Subproject Highlights
B. Achieving Popular Access To Condoms Through Social Marketing
Haiti Condom Social Marketing Project
| Aba SIDA partner: |
Population Services International (PSI)/DOBACO |
| Geographic focus: |
Throughout 8 of 9 districts in Haiti |
| Target populations: |
Sexually active persons |
| Project dates: |
September 1992 to August 1994; November 1994 to March 1996 |
Background and Scope of the Intervention
Interrupting STI transmission through increased use of condoms is key for controlling the spread of STIs and AIDS. The challenge for prevention programs, therefore, is to make condoms available, affordable, and appealing to target audiences. Condom social marketing (CSM) has emerged as a main AIDS prevention strategy for this purpose; once a relatively minor component in family planning programs, condom social marketing has been transformed into a center-stage activity in some national AIDS control programs. Population Services International (PSI), in partnership with Family Health International, has been an international leader in the effort to make condoms widely accessible through condom social marketing. In Haiti, PSI introduced the social marketing Pantè brand condom in 1990, and a year later began receiving Aba SIDA assistance to expand its geographic coverage and intensify is promotional campaign.
Drawing from and building on PSI's experience in condom social marketing for AIDS prevention in Africa, the Haiti CSM project teamed up with a Haitian pharmaceutical distributor (DOBACO) and other Aba SIDA NGO partners to institute an innovative and dynamic condom distribution mechanism that made affordable condoms easily available to rural and urban Haitians throughout the country. Numerous high visibility promotional and educational campaigns - using TV, radio, billboards, print media, and a variety of special events - created virtual universal CSM brand recognition. More importantly, however, these promotional efforts served the critical functions of providing basic information and education on STIs and AIDS to Haiti's general population, stimulating individuals to reflect on their personal risk of infection and "normalizing" public discussion of sexual risk and condom use. The PSI project in Haiti thus assumed a key role in the Aba SIDA program as a whole.
Broad product distribution and a particularly vigorous promotional program were the fundamental elements underlying the PSI/DOBACO project's success in Haiti. Aba SIDA's financial support enabled the organization to extend its geographic distribution coverage to all but one of Haiti's nine administrative departments. What was so exceptional, however, about the project's distribution coverage was not its geographic scope, but the diversity and vast number of retail-level outlets in its distribution network, making Pantè condoms visible and available in places that individuals frequent in their daily lives. In addition to more conventional points-of-sale for condoms, such as pharmacies and clinics, Pantè condoms were sold in nightclubs, pubs, hotels, and restaurants; at kiosks and from sidewalk and ambulant vendors; in market stalls, small shops, boutiques, and beauty salons; and from Aba SIDA projects' outreach workers, peer educators, and collaborators, as well as from PSI's own "independent vendors."
A major innovation aiding the project's realization of such broad-based distribution was a unique partnership between PSI and other Aba SIDA NGO collaborators. Outreach workers from four Aba SIDA partners working throughout the country were trained to act as retail agents and wholesale distributors to a host of commercial establishments in their communities. The pricing structure was such that each NGO-initiated sale returned a percentage of the profit to the organization, creating an incentive that simultaneously built the CSM program and the NGOs' financial base. Outreach workers earned a small profit from wholesale and retail sales as do other various retailers. The price to the bottom-line condom consumer, however, remained low enough to make them easily affordable at 1 Gourde per 3-pack (approximately 7 US cents).
PSI project links to Aba SIDA's behavior change interventions extended beyond product distribution. While promoting Pantè condoms, it disseminated AIDS education and awareness messages that were consistent with and supportive of Aba SIDA's overall information, education and communication strategy. Promotional messages were highly diversified in order to respond to a variety of target consumer perspectives. To ensure the greatest impact in important Aba SIDA target audiences, for example in working adults, youth and women, PSI collaborated closely with Aba SIDA staff and other program partners to conduct special events and develop promotional strategies. Working to improve condom use skills was a particularly important emphasis of the CSM project's promotional efforts. Balancing the need to demonstrate correct use explicitly, but also tastefully and in way that is acceptable to mainstream Haitians, project staff conceptualized an animated character, "Professor Pantè," who can be spotted in brochures, comic books, and posters. The animated style helped to diffuse potential embarrassment from such a necessarily graphic illustration, while the character's "professorship" lends support to the notion that one has to learn how to use condoms correctly.
