National Communications Survey

Press release

Community Media Trust (CMT) the producers of the Siyayinqoba Beat It! TV programme and Prevention and Treatment Literacy Training Materials, welcomes the release of the 2009 National Communications Survey. CMT is a sponsor of the survey. CMT would like to thank Johns Hopkins Health Education in South Africa (JHHESA), Health & Development Africa (HDA) and our other partners for their work in producing this valuable study.

The survey confirms the key finding of the 2006 survey that the greater exposure to HIV communications, the greater the likelihood of safer sexual practices. When adjusted for any other variable that could have affected the result the survey found that:

• 33% of people not exposed to any HIV communications used condoms with a partner in the previous 12 months and that this rose to 50% for those exposed to at least 9 of the 11 programmes evaluated.

• 24% of people not exposed to any HIV communications used condoms with their main partner, rising to 35% for those exposed to at least 9 of the 11 programmes evaluated. These results, with increased response by those with greater exposure to communications, were repeated across a range of variables. Performance of Siyayinqoba Beat It!

When asked specifically about Siyayinqoba Beat It! 38% of people (~10.4 million people) said that they had heard of Siyayinqoba Beat It! in the last 12 months. Almost 39% (~10.5 million people) recognised the Siyayinqoba Beat It! logo and some 15% of people were able to complete the slogan "Protect yourself. Protect others".

Siyayinqoba Beat It! was the only communication brand for 20% of the sample. Given that CMT has a modest total budget across all activities of R25 million rand per year, the results show that the Siyayinqoba Beat It! brand is one of the most cost effective communications programmes.

Siyayinqoba and Condom use at last sexual encounter

A key finding of all surveys has been very high knowledge of condoms as a means to prevent HIV infection. 83% of those who were not exposed to HIV communications knew about condoms compared to 90% of those who were highly exposed.

What is more important is condom use at last sex. Here a different picture emerges:

• *Only 40% of the overall sample used condoms to prevent HIV (compared to 44% in 2006).

• *Amongst those who watched Siyayinqoba Beat It! 55% of used condoms at last sex to prevent HIV.

As this is a core Siyayinqoba Beat It! message, the survey shows that people do respond to positive information encouraging correct and consistent condom use and that a greatly increased effort is needed to promote this. It is shocking that while government annually distributes 400 million male condoms, there is very little positive communications that encourage correct and consistent condom use and make condoms cool and sexually desirable. CMT is committed to doing more work in this regard. Other areas where Siyayinqoba Beat It! has an impact:

• *27% of those highly exposed to Siyayinqoba Beat It! mentioned that HIV testing should be undertaken every six months compared to 23% of those with low exposure.

• *Additionally, the percentage of females who listed "I was pregnant" as the reason for their most recent HIV test was 25% percent amongst those who were exposed to Siyayinqoba Beat It! and 21% amongst those not exposed. This is important has Siyayinqoba Beat It! has had a specific objective to increase the uptake of VCT, particularly amongst pregnant woman.

• *Some 50% of the national population with high exposure to Siyayinqoba Beat It! discussed HIV testing with their friends compared to 39% of those with medium exposure and only 29% of those with low exposure. This shows that Siyayinqoba Beat It! is contributing to making HIV testing a routine part of life that is talked about openly.

In General

One of the most important findings, that confirms other similar findings was that between the ages of 25 and 39 only 42.6% of women and 35.3% of men were in stable relationships. This makes sense in a country with a highly mobile population driven by:

• *regional instability and migration,

• *historical patterns of labour migration,

• *newer patterns of rural migration to urban informal settlements since the 1970s,

• *the expulsion of farm workers from their homes on farms (something that has affected millions of workers not least since 1994).

These structural forces encourage multiple partner relationships and short term relationships as well as intergenerational relationships. 30% of respondents under 30 years old had more than one partner in the previous year, confirming the results of previous surveys. But over 90% of respondents under 40 years old held the perception that cheating is the norm in relationships. We need to know if the partners in concurrent relationships consider this cheating? How are the terms "cheating" and "faithfulness" used and understood? Given the structural determinants of MCP and the evident efficacy of communications around correct and consistent condom use, this type of communication need to be greatly intensified.