Cell phones & HIV prevention: loveLife Trina DasGupta, New Media Consultant

South African Youth & HIV Young people have ‘got the message’ about HIV prevention. What continues to drive HIV is not their response to the message, but their response to their circumstances. Perception of limited day-to-day opportunity (social, educational, economic) is the core fuel for the epidemic in South Africa. In fact, half the lifetime risk of HIV infection among young women is crammed into just five years after leaving school. Source: Pettifor et al (2004). HIV and sexual behaviour among young South Africans: A national survey of 15-24 year olds 2003., Reproductive Health Research Unit, University of Witwatersrand (secondary analysis)

loveLife: Make Your Move Nationwide campaign designed to help young people: Develop personal initiative Better navigate day-to-day pressures and challenges Create links to opportunities To help them change their response, loveLife has created the Make Your Move campaign.

loveLife 6,000+ peer educators (groundBreakers and Mpintshis) 3,700 schools Reach: 500,000 youth / month with direct face-to-face interaction 150 community-based partner NGOs 350 government clinics The campaign feeds into all aspects of loveLife. In terms of mobile, the question became: for such a large network, what do you do? Sustained Media: Radio, TV, Print, Web, and Mobile

loveLife Mobile needed to complement the physical/face-to-face network

Mobile Social Networking Over 75% of South African youth own mobile phones, 71% in informal settlements and 67% in rural areas. 60% use their cell phone to SMS or make calls everyday. Internet access via computers is low at 6%, but South Africa’s mobile internet usage via WAP is one of the highest in the world. Social networking plays directly into the three key triggers to behavior change – sense of identity, belonging, and purpose. Sources: Kaiser Family Foundation and SABC, Young South Africans, Broadcast Media, and HIV/AIDS. March 2007. South African Advertising Research Foundation, All Media and Products Survey 2006. WAP Review, Great Mobile Web Statistics from AdMob (http://wapreview.com/blog/?p=416).

MYMsta World’s first cell phone-based social network dedicated to youth empowerment & HIV prevention Primary goal: creating links to opportunity Designed to complement loveLife’s face-to-face network Incredibly inexpensive (R0.02 - 0.05/page) demo

MYMsta: www.mymsta.mobi

MYMsta: www.mymsta.mobi

MYMsta: www.mymsta.mobi

MYMsta: www.mymsta.mobi

MYMsta Launch

MYMsta: 4 weeks 5661 registered users 500,000+ pages of activity Province Language Need to view slide show to see all graphs.

MYMsta: Press Over 192 hits on google - blogsophere buzzing

MYMsta’s Future

MYMsta’s Future Phase 2: Careers Map

Cell phones & HIV prevention: loveLife Trina DasGupta, New Media Consultant trina@trinadasgupta.com