SFH is a locally incorporated affiliate of Population Services International, a leading social marketing organisation which focuses on critical healthcare issues in the over 70 countries they operate in. Visit Now

Health Communication

SFH is dedicated to achieving positive health changes by disseminating tailored messages to its target audiences. Health communication combines commercial marketing techniques to position products and services with messages that improve knowledge and reinforce healthy behaviours.

To reduce the risk of HIV, individuals must understand the seriousness of the AIDS epidemic and how it impacts individuals and communities. SFH communicates health messages through a variety of channels including mass media, peer education, school programmes, community outreach events and interpersonal communication.

SFH uses both branded and non-branded health communication campaigns. Branded campaigns focus on promoting and creating demand for products, such as male and female condoms, or services such as HIV counseling and testing (CT). Generic campaigns address risk perception, stigma and discrimination and unhealthy social norms.

SFH is committed to the continued development of health communication programmes, enhancing the quality of programme implementation and improving its ability to measure programme impact.

Multiple And Concurrent Partnerships

HIV and AIDS experts recognise that there are few interventions that address multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships. This is a major gap in HIV prevention activities. Multiple concurrent partnerships are longer-term sexual relationships that overlap over the same period of time and as a result form a web of interconnected sexual partnerships. As in most relationships with regular partners, condom use is low. When HIV is introduced into one of these relationships, it spreads quickly because of low condom use and because the newly infected partner is likely to have sex with his or her partners during the highly-infectious initial phase of HIV. SFH is currently working on integrating these important issues into its communication and counseling so that the people reached are able to make informed decisions with regard to their sexual behaviour.