Impact PSIPopulation Services International July 2009 Volume 11, Number 6 An internal monthly newsletter for staff and boards of PSI and its affiliates It’s Not Just an HIV Test; It’s a LoveTest By VCT team, PSI/Swaziland tested separately, which increases the A couple MBABANE, Swaziland — PSI and burden of disclosure and reduces the infected by love partners across Swaziland tested opportunity for them to support each takes the Love record numbers of clients in April other. Test together. and May with their bold new cam- “We would love to see them test paign — “The Love Test: It’s Not Just together without being ashamed. an HIV Test; It’s a Love Test” — to Our research tells us that there is promote HIV testing among males fear within the community, so much and couples. The Love Test, readily so that people are afraid to take the identified by the heart shaped logo, is test. We acknowledge that testing is a a welcome attempt to reposition HIV serious step in life, but we want them testing in the minds of the public. to appreciate that the HIV test is a In a recent interview, Victoria simple act of love, and if we had it our Masuku, director of HIV testing, way, love would be contagious. If love said countries that have intensified is the foundation of the test, partners their efforts to reach out to couples will be able to appreciate and support have seen significant decreases in HIV each other,” Victoria said. prevalence. Traditionally, couples have Love Test continues on page 4 PSI Attends World Economic Forum on Africa. Read more PSI Cuts Through Barriers on page 6. Initiates Male Circumcision in Zimbabwe By Karin Hatzold, Kumbirai Chatora HARARE, Zimbabwe — Starting a male circumcision program (MC) in an environment with the highest in- flation in the world, cholera outbreaks and a weakened health delivery system is by no means an easy feat. So when PSI/Zimbabwe opened its first MC site in April, the team demonstrated that anything is possible with strong collaboration and teamwork among stakeholders. PSI/Zimbabwe’s first MC client was an 18-year-old named Hopemore, who said his aunt encouraged him to get circumcised. After the procedure, he said he was going to motivate other young men in his community to get circumcised, in part because he didn’t feel any pain during the procedure. Demand for MC services in Zimbabwe appears high. As part of MC training courses, PSI recruited clients through four Harare-based New Start HIV counseling and testing centers. Within three weeks, 625 male volunteers had been identified to undergo MC. Hopemore, PSI/Zimbabwe’s first MC client, prepares to undergo the procedure. Male circumcision continues on page 4 Research and Metrics Insight PSI/Tanzania Investigates Intrauterine Device Use Among Women DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania — In IUD after discussing family plan- will promote the IUD as a useful 2009, PSI/Tanzania conducted a ning with her husband and seeking and appropriate family planning FoQus for Qualitative Segmenta- information from a local clinic. She method. tion study to identify opportunities, found the staff friendly, helpful and abilities and motivations for women knowledgeable about family planning • Source: PSI/Tanzania: Frame- to use the intrauterine device (IUD) methods. work for Qualitative Research for family planning. In-depth inter- Nuru uses traditional methods for in Social Marketing (FoQus) for views were conducted with current family planning. She is married with Qualitative Segmentation. Wom- IUD users and other modern family two children about three years apart. en’s Health Project. January 2009. planning users. Also, photo narratives Like Asha, Nuru believes that having • Edited by Nadja Vielot. For were created from photographs taken too many children within a short span more information or to contrib- by participants to document their of time can cause illness and exhaus- ute to the Insights series, contact daily lives. Two participants — Asha, tion. She uses the calendar method [email protected]. ˛ an IUD user, and Nuru, a traditional- to space her pregnancies because she methods user — describe the benefits dreams of owning her own business of family planning and the reasons one day and fears being unable to pro- behind their preferred methods. vide for many children. Nuru is ready Asha is married with one child. to start using a long-term method, but She works as a security guard during she is conflicted by negative percep- the day and cares for her family in the tions held by others in her communi- PSIImpact evening. Asha admires women who ty. She would like to use the IUD for work and support themselves, and she family planning, but she needs more An internal monthly newsletter for staff believes that family planning benefits information first. and boards of PSI and its affiliates these women by allowing them op- PSI’s