"Objective: To investigate the effect of exposure to 'MTV Shuga:Down South’ (MTVShuga-DS) during the scale-up of combination HIV-prevention interventions on awareness and uptake of sexual reproductive health (SRH) and HIV-prevention services by adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) [...] Conclus
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ions: Among both urban and rural AGYW in South Africa, MTVShuga-DS exposure was associated with increased PrEP awareness and improved demand for some HIV prevention and SRH technologies but not sexual health outcomes. However, exposure to MTVShuga-DS was low. Given these positive indications, supportive programming may be required to raise exposure and allow future evaluation of edu-drama impact in this setting." (Abstract)
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"Using a two-level randomized experiment covering 5 million people in Burkina Faso, we examine the impact on family planning knowledge and behavior of both general exposure to mass media (800 women receive radios in status quo areas) and an intensive evidence-based family planning campaign (8 of 16
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radio stations receive the campaign and 800 women receive radios in campaign areas). Women receiving radios in status quo areas reduce contraception use by 5.2 percentage points. This negative effect is concentrated among those who wanted fewer children, consistent with mass media increasing social pressure to conform to the modal behavior in the media market. In contrast, receiving a radio in campaign areas increases contraception use by 5.8 percentage points. Comparing women in campaign vs noncampaign areas we find contraception use is 5.9 percentage points higher, births 10% lower, misperceptions about contraception lower, and reported welfare 0.27 standard deviations higher in campaign areas." (Abstract)
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"Cest la Vie!" (CLV) is a serial drama that entertains, educates, and promotes positive health behaviors and social change for West African audiences. The purpose of this study was to evaluate if watching the CLV Season 2 series online had an impact on people’s health knowledge, attitudes, and nor
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ms, focusing on populations in francophone West Africa. Between July 2019 and October 2019, viewers of CLV and non-viewers were recruited from Facebook and YouTube. We conducted an online longitudinal cohort study that assessed changes in health knowledge, attitudes, and norms (KAN) between these groups. Participants completed a baseline survey prior to the online airing and up to three follow-up surveys corresponding to specific health stories in the series, including sexual violence, emergency contraception, and female circumcision. We used descriptive statistics to describe viewers and non-viewers, and an item response theory (IRT) analysis to identify the effect of viewing CLV on overall KAN. A total of 1674 respondents participated in the study. One in four participants had seen one of the three storylines from CLV Season 2 (ie, CLV viewers). At follow-up, viewers were more likely than non-viewers to know when to correctly use emergency contraception and to believe that the practice of female circumcision should end. Compared to people who did not see CLV, viewers of the series had 26% greater odds of answering pro-health responses at follow-up about sexual assault, emergency contraception, and female circumcision. Further, the level of engagement with specific storylines was associated with a differential impact on overall outcome questions." (Abstract)
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"This paper examines the extent to which an edutainment programme, MTV-Shuga, was reported to influence young people’s engagement with sexual and reproductive health (SRH) information in rural KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 2019 we conducted eight community-based screenings of MTV-Shuga episodes
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followed by 25 individual indepth interviews and 13 focus group discussions with young people aged between 15 and 30. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Data analysis was thematic and complemented by constant comparison and deviant case analysis techniques. In this rural and poor setting with a high burden of HIV, young people exhibited high levels of awareness of SRH and HIV but had constrained access to services, and limited ability to engage with parents or guardians on SRH matters. MTV Shuga provided an entertaining guide of ways to navigate the risks that they faced in a way that resonated with them. The findings highlight the importance of enabling young people in rural areas to watch MTV Shuga with peers in a safe space in which discussion of the content is facilitated. There is also value in encouraging parents to watch MTV Shuga as a means of enabling discussions between children and adults in their lives about SRH matters." (Abstract)
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"Kilkari is the largest direct-to-beneficiary mobile communication programme in the world and has reached over 10 million women and their families across 13 states in India. Our study is the first randomised controlled trial conducted to date of a beneficiary mobile communication programme at scale.
