South Africa

SFH is South Africa’s leading non-profit, non-governmental provider of health products, services and communications and South Africa’s leading social marketing organization. Social marketing is the non-profit use of commercial marketing techniques to address public health issues. SFH was founded in 1992 as a condom social marketing organization and since then has distributed 1,009,300,619 condoms.

Also since that time, SFH has greatly expanded the portfolio of products and services it provides to include male condoms, female condoms, lubricant, HIV counselling and testing, CD4 counts, TB diagnosis and medical male circumcision. All of these programs are supported by SFH behaviour change communications, marketing and training. SFH is the South African affiliate of Population Services International, the world’s leading network of social marketing organizations, with affiliates in 69 countries around the world.

Health Areas

HIV, Reproductive Health

Health Impact

SFH estimates that in 2012, its products and services helped avert: 2,181,950 DALYs in 2012.

That means that our programs had averted 2,181,950 years of ill health, disability or early death, or that our products and services added 2,181,950 years of healthy life for people in South Africa.1

1. Source: The DALY (Disability-Adjusted Life Year) is a widely-used, credible metric that was first developed by the World Bank and is now routinely relied upon in the public health community.

Health Interventions

Improving Health in South Africa

HIV

SFH Health Initiatives

SFH’s health services fall under the New Start franchise network, which brings SFH and other local NGOs together to provide high-quality HIV counseling and testing, medical male circumcision and health communications services.

New Start services are offered to individuals, communities, partner organizations and in workplaces across South Africa. We do this at fixed sites and mobile facilities that are easily accessible around the country.

New Start HIV Counseling and Testing (HCT)

New Start HCT is a franchise network that brings SFH and other local NGOs together to provide HIV counseling and testing, as well as CD4 count testing and sputum collection for TB diagnosis.

New Start provides HIV counseling and testing services to couples, families and individuals alike.
Families who want to be tested can receive the HCT services in the comfort of their homes too.
New Start encourages couples to get tested together at the start of a new relationship, before getting married or when planning to have a child. Working together as a couple in the fight against HIV has been proved to be more effective than working as an individual.

New Start Medical Male Circumcision

SFH seeks to provide high-quality, cost-effective medical male circumcision services to South African men.
SFH and its partners are creating informed demand for medical male circumcision and increasing access to safe medical male circumcision services for adolescents and men. Our communication also targets women, parents and community leaders, in order to create a supportive environment for the men who want to get circumcised.

New Start Health Communications

SFH is dedicated to achieving positive health changes by disseminating tailored messages to its target audiences. Health communication combines commercial marketing techniques to position products and services with messages that improve knowledge and reinforce healthy behaviors.

SFH uses both branded and non-branded health communication campaigns. Branded campaigns focus on promoting and creating demand for products, such as male and female condoms, or services such as HCT. Generic campaigns address risk perception, stigma and discrimination, and unhealthy social norms.

SFH's condom brands

SFH is a distributor of the Government of South Africa’s Choice condoms as part of its public sector distribution program. Public Sector Distribution is an initiative between SFH and the National Department of Health (NDOH). This close partnership is designed to ensure the successful distribution and accessibility of the NDOH’s Choice condom brand in order to achieve a positive health impact. SFH assists the NDOH and its provincial sexually transmitted infections’ coordinators to improve the quality of its distribution by building the capacity of local NGOs.

The Lovers Plus brand has attained consistent growth since its launch in 1993, primarily as a result of the application of successful marketing and advertising strategies. Lovers Plus is positioned as a fun, affordable, high-quality condom for adults who have high self-esteem, are ambitious and stylish. The price point has also assisted in positioning the brand as a quality product in the consumers’ mind. Lovers Plus is available in three variants: smooth; colored and flavored; and ribbed and studded. The extended Lovers Plus range provides diversity for consumers and greater brand exposure at retail purchase points.

Trust The successful Trust brand was launched in 2001 to reach sexually active young adults in the lower income groups who want maximum protection. Trust products are made to the same high-quality specifications as Lovers Plus. The lower price increases affordability and encourages use among consumers who are unable to pay for more expensive alternatives. The Trust range is available in a smooth and studded for enhanced sexual pleasure.

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