National Social Marketing Centre

 

Overview

Program H aims to prevent and reduce the prevalence of HIV/STIs by questioning male gender norms. There is a strong link between gender attitudes toward sexuality and HIV risk behaviours, such as non-condom use.

Program H seeks to engage young men and their communities in critical reflections about rigid norms related to manhood. It includes group educational activities, community campaigns and an innovative evaluation model for assessing the programme’s impact on gender-related attitudes.

Program H was developed and validated in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1999 by four Latin American NGOs: Instituto Promundo (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil), ECOS (São Paulo, Brazil), Instituto PAPAI (Recife, Brazil) and Salud y Género (Mexico). This case study focuses on implementation of Program H as a 12-month quasi-experimental study in Rio de Janeiro in 2002.

Results

Pre- and post-implementation surveys from this study indicated a significant positive change in men’s attitudes toward women, increased condom use and reduced reported STI symptoms in the two intervention sites, and no change in the control site. Qualitative in-depth interviews with young men and women also indicated increased caring and respect in participants’ relationships, as well as more health-protective behaviours.