OneLove Campaign Malawi

The specific aims of the campaign are to:

• Raise awareness of the risks of having multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships.
• Get people talking and thinking about their choices and practices that cause them to engage in multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships.
• Create public debate about how culture and gender impact on the HIV and AIDS epidemic.
• Challenge harmful cultural values and norms that put people at risk of HIV infection.

The key messages of the campaign are:

• Having multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships puts you and your loved one at risk for HIV infection. The more sexual partners you have, the more the risk of HIV infection.
• Reduce the number of sexual partners that you have to reduce your chances of getting HIV.
• Stick to and be faithful to your one and only sexual partner and you can be sure of less or no risk to HIV infection.
• If you are in a polygamous relationship, respect the founding principles of polygamy. Stick to the wives that you have. You should understand that if one person is infected, it means all of you will be infected.
• To be sure that you are not at risk of HIV infection, go for HIV testing and counselling so that you know your status and the status of your sexual partner before having unprotected sex.

Partner organisations like Pakachere, PSI Malawi, and Bridge project, together with the private and public sector partners, intend to raise awareness about MCP through workshops, public talks, and mass media campaigns. The mass media component will consist of a radio drama, radio talk shows as well as television talk shows. The campaign will also produce booklets, posters, and fact sheets. One booklet, called Sexual Partners and Our Lives, has already been produced in English and Chichewa. Click here to view the English version in PDF format.

From October 2009, the OneLove Malawi campaign broadcast a radio drama highlighting the HIV risk related to having multiple concurrent partnerships. Broadcast on national and community radio stations, the drama tells the story of Richard Matemba, a 34-year old man who works with an agricultural government institutions. On face value he appears to be a gentleman and a perfect husband and family man. He goes to church and is respected by most members of his community. However, Richard is having two extra marital affairs: one with a junior colleague at work, Eurita, and another with a teenage neighbour, Vanessa, who gets vocational employment at Richard's work place.

The campaign is also working with private sector organisations who intend to carry messages on packaging materials and utility bills. These partners will also advocate among chief executives of private companies to support the campaign and its activities.

The campaign is working with the Malawi Police Service as it is one of the populations with the highest HIV prevalence. The campaign will raise awareness through open days, public talks, and mass media. It is also planning trainings in HIV prevention focusing on the key drivers of the epidemic.

The faith community is carrying out various interpersonal communication activities to raise awareness about MCP, promote communication between couples, carry out sex education, and advocate for more comprehensive marriage counselling which emphasises the need for effective couple communication and sexual discussion.

Since its launch, the Malawi campaign has developed a six-track collection of songs by various artists featuring lyrics about OneLove and issues related to MCP. Click here to view some of the music videos developed to completement the music CD.

The campaign is also working with 72 out-of-school youth clubs to address MCP through awareness raising activities, skills building in efficacy and decision making, and by promoting gender equality.

For broadcast in the second half of 2010, a second radio drama is being developed that will also focus on building strong sexual relationships highlighting how such relationships can prevent people from infecting and getting infected with HIV.

In addition, the OneLove Malawi campaign is developing a radio and television talk show that aims to discuss the risk of HIV infection related to MCP, the consequences of people's sexual choices for themselves and their partners, and develop people’s ability to talk about their sexual needs. The radio talk show will be 30 episodes long while the television show will have 15 episodes. The campaign is also organising live debate shows on 5 radio stations where different guests will be invited to discuss issues relating to MCP.

The campaign is also planning a bill board campaign which will raise awareness about the risk of HIV transmission within MCP. The key message or question in this campaign will be "how many sexual partners are in your (sexual) network?"

HIV/AIDS

Through the National AIDS Commission, a national steering committee was put in place to coordinate the activities of the OneLove campaign in Malawi and Pakachere Institute for Health and Development Communication (IHDC) was nominated as the chairing organisation with the National AIDS Commission as the secretariat.