Back to complacency: AIDS in the Australian press, March-September 1990

This paper reports the results of a quantitative and qualitative content analysis of all articles about AIDS published in the Australian metropolitan press during the 7 month period of March-September 1990. During the study period, almost 2800 articles mentioning AIDS were published, representing a drop in number of articles published compared with earlier years. Those issues receiving most press attention included people living with AIDS, AIDS and the law, AIDS policy and politics, the general spread of HIV/AIDS, AIDS education campaigns, drugs and medical treatment, and the HIV/AIDS threat posed to prison officers and health practitioners. The analysis demonstrates that the reporting of AIDS has changed over the course of the epidemic: topics which in the past commanded enormous press attention, such as AIDS as a 'gay plague' and the threat posed by the disease to heterosexuals, are no longer considered as newsworthy. Implications for AIDS health promotion activities are discussed.     

Inconsistent Journalism: The Coverage of Chronic Diseases in the Mexican Press

The mass media are recognized by many social scientists as important sources of medical information for lay people and as a positive influence on those working in the health care professions. However, there is a lack of study about print and mass media reporting on major health problems in developing countries such as Mexico. This article presents the findings of a study conducted to identify specific messages that the Mexican print media convey to the general reader about chronic diseases, especially one of the most important and pervasive, diabetes. We undertook a comprehensive review and content analysis of secondary source media reporting in the Boletin (Bulletin) - published by the Department of Education and Health, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco. The Boletin summarizes all articles related to health matters published in 12 national daily newspapers and 3 magazines. Our study covered all issues of the Boletin from 1992 through 1996. Our findings indicate that at times the press and popular print media disseminate an incomplete and often biased picture of chronic diseases prevalent in Mexico. Specifically, the press gives equal or more important coverage of acute diseases, or to AIDS, than to other major chronic conditions. The press also reproduces the biomedical model of disease and does not address topics important to certain segments of the population, including the patient. Moreover, the media may present an overly idealized impression of the capability of health services. Consequently, this failure to address the issues of certain widespread, chronic illnesses is severe enough to ask about the role of the press in medical health care reform. We conclude by suggesting areas for further research.     

Strategies of media marketing for "America Responds to AIDS" and applying lessons learned.

The Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) public service announcement (PSA) campaign on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), entitled "America Responds to AIDS," has provided an opportunity to examine various media marketing techniques and their effectiveness in setting and sustaining a national media agenda for public health. The overall objective was to enlist the media as a partner in the effort to establish a clear national public health agenda on AIDS by reaching as many Americans as possible with disease prevention information in a credible and acceptable way. In order for the media to become interested in a subject traditionally treated as health information rather than a "news story," CDC identified and employed various methods and tools to generate coverage. These included the use of news conferences, video and audio news releases, satellite interviews, and press kits developed for each phase of the campaign. News "hooks" were used to grab attention; for example, the use of well-known public health spokespersons in media events or the promotion of free collateral materials. The marketing approach undertaken for each phase of the campaign varied, and lessons were learned and applied along the way. A model emerged indicating that a combination of techniques could result in maximum exposure in both news stories and public affairs programming. Because the model allowed messages to be delivered credibly and consistently, the result was increased usage of the PSAs to coincide with the media coverage.     

Inconsistent journalism: the coverage of chronic diseases in the Mexican press

The mass media are recognized by many social scientists as important sources of medical information for lay people and as a positive influence on those working in the health care professions. However, there is a lack of study about print and mass media reporting on major health problems in developing countries such as Mexico. This article presents the findings of a study conducted to identify specific messages that the Mexican print media convey to the general reader about chronic diseases, especially one of the most important and pervasive, diabetes. We undertook a comprehensive review and content analysis of secondary source media reporting in the Boletin (Bulletin)--published by the Department of Education and Health, Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Xochimilco. The Boletin summarizes all articles related to health matters published in 12 national daily newspapers and 3 magazines. Our study covered all issues of the Boletin from 1992 through 1996. Our findings indicate that at times the press and popular print media disseminate an incomplete and often biased picture of chronic diseases prevalent in Mexico. Specifically, the press gives equal or more important coverage of acute diseases, or to AIDS, than to other major chronic conditions. The press also reproduces the biomedical model of disease and does not address topics important to certain segments of the population, including the patient. Moreover, the media may present an overly idealized impression of the capability of health services. Consequently, this failure to address the issues of certain widespread, chronic illnesses is severe enough to ask about the role of the press in medical health care reform. We conclude by suggesting areas for further research.     

