About project

In 2009, the five-year GLOBUS project, which was aimed at stimulating an effective national strategy to combat HIV / AIDS in Russia, was over.

To participate in the project on the contest basis, the following 10 regions were selected: Krasnoyarsk Krai; Tver, Nizhny Novgorod, Orenburg, Pskov, Vologda and Tomsk regions; St. Petersburg; the republics of Buryatia and Tatarstan.

As part of the GLOBUS project, the FOCUS-MEDIA Foundation developed and implemented three campaigns in mass media aimed at promoting safer sexual behavior among young people, and two campaigns to overcome stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV (PLWH).

The first campaign for young people under the slogan "Show them!" was realized from July 2005 to March 2006. The “Realize Your Right to Health!” campaign was implemented from February to September 2007, and the third campaign - "Start with Yourself, Live Safe!" - from June 2008 to February 2009. Two campaigns, called "Be Humaine!", aimed at promoting a tolerant attitude towards people living with HIV, were organized in 2005-2006 and in 2007 in all 10 regions of the project. The technology of media campaign planning, implementation and evaluation was transferred to the regional project partners - more than 370 specialists from 10 projects regions were trained the technique of preventive work with youth and media campaigning.

The objectives of the campaigns for young people were: to improve the knowledge of young people about HIV transmission and ways of protection from HIV infection, reduce the misinterpretations of HIV sexual transmission. It was necessary to increase the degree of personal responsibility for their own sexual health and awareness of personal risk of HIV and STIs infection, and unwanted pregnancies. One of the main objectives of the campaign was to form the attitudes of young people to condoms as a reliable means of protection against HIV, STIs and unwanted pregnancies, as well as to enhance the ability of young people (especially girls) to refuse from sex (including sexual debut), if they are not ready or if there is no condom.

Campaigns on promoting tolerance towards people living with HIV (PLWH) are aimed at reducing stigmatization and discrimination through improved knowledge about HIV and AIDS and promoting ethical models/standards of behavior in relation to people with HIV.

The main objectives of the campaigns were to reduce the number of misconceptions of HIV transmission through saliva, insects, dishes and a handshake, raise the awareness of people with HIV as chronic patients, who, being treated properly, can live a full life and have a healthy baby even if one or both parents are infected with HIV. The main goal of the campaigns was to help reduce stigma and discrimination against people with HIV and form ethical norms of solidarity and acceptance of PLWH by the society.

Major activities

As part of each campaign, various materials, based on research results, were developed and produced: videos and audios, booklets, posters, postcards, stickers, memorabilia, layouts for outdoor and transport advertising. The materials were produced taking into account the psychological and social characteristics of the target group (young people aged 15-25), using the language and style that are understood by young people, raise their confidence and stimulate them to look for the missing information.

Public events, trainings, round tables for administration and press were planned and organized in all 10 regions. Campaign videos were broadcast on federal and regional TV channels, like 7TV, REN-TV, NTV, DTV, MTV, NNTV (Nizhny Novgorod), OREN-TV (Orenburg), STS-Prima-TV (Krasnoyarsk), on which the total coverage estimation was based, amounting to about 22 million people.

The videos were also broadcast in cinema and supermarket networks, airports and railway stations, on outdoor l/c screens, cash machine displays and the Internet.

A website, which was unique for the Russian-language Internet, www.tan-dem.ru, was developed. It was a virtual youth club "Tan-Dem”. Here, young people could in an accessible way get information about HIV and sexually transmitted infections, ways of protection against HIV/STIs, consult an expert, download videos, pictures and stories, and take part in a quiz and win prizes.

In all regions, many actions - bike trial shows, performances of popular groups, contests and quizzes for young people with prizes awarded - were organized in universities and clubs within campaigns launch. A unique playground was established in Nizhny Novgorod. Those interested could use the sheet of paper picturing the heroes of one of the campaign videos to end the phrase "Realize your right to health in order to ..." and put their signatures in a huge book with an inscription which read: "I have a right ...".

A health motor race was held in Vologda. The participants visited several universities of the city, distributed leaflets and organized quizzes for young people.

In Ulan-Ude, the campaign was launched at the training on using theatrical performances in the preventive work among young people.

In Orenburg, a big puppet was made to become a full participant in the activities of educational institutions of the city, talking with children and involving them in discussion about the right to information and health!
The campaign materials were advertised in public transport outside and inside the buses, videos were broadcast in buses and minivans, banners were placed on the sides of buses. Billboards, city-formats and banners, as well as more than 1,500 advertising carriers, A3 and A4, were also used.
In Orenburg and some other cities, over 1000 stickers were advertised in elevators, and in all regions a so-called "partizan" advertising, i.e. putting up stickers A4 and A6 in various places where they could be seen by the target group, was used.
 