Multiple promotional channels were exploited by the CSM project, including extensive use of television, radio, and billboards. Point-of-purchase materials, such as posters, brochures, and various other promotional items, were distributed widely, both directly to consumers as well as to retailers. PSI also sponsored special events such as concerts, soccer matches and carnival floats, during which materials were distributed to target audiences. In order to reach rural communities, where access to television and radio is limited, the project supported a drama group, Equipe Pantè, to give performances emphasizing STI/AIDS education and Pantè brand promotion.
The PSI project in Haiti aggressively distributed and promoted its brand name condom. Sensitive to the controversy that often surrounds such a frank and visible appeal for adopting safe sexual behavior, however, the project strived to maintain a supportive, rather than adversarial, relationship with members of the religious community. Its approach involved including clergy in certain STI/AIDS prevention events, during which both PSI and the clergy remained silent on the issue of condom use. At these events, fractured messages advocating abstinence versus condom use were replaced with a joint voice and shared concern: that Haitians need to know about the serious health risks of AIDS and other STIs and that sufferers of these infections should receive unquestioned medical and social support to help them cope with their conditions. These moments of silence are moments of mutual respect, where PSI and religious leaders acknowledged that they have a shared objective - disease prevention - despite their different approaches to achieving it. By reaching out to Haiti's religious community, PSI helped to nurture a sense of solidarity in the cause of AIDS prevention and consequently helped to avoid destructive fissures that work directly against promoting behavior change.
Principal Accomplishments
Distribution and Sales
- 14,639,143 condoms were sold during the project period.
- In eight of Haiti's nine districts PSI established partnerships with NGOs to serve as condom "stockists," who, in turn, sell Pantè condoms to various "wholesalers" (including their community-based workers) and retailers in their districts. As a result of this innovation, NGO condom sales outside of Port-au-Prince now account for one-third of all of PSI/DOBACO sales.
- A total of 765 condom outlets were created. These outlets represent highly diverse points-of-sale many of which are in nontraditional settings, such as boutiques, pubs, hotels, tabletop vendors, etc. Consumer research has indicated that these non-conventional retail outlets are often preferred by condom consumers.
- 65 "independent vendors," specializing in interurban transport locations and street and tabletop vendors located at prime nightlife spots, received PSI training to integrate Pantè condoms into their petty trade product line.
- To better serve women consumers, PSI established 57 specialty sales outlets that cater to and are particularly convenient for women clients.
- Similarly, 137 specialty sales outlets were established to meet the needs of adolescent condom purchasers, for example, near schools and popular teenage hangouts.
- In collaboration with GLAS, Pantè condom sales were launched at 20 businesses as part of the "Workers Protection Initiative."
- To ensure that diverse condom vendors could effectively promote Pantè condoms, explain how to use condoms correctly, and field basic questions about STI/AIDS or refer consumers to other sources, PSI trained hundreds of "independent vendors," NGO field agents, and specialty outlet vendors.
Promotion and Advertising
- 34 radio and 5 television spots were developed and broadcast throughout Haiti. One of four radio ads aired 96 times a day.
- PSI/DOBACO organized and/or participated in several special promotional events at carnivals, popular sporting and entertainment events, workplace-based campaigns, and during World AIDS Day and Population Day. A variety of promotional techniques were used during these activities - parades, theatrical performances, popular entertainment, mass and print media, etc. - the ultimate objective of which was to achieve high visibility of condom use messages.
- Billboards were erected in key locations in urban areas and along main rural roads.
- A theatrical group, Equipe Pantè, conducted 75 performances in rural communities where access to television and radio was limited.
