New Research Finds Young People’s Positive Changes in Behaviour Are Significantly Linked To Watching Sex Edutainment Content by MTV Staying Alive Foundation

MTV Shuga series boosts uptake in new HIV prevention tools in South Africa; changes perceptions around gender-based violence in Nigeria
Nov 4, 2021 11:30 AM ET

Last week, the MTV Staying Alive Foundation launched the results of a ‘Decade of Impact of MTV Shuga’, their sex-edutainment series. The findings from two new research studies by the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in South Africa, and an evaluation in Nigeria by the Tulane University are explored in this webinar, alongside earlier findings about MTV Staying Alive’s behaviour change work. Together, the research shows that MTV Shuga viewers are more likely to use condoms, more likely to test for HIV, and have shifted social norms positively against gender-based violence. In addition, a World Bank study found that for every $1 invested in the MTV Shuga series, there is a return in health and welfare benefits of $150. The past ten years has shown that MTV Shuga is adept at influencing young people’s behaviours through entertaining, immersive and challenging content, and this short video of the webinar highlights all of these points. 

Full details about the various evaluations, and to watch the full webinar, can be found here: https://www.mtvstayingalive.org/impact