Southern Africa Regional Social Marketing Program

Project Activities and Highlights

• PSI has funding from DFID and SADC for a regional social marketing project in Swaziland, Lesotho and Botswana through March 2006. A start-up grant in 2000 from USAID allowed PSI to establish PSI/Lesotho and PSI/Swaziland in 2001.

• PSI/Lesotho and PSI/Swaziland launched a new lower priced male condom, Trust, in July 2001 and developed community-based distribution systems. In the first year of the project, the number of shops where you can buy condoms in Lesotho almost tripled and the number of condoms distributed through the private sector more than doubled. In Swaziland, the number of shops selling condoms increased 9-fold and the number of condoms distributed through the private sector quintupled.

• Three local PSI offices, PSI/Lesotho, PSI/Swaziland and PSI/Botswana together launched Care female condoms between late 2001 and early 2002. Initial focus is on training pharmacists and service providers to enable them to demonstrate and to explain the product. Commercial distribution of Care is limited to outlets with trained providers. Female condoms provide female sex workers the opportunity to exert control during sex; thus, PSI is also training female sex workers about the female condom and how to negotiate the use of the female condom.

• PSI is awaiting the results of preliminary behavioural research before developing major BCC activities but already is launching a weekly call-in radio show in Lesotho and has a weekly newspaper column in Swaziland. All three countries launched a radio and television public service announcement featuring the musical group Destiny's Child encouraging young women to delay the onset of sexual activity.

• Lesotho is one of seven African countries participating in Corridors of Hope, a program designed to strengthen condom social marketing activities for the prevention of HIV/AIDS at key cross-border locations in Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, South Africa, Mozambique, Swaziland and Namibia. Activities focus on the five highest-risk groups, commercial sex workers, truckers, informal traders, uniformed officials, and young women. Visit the Corridors of Hope page for information about South Africa's involvement.

Other Projects

• PSI/Lesotho received a grant from USAID to intensify social marketing activities in two border towns to better reach mobile populations.

• PSI/Swaziland received a grant from the Japanese government to set up a mobile education unit to bring HIV/AIDS prevention programming to hard-to-reach places.