November 6th marked the launch of the campaign about multiple concurrent partnerships in Mozambique. The organization N’weti Communication for Health promises to “make plenty of noise” and place the debate about MCP in the public’s lips.
The campaign prioritizes a very strong presence and exposure of messages in the media, namely through radio and TV debates, public service announcements, billboards, banners, etc, with the aim of creating a generalized debate around MCP in the national arena.
The main objective is to alert to the risk of infection with HIV associated with having many partners concurrently. N’weti also intends to raise debate around social and culture norms which perpetuate and encourage MCP.
It is for instance commonly accepted throughout Mozambique that a “normal” man needs to have several sexual partner in order to prove his manhood and even his financial wellbeing.
“Amores a mais é demais! Yuuh! Não vale a pena!” is the name adopted for the campaign (integrated in the One Love Campaign) and translated from Portuguese means that it´s not worth having many sexual partners.
For this campaign N´weti chose to make a launch exclusively through the media. The kick-off happened with the broadcasting of the TV spot “Conheces o Ze”, the Mozambican adaptation of the regional ad “Meet Joe”, in all major national channels.
For the next three months N’weti will roll out a series of communication materials addressing MCP.
This will include the distribution of more than one million and a half copies of a booklet focusing on communication amongst couples to around two thousand delivery points throughout the vast Mozambique.
A radio drama telling the story of young Ibrahimo and Rute is also being aired in more than 50 stations, including around 40 community ones in Portuguese and Macua languages. Ibrahimo is a ladies man until he falls helplessly in love with Rute, a simple and determined girl. He learns that he can change and actually find love and complete satisfaction in one same partner.
Equally exciting is the production of N´weti´s short story about MCP. The film is currently being produced by a talented team of young Mozambicans and will be ready by February 2010. It integrates the regional TV series of love stories in a time when HIV is presently in the life of almost all Mozambican either directly or indirectly.
The campaign has the support of the Mozambican NAC (National Aids Council) and UNICEF and is funded by Soul City, DFID and UNICEF.
