At the invitation of Dr. Douglas Lyon, Country Director, US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Global AIDS Program (GAP) Guyana, in 2005 an Atlanta-based CDC MARCH Team conducted an assessment and feasibility of implementing the Health and Human Services (HHS)/CDC MARCH (Modeling and Reinforcement to Combat HIV/AIDS) strategy in Guyana. The assessment found that Guyana was receptive to MARCH. It also noted that there is general consensus among CDC GAP Guyana, its United States Government (USG) partners, and the Ministry of Health that the MARCH behavior change strategy, which promotes behavior change through modeling or showing people how to change, and reinforcing their efforts to change, is well suited to shifting social norms over the long-term in Guyana. Dereck Springer, Senior Advisor, CDC GAP Guyana, with 13 HIV/AIDS years experience, was identified to lead the development of the MARCH Guyana Project. Subsequently Ms Margaret Lawrence, a veteran broadcaster and acclaimed Guyanese actress was selected as the Managing Editor.

The MARCH strategy draws upon research as well as many theories of communication and behavior change, among them the social learning theory developed by Dr Albert Bandura of Stanford University. Dr. Bandura explains that human behavior can be influenced by “modeling” that takes place when people identify with someone they like and admire, and then strive to imitate that person . Entertainment–education serial dramas use this human trait to promote locally identified messages and values. MARCH also employs interpersonal activities at the community level to clarify and reinforce the ideas contained in the drama.

The MARCH project supports the overall strategic objective of the Guyana National HIV/AIDS Strategic Plan 2007 – 2011: To reduce the spread of HIV and improve the quality of life of PLWHA as well as the National Behavior Change Communication Strategy (2005) which seeks to promote positive behavior change and maintenance aimed at reducing risk and spread of HIV . Ongoing MARCH activities are being implemented in various GAP countries namely Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana and Zambia. Both the MARCH team leader and the managing editor conducted visits to the MARCH Project, Makgabeneng, in Botswana. These visits afforded them the opportunity to develop an in-depth understanding of the production process, the level of leadership and the caliber of staff required for implementing MARCH, and avoid the many pitfalls encountered by the Makabaneng Team. The experience also provided clarity and guidance that the MARCH Team used to prioritize and maximize its efforts to successfully implement MARCH in Guyana.

Past prevention and awareness-raising initiatives in Guyana have focused on increasing knowledge of HIV, particularly methods of transmission and protection. There is general agreement that the challenge now is to focus on shifting social norms over the long term so that HIV/AIDS is perceived as less shameful and is brought out into the open with the result that more people (especially youth and pregnant women) come forward to be tested and treated, and fewer untreated PLWHA infect their partners through unsafe sex. Raising the age of sexual debut, reducing intergenerational sex are priorities for MARCH, as well as fidelity activities aimed at both married and single men and women to encourage them to consider why they have multiple partners and who their partners are.