Article: U.S. Conference Highlights Mass Media as Anti-HIV/AIDS Tool

22 January 2001

Article: U.S. Conference Highlights Mass Media as Anti-HIV/AIDS Tool

VOA's development chief speaks at meeting

By Jim Fisher-Thompson
Washington File Staff Writer

Washington -- Mass media, consisting of radio, television, the written word, and now the Internet, are increasingly being used to inform the developing world about the threat of HIV/AIDS, according to speakers at a two-day conference sponsored by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The January 16-17 conference, "New Technologies for Disaster and Development Communications: Connecting the Village and the World," stressed the harnessing of mass media for social change. It covered such topics as using digital radio and the Internet in promoting change in the developing world, and integrating mass media communications to combat HIV/AIDS.

Held at the Academy for Educational Development (AED), a non-governmental organization (NGO) specializing in education and development issues, the meeting drew representatives from government, NGOs, and media outlets who also explored ways of extending the Internet in developing countries. Currently USAID is funding a program to expand Internet use in 20 African nations, known as the Leland Initiative.

Speaking on a panel called "Integrated Mass Media Communications Campaigns Focused on HIV/AIDS," Greg Pirio, director of development for the Voice of America (VOA), discussed the special CD-ROM (compact disk-read-only memory) the agency designed to teach journalists how to write knowledgeably about HIV/AIDS. The disk stores text, audio, and video data in digital format.

Pirio, who holds a doctorate in African history from the University of California, has been the architect of several initiatives that aim to use the media as a force for social change. He said that the AIDS CD-ROM, conceived in partnership with USAID and the World Health Organization (WHO), costs about 50 cents to reproduce and thus is affordable for the developing world.

He said that VOA, which broadcasts in more than 40 languages, is uniquely positioned to help foreign writers report on HIV/AIDS. The U.S. government media arm reaches roughly 91 million listeners a week.

The goal of the CD-ROM, Pirio said, is to "instill a renewed hard news emphasis on health issues" that has been lacking recently in developing nations. In contrast, he said, in the developed world, studies show that "people consistently turn to the news media for information on health."

An innovative example of how different elements of mass media are combined ("multimedia") for HIV/AIDS education and prevention was offered by Gareth Japhet, a South African physician and executive director of the "Soul City" project. Soul City, he explained, was established in 1992 to use popular mass media, like television, to deal with such issues as HIV/AIDS and domestic violence against women.

Japhet said a central part of the Soul City campaign -- known as "edutainment" -- is a TV show featuring 8- to 12-year-olds acting out dramatic situations that spotlight the medical and social conflicts underlying the AIDS epidemic. The idea, he said, is to educate young people about the dangers of unprotected sex, while dispelling misconceptions about HIV/AIDS -- for instance, that it can be transmitted by touch.

"We are in our fifth season now," said Japhet, and "the show has strong brand-name recognition." He said this is especially important to the show's effectiveness in influencing people to change their attitudes and behavior regarding the disease.

Soul City's programs about AIDS and violence against women are proving effective, Japhet said, and, as "a strong advocacy voice," have also contributed to greater government awareness, as well as "helping to get laws against violence to women passed."