Combating AIDS: communication strategies in action / Arvind Singhal, Everett M. Rogers.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Singhal, Arvind, 1962-

Contributor:

Rogers, Everett M.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

AIDS (Disease)--Prevention.

AIDS (Disease).

Communication in medicine.

Health behavior.

Physical Description:

425 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Thousand Oaks, Calif. ; New Delhi : Sage Publications, 2003.

Summary:

HIV/AIDS is a matter of global concern. The world is now more than 20 years into the HIV/AIDS crisis with no vaccine in sight, and relatively few effective and sustainable prevention programs. Although the rate of HIV infection and AIDS deaths has declined in the developed world, infection rates are soaring in developing countries. AIDS is now the leading cause of death in Africa, and the fourth leading worldwide. The purpose of this book is to synthesize critical lessons learned about effective HIV/AIDS prevention programs, emphasizing the role of communication strategies. Despite the growing AIDS crisis, the world is making poor use of behavior change and communication strategies to combat HIV/AIDS. Prevention is shortchanged, despite the fact that no cure for AIDS has been found, and the cost of anti-retroviral therapy is out of reach for most who need it. Many communication strategies are culturally inappropriate, so they offend public sensitivities, which is easy to do with a topic that involves sex, stigma, and death.

Combating AIDS focuses on communication strategies that could mobilize political action, target high-risk groups, and overcome stigma. Communication can be widely effective both as a "sledgehammer" and a "scalpel". The authors describe and analyze advocacy strategies, culturally-engaging targeted and tailored responses, and the entertainment-education strategy, including the use of television and radio soap operas to engage audiences emotionally and create a forum for public debate and discussion. Focusing on the work being carried out by individuals and organizations, this book humanizes the AIDS epidemic. Interesting, informative, and readable, it will be of interest to policy-makers, practitioners, and scholars in the fields of public health, communication and change, development studies, social work, and public policy.

Contents:

