THE 3RD NATIONAL HIV COMMUNICATION SURVEY, 2012: TELL US ABOUT IT!

The 3rd National HIV Communication Survey (NCS), the definitive study of the effectiveness of our country’s HIV communication programmes, is about to commence – and it needs your help.

During February and March 2012, field workers will fan out across all nine provinces and survey thousands of people between the ages of 16 and 55, on their knowledge and recall of a wide variety of social and behavioural change communication programmes.

HIV social and behavioural change communication programmes are intended to spur South Africans to make healthy choices, provide them with important health information, and where necessary change their behaviours in order to avoid the risk of HIV infection.

The NCS is being driven in partnership by three of South Africa’s biggest players in health behavioural change communication: Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, Soul City and loveLife. The NCS fieldwork is being done by Freshly Ground Insights, and the survey data analysed by Health and Development Africa (HDA) in conjunction with Johns Hopkins University.

Says HDA director Dr Saul Johnson: “The NCS is a critically important tool to evaluate how effective the various communication programmes are. By identifying their strong and weak points, we are able to improve the quality and efficacy of the messages they impart to the public, and thus more effectively get citizens to protect themselves.”

Johnson continues that hand-in-hand with biomedical interventions to stem the HIV/AIDS epidemic, social and behavioural change communication activities play a crucial role in informing the public about the epidemic and how to lower one’s risk, and driving them towards prevention and treatment options.

“Communication and biomedical interventions in the fight against HIV/AIDS are intertwined, and rely on each other to be successful. For example, government’s medical male circumcision (MMC) campaign is a biomedical strategy – but it would not be the success it is, without strong communication programmes telling people of the benefits of MMC, and how to access this safe and cost-free procedure,” he says.This is how the survey will be conducted:

• It is much like the recently-completed national census, in that field workers will ask respondents to answer the questions in a comprehensive questionnaire
• It is unlike the census in three important respects: •
• All households selected for enumeration will be chosen completely randomly and the questionnaire is completed anonymously, meaning that the confidentiality of all respondents is assured and respected
• The respondent will not necessarily be the designated head of the household
• Respondents aged 16 or 17 will need parental assent to participate
• The interview takes about 90 minutes. No one else is permitted to sit in on the interview
• The field worker will pose a series of socio-demographic, personal and communication programme-related questions to the respondent, and record his or her responses on a PDA

“The 3rd NCS is for you, your family and your community. By telling us what we’re doing right – and what we could be doing better – in communicating essential health messages, you are playing an important part in helping South Africa attain the goal of beating this disease.

“We therefore call on all people who are approached by the NCS field workers, to give them their full and candid co-operation. The findings from this communication survey are vital in the struggle against HIV/AIDS, because they will guide us on the best ways to get critical health messages across to those who need them most,” says  Dr Renay Weiner, strategic integration executive for Soul City.

Issued by marcusbrewster on behalf of the 3rd National HIV Communication Survey, 2012. For further information, please contact Edward Mahlasela on edward@marcusbrewster.com, or (011) 022 9711.

The 3rd National HIV Communication Survey, 2012 is funded by the Department of Health, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) through the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (USAID/PEPFAR)and the Global Fund. The following organisations have collaborated on this study: Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa (JHHESA), Soul City and loveLife. The survey is managed by Health and Development Africa (HDA). The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (JHU-CCP) provides support and technical oversight at all stages of the study. Data is gathered by Freshly Ground Insights.