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It Begins with You

Region

Africa

Programme Summary

Launched by the 41 member companies of the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP), It Begins With You is a pan-African HIV-public education campaign. Under the theme of "Imagine the Possibility of an HIV-Free Generation", the multi-year campaign uses targeted public service advertisements (PSAs) and other complementary programming to encourage all Africans to consider what they can do as individuals, families, communities, and nations to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS. The campaign's goals include:
  • Stimulating broad discussion and social mobilisation across communities and countries of the goal of an HIV-free future and the personal, community, and national action needed to achieve that goal;
  • Increasing understanding of behaviours and attitudes driving the HIV epidemic;
  • Encouraging more open communication between parents and teens;
  • Promoting higher levels of HIV-risk awareness and self-reported behaviour change among young people; and
  • Mobilising new leadership, innovation, and creativity in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Communication Strategies

PSAs for television and radio form the core of the campaign; they are refreshed every six months and are planned for broadcast over the next three to five years. In addition, participating companies integrate the themes and messages of the campaign across programming genres, including news, public affairs, and entertainment. These companies are encouraged to localise the campaign and the related issues to their specific audiences. The first set of adverts, which began airing on December 1 2006, were intended to launch and position the campaign, and to initiate discussion about the campaign's underlying theme: Imagine the Possibility of an HIV-free Generation. It Begins with YOU. The adverts featured a short messaging service (SMS) number accessible across Africa that asks viewers to share what they are doing to advance an HIV-free generation and encourages all Africans to start by knowing their HIV-status.

The campaign has developed a website that forms part of the second phase of the campaign. This tool supports ABMP's efforts to promote the vision of an HIV-free generation in Africa with the primary goal of motivating young people in particular to consider what they personally can do to slow the spread of HIV/AIDS, including: being informed, making safe choices in their relationships, using condoms if they have sex, and getting regularly tested for HIV.

As the PSAs and other materials on this website indicate, the campaign aims to use an inspirational/motivational creative approach developed by a creative consortium of participating ABMP companies and approved by the ABMP's media-led steering committee. In the launch PSAs this was conveyed by showing the link between modern-day African icons (such Reverence Desmond Tutu, Wangari Maathai, Didier Drogba, and Angélique Kidjo) and the current generation of youth as the future of Africa. The overarching theme is one of African pride, featuring a collective African identity and hope for the future. Other programming, being developed by participating companies, will reinforce these themes and promote action at individual, family, community, and national levels. With the primary focus on young people and young women in particular, subsequent phases of the campaign aim to concentrate more specifically on the principal behaviours and attitudes, as well as social and economic factors, that drive the spread of HIV among these groups, including: gender inequity, sexual coercion (forced sex), AIDS stigma, and cultural taboos.

Development Issues

HIV/AIDS, Youth.

Contact

Africa Broadcast Media Partnership (ABMP)


Placed on the Communication Initiative site February 05 2007
Last Updated July 02 2009



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I want to pioneer myself to join the HIV/AIDS campaign

By the brief form filled above you may get a little information about me, my aim of visiting this site and contacting you is first of all to congratulate you for your effort on this project and acknowledge how effective you have touched many lives and also willingly joining the campaign of creating awareness on HIV/AIDS, reducing its victims including innocent souls and our future leaders (the children). I’m a hidden brain-storming script writer not desperately to show up any of my God giving scripts for now until the appointed time arrives but with the little personal experience I had during my visit to a village energize me to make this move of contacting you. I want to pioneer myself to aid our society by my scripts on HIV/AIDS. Looking forward to hear from you if my idea may be needed for deliberation.
Thanks

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