- 185,298 promotional materials, including posters, T-shirts, brochures, caps, key-chains, stickers, umbrellas, comic books, cloth bags, etc. were produced and distributed during this project. In eight out of nine districts in Haiti, wide distribution of these diverse promotional materials, in combination with extensive television, radio, and billboard coverage, highlighted the risk of STI/AIDS and the option of using condoms to prevent transmission. As a result of this vast and diverse coverage, most Haitians were exposed to these important messages while going about their everyday activities.
Important Constraints
Assassinations in 1995 of the spouses of the PSI marketing director and principal advertising agent directly affected the PSI project's performance. The losses experienced by these two key people in the social marketing project caused a severe drain on staff morale and productivity. The violent deaths of these individuals sadly and forcefully reminded us that "political instability" has very real, immediate, and profound consequences for health and development projects, and for the personnel who work for them.
Effective distribution of condoms was contingent on a reasonably well-developed transportation infrastructure. In Haiti, a major constraint for the PSI project during this period was the immobility of project and collaborator personnel due to: (1) the transportation crisis caused by fuel shortages during the period, and (2) once the fuel crisis had passed, excessive urban congestion that severely affected sales and distribution activities. PSI worked hard to circumvent distribution problems associated with these basic transportation challenges by launching its "independent vendor" initiative and carefully planning field visits.
Lessons Learned and Recommendations
Crosscutting partnerships, involving private-sector establishments, NGOs, and community-based vendors, is an effective approach for achieving widespread condom availability in developing countries. The Haiti CSM project benefited from the experiences of earlier models of condom social marketing for AIDS prevention, and built upon and adapted these models to suit the particular conditions that exist in Haiti. The project's emphasis on establishing and nurturing NGO and community-based partnerships, however, was a uniquely successful innovation of the Haiti project. This project demonstrated that a "private-sector" approach does not need to be nor should be confined to commercial establishments. Whereas some CSM projects were relegated to a role of "complementing" or "supporting" core behavior change interventions, by forging condom distribution and promotion partnerships with other Aba SIDA behavior change interventions, the PSI social marketing activity in Haiti assumed a more central and fully integrated position in the overall Aba SIDA program. Given the importance of increased correct condom use for preventing the spread of STIs, future interventions should be modeled after successful approaches such as this one.
Summary of Process Indicators
| Aba SIDA Partner |
Process Indicators |
Actual |
| Population Services International (PSI)/DOBACO |
Individuals trained |
387 |
| Materials distributed |
185,298 |
| Condoms sold |
14,639,143 |
| Condom outlets created |
765 |
| TV/Radio spots |
104,843 |
C. Increasing Access To Appropriate Care For STIs
STD Center of Excellence and STD/AIDS Training and Counseling for HIV-Positive Persons in Haiti
| Aba SIDA partner: |
Groupe Haïtien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) |
| Geographic focus: |
Clinics throughout Haiti |
| Target populations: |
STI patients |
| Project dates: |
September 1992 to May 1994; July 1994 to March 1996 |
Background and Scope of the Intervention
At the start of the Aba SIDA program, virtually no data was available on STI prevalence in Haiti, a national STI control program did not exist, professional STI treatment services were overall of poor quality, and utilization of clinics that provided effective STI care was very low. Self-medication and treatment seeking outside the professional medical sector appeared to be the preferred treatment response for STI patients. To increase STI patient resort to qualified professional clinics, Aba SIDA supported the Groupe Haïtien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et Des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) to create a STI training center of excellence, which focused on developing the skills of a cadre of Haitian health care providers to better diagnose, manage and counsel patients with STIs and HIV infection. In the second phase of the project, activities focused on increasing the number of individuals attending the STI clinic, providing pre-test counseling for persons referred to the clinic for HIV testing, and fully integrating prevention services into clinical practice.
GHESKIO was technically qualified to implement this project. In collaboration with Cornell University it began its work in AIDS research in 1982, which involved studying the natural history of HIV infection in Haitian patients and providing them clinical care. Over the past 15 years GHESKIO has researched a wide range of issues related to the clinical and psychosocial management of STI and AIDS patients. It is staffed by experienced clinicians and technicians who possess the skills necessary to train others working in the field and maintains the most sophisticated STI/HIV laboratory in Haiti.
