Africa? The evidence is limited". AIDS Behav, 14(1), 31-3; discussion 34-7. 3 Mah, T., & Halperin, D. (2010). Concurrent sexual partnerships and the HIV
epidemics in Africa: Evidence to move forward. AIDS and Behavior, 14(1), 11-6;
discussion 34-7. 4 Landman, K. Z., Ostermann, J., Crump, J. A., Mgonja, A., Mayhood, M. K., Itemba,
D. K., Tribble, A. C., Ndosi, E. M., Chu, H. Y., Shao, J. F., Bartlett, J. A., & Thielman,
N. M. (2008). Gender differences in the risk of HIV infection among persons
reporting abstinence, monogamy, and multiple sexual partners in northern
Tanzania. PLoS One, 3(8), e3075.
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