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Exposure to Kilkari was significantly associated with improvements in a few important health practices, including the use of reversible contraceptive methods, but not others, including exclusive breast feeding. Subgroup analyses highlight the differential impact among key population segments, including the poorest." (Page 2)
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"Adolescents in Mexico experience high pregnancy and birth rates. A collaboration with Grupo Televisa led to the development of an entertainment-education telenovela intervention, Overcome the Fear (OTF), which aired in 2020 to a national audience and addressed adolescent sexual and reproductive hea
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lth (SRH) topics. This study details the development and evaluation of OTF’s impact on adolescent contraceptive practices and parent-adolescent SRH communication in Mexico" [...] Conclusions: This study suggests that viewership of a high-quality entertainment-education telenovela informed by extensive formative research is related to adolescent health outcomes and to parent-adolescent SRH communication on a country-wide scale in Mexico. Entertainment-education remains an underutilized public health strategy, despite its promise to engage viewers and motivate healthful behaviors." (Abstract)
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"BBC Media Action’s innovative sexual and reproductive health rights (SRHR) project - Ma Shet Ne (Don’t be shy!) – was designed to support young people living in Yangon to access quality information and realise their rights. Research findings show that young people are highly engaged with the
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digital content. They reported learning and becoming more open-minded and confident to talk about SHRH topics." (Page 1)
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"The volume analyses the ambivalent relationship between human rights and modern technologies since 1945. Tools of suppression or agents of emancipation? Modern technologies have become a major subject of human rights policy. Surveillance technology, the military use of drones, and the possibilities
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of Big Data analysis pose new challenges for the international human rights movement. At the same time, these techniques offer new ways to document and denounce violations of human rights and to promote mass mobilization. The volume analyses this ambivalent relationship between human rights and technological change in a historical perspective. Showing how the spread of modern technologies both challenged and served human rights policies, the volume focuses on four key areas of technological change: 1) development politics, infrastructures and large technical systems, 2) population politics and demographical knowledge, 3) media cultures and communication technologies, and 4) the societal impact of computerization. By sketching these debates since 1945, the volume adds a historical perspective to current debates about the political and ethical challenges of new technological developments." (Publisher description)
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"Access to information about family planning (FP) continues to have financial, physical and social barriers among young women living in Kenya. This paper draws on social norms theory to explore how young women and their social networks access FP information on digital media (e.g., WhatsApp, websites
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). Qualitative phone interviews were conducted with 40 participants – young women, their partners and key influencers – in seven peri-urban wards in Nairobi, Kenya. Data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Findings suggested that young women, their partners and key influencers predominately accessed FP information online through their informal networks, but identified healthcare workers as the most trusted sources of FP information. In digital spaces, participants described beingmore comfortable sharing FP information as digital spaces allowed for greater privacy and reduced stigma to talk about FP openly. Our findings highlight the importance of digital media in disseminating FP information among young women and their networks, the differences in norms governing the acceptability to talk about FP online vs. in-person and the significance of targeting misinformation about FP in digital media spaces." (Abstract)
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"This desk review examines the available evidence on the extent to which digital content can influence knowledge, attitudes and practices of adolescents and young people (aged 10–24 years), and looks at the potential for digital spaces to be used to add value to the delivery of comprehensive sexua
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lity education (CSE). Technologies are constantly changing, so this report should be seen as a snapshot of the evidence at a specific point in time. The report is in two parts. Part 1 explores which young people engage with digital spaces and how; social media influencers; the intersections between pornography and sexuality education; and lessons from mHealth and Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in education. To do this, it draws on purposive searches of the literature, the knowledge and expertise of the interdisciplinary team of researchers, and recommendations from a range of experts. Part 2 draws on a robust review of the literature on interventions designed to educate young people about sexuality. It focuses on existing evidence in five key areas: (1) reaching and engaging young people; (2) influence and impact; (3) opportunities and risks; (4) content, guidelines and standards; and (5) literature gaps." (Executive summary)
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"This book analyses the partnership between applied theatre and sexual health communication in a theatre-making project in Nyanga, a township in South Africa. By examining the bridges and schisms between the two fields as they come together in the project, an alternative way of approaching sexual he
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alth communication is advocated. This alternative considers what it is that applied theatre does, and could become, in this context. Moments of value which lie around the margins of the practice emerge as opportunities that can be overlooked. These somewhat ephemeral, intangible moments, which appear on the edges, are described as 'apertures of possibility' and occur when one takes a step back and realises something unnoticed in the moment. This book offers an invitation to pause and notice the seemingly insignificant moments that often occurs tangentially to the practice. The book also calls for more outcry about sexual health and sexual violence, arguing for theatre-making as a route to multitudes of voices, nuanced understandings, and diverse spaces in which discussions of sexuality and sexual health are shared, felt, and experienced." (Publisher description)
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"This series of posters featured as part of an exhibition at ‘Switched On: Sexuality Education in the Digital Space’, a symposium held in Istanbul, Turkey, from 19 - 21 February, 2020. The posters are snapshots of digital sexuality education providers who are doing just that – taking sexuality
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education to the digital spaces where adolescents and young people can search for and hopefully find, the information they need. These are just a few of thousands of platforms that have emerged throughout the world and have been selected because of their innovative approaches and geographic spread. This diverse collection of providers operates in over 30 countries, delivering accurate and nonjudgemental information in Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, English, Hindi, Kazakh, Kenyan sign language, Russian, Turkish, and other languages. They deliver in areas of high and low connectivity through websites, apps, social media and other platforms." (Page 1)
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"A growing body of evidence shows that young people are regularly using the digital world as a key source of information about sexuality. This review seeks to understand the opportunity for digital sexuality education by exploring what young people search for online, the range of digital sexuality e
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ducation platforms currently available in the region, the impact of these platforms and issues of online safety. While limitations exist in the depth and breadth of digital sexuality media currently available in the East Asia and Pacific region, this review finds that such platforms offer an opportunity to positively impact the sexual and reproductive health, knowledge and behaviours of young people. Digital media provides scope for targeted interventions and the potential to reach adolescent populations at scale, anytime, anywhere. There is a need for more research to better understand how they impact knowledge, attitudes and behaviour and what increases appeal and usefulness for young people." (Executive summary)
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"This manual, which has been developed by African Women’s Development and Communication Network (FEMNET) has recognized SRHR as an advocacy issue with media being a key partner in driving this agenda. In many African societies, gender relations are characterized by unequal power relations that are
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dominated within a culture of shared beliefs, values, customs and behaviours. It is within culture that women and girls face violations and discrimination of their Sexual Reproductive Health and Rights. Culture is a learning process which changes over time and journalists can play a huge role in changing social thinking and attitudes to enable women and girls achieve human development and lead long healthy lives where their rights are respected. The media advocacy on access to SRHR will lead to abandonment of discriminatory practices and encourage policies and practices that will enable women to take control of their SRHR by expressing their own demands and finding solutions to their own problems." (Page vii)
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