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Yeken Kignit
Yeken Kignit (“Looking Over One’s Daily Life”) aired from 2002-2004 in Ethiopia. The drama addressed reproductive health, HIV/AIDS, early marriage, women’s empowerment, education of female children, and use of family planning.
One of the main storylines dealt specifically with the need for early detection and prevention of HIV. The story is of Anguach and Demlew. Anguach and Demlew are a loving young couple with a bright future. Then, Demlew’s mother, who doesn’t like Anguach, begins to meddle and pushes a neighbor to seduce her son, Demlew. He succumbs, sleeps with the neighbor, and gets infected with HIV. Anguach is devastated, but forgives him, and cares for him until he dies. Although she is terrified that she might be HIV positive, Anguach gets tested and finds out that she is negative. Anguach eventually marries again (this time, a man without a meddling mother!) and lives happily ever after. Touching story, but did it motivate any behavior change in the audience? Yes!
The program was extremely popular. Listeners included 47% of all men in the country and 45% of women. Nationwide surveys conducted before and after the serial was broadcast showed a significant decrease in the percentage of listeners (as compared to non-listeners) who did not know there is a means of determining one’s HIV status. We also found significant increases in the percentage of listeners who got tested for HIV. In fact, male listeners got tested at four times the rate of non-listeners, and female listeners got tested at three times the rate of non-listeners. The post-broadcast survey revealed that listeners had “fallen in love” with Anguach and followed her example of getting tested for HIV. There was also a significant reduction in stigma against those living with HIV/AIDS among listeners, contrasted with non-listeners.
At the same time PMC-Ethiopia broadcast Yeken Kignit in the national language of Amharic, we broadcast a second program called Dhimbibba (“Getting the Best Out of Life”), which addressed a wide range of issues and was produced in another widely spoken language. As of November 2004, 63% of new clients seeking reproductive health services at 48 clinics in Ethiopia reported that they were listening to one of PMC’s serial dramas. In fact, 26% of new clients named one of PMC’s programs as the primary motivating factor for seeking services. Of new clients who cited radio programs as the impetus for seeking services, 96% said that they were motivated by one of PMC’s programs.
The post-broadcast survey revealed the programs’ impact in terms of knowledge, attitude and behavior change – with particularly striking differences between listeners and non-listeners. A multiple regression analysis was done to eliminate any effects that such factors as income, educational level, age, marital status, ideal number of children, place of residence, ethnic group or language may have had on family planning use or HIV testing, and the results showed highly significant effects of the serial dramas.
