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"PUT IT ON" Campaign

Combination prevention has been a key strategy to address the multifaceted nature of HIV prevention. The “PUT IT ON” Campaign as part of the launch of World AIDS Day Campaign held on July 23rd, 2009, serves as an important tool to complement and enhance the other initiatives and efforts promoting correct and consistent condom use among all Guyanese.

With an estimated adult prevalence of 1.9% and 9,700 persons living with HIV in 2009 the campaign aims to educate people, especially the youth and women and to motivate them to use condoms. It is hoped that it will prevent people from not only HIV infections but also from other sexually transmitted infections and unwanted pregnancies. A major goal of the campaign is to help guide a shift in thinking about condoms and thus increasing condom distribution for 2009 by 1 million pieces translating to an increase in condom use.

The “PUT IT ON” Campaign was created as a result of the lyrics of the winning HIV/AIDS calypso song performed by Roger Hinds (Young Bill Rogers) at the 2009 HIV/AIDS Calypso Competition ran in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture, Youth & Sport.

The campaign is intended to be a national campaign going to all ten (10) regions of Guyana with road shows which will see performances in the form of edutainment by Young Bill Rogers and a young and enthusiastic team of work-study students attached to the Secretariat. The street-play like activities will see condom demonstrations and the free distribution of condoms. The Secretariat notes that buying condoms continues to be a stigma in our country and with the launch of the “PUT IT ON” campaign that this will help to normalise the use of condoms, demystify myths associated with condom use and make condoms more accessible.

To complement the campaign mass media messages will be developed to promote the campaign road-shows and encourage condom use. Other Information, Education and Communication materials such as posters and novelty items such as bumper stickers and bandanas have been printed and distributed to all sectors of our society further raising awareness on the issue. To ensure that the concept of the road-show is upheld the “PUT IT ON” message was wrapped on a mini-bus property of MoH. This vehicle transports participants for the road-shows to the various destinations.

In evaluating the impact of the campaign, a monitoring and evaluation framework has been designed to assess immediate, short term and possible long term impacts.
A three questions questionnaire was designed to gather information on condom use and applied at the road show and at the retail outlets.. The questionnaire aims to find out the consistency of condom use and the accessibility methods i.e. whether people purchase condoms or whether they obtain the same for free.

A mapping exercise was also conducted involving condom retailers in close proximity to where the road-shows will be held to ascertain whether there would have been an increase in condom sales after the road-show would have taken place in that area.

The campaign is premised on the fact that condoms are the only affordable and preventable tools to prevent HIV infection once sexually active.

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