Launched in September 1999, loveLife seeks to substantially reduce the HIV infection rate among young South Africans – and to establish at the same time a new model for effective HIV prevention among young people. LoveLife’s approach integrates three key components:
- Innovative nationwide media campaigns of unprecedented scale and intensity, including youth-focused television and radio programming, a monthly youth magazine and billboards that promote sexual responsibility and link young people to counselling and clinical services.
- Face to face outreach through service and support programmes, including a network of youth centres that provide HIV prevention services, and accessible adolescent health services in public clinics nationwide. loveLife also works with over 130 community-based organisations know as LoveLife franchise-holders.
- Extensive monitoring and evaluation of the programme’s impact and results, with independent external oversight.
Early evaluation data suggests that loveLife is already having a significant impact on adolescent sexual behaviour and that it could help curtail South Africa’s staggering AIDS epidemic.
Project
LoveLife approached the South African Institute for Entrepreneurship, which in turn invited us, to participate in the development of Make Your Move, LoveLife’s youth development programme. We created The Ten Commitments, a life skills workbook, and Trade-Offs, a life skills training game, as well as Tracks, a series of ten comics for LoveLife’s monthly magazine, distributed throughout South Africa with the Independent Newspapers group.