Within the third campaign, implemented in October and November 2009, the narrowcast campaign technology was applied in 120 schools of 10 project regions. The narrowcasting communication method includes advertising of specially developed posters, for boys and girls separately, near sinks, mirrors and toilet cabins in toilet rooms of universities; the posters were pasted on frames and contained a message promoting safer sexual behavior as a way of prevention of HIV and AIDS and other STIs. More than 273 000 copies of printed products were distributed, about 190 000 students were involved.

Main achievements and results

Within the implementation of five campaigns as part of the GLOBUS project, about 5 000 000 copies of printed materials were issued and distributed among young people and the general population. Over 370 experts from 10 project regions were trained the methodology of work with young people and media campaign technology.
National and regional TV channels showed campaigns videos free over 50 000 times.

The estimated price of broadcasting on national TV alone exceeded 2,5 million dollars (videos were broadcast free of charge!).

Also, campaign videos were showed free in “Perekrestok”, “Pyatyorochka” and “Patterson” networks – over 300 000 times. The last campaign video was shown 245 330 times on liquid-crystal panels in the streets, universities, railway stations and airports. 1 184 703 young people were involved in events aimed at preventing HIV and AIDS in the period of GLOBUS implementation, which is 22% of all young people aged 15 to 29, i.e. every 5th young person, in 10 regions.

Campaigns on preventing HIV and AIDS covered 66% of young people and 58% of the adult population in 10 project regions.

Results of campaigns for young people:
• the number of young people correctly interpreting the ways of HIV transmission and methods of protection (UNGASS indicator) increased by 15%
• the number of young people using condoms to protect themselves from contracting HIV and other sexually transmitted infections increased by 9%
• the number of young people using condoms with casual sexual partners increased almost by 15%
• the number of young people using condoms always and almost always increased from 61% to 68%
• 63% of young people chose safer behaviors under the influence of the knowledge acquired. At the same time, young people who had seen the campaign materials, more often said about using condoms during sexual contacts compared with those who had not seen the campaign

Results of campaigns on solidarity with PLWH:
• the number of people who would behave "normally" when meeting an HIV-positive person, i.e. the way they would behave with any other person, (32% in 2005 and 41% in 2006) increased by 9%
• one of the undoubted achievements of tolerance campaigns was the reduced (by 12%) number of those who believed that the government should isolate people living with HIV
• the attitude to HIV/AIDS and PLWHA directly depended on the knowledge of campaign materials. The respondents who had seen the “Be Humane!” campaign materials more often (by 22%) said that they would behave with HIV-positive "as ordinary people"
• the attitude to HIV-positive people and children, especially when they attend schools or kindergartens together with healthy children, is also affected by familiarity with the campaign. Those who had seen the campaign materials more often (by 12-13%) said that they would not mind the presence of an HIV-positive teacher or child at school.
 
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The experience of the GLOBUS project implementation has shown that there are ways to stop or even reduce the spread of HIV infection among young people. These include a complex impact on knowledge, attitudes and behavior of young people in the field of sexual health and HIV/AIDS, based on using modern information technologies.

As part of the project, the FOCUS-MEDIA Foundation developed a comprehensive model for creating and implementing effective media campaigns aimed at preventing HIV and formulated 5 key factors of their success, which will help, basing on that experience, to make further preventive work more effective. These factors are:

• provide young people with objective, reliable and unbiased information, in a positive way, without moralizing and intimidation.
• a campaign message should both raise the problem and provide possible solutions, offering the standards of behavior that young people are able to follow.
• a successful campaign should consist of a set of interrelated activities (video and audio broadcasting, outdoor and transport advertising, public events, mass media) that are realized in a certain order and add to each other.
• it is necessary to implement campaigns sequentially, one after another, evaluate their results on a pre-determined indicators of success and develop a strategy for each subsequent campaign basing on the results of previous ones.
• regional organizations should be trained and involved in campaigns development and implementation! The scale of our country requires a necessary participation of regional partners who know local peculiarities and use the accumulated experience, capacities and contacts to provide the most effective coverage of target groups.

The preliminary analysis of statistical data for 2008 showed a decrease in the number of new HIV infections among young people aged 15-25, at least in six regions of the project (Tver, Orenburg Region, Krasnoyarsk Krai, the Republic of Buryatia, Pskov, Vologda).

Thus, it can be concluded that media campaigns have a great impact on improving knowledge about HIV infection and transmission ways, the attitude to the means of protection against HIV and STIs infection, as well as on the declared choice of safer behavior models.

The campaigns have affected the change of behavior (condom use), although to a lesser extent, that may be related both to the specific characteristics of mass media, not allowing use of a sufficiently "direct" message, and to a lot of contradictory opinions of those who oppose the programs promoting condom use as primary means of protection against sexually transmitted infections.

Russia needs organizing large-scale and integrated media campaigns on HIV/AIDS, as a thoughtful and well-planned campaigns implementation could seriously affect the level of coverage of HIV/AIDS issues, improve knowledge and build a supportive environment to promote the standards of safer behavior in terms of HIV infection.