Exploring perceptions about community dialogues on multiple and concurrent partership in Zimbabwe.

Abstract

Since it was first discovered in the early 80s, HIV and AIDS has been a major cause of death the world over, most especially in Africa. Southern African, in particular, has the highest HIV prevalence rates in the world (UNAIDS, 2010) . The practice of multiple and concurrent partnerships (MCP) was identified as a key driver of HIV infection in this Region (SADC, 2006). It is against this backdrop that in 2009, a Zimbabwean organisation, Action Institute for Environment Health and Development Communication (Action), embarked on an HIV prevention campaign to encourage safer sexual behaviours by promoting the reduction in MCP. The social mobilisation component of the campaign was rolled out in partnership with five community-based organisations (CBOs), through which Action identified and trained community based peer educators on how to use its multimedia products as tools to facilitate dialogues around MCP. The dialogues were introduced in order to enable communities to discuss why they engage in MCPs and to determine for themselves the best ways to reduce their vulnerability to HIV.