AIDS and Edutainment: Inter/National Health Education in Tanzanian Secondary Schools

Abstract

As the HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to ravage sub-Saharan Africa, numerous organizations have responded with a variety of approaches, platforms, and policy prescriptions meant to curb the spread of the virus. However, there has been little attention paid to the networks of actors who appropriate and localize the prescriptions from international organizations (see chapter 1). This chapter examines how local policy actors—namely an inter/national nongovernmental organization (NGO) and secondary school teachers—appropriated a media-based educational program adapted from an international health education effort. Specifically, I examine an inter/national organization, the Femina-Health Information Project (HIP), based in the United Republic of Tanzania, and its “hip” magazine, Fema, designed for secondary school-aged youth and reading clubs in their schools. Influenced by international donors and models, Femina HIP has endeavored to provide edutainment (education infused with popular cultural themes conveyed through mass media) in the form of magazines and television programs to inform Tanzanian youth about the causes and consequences of HIV/AIDS. However, Femina HIP has faced challenges in a number of secondary schools, where its materials are often censored before issemination or not distributed at all because of local views regarding “appropriate” sex education.