title: Making sense of abstinence: social representations in young Africans' HIV-related narratives from six countries.
abstract: Despite the prominence of abstinence promotion in HIV prevention for young Africans, there is little documentation concerning its reception and interpretation. With the purpose of informing programmatic practice, we examined how young Africans from six countries with contrasting HIV prevalence rates make sense of abstinence. 'Scenarios from Africa' scriptwriting contests invite young people to contribute ideas for short films about HIV. Using thematic narrative-based approaches, we analyzed a stratified random sample of these narratives written in 2005 by young women and men aged 10-24 years from Senegal, Burkina Faso, South-East Nigeria, Kenya, Namibia and Swaziland. Abstinence was considerably more prominent as a theme in the samples from SE Nigeria, Kenya and Swaziland. It was articulated in relation to conservative Christian sexual morality and in opposition to condom use with particular intensity in SE Nigeria, with stigmatising implications for non-abstainers. However, cross-national commonalities were more striking than differences. Examples of non-stigmatising pro-abstinence messaging highlighted the appeal of discourses of romantic love and future plans across countries and demographic characteristics. The analysis yielded contextual understanding, youth-driven ideas and recommendations to inform comprehensive HIV-prevention efforts.
authors.affiliation: Hubert Department of Global Health, Rollins School of Public Health, Emory University, USA. swinske@emory.edu
authors.forename: Kate
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Winskell
authors.forename: Laura K
authors.initials: LK
authors.lastname: Beres
authors.forename: Elizabeth
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hill
authors.forename: Benjamin Chigozie
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Mbakwem
authors.forename: Oby
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Obyerodhyambo
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000739:Anecdotes as Topic; D001294:Attitude to Health; D002050:Burkina Faso; D002648:Child; D013541:Eswatini; D005260:Female; D015658:HIV Infections / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006801:Humans; D007630:Kenya; D008297:Male; D009014:Morals; D009276:Namibia; D009549:Nigeria; D012067:Religion; D012675:Senegal; D012746:Sexual Abstinence / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012725:Sexual Behavior / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012938:Social Perception; D012945:Social Values; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D055815:Young Adult