USAID South Africa has mandated the Centre of Communications Impact (CCI) to support the HIV care and Treatment surge for men through an integrated localised media campaign under the leadership of the Department of Health. CCI works with other USAID partners such as District Support Partners to ensure successful linkage to Men living with HIV to Antiretroviral Therapy and other services such as psychosocial support, Medical Male Circumcision and Gender Based Violence. CCI uses Radio, Out of Home, Social Media and Interpersonal communication platforms to recruit and support men into care and treatment.
Through partnership and support from Population Service International, CCI has employed Men Living with HIV (MLHIV) who are stable on treatment as ‘coaches’ of newly diagnosed men and men who have returned to care after a treatment interruption. They provide ongoing guidance and support, rooted in their personal experience living with HIV, from the point of diagnosis or return to care to the point of treatment stability and viral suppression to their players- mentees.
They help men see treatment as a strategy for gaining control over HIV and feeling strong, healthy, safe, desirable and, ultimately, normal again. They are there to support other MLHIV to reach a point where they can live openly and confidently with HIV, without any of the fear and shame that they might have felt initially.
CCI through its media activities and Coach Mpilo is conducting demand creation activities to support the Men’s treatment surge through mobilising men, health promotion and education, Male Peer to Peer engagements, Men’s Forums, Community Dialogues, activations in male populated areas such as taxi ranks and car wash and participation in some of the community radio activities through male targeted messaging.
Men who are recruited are referred and linked to District Support Partners for care, treatment initiation and retention.
