Could cellphone text messages encourage safer sex among homosexual men in Tanzania, where consensual sex among men remains illegal?
A new project aims to give homosexual men information about HIV/Aids through their cellphone’s short message service in the dominant language, Kiswahili.
Joyce Nyoni –the project coordinator and a sociology lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam — said the ”safe sex text test” would start by next month and run for 20 months.
”We hope to motivate the participants and equip them with scientific knowledge and skills on how to protect themselves and their partners from HIV/Aids. So far I have informally identified 10 ”seed” candidates who will help to recruit others. We hope to connect up to 300 homosexual men, who will be receiving at least three messages a week each on an anonymous basis,” Nyoni said.
She hopes to take advantage of the fact that more than a quarter of Tanzanians are active cellphone users, with an additional six million (out of a population of 38-million) using cellphones on an irregular basis.
Nyoni said she will write the safe-sex messages in consultation with HIV counsellors and will use computer software to monitor message delivery. Group members will be allocated identity codes to remain anonymous because homosexuals face discrimination in Tanzania. For the same reason, the project’s outcomes will be measured against questionnaires rather than blood tests, Nyoni said.
Participants will also be able to send questions or make free calls to counsellors at the University of Dar es Salaam, she said.
Nyoni is awaiting research ethics clearance from Tanzania’s National Institute for Medical Research after the US-based Foundation for Aids Research announced a grant of US$114 000 for her work.
According to figures released by the Tanzania Commission for Aids, about six of every 100 citizens between the ages of 15 and 49 are infected with HIV/Aids. Because of the stigma, it is not known how the country’s homosexual population is affected, although Ananilea Nkya from the commission said the country’s epidemic is predominantly heterosexual and affects more women than men.
Nkya said the project was potentially ”life-saving” among stigmatised communities. — wwwSciDev.Net