Principal Accomplishments
Strengthening GHESKIO Capacity to Function as a Training Center
- Two Haitian physicians completed intensive one-month "residencies" at GHESKIO to specialize in STI and HIV/AIDS case management.
- Standardized procedures to diagnose and treat STIs were introduced to 116 general practitioners during four-day training sessions.
- 130 nurses, social workers, and program managers were trained in STI/AIDS counseling.
- 61 interns, doctors and pharmacists participated in one-day basic STI training sessions, which emphasized the importance of referral.
- 133 persons who received GHESKIO training participated in refresher training and evaluation sessions.
- GHESKIO produced a simplified manual in French and Creole intended to upgrade STI/HIV diagnostic skills of laboratory technicians.
- An advanced curriculum on STI and HIV counseling, emphasizing psychosocial support for STI- and HIV-positive patients, was developed.
Upgrading the Clinic to a STI Treatment Center of Excellence
- Attendance at the GHESKIO clinic for HIV and STI testing increased substantially between 1992 and the end of the project in 1996: from 111 to 310 people per month for HIV and from 15 to 103 people per month for classic STIs. Infected individuals received treatment and condoms free of charge, and all were counseled on preventive behaviors.
- Technical assistance from AIDSCAP to train laboratory technicians resulted in an increase in isolation of T. vaginalis from 19 to 30 percent of women patients presenting with vaginal discharge; preparation of gonococcal plates also improved significantly following AIDSCAP technical assistance.
Conducting STI/AIDS Education and Counseling and Distributing Condoms
- Two roundtables were organized by GHESKIO with 51 religious leaders to raise their awareness and understanding of the epidemiological and clinical significance of STIs and HIV, and to discuss the need for improved psychosocial support for AIDS patients and their families.
- 210,372 condoms were given away free of charge to all patients who were tested for STI and HIV infection.
- 6,504 patients received pretest counseling for HIV. As many of the individuals who tested negative for HIV were diagnosed with other STIs and reported high risk sexual behavior, high priority was given to post-test counseling of HIV-negative persons; 2,446 such persons received posttest counseling. 57 percent of HIV-positive patients received post-test counseling.
Important Constraints
Insufficient funding limited operational research. Separate funding directly from USAID enabled GHESKIO to conduct research on the etiology of vaginal discharge, which was important for preparing national standardized algorithms. However, due to resource constraints, determining gonococcal susceptibility to antibiotics and studying the etiology of genital ulcers were unfortunately not possible.
Summary of Process Indicators
| Aba SIDA Partner |
Process Indicators |
Actual |
| Groupes Haïtiens d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) |
Individuals educated |
15,485 |
| Individuals trained |
307 |
| Condoms distributed free |
210,372 |
Strengthening the CDS STD/AIDS Control Program
| Aba SIDA partner: |
Centres pour le Développement et la Santé (CDS) |
| Geographic focus: |
Selected communes of Port-au-Prince, Gonaives, Cap-Haïtien, Fort Liberté, Ouanaminthe, and Mont Organisé |
| Target populations: |
Community members in CDS clinics' catchment areas, focusing on STI patients |
| Project dates: |
September 1992 to May 1994; June 1994 to April 1996 |
Background and Scope of the Intervention
The Centres pour le Développement et la Santé (CDS) has been working in poor Haitian communities since 1974. Over its more than 20 years of experience working in Haiti, CDS has developed an effective community health care model for serving poor urban populations. Through a combination of clinic-based services and community outreach, the latter involving a system of community volunteers ("col vols") who receive modest compensation for their work, CDS services reach nearly the entire population living in the clinics' combined catchment area. CDS health services include basic clinic and preventive care (immunizations, prenatal care, growth monitoring, and family planning); free or low cost curative care; intrapartum care and surgery; provision of medications; and health education.
Aba SIDA assistance helped CDS expand its health care and education services to include STI/AIDS. Three specific and overlapping objectives were articulated for this project:
- To improve STI care in CDS clinics;
- To conduct community-based STI/AIDS education; and
- To establish a condom distribution system in the CDS catchment area.
