*EPF218 03/25/2003
Zimbabweans Use Popular Soap Opera to Fight HIV/AIDS
(USAID helps fund innovative approach to prevention) (780)

By Kelly Machinchick
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Believing that children learn best when entertained, the U.S. government and Zimbabwean broadcasters have formed a partnership to make young people in the southern African nation aware of the dangers of HIV/AIDS through radio and television programming that entertains rather than preaches.

The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the U.S. Embassy in Harare have teamed up with Zimbabwean national television executives last year to launch a soap opera, "Studio 263" and a talk show, "This is Life," that capture the attention of younger TV viewers, according to documents provided by the Embassy. The two shows deliver strong messages about risky sexual behavior that can lead to an HIV/AIDS infection and ways to lead a healthy and productive life.

The talk show premiered in June 2002 and the soap opera came on the air in September 2002. On the radio, which reaches a far larger audience than the TV programs, "Mopani Junction," a popular radio drama sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), also emphasizes AIDS prevention and healthy lifestyles in its story lines.

"Studio 263," named after Zimbabwe's international dialing code, has become the number one TV show in the country, say embassy officials. The show, written and directed by Zimbabweans, confronts issues that young Zimbabweans deal with on a daily basis and seeks to provide choices, solutions, and ideas to help the country's youth move toward a better future. The soap opera airs in thirty-minute episodes three times a week.

"Studio 263" follows the life of Vimbayi, a young woman from a lower-middle-class suburb of crowded Harare. Her dream is to win the Miss Zimbabwe beauty pageant but she lacks the financial resources to make her dream come true. She meets a rich young man, who offers to help her, but Vimbayi becomes pregnant before the contest and her dreams evaporate. Compounding her problems, the man refuses to accept the child as his and abandons her.

However, Vimbayi decides to take control over her own life. She completes her education and gets a good job. She becomes a successful, married career woman while managing her own family and helping her parents at the same time. Her emergence as a "confident woman of substance" is the main focus of the story.

The show weaves a variety of changing situations through the characters, circumstances and relationships that surround Vimbayi. In this soap opera formula, the producers create stories they hope will help young Zimbabweans understand the dangers associated with HIV/AIDS and unwanted pregnancy, while offering a role model for youth to emulate. Underpinning the plot lines is a message that offers "social support for the choice of delayed sexual activity and living a healthy life."

Since the beginning of 2003, the number of viewers per episode has grown from 1.6 million to two million people, making "Studio 263" the most popular program ever on Zimbabwean television. Young adults comprise the core audience, but the show also attracts older family members with its social relevance.

"Studio 263 has become a cult," said a professor from the University of Zimbabwe, and reaches people on many levels of society. "We look at ourselves through them [the characters]," said a twenty-year-old woman in Chegutu. "If anything happens to Vimbayi, I feel as if it's happening to me. It's so real. I love it."

Where "Studio 263" connects with the audience through entertaining drama, "This is Life" takes the more direct approach, with startling results. In hour-long discussions and debates on such topics as HIV/AIDS, the show confronts the issues youth face in making difficult life choices in a format that has promoted a new openness in Zimbabwean society.

The topics featured on the weekly program -- HIV/AIDS prevention; abstinence, fidelity and the risks of serial monogamy; the trusted-partner myth and condom efficacy; alcohol, sex and HIV; money, sex and HIV; living positively with HIV; teen pregnancy; rape; children affected by AIDS; and using ����African culture' as an excuse for sexual promiscuity -- reflect the dilemmas faced by young people.

The topics are discussed frankly and at length under the guidance of experts in the field, and actively engage both a studio audience and people on the street in the program, which is hosted by two Zimbabwean television personalities. The talk show attracts 1.5 million viewers per episode.

Both "Studio 263" and "This is Life" are scripted, directed and produced by Zimbabweans. USAID provides oversight through a contractor, Population Services International (PSI), for message content and quality.

(The Washington File is a product of the Office of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)

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