ZIMBABWE: HIV Prevalence Decline - Will It Last?
News of Zimbabwe's declining HIV prevalence rates have been met with scepticism and confusion, particularly in view of the country's economic and political climate. Can this good news be attributed to behavioural change or skewed statistics?
…One clear example of behaviour change is increased condom use. During the 1990s, the public sector was the principal provider of male condoms but social marketing now accounts for more than a half of all condoms distributed. The fact that most condoms were now purchased rather than freely distributed, made it more credible that people were using condoms more frequently, he said.
"Data from local scientific research studies in Manicaland [province] indicate recent delays in onset of sexual activity, reductions in rates of sexual partner change and, for women with high rates of partner change, further increases in consistent condom use," a UNAIDS review on the HIV decline in Zimbabwe noted.
Student Social Marketing Study Sparks U of T Energy Saving Campaign
Smart marketers are tapping into the power of social networking to do everything from recruiting to selling soda, so savvy U of T [University of Toronto] students have decided to use the same strategies to sell their peers on energy saving behaviours. Their pilot study, which took environmental psychology research and applied it to student residence life, was so successful in reducing energy consumption in a residence that the University of Toronto decided to broadly implement the plan...
“Out-of-the-blue advertising blitzes and other kinds of ‘anonymous’ information campaigns don’t work to get people to change their behaviour for the better,” explains Chris Caners, sustainability officer. “This approach, called community-based social marketing, uses existing social networks to distribute information or prompt people to change.”
Catholic Communicators Stress Social Marketing to Spread Values
An international seminar of Catholic communicators has stressed the need to promote human values through social marketing… About 100 delegates from 16 Asian nations attended the seminar, which sought ways to use social marketing techniques to promote social values. Social marketing is a concept developed in the 1970s that advocates the application of commercial marketing techniques and principles to foster social change…
Father Raj asserted that social marketing will not succeed unless it involves personal example. By way of example, he said Mahatma Gandhi was able to mobilize the entire nation because he lived by the values he preached…
Conrad Saldanha, a marketing expert who also spoke at the seminar, pointed to the use of social marketing in influencing attitudes, beliefs and behaviors of individuals and organizations to achieve social objectives such as safe driving, cleanliness, an end to smoking and conservation of energy and water.
Archbishop Marampudi Joji of Hyderabad [India], who addressed the opening session, identified a need to communicate the essence of the Gospel "in everything, without distorting truth," in the modern market-dominated culture.
Condom Drive for High Risk Groups Launched
A ‘Use condom campaign’ was launched by the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust [India] … The campaign is aimed at the most vulnerable groups such as sex workers, promiscuous individuals and communities who face discrimination and the stigma of use of condoms and HIV/AIDS. The campaign is targeted towards high risk groups in 22 high prevalence districts mapped by the State government.
This campaign is undertaken by the Maharashtra Condom Social Marketing Project (MCSMP), which is working with a focus on high risk areas of 22 high prevalence districts of Maharashtra for the population at highest risk to HIV.
Campus Community Bar Retail Coalition Discusses Alcohol Issues
The Campus Community Bar Retail Coalition met Wednesday afternoon to discuss several alcohol related issues in the Purdue and West Lafayette [Indiana] communities…
Tammy Loew, Health Advocacy Coordinator for the Student Wellness Office, also reported to the group that Purdue had received a $300,000 grant from the Department of Education to begin a program to reduce high-risk drinking of first-year students. She said a program has been developed to curb these high risk behaviors.
"It includes a workshop, several late night events, a social marketing campaign and a parent component," she said.
MSU-Billings Students to Hold Fundraiser
Montana State University-Billings students in a social marketing class are in the beginning stages of a marketing campaign to gain support for the building of bicycle lanes, sidewalks and bike paths in Billings…
The student-designed marketing campaign is meant to raise awareness of how unsafe the roads are for cyclists and walkers and to show how biking and walking can benefit individuals as well as the environment.
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