Thursday, 02 December 2010: The OneLove campaign in North West was hailed today as a major success by North West’s MEC for the Department of Social Development, Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities, Hon Mosetsanyanagape Mokomele-Mothibi (MPL). Speaking at a ceremony held to commemorate World AIDS Day and celebrate the issuing of OneLove certificates of participation to over fifty eight people in Mafikeng, Mokomele-Mothibi said that the Department of Social Development, Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities’ partnership with the Soul City Institute had already shown positive results. A formal evaluation of the campaign will commence in January 2011.
“OneLove is a campaign focused on HIV prevention through the reduction of Multiple Concurrent Partners (MCP) - a key driver of new HIV infections. Our joint campaign, which was launched in May this year, has reached a great number of our people in a meaningful way. We have ensured that people are talking about important issues that will ultimately result in fewer HIV infections. I am in particular impressed about the way the campaign has embraced other services of government and contributed towards increasing access to services of government by our people. This is another remarkable achievement of this partnership, a clear demonstration that “working together we can do more” as our President Hon Jacob Zuma has said. We are grateful to the contribution from each one of you,” said Hon Mokomele-Mothibi.
The messages of OneLove focus on talk, respect and protect. The campaign was launched after extensive research done by Soul City Institute and its regional partners from 10 countries which found that the practice of multiple sexual partnerships is one of the key drivers of new HIV infections in several southern African countries.
The campaign aims to shift social norms and reinforces positive behaviours without blaming people who are behaving in risky ways. John Molefe, Soul City Institute's senior executive for marketing and public affairs explains, “It role models safer sexual behaviour, and challenges men and women to change their behaviour to live a safer and happier life. OneLove also challenges gender stereotypes and cultural norms that reinforce having more than one partner and that fuel the AIDS epidemic.”
The campaign in North West has taken a multi-faceted approach. Onkemetse Kabasia, Acting Chief Director of Social Welfare Services, explains: “Our activities revolved around training master trainers as well as community members, community dialogues and district launches. To ensure that these interventions were well supported, we have also widely distributed materials such as booklets and posters, we utilised a radio, print and outdoor communication campaign and there were a number of talk shows on Motsweding FM and four community radio stations. This partnership was hatched in Durban during the 4th Southern African AIDS Conference, and I am personally very excited to have lived to see the day when OneLove Campaign rocks the North West Province”.
Accredited training has been provided to 36 master trainers in the Province, who in turn are each conducting training sessions for a further 25 people. A further 22 HIV/AIDS Co-coordinators, who are social workers from the four districts, were also trained on the OneLove campaign. The various launches were well attended, with attendance figures of between 500 and 1000 community members at each event.
Molefe continues, “We are thrilled to be working with the Department of Social Development, Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities on this important campaign. In line with our edutainment formula, we have also extensively used the 9th series of the Soul City TV drama, which revolves around an ordinary family that was affected by the actions of the father who had multiple partners. The show attracted over 6 million viewers per episode on SABC 1. There is also a radio drama series on the nine SABC African language stations, community radio talk shows, radio ads and community dialogues around the country.
ends
www.onelovesouthernafrica.org
Note to editor:
What is a multiple concurrent sexual partnership?
A multiple concurrent partnership is a situation where sexual relationships overlap in time. A sexual partnership is considered to be concurrent if a person reports having two or more sexual partners in the previous month. The concurrency aspect is very important because it increases the risk of HIV infection. Having concurrent sexual partners ties people into invisible sexual networks which enable the rapid spread of HIV when it is introduced.
For further information please call Onyx Marketing Communications: Despina Harito on +27 11 452 1840 or 084 453 1755/ despina@onyxmarketing.co.za or NW Department of Social Development, Women, Children and Persons with Disabilities: Obusitswe Keboneilwe on 082 568 2494 or obusitswekeboneilweo@nwpg.gov.za