1. History of the AIDS Epidemic 37

Vulnerability to the Epidemic 40

The Poor 42

The Weak and Vulnerable 43

Stigma 45

Era 1 Urban Beginnings 45

The Nature of HIV 46

Beginnings 48

The CDC Cluster Study 49

Patient Zero 51

Costly Delays 52

The San Francisco Experience 53

Era 2 Breaking Out of High-Risk Populations 57

Era 3 Interiorization 64

AIDS Orphans 66

The ABC Orphanage 67

My Name is Non 71

Commercial Sex Workers 72

2. AIDS Advocacy and Policies 77

The Unruly Policy Agenda for AIDS 78

Nkosi Johnson at the 2000 Durban Conference 79

Agenda-Setting for the Issue of AIDS 81

The Media Agenda 82

Randy Shilts: Chronicler of the Castro 85

The Public Agenda 86

The Policy Agenda 86

The Role of Tragic Figures 87

The Role of Champions 90

Thailand: Success! 99

Minister Mechai 100

Condom King 101

The Epidemic in Thailand 102

Total Mobilization 105

The 100 Percent Condom Program 106

Sustainability of the Mechai Initiatives 109

Cambodia 110

India 112

The AIDS Epidemic and Economic Development 114

Beginnings of the AIDS Epidemic in India 114

Initial Government Initiatives 116

AIDS Control in Tamil Nadu 117

Activating Agencies 120

Kofi Annan: Crusader for AIDS 122

3. AIDS Drugs 125

What are Anti-retrovirals? 126

Brazil: A Ray of Hope 128

Brazil's Brave Policy 130

The Controversy over Patent Rights 134

Drug Company Investment in R&D 135

A Complicated Regimen 137

President Mbeki's Opposition to the Anti-retrovirals 140

Duesberg's Dissent 140

Zachie Achmat, AIDS Activist 144

Mother-to-Child HIV Infection 145

Doctors Without Borders 146

PWA Pressures for Drugs in Thailand 147

Yusuf Hamied's Price Revolution 149

Price Slashing by Cipla 151

The Arbitrary Price of Drugs 153

Search for an AIDS Vaccine 154

Nutrition, the First Line of Defense 156

Herbal Treatments 157

Indigenous Knowledge Systems 158

Pimjai and the Don Kaew Community Health Project 160

Herbal Remedy in Chinese Ruins 162

4. Targeting Unique Populations 165

Targeting in San Francisco 166

The STOP AIDS Program 166

A Proliferation of Prevention Programs 168

The Targeting Strategy 169

Targeting Hotspots 170

Intervening Upstream 171

Program Effectiveness 172

Homophily with Targeted Individuals 172

Credibility of Peer Educators 173

Communication Networks 174

The Network Nature of HIV Transmission 175

Harm Reduction among Intravenous

Drug users 176

The Opinion Leader Strategy 177

Commercial Sex Workers 178

Mumbai: Epicenter of the Epidemic 179

Chennai: The CHES Program 183

Kolkata's Empowered CSWs 188

The Healthy Highways Project in India 189

Learning to Think Like a Truck Driver 191

Refoc using through Formative Research 192

Urban Slums 197

Using the Internet 198

5. Cultural Strategies 204

Communication Challenges to HIV/AIDS 206

The Biomedical Approach to Disease and Intervention 207

Problems with the Biomedical Approach in Zambia 208

Behavior Change Models 211

The Social and Cultural Construction of AIDS 213

The UNAIDS Framework 216

Culture as an Ally 217

Tapping the Strength of the Nguni Culture 219

Culture as Enemy along Lake Victoria 220

Individualistic Versus Collectivistic Cultures 221

Use of Cultural Artifacts 222

The Role of Spirituality 223

A Spiritual Jihad on AIDS in Uganda 224

Coping with AIDS Spiritually 226

Spirituality as an Enemy 228

Community Approaches to HIV/AIDS Prevention 229

CEFRAN: The Community Cares 230

Creating Sexual Subjects through Freirean Approaches 231

A Pedagogy of HIV Prevention 232

Safe Sex as "Play" 234

The Power of Sports 235

6. Overcoming Stigma 242

The Difficulty of Overcoming Stigma 243

AIDS Stigma in India 244

Stigma is Everywhere 245

ACT UP: Fighting Stigma 247

The Nature of Stigma 248

Why is HIV/AIDS Stigmatized? 250

Measuring Stigma 252

Overcoming Stigma 253

Breaking the Silence 254

Safe Virtual Spaces 260

Imirim's Children 264

From the Personal-Private to the Public-Policy 272

7. Entertainment-Education 287

The Entertainment-Education Strategy 289

The Rise of Entertainment-Education 290

Why Entertainment-Education? 291

From Private Closets to Public Discourse 293

Key Elements in Creating Entertainment-Education 293

The Values Grid 293

Formative Evaluation Research 295

Blunder in South Africa 295

Theory-based Message Design 296

Multimedia Campaign Activities 296

Process and Summative Evaluations 298

Twende na Wakati Versus HIV in Tanzania 298

"Don't be a Mkwaju!" 302

Soul City in South Africa 303

Founding Soul City 303

Entertainment-Education and Soul City 305

Soul City's Yearly Campaigns 309

The Key Role of Research 312

Raising Efficacy 313

Costs and Reach 314

Using Markers in Entertainment-Education Programs 316

Malhacao in Brazil 317

Participatory E-E Approaches for HIV Prevention 318

Artists against AIDS in Brazil 319

Community Street Theater in Zimbabwe 320

Nalamdana in India 321

Culturally Shareable Entertainment-Education Programs 325

The Global Institutionalization of Entertainment-Education 326

BBC World Service Trust's India Initiative 328

"On the Edge": A Warrior Vanquishes

The Demon 330

PCI's Entertainment-Education Interventions 330

Ushikwapo Shikamana in Kenya 333

Ushikwapo Shikamana Comics 334

Program Effects 336

8. Monitoring and Evaluation 339

Field Experiments 340

The Opinion Leadership Field Experiment in Gay Bars 341

The Field Experiment in Chennai 342

The Field Experiment in Tanzania to Evaluate Twende na Wakati 344

A Quantitative Approach to HIV/AIDS Research 349

Social Change Indicators 351

Behavior Surveillance Surveys in Tamil Nadu 353

BSS Methodology 354

Peer-based Interventions 356

Monitoring through Information Technology 359

A Qualitative Approach to HIV/AIDS Research 360

Participatory Evaluation 361

Using Participatory Tools in Uganda 362

Harvesting Questions 365

Media Monitoring of AIDS 366

9. Lessons Learned about Combating HIV/AIDS 370

Looking Backward 371

Ignoring Culture 373

Slow Political Action 374

When the Lion Comes, Shout! 376

Lack of Business Involvement 377

Stigma 380

Looking Forward 380

Communication Strategy 381

PWA Power 384

Recognizing Heroes 385

Programmatic Synergy 386

Sorting Ethical Dilemmas 386

Redefining the Problem 388.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

076199727X

0761997288

8178292122

8178292130

OCLC:

50773481