FoQus project will help Executive Editor: Marshall Stowell portunities for self-improvement and researchers understand barriers to Managing Editor: Leif Redmond independence. Having many children IUD use, such as Nuru’s lack of ac- Editor: Mandy McAnally hinders these opportunities and causes curate information, and inform future Copywriter: Jyoti Kulangara a woman to feel and appear tired and interventions. Interpersonal commu- Layout/Design: creativeservicesmd.com unhealthy. Asha decided to use the nications and mass media campaigns PSImpact welcomes stories, story ideas, In her photo photos and contributions of all kinds narrative, Nuru from all members of the PSI family (staff uses this photo and boards of PSI and its affiliates). of a happy Please limit stories to 400 to 750 words. father to show The contributions can be in English, the benefit of a French, Spanish, Portuguese or Russian well-planned but if the language is not English we family. would appreciate an English translation. Articles will be printed in both lan- guages. For more detailed guidelines on submitting a story, please check out the External Affairs KIX page. Deadline for submissions is the 5th of every month. Please send material to Mandy McAnally ([email protected]). Population Services International 1120 19th Street, NW Suite 600 Washington, DC 20036 Phone: (202) 785-0072 Fax: (202) 785-0120 Web site: www.psi.org 2 PSI/India Reaches Youth on World No Tobacco Day By Lekha Sapra In Delhi, youth DELHI, India — PSI/India is ramp- participate in ing up its efforts to reinforce the a signature dangers of tobacco use with a new campaign on campaign, titled “Show the Truth and World No Save the Youth.” On May 31, PSI/In- Tabacco Day. dia, and its local partner HRIDAY, with technical support from the World Health Organization, coordi- nated events in three metropolitan cities to mark World No Tobacco Day. V. S. Chandrashekhar, senior program advisor at PSI/India, said about 5,500 youth in India take up tobacco use every day and 900,000 Indians die every year from tobacco- related causes. Most Indians know that tobacco is unhealthy, but they don’t know about the variety of dis- eases and increased likelihood of dis- ability and death caused by long-term tobacco use. In an effort to prompt tobacco users to take action to quit, PSI/India and its partners launched key signa- ture campaign events in Banaglore, least 40% of the principal display area awareness on the issue. Delhi and Mumbai. The goal was of the front panel of the pack for all In Mumbai, noted Bollywood to gain youth support for the Gov- tobacco products. actor Vivek Oberoi opened the event. ernment of India’s progressive new In Delhi, Ashok Parmar, director Branded human chains led visitors to policy requiring pictorial warnings on of Public Health at the Ministry of the event’s venue, where people were tobacco products. The policy, which Health and Family Welfare, inaugu- regaled with a street play, called “Jago took effect on May 31, 2009, requires rated the event, and trained artists Yuva Jago” (Awakening Call), and mim- pictorial health warnings to occupy at conducted street plays to spread icry sessions. Human banners distrib- uted flyers and pinned badges cham- pioning the cause of the anti-tobacco campaign. Interactive sessions by PSI staff on the harms of tobacco use and audience participation in games and song competitions were well-received. Branded tee-shirts and hats provided the needed visibility for the cause. In Bangalore, street plays were performed by college students to capture the varied ill-effects of smok- ing, and a performance by Indi Pop group “AURKO” drew huge crowds of youth. During the event, staff drove around the venue distributing leaflets and inviting passerbys to check out the street play. ˛ Lekha Sapra ([email protected]) is director of New Business Development In Bangalore, college students perform street plays to encourage people to choose life for PSI/India. instead of tobacco. 3 Male circumcision from page 1 MC services and communication. started MC service delivery at the end By the beginning of June, a total of In October 2008, a national stake- of June. 116 young men, recruited through holder workshop was convened to In addition, brochures and posters the New Start centers in Harare, had disseminate the findings from the MC in three languages targeting men and benefitted from MC services during situational analysis, which was techni- women have been developed to help three training courses. cally supported by PSI. drive demand for MC, inform clients Once service delivery has been At the workshop, the MC steering about the post-operative care and expanded to the three other pilot committee and three technical work- explain the importance of maintaining sites, PSI/Zimbabwe expects that the ing groups (TWGs) were established safe sexual practices.