Sawa Sawa - Facilitator Guides on Positive Prevention and Community Dialogues to Reduce Stigma

These two materials have been produced for Sawa Sawa, an HIV programme being implemented by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) in the Sofala Province of Mozambique. The programme, which runs from January 2017 - December 2017, seeks to reduce stigma in communities in order to improve health seeking behaviours for HIV services, particularly among men. One of the ways it achieves this is through community dialogues. In addition, the programme runs Positive Prevention groups for people living with HIV (PLHIV), which are designed to teach clients about the difference between CD4 and viral load and the importance of viral suppression, as well as provide a supporting environment for PLHIV.

The programme has produced the following guides to support these two activities:

Sawa Sawa: A Community Dialogue Manual to Reduce Stigma

The goal of this manual is to reduce community-level stigma and in doing so improve HIV testing, treatment initiation, and adherence outcomes among men in particular. Facilitators should use this guide for small group discussions with community members to engage them in dialogue to address social norms, dispel myths and fears related to PLHIV, and develop plans to reduce stigma within their communities. A consistent message is woven throughout the small group sessions in the manual to remind participants that they are all “sawa sawa” (equal). It includes the following sessions:

• Session 1 - Introduction to Sawa Sawa Community Dialogues
• Session 2 - Stigma in Communities
• Session 3 - Testing for HIV and Living with our Status
• Session 4 - Disclosure and Discordance
• Session 5 - Importance of Treatment and Living Healthy with HIV
• Session 6 - Continuing Sawa Sawa in Your Community

Sawa Sawa Positive Prevention

This is an educational tool to promote living a healthy life with HIV and to provide support to men who have been diagnosed HIV positive. The tool contains the following sections:

• Session 1: Introduction and Men’s Health
• Session 2: Disclosure and Discordance
• Session 3: Feeling good
• Session 4: Lifelong Antiretroviral Treatment (ART)
• Session 5: Living Positively
• Session 6: Dealing with Stigma