[Loincloths and health prevention]

The authors report on activities carried out in the 1990s in Côte d'Ivoire using original AIDS prevention methods. These initiatives were based on the use of loincloths. The loincloth is a printed fabric that is highly valued in Africa. It has the essential characteristic of being appropriated by women buyers to express issues of relations between women and men. This appropriation can be seen in the fact that loincloths leave the factory with a trade name, but in most cases are given a different name by the users to reflect their own concerns.Field survey was conducted to identify the characteristics of the most popular loincloths sold in Abidjan markets. In addition, inter-views and activities were conducted with high school students in Abidjan and Dabou (a town 50 km from Abidjan), resulting in the production of an "entre nous" [between us] loincloth which uses AIDS prevention logos, and has been used in several awareness-raising events. Another project by a women's anti-AIDS association, based on the modification of a fashionable loincloth, was unsuccessful.The loincloth is still very much a part of African society, with commercial and artistic developments; it's logical to think that its use in prevention has a future.