Radio Spots Focus on the Positive to Attack Stigma and Discrimination

JULY 2007 — Across the Dominican Republic, a series of seven radio spots urge listeners to put "color"—happiness, wellbeing, joy, and hope—into the lives of people with HIV and AIDS and put an end to the stigma and discrimination that afflict them.

The FHI-implemented CONECTA Project produced the spots with a budget of just $3,000. They are to be broadcast on the radio and in waiting areas of hospitals, clinics, and government offices such as the Department of Motor Vehicles. These messages will be also heard on their telephone lines while callers are on hold, and will be broadcast in community gathering places—via community loudspeakers near corner stores and bars, from speakers on public buses, and in employee lunchrooms in the country's free trade zones.

The spots are aimed at health providers, employers and employees, youth, school children and educators, as well as the family and friends of people with HIV and AIDS. The campaign promotes acceptance and support for HIV-positive people, whatever their ages or backgrounds.

The National HIV/AIDS Program is a key partner and official sponsor of the campaign, which also relies on the participation of local and regional hospitals and a network of NGOs and support groups for people living with AIDS.

FHI assists the Ministry of Health and NGOs to negotiate free airtime for the spots with local broadcasters. In addition, the NGOs and the support groups use the spots in their community outreach, awareness-building, and advocacy efforts. A broad civil-society effort is connected to this campaign, and 426 national and local journalists and television and radio personalities have been trained to help reduce stigma.

Get with the program!
The new series of spots continues and broadens a USAID-funded mass media campaign that began in 2004 called Haz que su vida tenga color, roughly translated as "Let color into their lives." During its first phase, the campaign addressed how stigma and discrimination affect people with HIV and AIDS.

During the second phase, now in progress, radio spots encourage listeners to put aside fear, silence, discrimination, and banish ignorance. Each spot suggests that society is moving toward these objectives and that listeners, too, must keep up with this positive social change. The cumulative effect is to provide a common vocabulary and reference points for discussing stigma and discrimination. The spots also convey that only "old-school," uncool people discriminate, and that such discrimination has never made sense.

The campaign engages audiences to identify with the situations put forth. In one spot, for example, an employer admits he used to waste company money by screening out HIV-positive candidates for jobs. He thought he was protecting his employees, but he has since learned to invest in prevention education in the workplace to much better effect. In another spot, a young man speaks of his best friend, an HIV-positive woman, who participates in all activities with their mutual friends "because you don't get HIV from just hanging out."

Crafting messages and debunking myths
Communications professionals from FHI's CONECTA Project oversaw the production of the campaign and conducted research that informed its design. Target audiences guided the development of messages aimed at those who discriminate the most or who have the most social impact, such as employers, health providers, and school populations. Messages also targeted those who provide support to people living with AIDS, such as their families, friends, and peers. Preliminary spots were tested to make sure they grabbed attention, created a favorable impression, and communicated clear messages.

Some spots debunk myths identified during pretesting about how HIV is transmitted. They thus emphasize that it doesn't happen from working side by side, preparing food, hanging out, studying, or other such daily activities.

Indicators developed for the 2002 Demographic Health Survey and repeated in 2007 will measure the campaign's impact. These surveys include questions on attitudes about stigma, such as "Do you think people should keep their HIV status secret? "Are you willing to care for an HIV-positive person in your home? "Should an HIV-positive person be allowed to work?" and "Should an HIV-positive student be allowed in the schools?

Patients in hospitals and clinics and focus group members suggest that the campaign may already be having an effect, since an increasing number of health providers and employers in the Dominican Republic are creating a more supportive environment for people living with AIDS—the kind of environment that permits the fight against AIDS to begin in earnest. Because, as UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot put it, "The only way of making progress against the epidemic is to replace shame with solidarity and fear with hope."

Listen to the radio spots in Spanish:

An HIV-positive schoolgirl leads a normal life, thanks to her caring family and teachers.

An HIV-positive patient says he has the right to access proper medical care.

A doctor debunks myths about HIV transmission and clarifies the difference between HIV and AIDS.

An adolescent encourages youth to get informed, ditch fear, and understand that people living with HIV and AIDS are like everyone else.

A valued HIV-positive employee speaks of the AIDS law and employees' rights to obtain and keep their jobs.

An employer speaks of the illegality of screening for HIV, the right to confidentiality of HIV status, and the value of workplace prevention programs.

An HIV-positive grandmother says that people living with AIDS can live long and productive lives, given proper care and family support.

PHOTO: One of seven target groups for the campaign is children ages 8–11. These children were featured in a TV spot, a brochure, and poster. The "Haz que su vida tenga color" campaign features healthy, active people, any of whom may be HIV-positive, to make the point that HIV-positive people are equal and contributing members of society who have rights and deserve support.

Clare Hayden and Hilary Russell