Cote d’Ivoire has reached over 250,000 people through peer group discussions and mass campaigns. These aim to change behavior among the military and populations who live around military bases. As a result, soldiers are now openly requesting condoms, and a recent study on 15-25 year-olds showed a slight increase in condom use. This is remarkable because around the world, people who risk contracting HIV may not always believe it, especially the military.  In Côte d’Ivoire for example, it was difficult at first to convince the military that they were the most vulnerable to contracting HIV/AIDS. After all, traditional elders are no longer in authority, most civil servants have fled, and soldiers are at the centre of power. The culture has been eroded and communities are so poor that it has become acceptable for girls to approach soldiers for commercial sex.  

In most parts of the country, only soldiers have money. In the beginning, the soldiers thought they were too powerful to contract HIV. Anyone spreading a different message was regarded as a potential enemy. Many girls were forced to have sex against their wish. Some girls even thought that it was stylish not to use a condom. Even if AIDS did not kill them, they argued, war would. Dr. Yssouf Ouattara of CARE explains why it was important to partner with Population Services International, another NGO, and target the military. He also describes signs that behavior is changing both within the military and in the general population..

" By targeting the military, we were able to reach the most strategic population...it is a population that makes decisions, that exercises power."