微博等新媒体信息监测在重大传染病防控工作中的应用

目的研究在以微博等互联网平台为核心的新媒体形势下,在新的管理意识、信息渠道、信息沟通模式下,如何针对新媒体开展公共卫生信息监测,并探讨新媒体监测在重大传染病预防控制（简称防控）工作中的应用。方法以近期人感染H7N9禽流感防控为例,通过对微博等新媒体信息的监测与分析、评估,建立适合重大传染病防控工作的信息监测体系,规范信息的获取、处理、挖掘分析、利用等方法。结果建立新媒体重大公共卫生信息监测体系,分析人感染H7N9禽流感动态信息,全面及时地向各级领导、专业人员提供信息支持与分析。结论在新媒体时期,建立与之适应的信息监测模式,在重大传染病防控中,起到了重要的决策信息支持与分析的作用,并可以在处理突发公共卫生事件、公众关注的重要公共卫生问题时,发挥重要的作用。研究结果能为各级行政部门在重大传染病疫情发生的情况下,快速建立舆情监测提供进一步理论支撑。     

Gesundheitliche Aufklärung als Risikokommunikation

Those seeking to educate the public about health need to communicate health risks effectively. This involves providing evidence-based information about factors and behaviors that are dangerous to people’s health and making recommendations regarding how risks can be avoided or minimized. This communication usually aims to motivate people to act in a way that promotes health or prevents disease. Organized ‘health education’ that seeks to communicate risks is always embedded in a contextual framework that in turn influences the issues and content to be communicated and the form of communication that is chosen. The scope of available scientific knowledge is an important part of this framework as is the extent to which risks are presented in the media as being dangerous. The media’s message has a strong influence on how the public and specific subgroups within it react. The article describes conditions that contribute to successful risk communication based on the example of HIV/AIDS prevention. We chose this particular case because it can serve as an example of how to deal with future epidemics that may potentially generate substantial media coverage. This field report shows how risk communication about HIV/AIDS in the mass media in Germany in the mid-1980s elicited a risk consciousness among the general public that in itself was in danger of becoming a health risk, especially for people affected by the disease, and how ‘health education’ responded to this challenge. It concludes by describing how these experiences with risk communication can be applied to similar types of risk communication today.     

AIDS prevention in the United States: lessons from the first decade

AIDS prevention programs in the United States have been relatively successful in providing accurate information on AIDS to a wide cross-section of the population, but less successful in helping people to change their risk behavior. The most significant changes have been reported in urban gay men, with lower levels of change in drug users, and the least change in young adult heterosexuals. Various obstacles to effective AIDS prevention interventions have been identified, including too great an emphasis on information; a reliance on one-way rather than interactive communication; a narrow categorical approach to AIDS; a failure to integrate prevention and treatment services; and unwillingness to acknowledge widespread distrust of government, scientists, and health officials; and a focus on individual behavior rather than the social and political factors that shape behavior. To address these obstacles, AIDS educators should identify and strengthen those cultural forces that support prevention while also challenging those that block it. AIDS prevention programs need to be integrated into other programs serving community needs, especially into those grassroots organizations that can raise questions of gender behavior and drug use. While AIDS organizations should help meet the service needs of people with AIDS, they must also play a role in mobilizing communities to demand the resources they need to contain the further spread of the epidemic. Finally, AIDS prevention programs need to be linked to a vision of a better world in which the conditions that have contributed to the rapid spread of HIV infection are addressed and improved.     

Health communication and consumer behavior on meat in Belgium: from BSE until dioxin

This article focuses on the impact of mass media meat-health information on consumer perception, attitude, and behavior toward fresh meat in Belgium. In a situation similar to that which occurred in most other European countries, Belgian fresh meat consumption fell considerably during 1995-1999. A multitude of messages linking meat consumption to human health risks were reported by mass media. Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy (BSE) since 1996 and dioxin in 1999 constituted the major issues. Empirical research, conducted in April 1998, revealed the tremendous negative impact of mass media coverage of meat-health issues on consumer risk perception, health concern, and attitude and behavior toward fresh meat. Oppositely, personal communication through butchers had only a small effect on consumer decision-making in this era dominated by alarming meat-health press. Implications are threefold. First, mass media should be aware of its social responsibilities, which include spreading reliable and correct information to the society. This is especially the case as human health risks are involved. Second, the meat industry urgently needs to reorient itself toward quality, safety, and transparency. Finally, future communication dealing with similar crises situations requires cooperation across the meat chain, government, and those who are responsible for public health promotion and communication.     

Communicating occupational and environmental issues

Effective health risk communication is an important tool that can prevent or modify the inappropriate public reactions that often accompany occupational and environmental health issues and allegations. The public perception of the magnitude or significance of risk is influenced by factors other than scientific data. The goal of risk communication therefore is more than just imparting scientific facts. It is about ensuring that the public fully understand risk and that they are enabled to make informed decisions under conditions of uncertainty. How people perceive risk, and their values and feelings toward occupational and environmental health issues, are as important considerations for risk communication as are numerical or factual scientific data. Occupational and environmental health scares often occur because of complexities such as the multidimensionality of risk, trust or mistrust in sources of information, technological revolution, the reliance of the public on the media for health information and the public desire for information and the truth. If, as health professionals, we are to address effectively both real and perceived occupational and environmental health issues, we need to be aware of the major advances that have been made in the use of risk communication in recent years.     

