Enger D, Ouedraogo OK, Winskell K; International Conference on AIDS (15th : 2004 : Bangkok, Thailand).

Int Conf AIDS. 2004 Jul 11-16; 15: abstract no. ThPeE8102.

Global Dialogues, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Issues: Young people are the key to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS. They account for over 50% of all new infections, yet mass communication initiatives have tended to treat them as objects to which information is directed, rather than as agents of change in their own right. Description: "Scenarios from Africa" is a communication process which invites young people to create narratives for films about HIV/AIDS. Leading African directors transform the winning ideas into short fiction films, which are widely broadcast across the continent and used extensively to facilitate discussion at community level. Drawing inspiration from a French model, the process is designed to help young people contextualize the epidemic within their own experience and to allow their voices to be heard. 43,000 young people from 25 African countries have participated in the Scenarios contests to date, half of them as members of mixed-gender teams. 28 films will be available by July 2004, including two by young directors. This paper will describe the role young people play (alongside PLWHA) in the various phases of the "Scenarios from Africa" process, highlighting the experience of Olga Kiswendsida Ouedraogo from Burkina Faso, a winner of the first contest in 1997. Having been actively involved in the process since that time, she co-directed her own "Scenarios from Africa" film in January 2004, based on the script of another young contest participant. Examples of the films, featuring appearances by several young contest winners, will be shown and young people's reactions to them discussed. Lessons learned: The creativity, energy, and enthusiasm of young Africans are invaluable and largely untapped resources for HIV/AIDS mass communication initiatives. Recommendations: Young people are the world's hope for changing the course of the epidemic and must play an ever greater role in increasingly interactive mass communication efforts.

Publication Types:

• Meeting Abstracts

Keywords:

• Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome
• Africa
• Burkina Faso
• Communication
• Demography
• Disease Outbreaks
• Ethnic Groups
• HIV Infections
• HIV Seropositivity
• Health Planning Guidelines
• Teaching
• Travel
• Voice

Other ID:

• GWAIDS0037644

UI: 102281860

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