Principal Accomplishments
Upgrading STI Case Management and Prevention Counseling in CDS Clinics
- An STI prevalence study, cited earlier in this report, was conducted with 1,000 pregnant women attending two CDS antenatal clinics in Cité Soleil in Port-au-Prince. The results of this study were essential for developing an STI control strategy.
- In collaboration with WHO/PAHO, Cornell-GHESKIO, and AIDSCAP technical experts, CDS completed standardized guidelines for syndromic diagnosis and treatment of STIs and for psychosocial support of STI patients. These guidelines were distributed to all CDS health centers for use by health care providers charged with STI care.
- STI control programs were instituted in 10 CDS clinics located in six cities.
- Routine screening for syphilis in pregnant women attending CDS's antenatal clinics was instituted; all women who tested positive were treated and received counseling.
- 9,215 patients were examined in CDS clinics for sexually transmitted infections; of these, 1,385 men and 6,297 women were treated for STIs.
- CDS partner referral for STI treatment was assessed as part of the baseline study on STIs mentioned above. The main outcome of this assessment was to emphasize in CDS's community- and clinic-based education the curable nature and asymptomatic presentation of STIs and the possibility of vertical transmission as a way of motivating partner referral and treatment. As a result of this effort, 1,021 patients participated in CDS clinics' partner referral system.
- 194 counseling sessions for HIV/AIDS patients and their parents were conducted, involving a total of 727 men and 1,889 women.
- 26 health care providers received four days of training in STI case management and prevention organized by GHESKIO.
- Nine project officers and 18 clinic counselors participated in training on STI counseling and managing STI/AIDS interventions.
- Six laboratory technicians received intensive training in the most recent STI diagnostic techniques.
Patient and Community Education on STIs and AIDS
- 343 CDS community volunteers participated in a 3-day training session in communication techniques related to STI/AIDS, and 54 CDS health promoters received a 2-day training in group facilitation techniques.
- During community and clinic educational sessions, home visits and individual counseling sessions, a total of 361,571 persons received information on STI/AIDS and learned about ways to prevent infection.
- With joint Aba SIDA and WHO/PAHO financial assistance, CDS produced the dramatic film (described in the following section), "Pouki Se Mwen?" ("Why Is It Me?"), which was broadcast on major television channels in cities throughout Haiti, reaching a viewing audience of over 2 million.
- 1,000 flip charts to be used by CDS col-vols and health promoters, as well as by health workers in other organizations, and 50,000 pamphlets on STI/AIDS were produced and distributed by the project; in addition, 50 films on STI/AIDS education were distributed in schools located in CDS catchment communities.
Establishing a Condom Distribution System
- Several hundred condom outlets were established in the CDS catchment area and 99,901 condoms were sold during the project period.
- CDS clinics distributed 113,916 condoms free of charge to clinic patients and through their community volunteers during the Aba SIDA project period.
- Seven community volunteer supervisors received training in condom logistics and management.
Lessons Learned and Recommendations
The syndromic approach to STI diagnosis and treatment has the important advantage of facilitating integration of STI care into primary health clinics. Compared to CDS's negative experience in opening a clinic that specialized in STI treatment, it found that integrated STI care avoided producing the stigma associated with specialized services.
There is a relatively high turnover of physicians working in NGO clinics such as CDS's clinics. As a result, training in syndromic diagnosis and treatment should include nurses and other health care providers who tend to have a lower turnover rate.
Summary of Process Indicators
| Aba SIDA Partner |
Process Indicators |
Actual |
| Centres pour le Développement et la Santé (CDS) |
Individuals educated |
398,462 |
| Individuals trained |
456 |
| Materials distributed |
35,858 |
| Condoms distributed free |
113,916 |
| Condoms sold |
99,901 |
D. Improving The Social And Policy Environment For Behavior Change: Policy Dialogue, Mass Media, And Special Events
STI Policy Development
With the collaboration of the GHESKIO and CDS projects aimed at increasing the quality and availability of STI services, national guidelines on the treatment of STIs were adopted and made available to health care facilities. This achievement was a major success in the development of STI policy which required months of negotiations, compromise and policy dialogue.
