KHOPOTSO: The African Broadcast Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP) is a coalition of 37 major African broadcast companies ‘€“ both public and private. It was launched in October 2005 and represents 24 countries. Solly Mokoetle is the Chief Operating Officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation. He speaks on behalf of the partnership.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: The ABMP’€™s main aim was to re-invigorate and to increase the effectiveness of broadcast media’€™s contribution to the fight against HIV and AIDS in Africa.

KHOPOTSO: The partnership was founded on five objectives.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: The most central of those objectives was a commitment to integrate HIV and AIDS into the business models of the member companies; into the business strategies as well as the budgets of the broadcast corporations; and to make a commitment of a minimum 5% of airtime daily across all platforms and across all programme formats’€¦ from 06h00 a.m. until 24h00 in the evening.        

KHOPOTSO: This could be an unprecedented commitment over a single issue ever made by broadcast companies in Africa.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: Research establishes that Africa is the worst-affected region by the global AIDS pandemic. More than 26 million Africans are currently HIV-infected. More than 3 million infections occur annually ‘€“ and that’€™s roughly 10 000 new infections everyday. AIDS decimates the economically productive segment of our society ‘€“ the bread winners and parents. It is crippling African economic prospects and it is creating already more than 12 million orphans’€¦ So, we believe, as media practitioners, that media has a critical role to play in educating people; in creating awareness; and in reducing stigma and promoting behavioural change.

KHOPOTSO: For years now, broadcasters have had HIV and AIDS programming in their schedules. But, it would seem that the impact on HIV prevention is very little.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: One part of the answer is that people in Africa are rather tired of hearing about it’€¦ Young people no longer want to know about it. And in many of our communities AIDS illness and death has become just part of life’€¦  which clearly means to us as media practitioners that the traditional approaches to HIV and AIDS communication have to be re-evaluated and be re-invigorated in order to get through to populations who no longer care about the dangers of HIV and AIDS infection and those who refuse to accept that they are at risk of HIV infection. What has become very clear to us is that the old threat-consequence approach to HIV communication has managed to produce only a limited result.

KHOPOTSO: The new approach African broadcasters will adopt, says Mokoetle, is one centred on hope. The campaign will launch on December 1, World AIDS Day ‘€“ with the positively ambitious pay-off line ‘€œImagine an HIV-free generation. It begins with you’€.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: The ABMP has resolved to develop a new hope-centred paradigm for content development, which we wish to launch on World AIDS Day 2006 for all the broadcast signatory companies. The essential goal will be to change the profoundly pessimistic perspective on Africa’€™s ability to turn around the epidemic by promoting a more hopeful prospect: That it is possible, it is possible ‘€“ and it is within our means. And the pay-off line that we wish to use is ‘€œImagine an HIV-free generation. It begins with you’€’€¦ You must change. And that ‘€œyou’€ refers to everyone of us, young and old.

KHOPOTSO: Over the next five years, the broadcasters have resolved to extend their programming on HIV/AIDS over various formats including public service announcements, drama, and magazine programmes – spanning both radio and TV – to cover a range of themes.

SOLLY MOKOETLE: These are sexual coercion, the issue of gender inequality, low self-esteem, lack of hope for the future, tradition and traditional stereotypes, stigma and poverty issues. The main target of the campaign is young people aged 15 ‘€“ 25. Within that age group, in particular, to focus on young women. And thirdly, family and adults supporting youth. The new messaging campaign has been designed to be motivational and inspirational, evoking a sense of African pride and collective African identity to help mobilise young people; to mobilise families and communities in support of the goal of an HIV-free generation.