Murewa community launches OneLove Campaign

Murewa district in Mashonaland East province, has launched an HIV prevention campaign called OneLove and this becomes the first time that the programme is being launched at community level in Zimbabwe. The launch took place on 12 November 2009, amid pomp and fanfare.

Zimbabwe launched the OneLove Campaign at national level in June this year. The Minister of Health and Child Welfare Dr. Henry Madzorera officially opened the OneLove launch which was coordinated by Action Institute of Health and Development Communication (IEHDC) and the National AIDS Council (NAC). Partners in the OneLove Campaign in Zimbabwe include organisations working on HIV prevention initiatives such as the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS) and Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Project (ZICHIRE-BC).

The OneLove Campaign is being launched at community level by Action IEHDC, a local NGO focusing on production of multimedia products in the areas of health and social development and ZICHIRE-BC a community based HIV prevention organisation. ZICHIRE-BC is currently implementing the National Behaviour Change (BC) Strategy  on HIV and AIDS in Mashonaland East Province.

Mr. Samson Chidiya of the United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) shows the OneLove poster with community faces co-produced by Action Institute for Environment Health and Development Communication (IEHDC) and the Zimbabwe Community Health Intervention Research Project (ZICHIRE- BC). This was during the launch of the OneLove Campaign at Community Level in Murewa on 12 November 2009. The posters were also produced in Shona.

.

Launching the campaign in Murewa represents the cascading of the OneLove Campaign to communities. Action IEHDC will work with community based HIV prevention organisations to take the campaign to other communities countrywide.

The OneLove Campaign is focusing on the reduction of Multiple and Concurrent Sexual Partnerships (MCPs) which have been identified as the key driver of the HIV pandemic in Southern Africa.  MCP was also identified within the National BC Strategy t as one of the key drivers of HIV infection in Zimbabwe, and focus on addressin MCP in particular is a key national HIV prevention strategy. The National BC Strategy is being coordinated nationally by NAC and UNFPA.

 A short needs assessment exercise which was done by ZICHIRE-BC in Murewa District in 2007 also showed that the community was eager to address the issues of MCP. The Southern African  region is the most affected by HIV globally. According to a 2005 UNAIDS report the adult prevalence rate in the region was estimated at almost 11% compared to the global average of just 1%. In Zimbabwe the HIV prevalence rate stands at 13.7% for the ages between 15-49 (NAC statistics 2009).

Nine other Southern African countries, namely Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Botswana, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia are part of the regional OneLove Campaign being co-ordinated by the Soul City Institute of Health and Development Communication, a South African  based NGO.

 A 10 country research was conducted to establish reasons for MCP. The findings were that the reasons for engaging in MCP across all the participating countries were similar. Some of the reasons included the need to have a fulfilling sexual and intimate relationship. Both men and women said they could not talk about their needs and desires with their spouses or regular partners and so they sought pleasure and comfort with someone else. This practice is also reinforced by cultural and social norms that view men with more than one partner as acceptable and even desirable.

The community launch of the OneLove Campaign was conducted at the Council Grounds at Murewa Centre and officially opened by the Member of Parliament for Murewa, Dr David Parirenyatwa. Members of the Murewa community launched the campaign in style. Among other things there was a race for couples, a quiz show and couple testimonies to show the community’s understanding of the OneLove Campaign and behaviour change in the area of HIV prevention. ZICHIRE-BC and Action IEHDC also took this opportunity to launch posters with local faces promoting healthy relationships.

Dr Parirenyatwa said during the launch of the Onelove Campaign in Murewa: “I am reliably informed that the Murewa community has already taken lead and is participating in the campaign through using community faces on posters which help in behaviour change. I am also happy to hear that the posters are in English and Shona.” Dr Parirenyatwa said he was aware that there were a lot of beliefs and social expectations that fuel the practice of MCPs, some of which were so deeply entrenched in our culture as those relations to notions of manhood and womanhood.

“It is the purpose of this campaign to restore faith in the ideal that it is possible to have a relationship that is both emotionally and sexually satisfying, despite what society may have previously promoted,” Dr. Parirenyatwa said.

Speaking during the ceremony, Action IEHDC Marketing and Advocacy Officer Takaitei Bote said “In 2006, a Southern African Development think tank meeting in Maseru identified MCPs by men and women with low and inconsistent condom use- in the context of low levels of male circumcision- as the key driver of the HIV pandemic in Southern Africa. I am happy that the Murewa communities are taking lead in fighting the MCPs.”

Action IEHDC, will soon be airing on Zimbabwe Broadcasting Corporation Radio Zimbabwe Station, a radio drama series entitled Yellow Dust, which is part of the OneLove Campaign. Action IEHDC is also in the process of producing a television drama series called Big House Small House, to be aired on ZBC TV next year as part of the campaign. It is also producing print materials on MCP.