HIV/AIDS Campaigns Illustrate Broader K4D Issues

Read "Going public: Public health campaigns to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS can be very effective and are needed more than ever" by Catherine Zandonella, the IAVI Report, March-April, 2007.

The article states:

Shockingly, in India, where more HIV-infected people live than anywhere else on the planet, 43% of women have never even heard of HIV. Even in the media-saturated US, misconceptions abound—one study showed that roughly 47% of African Americans believe an AIDS vaccine is available but is being withheld (J. Acquir. Immune Defic. Syndr. 40, 617, 2005). One in five Americans say they would be "very" or "somewhat" uncomfortable working with someone who has HIV or AIDS.

Public health officials, and those involved in population and HIV/AIDS programs especially, have pioneered in efforts to change the knowledge and attitudes of the public in order to produce behavioral changes. Those officials have been seeking to help people avoid unwanted pregnancies (and the dangerous practices people have used to do so or abort unwanted pregnancies) and to avoid disease.

This article makes the point that the information one communicates to achieve such purposes must be culturally appropriate. In the case of HIV/AIDS, sexual morality is so culturally dependent, that messages chosen by outsiders may easily be offensive and indeed counterproductive. It also makes the point that unless you know why people are engaging in high risk behavior you can not effectively design information campaigns to change those behaviors.