This 24-slide presentation was offered by Soul City: Institute for Health & Development Communication (IHDC), a South African non-governmental organisation (NGO), at a December 2005 meeting of The Communication Initiative (CI)'s Partners, who gather annually to guide the strategic direction of the organisation. The second day of the 2005 meeting featured a number of presentations from CI Partners on the theme of "measuring communication impact" (click here for additional background, and to access all the presentations from that meeting).

This particular presentation begins by outlining Soul City's history and approach, which is multimedia-led and edutainment-based, and which is complemented by advocacy, training, and community mobilisation. Various evaluation data are shared here; for instance, Soul City Television's reach among the general population (16-65 years old) in South Africa was initially 24.5% (Series 1, in 1994) and, having increased and dropped (only once) over time, reached a high of 52.9% (Series 6, in 2003). The results of independent research detailed here in the form of various graphs and charts shows the impact of the booklet on antiretroviral treatment (ART), controlling for demographic and confounding interventions.

Knowledge

• You can reduce the risk of HIV by having fewer sexual partners - 58.6% agree (odds ratio (OR) of reading vs. not reading the book = 1.81)
• It is possible to be infected with HIV by sharing a cigarette with an infected person
  - 86.1% disagree (OR = 1.61)
• It is not possible to be infected with HIV by sitting on the same toilet seat as an infected person - 86.1% agree (OR = 1.87)
• Have you heard of ART? - 75.3% said yes (OR = 1.77)
• Antiretrovirals (ARVs) can permanently cure HIV/AIDS - 73.1% disagree (OR = 1.91)
• ARVs are poisonous - 59.7% disagree (OR = 1.56)

Attitudes

• People living with AIDS should get ARV treatment - 87.1% agree (OR = 2.69)
• Most people in my community believe that you should tell your children your HIV status
  - 60.3% agree (OR = 1.37)

Interpersonal Discussion: Talked to wife/husband or partner often or sometimes
about HIV and AIDS in past 12 months - 53.9% said yes (OR = 1.68)

Risk Perception: Do you think you are at risk of getting HIV/AIDS? - 39.9% said yes (OR = 1.28)

Behaviour Intention: Will you care for someone who is sick from AIDS? - 80.3% said yes (OR = 2.25)

Behaviour

• Have you asked your partner to go for an AIDS test during the last 12 months? - 19.2% said yes (OR = 1.44)
• Have you helped someone who is HIV-positive in the past 12 months? - 59.2% said yes (OR = 2.77)

Soul City concludes that the evidence:

• is consistent over many topics
• shows dose response relationships to multimedia
• is backed up by compelling qualitative evidence.

Soul City also notes that strength is increased by using propensity score analysis, creating a case control study through analysis. The organisation concludes that there is work yet to be done on educating key stakeholders to understand the evaluations, and thus to appreciate the compelling evidence.

Compelling Evidence: Soul City and Its Impact [PDF]; and email from Sue Goldstein to The Communication Initiative on December 11 2006.