Combating AIDS [Hardcover]

Arvind Singhal (Author), Everett M. Rogers (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 14, 2003 | ISBN-10: 076199727X | ISBN-13: 978-0761997276 | Edition: 1

The purpose of this book is to synthesize critical lessons about effective HIV//AIDS prevention programmes, with a major emphasis on communication strategies. The authors feel that despite the growing AIDS crisis, the world is making poor use of behaviour change and communication strategies for HIV//AIDS prevention. To begin with, the role of communication strategies in HIV prevention, care and support has been grossly underestimated. 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 may offend public sensitivities, which is easy to do when dealing with a sensitive topic that involves sex, stigma and death.

Combating AIDS: Communicaton Strategies in Action focuses on communication strategies that could mobilize political action, target high-risk groups, and overcome stigma. The authors have also described and analyzed the value of entertainment-education strategy in HIV prevention and care, highlighting the use of popular, long-running 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 the individuals and organizations, this book humanizes the AIDS epidemic. Interesting, informative, and readable, this unique book will be of interest to those in the field of community and public health, social medicine, social work and public policy, as well as media professionals and voluntary agencies.

Editorial Reviews

Review

`This gripping narrative not only documents the history of humankind's interaction with a clever virus, it brings to the forefront the much and understated and underused role of communication in HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Singhal and Rogers remind us that our global environment is shaped by powerful communication means and methods that, if properly harnessed, can help defeat the plague of the 21st century' - Neil McKee, Senior Technical Advisor for HIV/AIDS and Adolescent Health, John Hopkins University

`This books is an important contribution to AIDS education globally. The rich and diverse cases analyze, humanize and contextualize the continuum of HIV/AIDS prevention, care and support. Researchers and practitioners will find this book most useful' - Collins Airhihenbuwa, Professor of Bio-Behavioural Health, Penn State University

`Educating people about AIDS is one of the biggest communication challenges that we face today. This remarkable book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand the challenges and ways to overcome it. Thorough and hopeful, this is one of those books that can actually make a difference in this world' - Emanuel Rosen, author of 'The Anatomy of Buzz'

`A thoroughly readable and inspiring book by two of the world's most foremost health communication experts. Accessible and personalised, it is a must read for all those interested in AIDS prevention, care and support' - Shereen Usdin, Co-Founder of the Soul City Institute of Health and Development Communication, South Africa

`This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the strategies related to HIV/AIDS communications. It is published at a critical moment as the world increasingly realizes the role of communication in the fight against HIV/AIDS' - Rafael Obregon, Social Communication Advisor, Pan American Health Organization

`Combating AIDS is slickly written using commicators' theories, taking the reader step-by-step through various arguments, and using repitition to ingrain them in the reader's mind' - Ritu Priya, Nature

Product Details

• Hardcover: 426 pages
• Publisher: SAGE Publications Pvt. Ltd; 1 edition (January 14, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 076199727X
• ISBN-13: 978-0761997276
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,870,170 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Radically Different Approach, August 28, 2004

By 

Book Reviewer "BR" (USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Combating AIDS (Paperback)

Over the years, several books, manuals, self help guides have been written on the subject of AIDS and the conduct of social campaigns. However, few studies have provided such in-depth analysis of interventions as does the present book by these authors. Their analysis suggests a radically different approach to understanding and designing communication strategies to control and prevent the spread of HIV.

The book stresses the importance of incorporating the contextual meanings of cultural, political, social, and economic factors in designing HIV prevention and control communication campaigns. The authors present a lucid and comprehensive analysis of communication interventions from several developing countries, including, Tanzania, Thailand, South Africa, Brazil, Kenya, South Africa, and India. Their analyses identify subtle and blatant message elements that could determine the success and failure of action-oriented communication interventions.

The reader is bound to be fascinated by a rich variety of creative communication strategies ranging from the oral narrative therapies in Uganda, to Buddhist monks educating people about HIV prevention in Thailand, to coffee ceremonies in Ethiopia. The sheer variety of anecdotes throughout the book highlights the authors' central premise that this debilitating disease must be fought with a unique message strategy for unique audiences.

As part of the arsenal, the authors advocate the use of entertainment-education (E-E) communication strategy. The E-E strategy calls for judicious mix of entertainment and education elements in the message strategy designed to promote behavior change. The authors cite several examples of E-E strategies that have been effectively used to promote desired behaviors. They show how humor and other contextual emotions, which are an integral part of EE strategies, can be used in communities to break the stigma associated with the epidemic. The book contains several interesting illustrations of AIDS activists, health workers and fascinating examples of successful campaigns. The compelling analysis of communication interventions is a MUST-READ for everyone that is interested and concerned with combating AIDS including healthcare professionals, outreach workers, political figures, corporations, and academicians.

5.0 out of 5 stars Learning with stories and photos, September 21, 2010

By 

Karen Greiner - See all my reviews

This review is from: Combating AIDS (Paperback)

I read this book in a graduate course on health communication and I was thrilled to find that it contained stories, short "vignette" text boxes and many many photos - which was extremely refreshing and very educational. Sometimes one can learn more in a short story than in a long chapter in dry academic language. I think the best way to describe this book is with these two words: thorough and humane. It provides a thorough overview of a wide range of communication interventions across the globe that have harnessed communication for HIV prevention and stigma reduction and it is humane in the way that it thoughtfully presents the personal stories of the individuals involved in and affected by those interventions. The The photos of materials used in campaigns and interventions was also very helpful. Why just talk about a strategy when you can SHOW it?