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Zip
up and let’s talk!
By Sebastine Ebhuomhan
When
Monsieur Jean-Pierre Claris de Florian, one of the greatest French writers of
fables, who lived between 1755 and 1794, claims in Celestine, “plaisir d’amour ne
dure qu’un moment, chagrin d’amour dure toute la vie” (or, ‘love’s
pleasure lasts but a moment as against love’s sorrow that lasts all
through life’), what he would rather not say then is the fact that sex,
though had become the oil of love that fuels the thirst for life ever since the
evolution of human relationship, nonetheless it has also become the major route
for losing the human virtue of virginity, happiness and good health, and
contracting sexually transmitted infections (STIs) as well as unwanted
pregnancies, if sexual intercourse is conjugated without protection.
Sexual intercourse is an
activity carried out for reproduction or pleasure involving penetration,
especially one in which a man inserts his erect penis into a woman’s
vagina. Other forms of intercourse include oral (mouth) and anal (anus).
It is because of these
dangers that are associated with sex that counsellors, teachers, parents and
adults now emphasize abstinence and ‘delayed sex’, with which the
global shift in focus to prevention of STIs through increased awareness campaigns,
advocacy and support, treatment access and sexuality education recognizing
faithfulness and protection, can ensure a healthy living impact and save
sexually active people from avoidable morbidity and mortality.
It is in realization of
these objectives also that the Society for Family Health (SFH), for example, in
conjunction with some leading religious organizations in Nigeria some weeks ago
launched a major campaign to help teenagers abstain from sex. Using the
informal snappy youth slogan: “Zip Up—Sex Is Worth Waiting
For”, the campaign attempts to create a sellable meaningful language that
teenagers can easily identify and accept. The campaign is part of Make We
Talk, the largest
reproductive health action programme in Nigeria, funded by the United States
Agency for International Development (USAID), the British Department for
International Development (DFID) and other partners such as the SFH, Action Aid
Nigeria and Crown Agents working under the coordination of the National Action
Committee on AIDS (NACA). The involvement of NACA in the programme no doubt
underscores the menace of HIV/AIDS as the most devastating STI on the
nation’s landscape and raises the urgent need to secure the social,
political and economic future well being of the country from the pandemic.
Television and radio
campaigns are already running all over the country, supported by strategic
billboards. It shows a teenage girl being propositioned for sex by her boyfriend at a disco
party. She refuses his sexual fervor for fear of unwanted pregnancy and
sexually transmitted infections, which makes the boyfriend to walk out on her.
She is so incensed that she walks up, seizes the DJ’s microphone and
tells him to “Zip Up”. Quite unexpectedly, all the other party
members agree that zipping up is the best thing to do. Soon the boyfriend
realizes he has gone too far in demanding sex. As with all its campaigns, SFH
based its approach on exhaustive research both into youth lifestyles and
attitudes to teenage sexuality. Indeed, the non-governmental organization had
convened a forum of Moslem and Christian religious groups to advice on the
scripting and content of the messages before approval—in the hope that
the messages would be acceptable to all the targeted audiences.
Explaining the
challenges of the campaign, Mr. Zacch Akinyemi, SFH Head of Social marketing
says: “Teenage abstinence has always been a difficult issue to tackle.
Many campaigns have shown poor results (after production) as they were too
preachy or did not address the real concerns of teenagers. We chose ‘Zip
Up!’ because we wanted to create a phrase that teenagers themselves could
use. We were aware from our research that the word “abstinence” was
not well understood, so we needed something brand new. It was clear to us that
most teenagers do in fact abstain from sex, but believe that their peers are
doing it and then now feel pressurized to start. We wanted to create a campaign
that told kids that as abstainers they were normal and in the majority. That it
is cool to abstain from sex.” On the quality of work that was done and
the result that is being expected from it, Akinyemi says, “We are very
pleased with the TV spot. The acting of the young stars is very realistic and
should strike a cord with other youth.” SFH is already concluding matters
for a follow up research to assess the impact of the campaign, according to Mr.
Robert Bature, another official of the company.
Much but mistakenly as
the SFH campaign could be waved aside on the platter of the contraceptive
marketer’s renewed parallel campaign for its Gold Circle male condom, an
effective and easy to use method of family planning contraceptive without any
side effect, the messages are doubtlessly auspicious and relevant to the war
against sexual infections. This is because other methods cannot prevent
sexually transmitted infections. The campaign’s relevance as a veritable
means of intervening against unwanted pregnancies, which may lead to abortion,
death or school abandonment and HIV/AIDS and other infections cannot be overstated.
Beyond the SFH campaign, the recourse to focus on young people is all too
familiar and understandable since policymakers have found a link between better
youth reproductive health (YRH) and other aspects of healthy youth development
including livelihoods, mental health, and road safety. Therefore, thoughtfully
designed and well implemented preventive campaigns or sexuality education can
provide young people with the foundation of knowledge and skills much needed to
either abstain from sex, delay sexual activity for marriage or maintain
faithfulness to one partner while protecting sexual fun with safety methods.
To be continued on
Monday
•Ebhuomhan is on the staff of Independent
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