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Diffusion of Innovations and HIV

Show Us the Money: Is Violence Against Women on the HIV/AIDS Donor Agenda

On International Women’s Day, March 8, local and international women’s and human rights groups urged donors to devote more funding to HIV/AIDS programs aimed at reducing women’s vulnerability to infection.

At the same time a new report cited the sexual violence and coercion women experience at the hands of their male partners as a leading factor in the increasing “feminization” of the AIDS pandemic.

For full report, visit:

http://www.womenwontwait.org/images/stories/Show%20Us%20The%20Money%20Full%20Report.pdf

From the U.N. Population Division

The Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs announces the release of the 2006 Revision of World Populations Prospect, the official United Nations estimates and projections of the world’s population from 1950 to 2050.

The 2006 Revision is immediately available in electronic form from the website of the Population Division:
http://www.unpopulation.org

Data can be accessed and tabulated on demand through an interactive database. A number of ard copy publications including the data volumes, an analytical report and a poster will be issued in the coming months.

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Hanoi, Vietnam – The Danish International Development Agency (DANIDA) in co-operation with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has announced that it will provide $770,000 for a three-year, social content radio serial drama project in Vietnam. The drama will be created using the Sabido methodology, a highly effective entertainment education technique that PMC has implemented in thirteen countries worldwide. The serial drama will address issues relating to reproductive health and HIV/AIDS.

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Ode Magazine
Issue 32

By Kim Ridley

Steamy tales of sex, betrayal and suspense can carry important social messages
Young and poor, Fikirte is in many ways Ethiopia’s Everywoman. Her life takes a turn for the worse when she meets Damtew, who is so obsessed with revenge against Fikirte’s innocent grandfather that he kills him and then begins to prey on her. He swindles Fikirte and seduces her half-sister, giving her HIV. He spreads vicious rumors to turn Fikirte’s family against her and to crush her dreams of finishing school. Still not satisfied, Damtew tries to murder Fikirte—twice.
Does Fikirte’s life sound like a soap opera? It is. The saga of Fikirte, Damtew, and the other captivating characters of Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”) kept millions of Ethiopians glued to their radios for two and a half years. It also persuaded some of them to change their lives.
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By Pamela Polston, Seven Days

Western women of a certain age often talk about their “biological clock” - the physical imperative to bear children before it’s too late. But for Mother Earth, that clock is ticking for quite the opposite reason: She has too many children already, and if this terrible human fecundity is not slowed, it may indeed be too late - to feed the ones who are starving, or to sustain the ones who consume too much.

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PMC was featured in the Spring 2005 edition of Ms. Magazine.

Read the full article, “Soap Operas are Changing Lives - For the Better!”

Ethiopian Reporter June 16, 2004

Mr. William Ryerson, founder and President of PMC, has a 30-year history of working in the field of reproductive health, including 15 years of experience in adopting the Sabido Methodology for behavior change communication to various cultural settings worldwide. He has also been involved in the design of research to measure the effects of such projects in a number of countries, one of which has led to a series of publications regarding a serialized radio drama in Tanzania and its effects on HIV/AIDS avoidance and family planning use. Mr. Ryerson was recently in Addis Ababa to be present at the second anniversary of the launching of PMC-Ethiopia Entertainment Education Radio serial that dramas that was observed last Saturday. Melese Telahoun of The Reporter who caught up with Mr. Ryerson posed a number of questions to him on PMC’s achievements on the international level in general and in Ethiopia in particular. Excerpts:

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Perspectives in Health Magazine
The Magazine of the Pan American Health Organization
Volume 8, Number 2, 2003

by Paula Andaló

Latin America’s telenovelas have long captivated TV audiences with their overwrought stories of love and betrayal, sin and punishment, and triumph over adversity. But for public health advocates, they also are an ideal medium for transmitting positive messages about healthier living.

Read the full article,
“Love, Tears, Betrayal…and Health Messages.”

On September 10, 2003, Population Media Center was featured in The Burlington Free Press.

Read the article, “Reality Radio: Ethiopia.”