The Background

International organisations, such as UNAIDS, and regional bodies, such as the Southern African Development Community (SADC), and recent research recognise that MCPs are a key contributor to the spread of HIV in southern Africa. The practice is widespread throughout the region and has been cited as one of the reasons why HIV prevalence is higher in southern Africa than in any other region in the world. (UNAIDS 2008)

What are Multiple concurrent partnerships (MCPs)?

MCPS refer to the practice where men or women have more than one sexual relationship at the same time. These relationships vary in nature and meaning, ranging from one night stands with a sex worker, a stranger, or even a friend, to long-term relationships, often referred to as “small houses” or spare wheels.” (SAfAIDS MCP booklet 2009)

Why do people engage in MCPs?

• Sexual dissatisfaction
• Emotional and physical dissatisfaction
• The influence of culture and social norms
• The desire for money and material possessions
• The influence of alcohol
• The belief that men cannot control sexual desire
• Pressure, male domination and abuse
• Alcohol

Who practices MCPs?

• Men and women, both married and unmarried

Why do MCPs carry such a high risk of HIV transmission?

• When people engage in unprotected sex with two or more partners at the same time (MCPs), they increase their risk of becoming infected with HIV.
• Long-term associations often pose challenges to the continued use of condoms during sex
• Unequal power relationships in such liaisons add to the difficulty of negotiating and sustaining condom use. After some time, the parties concerned tend to think they now know and trust each other and stop using condoms. But I love you becomes a reason to stop using condoms. This is extremely risky.
• Each partner in a sexual network may have their own additional partners with whom they are having unprotected sex. All it takes is for HIV to enter the network through one individual and everybody is at risk of infection.
• It is important to note that when somebody is first infected with HIV (even before they know or suspect they are infected) their viral load is very high, making it very easy for them to transmit the virus to their partners.

What is the OneLove - Regional Campaign about?    

• The OneLove country campaign was launched in 2008 and will continue to launch throughout 2009.
• Onelove is a 5-year programme and different communication activities will be rolled out in all the countries in the region over the 5-year period.
• Each country campaign is led and implemented by a range of organisations, and activities will differ from country to country, often complementing existing campaigns and media activities.
• While OneLove is the name adopted by the majority of the partner countries for their national campaigns, different taglines (for example: Talk-Respect-Protect in South Africa) were found to work best in each country. These taglines aim to give local resonance, language, and idiom to the heart of the message: the need to talk about who and how we love and to protect and respect ourselves and the people we care about. It aims to promote faithfulness.
• Although the campaign is based on a lot of research, it comes up with a very simple and practical suggestion: If people remain faithful to one sexual partner, the rate of new HIV infections will decline dramatically.(OneLove Campaignwebsite)

Areas of focus for the media

• The media need to develop story ideas that show the realities of MCPs. It would be good to get people’s voices into these stories. Someone who has a real story of how MCPs impacted negatively on their health and life, or a couple who have been together for 50 talking about how they managed it featured in the news are just the kind of stories we need to see in the media.

• A media that does not gloss over issues of MCPs among celebrities as has become common, but one that instead analyses this in the context of high HIV prevalence in the southern African region is what we need.

• The media can also look at what government and AIDS service organisations are doing to raise awareness about the risks associated with MCPs and the benefits associated with faithfulness.

• The media can allocate space and airtime to HIV prevention messages

• The media needs to look at the underlying causes of MCPs such as unequal power relations between men and women and focus their coverage on these

• There is need to engage the leadership at all levels: political, economic, religious, etc. to find out what they think about this issue. It has been established that MCPs are very common with high profile people. The awareness needs to start from there.

Sources:   
www.safaids.net
www.action.org.zw
Onelove Campaign website
www.comminit.com/en/node
www.onelovesouthernafrica.org
www.unaids.org
MCPs Campaigns and Communications Towards a co-ordinated and regional response 2008