Many Languages, One Message

Journalist Ruth Ansah Ayisi writes in the Inter Press Service International Association (IPS) News about the challenges for health authorities when planning AIDS prevention messages and information campaigns in multilingual Mozambique. Among a host of different languages are: Portuguese (the official language), Shangana, Elomwe and Cisena, to name just a few. Her question in this article is about whether all the languages lend themselves to frank speech about HIV - or whether some require the topic to be approached in a more subtle way. She writes about the findings of linguist Esmeralda Xavier, who has been assessing how language is used to transmit AIDS messages, and whether translations between the various tongues are sensitive to cultural nuances.



Since some of the languages use euphemisms, posters with frank messages can elicit negative responses when translated from Portuguese into indigenous languages. The inference of blame attributed to those posters intending to warn miners and truck drivers, for example, of HIV risks, suggests, according to Xavier, that the community was not consulted sufficiently about the language and content used.

The author cites Elias Cossa, coordinator of communication and advocacy at the National Council to Combat HIV/AIDS (CNCS), who argues that the government needs to become increasingly aware of producing AIDS materials that are sensitive to community needs to ensure that HIV initiatives conform as closely as possible to the norms of various communities. He recommends that authorities set a policy that "information, education and communication materials must be produced locally and in a participatory way. There are also cultural taboos, for example - youth should not speak about sex to older people, women can talk only to other women about sex and not men - and these need to be respected."



The author explains that, in a country with a 54% rate of illiteracy, radio is the current popular medium for AIDS communication. Radio Mozambique initiated a radio soap opera called 'Ruth and her friends' which dealt with HIV -- and was broadcast in 11 languages. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) supports a 'Child-to-Child' radio programme, which has been run by Radio Mozambique for five years for the purpose of HIV/AIDS prevention among young people. Transmitted in Portuguese and in 16 local languages, there are over 200 young presenters of the show. In 2005, over 7,200 children and young people participated in the programmes.



CNCS held regional workshops to discuss a new communication strategy for Mozambique concerning AIDS awareness because, according to Cossa, "it is not only the community sensitivity that has to be considered -- but a range of services must be in place to accompany this awareness campaign. The services that are essential include quality health care...micro finance, anti-retroviral treatment and condom distribution."