Now Kiwanuka-Tondo hopes his research into the effectiveness of Uganda’s AIDS prevention campaign can help other countries adopt similar initiatives that will help stem the spread of the deadly disease.

In research published in the Journal of Health Communication, Kiwanuka-Tondo analyzed the organizational factors associated with Uganda’s AIDS-prevention campaign. However, in those studies, he was unable to measure the campaign’s effectiveness in reaching the people of Uganda. With his new grant, Kiwanuka-Tondo plans to build upon his earlier work by measuring the scope of the campaign’s messages and how well those messages have been received by the Ugandan people.

“To measure success, I want to examine what percentage of the population has been exposed to the different messages,” Kiwanuka-Tondo said. “We want to know what audience they’re reaching and how the audience is responding to the messages. Uganda is succeeding in its fight against AIDS. If we can document what they are doing, we can tell other countries, ‘This is what Uganda has done, and this is what works.’”
Kiwanuka-Tondo says Uganda has lowered the AIDS rate among its adult population from 30 percent in the early 1990s to about 6 percent today through a broad media campaign that presents messages that are culturally relevant. One such message that has been successful is “zero grazing,” which Ugandans equate with being faithful to one’s mate.

“‘Zero grazing’ is a term that is used in raising cattle, and because Uganda is a farming community, people understand the message,” Kiwanuka-Tondo said. “‘Zero grazing’ refers to the practice of keeping your cattle in one pasture and in one place instead of letting them roam around. Translated to the situation of AIDS, ‘zero grazing’ means stick to one partner in the home. If you said, ‘Stick to one partner,’ people in Uganda would not understand exactly what you are talking about. But if you said, ‘zero grazing,’ they would understand what it means because it is tied to their culture.”

Kiwanuka-Tondo says the “zero grazing” message is just one example of an AIDS prevention message that has been well received by Ugandans because of its emphasis on culture. Many of the early campaign messages were ignored because of their Western connotations. However, when those messages were changed to suit the culture, they were more readily accepted.

Kiwanuka-Tondo says Uganda’s ability to drastically reduce its number of AIDS cases is more remarkable when you consider the country was unable to deal with the epidemic until emerging from a devastating civil war that ended in 1986. He believes Uganda’s campaign model can be emulated and adapted by other countries to fight the spread of AIDS around the world.

“Uganda has reduced the rate of AIDS in the midst of adverse circumstances,” Kiwanuka-Tondo said. “Uganda is a success story, and people are beginning to realize it. We need to look at what these people have done and see what we can learn from them so we can effectively fight this disease.”