The core of CADRE’s work centres on health communications research. CADRE has built a solid reputation for providing critical support in the development and evaluation of communication programmes. We:

1. Conduct literature reviews and formative research to inform the development of communication strategy;
2. Provide technical support during script and campaign development to ensure that health content is accurate and not stigmatising;
3. Pre-test messages and materials to ensure that representatives of the target audience understand what is intended, find the media relevant and to identify ways of improving message delivery if needed;
4. Monitor and evaluate communications programmes through strategic input on national communications surveys and by conducting qualitative post-broadcast audience reception analysis studies;
5. And develop educational resources to enhance engagement with educational media.

Since 2003, CADRE has worked closely with Johns Hopkins University and Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa as the research partner on a number of national health campaigns,
radio and television drama series funded by USAID/PEPFAR. Our role is to provide strategic input during campaign development, pre-test materials and messages and evaluate how audiences received communication programmes. We believe that the commitment to rigorous research practice leads to a stronger product, which communicates accurate health information in a clear and compelling manner. The pre-testing process is a critical step to check message clarity, language, cultural relevance, and the appeal of particular characters or storylines before filming or rolling out at a national level. The end product is strongly evidence-based, in terms of both message content and delivery, which sets it apart from other communication programmes.

In 2003-2006, CADRE co-produced four seasons of the multi-award winning television educational drama series, Tsha Tsha and developed training materials to accompany the series, which have been extensively used within institutions of higher education. Since then, CADRE has been involved in the development and evaluation several major national mass media communication campaigns and television drama series. See one of the following project-specific pages to learn more about CADRE’s role in these current health communication programmes and to view examples of corresponding research outputs:

• The highly acclaimed, multi-award winning television drama series, Intersexions
• The national men’s campaign, Brothers for Life, which promotes the health and wellbeing of South African men with a focus on HIV and gender-based violence
• Zazi, a national campaign targeting women and girls with messages about HIV prevention, sexual violence, transactional and age-disparate sex and teenage pregnancy.
• The contemporary drama series, 4Play: Sex Tips for Girls
• Inside Story, a feature-length film which focuses on the science of HIV infection
• Scrutinize, an animated campaign targeting youth.
• The tuberculosis campaign: We beat TB!
• Reviews and formative research to guide communication strategy
• Other past communications interventions

Copies of publications on HIV/AIDS communication can also be found in the Publications & Presentations menu or by using the search feature.