To order a copy of PROTECTION from sub Saharan African countries (PAL format), please please contact Fireworx Media in Johannesburg.
To order the DVD or access streaming of the film from other parts of the world, contact the Media Education Foundation (MEF) at sales@mediaed.org. The DVD is available in PAL format and NTSC formats and can also be accessed for streaming directly. General info about the film and gender-focused HIV prevention capacity building: Jill Lewis at jlewis@hampshire.edu.
The PROTECTION DVD has four very short ‘extras’, which can provide additional input for sessions where you want to stimulate thought and take the discussion of condom use further. These can be used in follow-up sessions after viewing the whole film, or as sparks for reflection in shorter sessions.
Patrick Godana – outreach educator, activist from Sonke Gender Justice Network and a Lutheran minister – meets with young men on the outskirts of Cape Town and explains important aspects of condom use. The scale of HIV in South Africa, where 5.5 million people (more than one in five people) have already contracted the virus, warrants bypassing discussion of opposition to condoms.
Men (and one woman) who are active in sexual health promotion and gender equality bring into clear and compelling focus the importance of condom education and condom use. Condoms if you Care features interviews with participants from Ghana, Tanzania, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe who attended a Sonke/MenEngage Africa symposium in Johannesburg in 2009. (The declaration from this conference can be found under Resources.)
A reading of a speech Pascoal Mocumbi delivered to the United Nations as Prime Minister of Mozambique. He reflects as a man, father and political leader about the urgency for men to become more active in countering the spread of HIV and educating boys in new ways, including about condom use. Images of men of all ages underline the diversity of men needed to participate in these efforts, and the moving humanity of the boys’ and men’s lives at stake in HIV prevention.
A short animation featuring two imaginary versions of the life of ‘John’. First we see how his life might unfold: he scorns and does not use condoms; he is caught in the invisible chains of HIV, carrying infection into his family – and then (for an unspecified reason for you to speculate on in discussion), he does not manage to hold to his ARV treatment. In version two, a rerun of the story shows how life might unfold if he were informed and confident about condoms right from his teenage years, using them outside and inside his marriage.
Organisations offering resources to strengthen HIV awareness and sexual safety
UNAIDS provides data on HIV and AIDS with information related to sub-Saharan Africa. You can also find country-specific HIV and AIDS information here.
Avert is an informative international HIV non-governmental organisation.
Methods and approaches to inspire and draw on for framing condom education
The Sonke One Man Can campaign and activities support men and boys to take action to end domestic and sexual violence and to promote healthy, equitable relationships that men and women can enjoy – passionately, respectfully and fully.
Stepping Stones is a training package on gender issues, HIV/AIDS, communication and relationship skills designed for use in existing HIV/AIDS projects and community development projects. Stepping Stones PLUS focuses on HIV-related issues and has good exercises on male condoms, male circumcision, female condoms, serodiscordant couples and motherhood.
You can access the free video, Condom Commandos, showing HIV and condom awareness among soldiers and local women.
All One Curriculum places gender issues, human rights and critical thinking skills at the heart of sex and HIV education. The full-colour resource includes adaptable content units, a hands-on advocacy module and 54 activities to engage young people and foster critical thinking skills. You can download a PDF in English, Spanish or French on the organisation’s website.
Program H Manual: Working with Young Men by the Promundo Instituto has a good section of activities on preventing and living with HIV and AIDS.
Brothers for Life is a South African campaign that aims to create a movement of men in the spirit of brotherhood, encouraging them to positively influence each other as men, partners, parents and leaders. It addresses risks associated with multiple partnerships, men’s limited involvement in fatherhood, inadequate knowledge of HIV status, low levels of testing and disclosure, and insufficient health seeking behaviours.
Happy, Healthy and Hot is a guide for young people who are living with HIV or have a partner who is living with HIV to help them understand their rights and live healthy, happy and sexually fulfilling lives.
The International HIV/AIDS Alliance has useful resources on downloadable PDFs. These include Sexuality and Life Skills (participatory activities on sexual and reproductive health with young people) and Keep the Best, Change the Rest (for working with communities on gender and sexuality).
Choices, by Gill Gordon, is an excellent introduction for young people to how the body works and many angles of sexual health. It can be ordered at very low cost from Teaching-aids at Low Cost.
