It was the late 90s and HIV was spreading through South African teenagers like, well, like a sexually transmitted disease. Sleep with a South African at that time and you faced a one in six chance of having a close encounter with the virus. Frightening odds. But not frightening enough to curb teenage sexual activities.
Desperate to turn the tide, public health leaders came up with a new anti-HIV campaign: NASHI, for the National Adolescent Sexual Health Initiative. Personally, I think they should have called it ESTINA for Every South African Teenager is Now Asleep. Because that campaign, like so many public health campaigns, was doomed to fail. It was all information, and no persuasion. All lecture, no fun… (Read more and view comments at Forbes)
