Multi-Media Campaign to Reduce Stigma Against Women Living with HIV/AIDS

SUMMARY OF CAMPAIGN EVALUATION

IS THIS JUSTICE? CAMPAIGN to nurse their HIV-positive husbands through their illness. In February 2007, Breakthrough launched ’s first WLHA often face limited access to care and treatment, multimedia campaign to bring attention to the stigma and denial of their rights to confidentiality, homelessness, job violence faced by women living with HIV/AIDS (WLHA). loss and no access to their children. 90% of WLHA are !e campaign was created pro bono by Ogilvy & Mather thrown out of their homes after their husbands die of and disseminated in , and Marathi. Is !is AIDS2. Justice? highlighted how discrimination combined with gender-based violence can lead to human rights violations. Is !is Justice? built upon Breakthrough’s 2005 campaign, !e campaign demonstrated how a positive status, com- What Kind of Man Are You? that drew attention to the pounded by a husband’s death, often leads to a loss of rights intersection of domestic violence and the increasing HIV and consequent eviction of women from marital and natal infection rates among married women. What Kind of Man homes.

WHY THE CAMPAIGN !e hard-hitting campaign won the 2007 Radio & TV Advertising Breakthrough seeks to advance Practitioner’s Association of India (RAPA) Award for Best Film women’s potential to become full with a Social Message and a Bronze at the 41st Abby Awards in the participants by reducing the barriers Public Service, Appeals and Charity category. of stigma, violence and discrimina- tion that they face within the family. Currently, women form 31.2% of the estimated 2.47 million Are You? called on men to take responsibility for protect- people living with HIV/AIDS (NACO, 2007). More than ing women from HIV and promoted condom use among 85% of women have contracted the infection from their married couples. !e campaign was released in seven Indian husband or primary partner1. !e violence and unequal languages and reached more than 50 million people across treatment that women experience in interpersonal India. !e campaign won the silver and bronze medals at the relationships increases their vulnerability to HIV/AIDS. Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) Awards !ey are more likely to contract the virus from their for Public Service and Political Advertising. husbands as they cannot negotiate safe sex.

Gender thus plays a key role in the nexus between HIV-related stigma, shame, and blame experienced by 1 2006 NACO, UNDP, NCAER, REPORT on Gender and HIV/AIDS WLHA in India. In most instances, women are expected 2 Ref: 1 CAMPAIGN REACH Still from PSA Is !is Justice? was a 360-degree campaign that ran from February to April 2007 and included television, print, radio, internet and mobile messaging. !e campaign focused on the states of Uttar Pradesh, Karnataka and , which have a combined population of 314 million. According to Television Audience Measurement (TAM) and the National Readership Survey (NRS)3, the campaign reached over 34 million people through television, 29 million through print and 18 million through radio.

Breakthrough organized three press conferences in the cities of , Bangalore and Udupi where representatives from the state networks of Sunita Kathar, Aurangabad Network positive women spoke eloquently about their challenges and their of Positive People extraordinary courage in surmounting them.

MEDIA PARTNERS

27 National and Regional Television Channels 6 Mainline Doordarshan the National Channel, , Lokmat, , STAR Network, Sony TV, ETV and NDTV , Vijay Karnataka,Vijay Times

13 Regional Radio Channels 42 Outdoor Billboards All India Radio Network and Radio Mirchi Uttar Pradesh – Kanpur, Lucknow, Dehradun, and Saharanpur Maharashtra – Aurangabad Karnataka - Udupi

CAMPAIGN EVALUATION !e Baseline Research assessed the interplay between gender, HIV status and women’s rights, to ascertain the Breakthrough commissioned an independent research magnitude of their vulnerability and identify stigma indica- and evaluation agency, Prastut Consulting, to help identify tors. !e Endline Research, conducted after the campaign, the primary human rights concerns of WLHA before the sought to assess the reach and impact of the Breakthrough campaign in order to help effectively tailor the campaign, campaign and measure changes in knowledge and attitudes and then measure its impact. Prastut worked in three cities towards WLHA against the Baseline stigma indicators. – Kanpur in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, Udupi in the southern state of Karnataka, and Aurangabad in Both quantitative and qualitative tools were used for the western state of Maharashtra – to assess the forms in conducting research. In the Baseline and Endline, which WLHA experience discrimination and stigma at structured questionnaires and focus group discussions the individual, family, and community levels. !ese cities were held with the community and people have roughly equivalent characteristics in terms of living with HIV/AIDS respectively. !e Endline Research industrialization, migration, and other economic and included 1,125 people divided equally among males and demographic factors. females across Kanpur, Udupi and Aurangabad.

!e three stages of research and analysis included 3 TAM measures the number of people who have watched a Formative Research and Needs; Baseline Research program. NRS measures ownership, listenership and readership, (pre-campaign); and Endline Research (post-campaign). pertaining to TV, radio and print. It is a common industry currency of estimates that is used widely. -

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Stills from PSAs

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- SEC B male, Kanpur male, B SEC - »

