About AIDSMark > News

Congo: Abstinence Gets Stamp of Approval

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of Congo — The postal service of the DRC has issued what may be the first postage stamps in the world promoting abstinence, using words and images from AIDSMark's newly launched "delayed debut campaign" now rolling out across Africa.

PSI/ DRC, in collaboration with the DRC postal service and with support from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), is using the series of six stamps to reinforce three of its communications campaigns: abstinence among youth, HIV prevention with truckers and Prudence brand condoms.

Four of the six stamps promote abstinence and delayed sex among youth. The design for these stamps comes directly from a much larger AIDSMark mass media campaign composed of TV, radio and print that is running simultaneously across the DRC and, in similar forms, in four other African countries.

Two stamps each are dedicated to the campaign slogans of "A real man waits" and "A real woman waits." Each stamp has specific messages targeting certain gender-related issues such as: "A real man is never pressured by his friends to make love" and "A real woman thinks of her future before thinking about making love."

The delayed debut campaign, funded by USAID, was based on extensive social research that examined reasons for early sexual relations. The campaign addresses the issues of sexual violence, peer pressure, cross-generational sex and the transition to adulthood as barriers to delayed debut.

A fifth stamp highlight's PSI/DRC's approach to fighting the epidemic among truck drivers: The Roulez Protegez (Drive Protected) campaign is a successful approach that USAID/DRC has hailed as an effective and cost-effective example of implementing a "multiplier effect."

The final stamp features PSI's newly-redesigned and refreshed Prudence condom brand.

In the 1980s, when the DRC was known as Zaire, the government issued an HIV-related postage stamp to show the country was at the forefront of the HIV/AIDS response. The government sees these new postage stamps as a sign of renewed dedication to the issue and that it is back and ready to move once again into a leadership position in HIV/AIDS prevention.

PSI's DRC program, which has operated without interruption since 1987, is one of its oldest in Africa and the site of PSI's first HIV/AIDS prevention program anywhere. A 1992 study shows that PSI successfully promoted abstinence, mutual fidelity and correct and consistent condom use starting in 1988, a strategy that has come to be known as the ABC approach.