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“Real Man, Real Woman” HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaign Targets Youth

Lusaka, May 11, 2007

Launch of the HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaign Targeting Youths.Photo: USAID/Zambia-Renuka Naj

The First Lady of Zambia, Maureen Mwanawasa, and U.S. Ambassador to Zambia, Carmen Martinez, launched the "Real Man, Real Woman" HIV/AIDS prevention campaign at Chawama Basic School today. The campaign focuses on deeply entrenched Zambian practices, including sexual expectations of young people; the perception by youth that they are at low risk to contract HIV; lack of adequate parental or guardian involvement in decisions that young people make; and a general complacency toward sexual coercion and sexual violence.

The National AIDS Council, in collaboration with key partners working on HIV prevention, will take the lead in implementing this nation-wide campaign, developed by Population Services International and Society for Family Health, with financial support from the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).

The "Real Man, Real Woman" campaign will target youth with messages that go beyond the call for abstinence. It will promote positive gender roles and reject intolerable practices such as coerced sex, trans-generational sex, and exchanging sex for gifts and favors. Furthermore, the campaign will attempt to change the way in which youth define what it means to be a "real" man or woman and urges them to practice responsibility, self-respect, and gender sensitivity.

The First Lady and the U.S. Ambassador called on Zambian youth to resist pressures to engage in sexual coercion, to trade sex for material and monetary gain, and to give in to false promises of love. They see the need for increased communication between parents and children and better role modeling by the adults in society.

In her remarks, First Lady Mrs. Mwanawasa said, "The messages imparted to our children must be as dynamic and creative as our children. Messages must be in the form of dialogue and must come from reliable sources they can trust - aunties, uncles, mothers, fathers, teachers, and health workers. We cannot expect our children to talk to us, if we do not take the initiative to talk to them."

Ambassador Martinez urged all parents and elders to take responsibility of creating a safe environment for their children. "They play an influential role" she said, "in guiding adolescent minds, modeling behavior, in setting limits, and establishing rules."

The campaign's mass media component includes advertisements for television and radio, and posters that illustrate the reality faced by young people. The campaign tools show youth resisting peer pressure, sexual violence, and transactional sex. Community volunteers, educators, and youth groups will use the material to guide young people on how to deal with pressures to engage in sex and help parents talk about sensitive issues with their children.