Communicating surveillance, epidemiologic, and laboratory information on HIV infection and AIDS.

As the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has evolved over the past 10 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been at the forefront of the scientific efforts that have characterized HIV-AIDS research. Because of CDC's central role in these efforts, the medical and public health communities have come to depend on the agency for prompt reporting of new developments related to the epidemiology of HIV infection and AIDS and for advice on risk management, prevention, and control. CDC disseminates this information through epidemiologic updates and prevention guidelines published in the periodical, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, through articles in scientific journals and summary tabulations of AIDS case data and HIV seroprevalence data, and through interviews and presentations at scientific meetings. These formal information dissemination activities are supplemented with training and support efforts directed at health care providers, health department and laboratory personnel, educators, and centralized HIV-AIDS information resources. As questions are answered, controversies resolved, and new research applications explored, CDC will continue to provide the medical and public health communities with the most recent epidemiologic information and recommendations developed to help direct efforts in HIV prevention and risk reduction.     

Safer sex maintenance and reduction of unsafe sex among homosexually active men: a new therapeutic approach

To date, publicly funded HIV/AIDS prevention efforts for homosexually active men have largely been limited to two traditional public health strategies: mass media information campaigns and HIV testing/contact notification programs. Health educators using either of these strategies have addressed the spread of HIV as they would many other infectious diseases and have relied heavily upon fear tactics or moral arguments to 'sell' the concept of safer sex. Grass-roots gay community efforts to prevent HIV transmission have also largely relied upon these two strategies, as well as upon more informal individual and group counseling activities. In general, however, strategies used by the gay community have tried to present more positive approaches to AIDS prevention, including eroticizing safer sex practices. This article reviews the efficacy of traditional public health approaches as well as the educational models underlying them, and argues that a major shift in focus is needed. A comprehensive health care and sexuality education model for homosexually active men based on the 'PLISSIST' sex therapy model is described and advocated. This model is presented as a more useful one for identifying populations at risk, reducing unsafe sexual behavior and promoting safer sex maintenance. The model identifies five sub-populations among homosexually active men and recommends specialized interventions appropriate to each. Adequate funding for the services included in this model is also advocated.     

The AIDS pandemic: changes in the believability and use of information sources

Over 20,000 Americans under 25 years old are infected with HIV every year. In 1994, AIDS was the number one killer of adults between the ages of 25 and 44 years old. Education concerning HIV is critical to the prevention of AIDS. Both the public and private sectors, including government agencies, cause-related organizations, medical professionals, and promotion specialists must determine the best information sources to educate young people. However, with many television shows that appeal to young adults condoning casual sex, it is increasingly difficult to generate motivation to act responsibly. This paper examines the effectiveness of information sources, sponsored by both the government and private organizations, about HIV. Given the impact of media publicity regarding the AIDS virus and the "hard-hitting" messages and public service announcements about AIDS, implications about ethical issues, public policy issues, and media strategies to educate the public about AIDS are discussed. While publicity and specific types of television programming were found to be the most believable and most often used information sources for health issues, there are many strategic implications concerning promotion strategies, targeting, and positioning for both the public and private sectors.     

HIV in the U.K.: problems of prevalence, sociological response and health education.

It is argued that the prevalence of AIDS is substantially under-represented in existing national AIDS data. Thus although official statistics demonstrate significant recent shifts in transmission routes for HIV, health educators are faced with a problem because it is difficult to develop preventive strategies against a syndrome whose prevalence can only be estimated. Problems of the true extent of the prevalence of HIV are compounded when there is a lack of knowledge about the specifics of heterosexual behaviour. It is unwise to assume that the protective strategies developed by gay men in the face of HIV are routinely available for adoption by heterosexuals, who are characterised by social divisions of age, gender and relative amounts of social power. These concerns represent a problem for health educators. To date, sociological work may not have made the most effective contribution in its support of intervention strategies against HIV/AIDS. Examination of the empirical literature on lay concepts of health and illness reveals a pessimistic stance on the part of some researchers about the ability of individuals to modify behaviour. More positive readings of their own data are possible. The traditional concerns to emphasise the socio-economic determinants of health and behaviour, now also shared by some health educators, should not obscure a concern for the fate of individuals. The most effective contribution that health promotion may be able to make to the control of HIV in the heterosexual population is to assist in the development of strategies of empowerment and 'horizontal intervention'.     