Mobilizing Women's Participation in Haiti's 1996-2000 National Plan of Action for STI/AIDS Prevention and Control
Alliance des Femmes Haïtiennes, January to March 1996.
Aba SIDA had a strong programmatic commitment to reducing STIs and AIDS in women, which was evident in the focus on women in several of the behavior change interventions. With a view to achieving a greater impact, it was deemed important to supplement these behavior change activities with higher-level policy work. By the end of 1995, Haiti's legitimate government was reestablished, national ministries were beginning to function once again, and the National AIDS Commission was preparing to develop its National Plan of Action for 1996 to 2000. It was an opportune period to identify and implement activities aimed at influencing policy decisions and commitments relating to STI/AIDS prevention and control in women.
Collaborating with the AIDSCAP Women's Initiative Office, Aba SIDA organized a "Day of Reflection on Women" in May 1995. This forum allowed 30 representatives from 18 organizations to discuss key issues related to STI/AIDS prevention in women and to strategize how AIDSCAP could have an influence in this regard during the short amount of time that remained for the Aba SIDA program in Haiti. The main outcome of that meeting was the conceptualization of a short-term intervention that would encourage cooperation and dialogue among governmental and non-governmental organizations in the development and implementation of the National Plan of Action. Specifically, the objective of this project was to ensure that the new national plan adequately and appropriately addressed the needs of women.
The Alliance Des Femmes Haïtiennes (AFHA), an umbrella organization of 34 indigenous groups concerned with the advancement and well-being of Haitian women, was provided a small grant to implement the intervention. With this grant, AFHA organized five fora in different cities of Haiti involving 140 participants who represented 79 organizations. These five-day fora had a dual focus: increasing awareness among the participants of the significance of STI/AIDS for Haitian women's health, and facilitating participant discussion on actions that should be included in the new national plan. The final product of AFHA's fora was a series of resolutions that were later presented to the Ministry of Health. This project had two significant results: the education and mobilization of community organizations and the facilitation of the inclusion of women's voices and concerns in national-level policy making.
Mobilizing Women's Participation in the National Plan of Action
| Aba SIDA Partner |
Process Indicators |
Actual |
| Alliance des Femmes Haïtiennes |
Individuals educated |
140 |
| Materials distributed |
1,500 |
In addition to activities aimed at improving the policy environment in support of AIDS prevention, and specifically STI development and gender programming, AIDSCAP supported a mass media campaign with special events aimed at increasing the awareness of the general public of the AIDS epidemic with the objective of increasing social support of AIDS prevention projects and improving social awareness of prevention behaviors and increased understanding of the impact of the epidemic, both on the country as a whole and on individuals living with AIDS.
"Sultana Mon Amour" Television Serial Drama
Les Producteurs Haïtiens Réunis
Keeping the subject of sexual risk and safe sexual behavior prominent in popular and policy discourse is critical for achieving and maintaining behavior change in targeted audiences. Mass media programming for STI/AIDS prevention and dramatic performances have shown to be particularly effective for this purpose. Dramas presenting situations and characters with whom viewers can readily identify stimulate dialogue, generally and between sexual partners, on sexual risk and relationships. By modeling safe sexual behavior and negotiation of safe sex in dramatic scenarios, performances can help individuals broach these issues in their personal lives. Over time, such popular representations can influence social norms related to acceptable and desirable sexual behavior.
To help create a social climate of openness about sexual risk and support for sexual behavior change, Aba SIDA financed the design and production of a 10-part serial drama related to these issues. Les Producteurs Haïtiens Réunis, an experienced drama group that specializes in educational productions for radio and television, was contracted to produce this series entitled Sultana Mon Amour. The principal characters were confronted with a variety of situations relevant to STIs and AIDS that reflected actual circumstances in Haitians' social and sexual lives. To appeal to a diverse viewing population, a variety of perspectives - parents, teenage girls and boys, married and single women and men - were emphasized in different story lines throughout the series. Advertisements for the series preceded its broadcast. Each episode ran twice each week during the 10 week period that the series was broadcast on Haiti's national television network.