- SEC B female, Aurangabad female, B SEC - 36% WLHA are thrown of their houses thrown 36% WLHA are 33.3% Women face violence due to the above 33.3% Women 33% Women have an unequal status 33% Women 31% Women suffer and are blamed for men’s shortcomings men’s for blamed are and suffer Women 31% 28% There are WLHA women in society are 28% There 26.4% There are 2 million* WLHA (*NACO 2006) are 26.4% There * Percentage of the sample surveyed in the Endline Study * Percentage Here is the summary of messages that the audience recalled without prompting: “We know of some women who have been thrown out of their houses. houses. their of out thrown been house…these have the who of women parts some of specific know enter not “We to is allowed not husbands…it were their them of through Some infection this acquired mistake.” had their women was what us ask fault…they their Aurangabad female, B -SEC is campaign tells us that women have not been given the right to to right the given been wives not the have of RESPONSES COMMUNITY women care that takes us nobody tells deaths, campaign is ! them.” husbands’ their ostracizes After family the of residence. rest the fact In children. and Udupi female, B stop -SEC* should ey ! hers. are that that rights stating the by all her husband her give to should sexual ey “! with infection the infection bringing this for her associate blaming not should immoral…people is she only.” transmission of the route to anything says nobody but fault equal at an is man have the not in do ads the Women all especially “In country, exploited. our are in women aur deep-rooted Pashu man…instead very is Shudra, this and Ani Ganwar, society in ‘Dhor, status Untouchables, also saying a is Illiterates, ere ! India… (Idiots, North adhikan” ke tadan sab yeh beaten). be Nari, to deserve Women…they and mals Main messages recalled from communication: areWLHA -thrown out of their homes (36%) have an unequalWomen - status in society (32%) face violence (33%)Women - ! ere is a- growing presence inofWLHA society (28%) - Women are blamed for not sexually satisfying their husbands ( by 10%) 10%) by ( husbands their satisfying sexually not for blamed are Women - 22%) by ( husbands HIV-positive their with stay to expected are Women - - Women are unable to negotiate safer sex ( by 10%) by ( sex safer negotiate to unable are Women - 28%) by ( shelter to right and support family need Women - Shift in attitude: unaided CHANGE IN KEY INDICATORS RECALL OF THE CAMPAIGN aided billboards newspapers radio television 73% recalled the campaign after being 73% recalled 58% of the audience recalled the campaign 58% of the audience recalled 55% recalled the campaign from 55% recalled 45% recalled the campaign from the campaign from 45% recalled 36% recalled the campaign from the campaign from 36% recalled 36% recalled the campaign from the campaign from 36% recalled CAMPAIGN RECALL Baseline to Endline) blame a woman for not satisfying her husband sexually. husband her satisfying not for woman a blame wife to stand by her husband under all circumstances. wife stand by to HIV-positive husband. She the choice to should have husband. HIV-positive is this decrease In the Indian context him. leave as it is usually duty the considered of the significant, feel necessary it is her with to stay for woman a Women are treated unjustly after their husbands’ deaths husbands’ their after unjustly treated are Women Women cannot from safer negotiate sex (4% increase Women increase) (8% violence domestic to subject are Women ere is a 10% decrease in the number of people who who people of number the in decrease 10% a is ere ! ere is a 22% decrease in the number of people who in the number of people is a 22% decrease !ere

e figures mentioned the the mentioned figures e ! attitude. and knowledge in 95% the at significant statistically but percentages interval. confidence e flow chart highlights the critical indicators for the the for indicators critical the highlights chart flow e ! change significant showed which Endline, and Baseline INTERVENTION » » » !e community the following acknowledged important women: by faced realities Focus group discussions supported the quantitative data. quantitative the supported discussions group Focus » » RESEARCH FINDINGS FINDINGS RESEARCH !e Endline found Research statistically significant changes key in two positive indicators: e discrimination faced by WLHA by faced discrimination e ! - Communication highlighted: society in women of status - Unequal women by faced violence Domestic - CAMPAIGN IMPACT SHIFT IN ATTITUDES

!e Endline Study found that Is !is 21.6% Justice? led to a significant increase in Baseline 9.6% Endline knowledge about the human rights 88 66 57 47 violations faced by WLHA. !e research also demonstrated a signifi- cant shift in attitudes towards these A woman has to stay and take care of If the husband gets HIV from a sex worker, her HIV-positive husband. She does not it is the woman’s fault for not being able to women. have the right to leave. satisfy him sexually at home.

Is !is Justice? succeeded in sensitiz- ing the community about the unequal recommended family support and the right to shelter to status of women and how it is linked reduce the stigma and discrimination that WLHA face. to the violence they experience. !ey agreed that women usually get !e research also demonstrated a significant shift in the blamed for other people’s mistakes attitudes towards blaming the woman for the infection and have to suffer the consequences and the need for her to take care of her spouse through in silence because of the fear of his illness. violence. !is fear of violence is also connected to women’s inability to Is !is Justice? was the first media campaign to address negotiate safe sex. !e aim was to stigma and discrimination against WLHA in India. enable the audience to comprehend !e campaign successfully increased awareness about how this vulnerability spirals in the the violence faced by WLHA and also brought about case of WLHA. a change in attitude towards discrimination against women, their ability to negotiate safe sex and other !e Is !is Justice? campaign sensi- issues within marriage, and the need for family support. tized the community about the pres- ence of WLHA among the general Breakthrough will continue building its human rights population, and their vulnerability education efforts to remove barriers to women’s full because of domestic violence and participation in society. We hope that Is !is Justice? inability to negotiate safe sex. will constitute an important step towards greater care As a result, the community and support for WLHA within the family.

ABOUT BREAKTHROUGH

Breakthrough: building human rights culture is a non-profit organization that promotes values of equality, justice and dignity. Breakthrough works towards transforming public attitudes and practices using education, media and popular culture. Breakthrough currently conducts human rights education programs in India and the United States – the worlds’ two largest democracies.

PARTNERS

Learn more at www.breakthrough.tv DESIGN [email protected]