Sawa Sawa: A Community Dialogue Manual to Reduce Stigma

This training material is one of two materials produced for Sawa Sawa, an HIV programme implemented by the Health Communication Capacity Collaborative (HC3) in the Sofala Province of Mozambique. The program ran from January 2017 – December 2017, and sought to reduce stigma in communities in order to improve health seeking behaviors for HIV services, particularly among men.

The goal of this manual is to reduce community-level stigma and in doing so improve HIV testing, treatment initiation, and adherence outcomes among men in particular.

It is intended for facilitators to use this guide for small group discussions with community members to engage them in dialogue to address social norms, dispel myths and fears related to PLHIV, and develop plans to reduce stigma within their communities. A consistent message is woven throughout the small group sessions in the manual to remind participants that they are all “sawa sawa” (equal).

In addition, the program led “Positive Prevention” training – Sawa Sawa Positive Prevention.

Source: PEPFAR, USAID, Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs

Date of Publication: March 25, 2019