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India: Campaign Motivates Partner Reduction MUMBAI, India, November 28, 2005 — Since PSI/India's Operation Lighthouse (OPL) program took on one of the most critical and difficult aspects of behavior change, motivating partner reduction among high-risk populations, its integrated behavior change communications (iBCC) campaign has resulted in significant increases in risk perception and partner reduction. The objective of the program, funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), was to reduce the proportion of the target group reporting one or more non-regular or non-spousal partner in the last year. PSI research data shows that the proportion of the target population who believed that reducing the number of partners would reduce HIV risk increased from 11% in 2002 to 75% in 2004, and the proportion reporting non-regular partner sex in the past 12 months declined from 24% to 19%. PSI/OPL's first behavior change impact survey, conducted in 2002 with over 11,000 truckers, fishermen, and working class men, showed that many were driven to multi-partner sex by peer influence and the perceived variety, novelty and virility that multi-partner sex represents. A major barrier to partner reduction was the idea that men having relations with many women are seen as more virile and desirable. The message used by the campaign to overcome such barriers was the "Law of Averages," which suggests that a man who sleeps with many partners will increase his chances of exposure — the more partners, the more risk. Behavior change communicators developed flash cards, leaflets, plays and interpersonal techniques in the campaign. One major challenge was to promote partner reduction without downplaying the efficacy of condom use. Through OPL's iBCC program, about 500,000 high-risk individuals are reached six times a year by 375 interpersonal communicators. OPL's other activities include mobile or conveniently located voluntary counseling and testing facilities for high-risk populations and groundbreaking mass media campaigns targeting clients of commercial sex workers. — Carlie Danielson, PSI/Washington
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