Greater Mekong Subregion

Air Wave Awareness

Radio soap operas broadcast in local languages are proving to be an inexpensive and effective way to teach remote and vulnerable communities about the dangers of HIV/AIDS and drug use

By Ian Gill, (igill@adb.org)
Principal External Relations Specialist

Getting the message about HIV/AIDS to people in remote areas

Tradition runs deep among ethnic minority groups in the heartland of Yunnan Province in the People’s Republic of China (PRC), but some influences are eroding their customary lifestyle.

In the rural village of Gunsai, visitors experience customary hospitality when greeted by a small band of Jingpo musicians and girls in red ceremonial dress who offer rice wine. But villagers say other ways of life are changing, including more open attitudes to sex and increased drug abuse.

“We are conservative in this village,” says Jin Ma Nian, a 29-year-old mother of two. “But the younger generation is becoming more open about sex.”

Several kilometers away, in Luliang village near the Myanmar border, a white-haired woman, Ms. Ma, aged 76, says she is sad because her three sons have all had problems with drugs.

To counter these influences, a unique radio drama series, warning of the dangers of HIV/AIDS and drug use, has been broadcast for the Jingpo people of Yunnan Province.

The radio series is special because it is delivered in the Jingpo language and deals with everyday situations in the context of Jingpo culture. The broadcasts first aired in October 2004 and were rebroadcast in February 2005 during the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year).

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A poster warns of the dangers of HIV/AIDS

Villagers Respond to Familiar Soap Situations

Feedback from the Jingpo, who live mostly in mountain areas between Yunnan Province and Myanmar, has been positive and constructive.

Though generations apart, both Ms. Jin and Ms. Ma like the soap operas because they dramatize important social problems.

Sitting in a spartan community hall, Ms. Jin says she listened with interest to a heartbreaking episode about a girl who went to hospital, accidentally contracted HIV/AIDS through a blood transfusion, and decided to break off with her lover to avoid infecting him.

Blood transfusions and contaminated needles continue to be a major cause of the spread of HIV/ AIDS in this region.

“I already knew about this problem,” says Ms. Jin. “But it’s helpful to reinforce such messages.” Next to her, a stocky farmer, Wang La Dong, likes the soap operas “because they’re about our culture, and I feel they’re about my life.” He says the soap operas are useful because they offer knowledge on how to protect oneself against disease.

In the mountain village of Luliang, Ms. Ma says the social messages are useful—but not strong enough. “They are too indirect,” she says. “The message should be more direct as new infections are increasing and people are dying.”

Her eldest son lost his job with a radio station after taking drugs and has been lost to the family for many years. Ms. Ma says her younger sons tried to help their brother but ended up taking drugs themselves. One is now in a rehabilitation center.

In her time, says Ms. Ma, villagers commonly took opium for medical or relaxation purposes, but they led normal lives. In contrast, she says, today’s drug users cannot work and end up destroying their lives.

The Jingpo soap operas are produced in the provincial capital, Kunming, by the Yunnan Peoples’ Broadcasting Station under a Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) project being implemented by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and financed by the Asian Development Bank. Meanwhile, the Southeast Asian Ministry of Education Organization, as co-executing agency of the project, has trained teachers and developed teaching materials in local languages for HIV/AIDS prevention for use in schools in high-risk cross-border areas.

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Risks are High in Mobile Populations

“The main benefit of the radio program is to deliver social messages through an art form that is more interesting than explanatory materials,” says radio scriptwriter Yue Jian, a Jingpo. “It is closer to everyday life and can be easily understood. It is expected to make people more aware of social problems like taking drugs, and trafficking women and children.”

Adds Yang Zaipeng, Jingpo program coordinator, “Radio is a good vehicle for combining education with entertainment. Drama and singing are part of the traditional culture, so the Jingpo are comfortable with it.”

HIV/AIDS is particularly acute in border areas. Some of the first cases of HIV/AIDS in the PRC were discovered in Ruili, a bustling town near the Myanmar border where the ethnic mix of traders in the market—including the people of Myanmar, Kachin, Shan, and Indian—reflects a highly mobile population.

As Ms. Yang Xing, Vice Governor of Long Chuan County, says, “Three factors contribute to the above-average infection rate among the population— they live in a poor and remote mountain region, their education level is low, and there is a prevalence of drug addiction.”

With television still a luxury in rural Yunnan, radio is a cheap and effective way to reach remote and vulnerable communities, says Heather Peters, a Bangkok-based UNESCO consultant who is working on the program.

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Programs Reach Beyond Borders

“Radio is a medium without borders, and people can listen to it while working in the field,” notes Dr. Peters. “This program started because the Kachin in Myanmar asked if we could provide some kind of programming to inform them about HIV/AIDS and drug abuse.”

As well as its Jingpo program, UNESCO is helping produce soap operas in Lahu with Radio Thailand Chiangmai, and in Hmong through Lao National Radio. Earlier, UNESCO piloted the project with 30 programs in Shan with Radio Thailand Chiangmai.

“The pilot had a tremendous reach—across Myanmar and into PRC, Lao PDR, and Viet Nam— and was popular enough for people to request for repeats and for taped copies of the programs,” says David Feingold, UNESCO’s International Coordinator for HIV/AIDS and Trafficking. “The Jingpo and the Lahu programs have a call-in feature, which provides us with instant feedback.”

The Yunnan People’s Broadcasting station plans to reproduce the Jingpo programs for distribution. They will make 780 sets of CD-ROMs and 750 sets of tapes to be distributed in 260 Jingpo villages in Dehong Prefecture as well as to local governments, schools, and local centers for disease control.

Under the GMS Program, expanded use of broadcasting media for reducing the risk and vulnerability of HIV/AIDS among ethnic groups are being planned.

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