Case Study: Improving HIV/AIDS Education for Urban Men Under 30 in Kenya

Although there are many at-risk groups for HIV/AIDS, one program might focus on communicating with young urban men. We delve into the AudienceScapes 2009 Kenya data to define the target audience (men between the ages of 15 to 29 living in urban areas, a group of 198 respondents).

Table 1 shows that this group is relatively well-off in terms of household income, educational opportunities, and healthcare access. Though just under half said they worked part or full time, most of the rest were students. Virtually all understand Kiswahili and English.

Table 1: Profile of Urban Men Under 30

AudienceScapes National Survey of Kenya, July 2009 N = 198 who were identified as urban men under 30 (between 15-29)

Then, the strategy could be crafted based on this target group’s unique access to and use of various information sources, as shown in Table 2. Most (80 percent) of the group reported having received information about HIV/AIDS within the last week, and almost all said they were satisfied with the information available to them on this topic. They also helped to spread information about health topics to other people, mostly discussing health with friends and family and colleagues. About a third said that people come to them often or very often for information about health. They also help others to interpret the news: about a third also said that people come to them often or very often for opinions and advice about health issues.

Table 2: Information-Gathering Habits of Urban Men under 30

AudienceScapes National Survey of Kenya, July 2009 N = 198 who were identified as urban men under 30 (between 15-29)

 The resulting strategy would recognize that the target group appears to be already saturated with HIV/AIDS information from popular sources such as radio, TV, and friends and family.

• The survey reveals that some information channels are not as well utilized as others: very few young urban men receive messages about HIV/AIDS via SMS or online, even though a large number have regular access to these sources and use them for general news and information. Fewer than a fifth of the target group said they had received HIV/AIDS information from a doctor, although trust in doctors was high.
• Since this group typically has better healthcare access than other Kenyan adults, one area of focus might be to link HIV/AIDS education more closely with health care itself (perhaps encouraging a “Talk to Your Doctor” social norm among young men).
• Another option would be to capitalize on the reality that so many members of the target group are students and are relatively better off than the population as a whole, to focus on training these young men to spread HIV/AIDS education to members of their families with fewer resources at their disposal.
  

Click Below to Access a Different Development Topic