Sugar daddies and small houses

This is the second installment in my series on HIV/ AIDS prevention strategies. This time, I am writing about messages targeting multiple concurrent partnerships and a few miss-steps in messaging about this sensitive topic. Part of the Mochudi Prevention Project is to support existing, effective prevention messages.

Media messages play an essential role in educating the public. Accordingly, health and social organizations in Botswana have employed multiple media resources including radio, television, billboards and pamphlets to get messages about HIV/ AIDS to the masses. One of the greatest challenges to effective 'messaging' is articulating and disseminating the right message to the right people at the right time.

There is currently a media campaign targeting multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP's). It is common for people in Botswana to have multiple concurrent sexual partnerships (NACA defines this as having two or more sexual partners at the same time) and this has contributed to the high rates of HIV/ AIDS in the country. Hopefully, this campaign will get the right message, to the right people at the right time and promote safer sexual practices.

Media messages need to be delivered using appropriate and relevant language. This can often be difficult to achieve- especially in a country where there are two common languages (Setswana and English).

However, not all messages are interpreted as they were intended. Here is an example of a misinterpretation of slang and an example of a seemingly universally accepted slang term:

An example of a miss-step in messaging in Botswana was the use of the slang term 'small house.' There was an HIV prevention message saying something like, "Small houses contribute to HIV transmission"

In the local culture, a 'small house' is where a man goes outside of his primary household/ partnership for sex. Logically, these multiple concurrent partnerships increased HIV and other STI transmissions. However, 'small house' also refers to a literally 'small' house. This difference in meanings lead some to miss-interpret the message to meaning that having or living in a small house increased HIV transmission.

An example of the use of a slang term that seems to cross cultural lines is the term 'sugar daddy.' Sometimes a woman will have different sexual partners to meet different needs- sometimes those needs are financial. The term 'sugar daddy' for someone who you have sex with who in turn supports you financially or buys you gifts seems to be a universal term.