A brief selection of further reading to help think about men and sexuality and to contextualise HIV prevention issues:
Working with Men and Boys: Emerging Strategies from Across Africa to Address Gender-Based Violence and HIV/AIDS. Orly Stern, Dean Peacock, Helen Alexander (eds). Sonke Gender Justice Network and the MenEngage Network.
Johannesburg MenEngage Africa Declaration and Call to Action, October 9, 2009.
Dying to Learn: Young People, HIV and the Churches. A Christian Aid report by Mary Garvey.
Gender, HIV and the Church: A Case Study (Burkina Faso and Zimbabwe). Tearfund.
Preventing HIV and AIDS in Young People. Evidence on What Works. UNAIDS Inter-Agency Task Team on Young People. World Health Organization: Geneva, 2006.
The Truth about Men, Boys and Sex. Gender Transformative Policies and Programmes. IPPF, 2009.
HIV Prevention in Young People in Sub-Saharan Africa: A Systematic Review. Sue Napierala Mavedzenge, Aoife Doyle, David Ross. London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, 2010.
Intensifying Prevention: The Only Way to Reverse the Epidemic. United Nations Population Fund. Also see http://www.unfpa.org/public/pid/1326 for additional information.
HIV and AIDS: Working in Gender and Development. Alice Welbourne (ed). Oxfam. This resource includes articles like Young Men and HIV by Doortje Braeken, Raoul Fransen and Tim Shand; ‘I’m too young to die’: HIV, Masculinity, Danger, and Desire in Urban South Africa by Shannon Walsh and Claudia Mitchell etc.
Young Men and HIV Prevention: A Toolkit for Action. Promundo and INFPA.
Together We Must! End Violence Against Women and Girls and HIV and AIDS. Unifem and ActionAid.
Coming to Terms with Complexity: A Call to Action for HIV Prevention. Peter Piot, Michael Bartos, Heidi Larson, Debrework Zewdie, Purnima Mane. Lancet, 2008; 372: 845–59 HIV Prevention series 6.
Gender and AIDS: Time to Act. By Alan Greig, Dean Peacock, Rachel Jewkes and Sisonke Msimang.
Norway’s HIV and AIDS Policy: Position Paper in Development Co-operation. Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2006.
Avert works to avert HIV and AIDS worldwide through education, treatment and care, and has global and African HIV and AIDS information, including condom use.
Preventing HIV/AIDS. Comprehensive Condom Programming: A Strategic Response to HIV and AIDS. United Nations Population Fund. See all the downloadable publications about male and female condoms here.
Myths, Perceptions and Fears: Addressing Condom Use Barriers. IPPF and UNFPA, 2005.
Condoms: An International Workshop Organised by Reproductive Health Matters with the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and the Frontiers Prevention Project. All presentation papers are accessible here.
Condoms Count: Meeting the Need in the Era of HIV/AIDS. Population Action International, 2002.
The Importance of Condoms – a leaflet included in the leaders’ training pack on HIV. The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts.
Condoms and HIV Prevention: Position Statement by UNAIDS, UNFPA and WHO
Making Condoms Work for HIV Prevention. UNAIDS Best practice collection. UNFPA, UNAIDS, 2005.
Careful Interventions: Masculinity and the Condom Crisis. Article by Jill Lewis from the IDP Politicisng Masculinities conference, Dakar, 2007.
Condoms: Everything you Wanted to Know. IPPF.
Explaining How to Use Condoms. IPPF.
Materials from The Condoms4Life campaign of Catholics for Choice.
Information about and posters from the UK National African HIV Prevention Programme (NAHIP) Beyond Condoms Campaign (including posters for Christians, Muslims and people living with HIV).
Brothers for Life has a range of resources. See the original video at: http://www.nahip.org.uk/campaigns/index.php?page_id=79.
The AIDSPortal global knowledge network supports AIDS-related issues through a global network and gives you access to a wide range of articles and reports on condoms and other aspects of HIV. Its Africa links are available here.
PROTECTION is a challenging and moving new film resource to provoke discussions among men about condoms as a ‘tool of life’ for avoiding HIV and managing a safe sexual life if HIV-positive.
The website tells you about the film, how to get hold of the DVD, and also provides important information and educational resources about HIV and condom use.
Read more...PROTECTION: A film about men and condoms in the time of HIV and AIDS; a resource to stir discussion about the significance of condoms in your ongoing HIV-prevention initiatives.
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