AIDS education in Switzerland: implementing strategies to reach groups with high risk behaviours, particularly youth

In Switzerland the Federal Office of Public Health has developeda comprehensive set of AIDS care and prevention policies andactivities in recent years. For their actual implementation,the main responsibility lies with the health departments ofthe 26 Cantons. This paper originates from one of the largeCantons, Vaud. Major efforts have been made from the Federallevel to transmit relevant AIDS-related information to the generalpublic. Much remains to be done to assist people, especiallyhigh risk groups, to translate the vital prevention messagesinto behaviour changes. For youth in general, new attitudestowards sexual relations are called for, different from thoseof young people 10 or 15 years ago. In Vaud, a number of entrypoints are used to pass on this education: physicians and nursesinvolved in school health, teachers and, among the latter, twogroups with specific in-service training and part-time functions—mediators(who make themselves available to children in various risk situations)and health animators (promoting the inclusion of health educationtopics in the teaching). There is a special health programmefor 16–19 year olds. Also a substantial tradition of sexualeducation sessions in the school system offers valuable opportunitiesfor AIDS education. Further, innovative strategies are developedto reach and work with the male homosexuals and, to the extentpossible, intravenous drug addicts. In conclusion it is emphasizedthat, in many ways, AIDS education issues demand courage fromhealth and public leaders.     

医务人员艾滋病职业暴露危险因素评估与防护现况调查

医务人员艾滋病职业暴露是关系到公众及医务人员身体健康和生命安全的公共卫生问题。保护医务人员免受艾滋病职业暴露的威胁已臼益成为艾滋病防治的关键．北京市东城区疾病控制中心率先在北京市医务人员中开展艾滋病职业暴露危险因素及防护现状的调查,旨在了解和掌握医务人员艾滋病职业暴露危险因素及防护现况,为医务人员艾滋病职业暴露防护对策提供科学依据。     

The end of AIDS?: AIDS reporting in the Australian press in the mid-1990s

In news reports of HIV/AIDS, the discourses giving meaning to the pandemic have constantly shifted and changed since its emergence in the early 1980s. This article presents an analysis of HIV/AIDS reporting in the Australian press in the three-year period between 1994 and 1996. It focuses on two dominant topical themes appearing in this period: politics and policy debates around HIV/AIDS and medico-scientific research and treatment issues. It is argued that in the mid-1990s HIV/AIDS has increasingly become portrayed as a biomedical rather than a public health problem, and again as affecting gay men rather than the general population. It is suggested that these changes in representation may eventually lead to ‘the end of AIDS’ as a highly prominent phenomenon in the news media, with implications for general attitudes towards the syndrome and future policy and funding decisions.     

Using Public Relations to Promote Health: A Framing Analysis of Public Relations Strategies Among Health Associations

This study explored health organizations' public relations efforts to frame health issues through their press releases. Content analysis of 316 press releases from three health organizations—the American Heart Association, the American Cancer Society, and the American Diabetes Association—revealed that they used the medical research frame most frequently and emphasized societal responsibility for health issues. There were differences, however, among the organizations regarding the main frames and health issues: the American Diabetes Association was more likely to focus on the issues related to social support and education, while the American Heart Association and the American Cancer Society were more likely to address medical research and scientific news. To demonstrate their initiatives for public health, all the organizations employed the social support/educational frame most frequently. Researchers and medical doctors frequently were quoted as trusted sources in the releases.     

The media and AIDS: health elite perspectives of coverage

Most writers assessing AIDS have been critical of the media's coverage of this epidemic. To ascertain the views of key elites on media coverage of AIDS, the authors surveyed chief state public health officers, chairs of legislative health committees, and directors of hospital associations. In general, these groups tended to reject criticisms that media handling of AIDS is unbalanced. Conversely, however, they also generally rate the media as not doing a good job of educating the public about AIDS. The media's success in accurately communicating professional perspectives regarding AIDS might have accounted for their relative lack of independent influence in AIDS policymaking. The media exhibited a "guard dog" role-protecting the health professionals' positions-instead of an agenda-setting role-dictating to the decision-makers what issues they should be addressing.     

Does donor assistance for HIV respond to media pressure?

HIV/AIDS is a heavily mediatised disease. In this article, we test whether media attention is affecting donors' disbursement of aid for HIV to African countries. We use information available on the number of articles and press documents on HIV issues and other health concerns published in donor countries to construct a proxy of media coverage. This proxy is then included as an explanatory variable in a regression of aid for HIV to Africa. After controlling for several donor characteristics, we find that greater media coverage increases aid disbursement. This may be good news for the HIV campaign but may result in displacement effects to the extent that other diseases that cause greater mortality and morbidity receive less media coverage than HIV and thus less health aid.