"Pouki Se Mwen?" Video Drama
Centres pour le Développement et la Santé
Combining Aba SIDA assistance with WHO/PAHO and private sector funding, the Centres pour le Développement et la Santé produced the video drama Pouki Se Mwen? (Why Is It Me?), which was broadcast on television throughout Haiti reaching an estimated 2 million viewers. This film received an overwhelmingly positive response from viewers. The story focuses on a young man who leaves his rural province to live with his aunt in Port-au-Prince in order to pursue his studies. It traces the transformation of his life with his relocation to Port-au-Prince, and in particular addresses his experience of peer pressure and how it affects his sexual decision making. It also highlights the difficulties and the ultimate failure of the aunt to persuade the young man to exercise sexual prudence and restraint. In the end, it forcefully conveys the risks associated with the young man's choices. Years later and married, he discovers he is infected with HIV, causing him and his aunt to reflect on what went wrong and how it could have been different. Through these characters' retrospection and narratives, the audience learns of important issues related to sexual behavior, peer pressure, and the role of parents (or caretakers) in minimizing sexual risk in adolescents. The context and relationships presented in the film are consistent with real life situations in Haiti, making the issues highlighted in the drama seem real and pertinent to viewers' own lives. As a result of the positive popular reaction to this film in Haiti, organizations in neighboring countries have requested CDS to produce copies of the film with appropriate language subtitles for broadcast in their own countries.
"Fleet of Hope" Video
Aba SIDA Office for World AIDS Day 1995
Aba SIDA's production of the Fleet of Hope video was part of the World AIDS Day activities organized in 1995. Originally designed by the AIDSCAP/Tanzania program, the Aba SIDA team adapted the video for use with Haitian audiences. Sixty copies were produced in Creole and French and distributed to Aba SIDA partners, the Ministry of Health and all major media. The Fleet of Hope theme focuses on options available to reduce sexual risk. Abstinence, mutual fidelity, and condom use are offered as equally good alternatives for avoiding STIs and AIDS; each individual or couple, the video emphasizes, can choose one of these options to suit their own immediate needs, and can shift to alternative options as personal circumstances change. Accenting choice and flexibility serves to accommodate the significant variability in individuals' perspectives and life circumstances.
World AIDS Day Campaigns
World AIDS Day campaigns are designed to raise awareness about AIDS and its public health significance among policy makers, health advocates, and the community at large, to help shape national and NGO policy agendas with regard to AIDS prevention and control and to enhance the sociocultural milieu for individual behavior change to reduce sexual risk. During past World AIDS Day campaigns, Aba SIDA conducted a range of events and applied a number approaches to achieve these ends. Despite extreme political instability and sporadic violence in Haiti in 1993, Aba SIDA orchestrated a World AIDS Day program with great success, thereby filling the gap left by a government and Ministry of Health in dissolution. In the absence of an intact Ministry of Health, Aba SIDA organized a joint effort between Aba SIDA partners, national and provincial radio and television stations, and various commercial sponsors. Radio, television, and print media inundated the Haitian population with World AIDS Day slogans and messages emphasizing the campaign's annual theme. Press kits were distributed to journalists in all major media outlets, which resulted in substantial secondary coverage. In addition, informational packets were circulated to key policymakers and other influential persons and a forum was organized for decision-makers and journalists that was introduced by Alerte SIDA! youth releasing thousands of balloons with the World AIDS Day slogan.
In 1995, following four years of political crisis, the Ministry of Health resumed the lead role in advocating popular and high-level commitment to AIDS prevention and devoted the full month of December to raising awareness about AIDS. Organizations in all nine departments of Haiti were mobilized to participate in activities. President Aristide addressed the nation entreating Haitians to demonstrate compassion towards persons infected with HIV, the theme of that year's World AIDS Day campaign. Aba SIDA produced and distributed videos and posters.
