HIV and AIDS education through the mass media

HIV and AIDS education through the mass media

The mass media has played a central role in many countries’ responses to AIDS since the very early days of the epidemic. In the UK, as a response to the growing number of new HIV infections during the 1980s, a leaflet about AIDS was delivered to every household and a major advertising campaign carrying the slogan “AIDS: Don’t Die of Ignorance”, was launched. The UK government’s use of the media for broadly targeted or ‘blanket education’ was successful in promoting widespread awareness of HIV and AIDS amongst the general population.

The ‘tombstone’ AIDS advert that was aired in 1987 in the UK.

Although media-based HIV and AIDS education is considered effective for raising general awareness, its overall impact is difficult to measure. It is essential that education goes beyond promoting general awareness and instigates behaviour change to reduce the risk of HIV transmission.

HIV and AIDS education can also have the detrimental affect of increasing stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV. Some media messages try to change people’s behaviour by making the audience afraid of the consequences of becoming infected with HIV. This not only has the potential of making the target audience afraid of people infected with HIV but also carries the risk of portraying HIV positive people as at fault for becoming infected.

Media based HIV and AIDS education can be particularly harmful when targeted at specific risk groups, such as men who have sex with men or injecting drug users. Not only can this fuel stigmatisation of these groups, but it can also hinder HIV prevention. By not representing the broad face of the epidemic, and instead focusing on risks to specific groups, the media encourages the attitude that AIDS is ‘somebody else’s problem’ and that if you are not part of a risk group you don’t need to worry about HIV and AIDS.

Peer education

It is not just teachers who can provide education; people’s knowledge about HIV and AIDS can be influenced by a variety of different people, including family, friends, and the wider community. Peer education is education provided by somebody who is either directly part of the group receiving the information, or who is from a similar social background.

Peer education is a less formal method of educating, which can be more accessible to people who are not used to or dislike a formal classroom environment. At the same time, peer educators are trained on the subject, ensuring that the information they provide is accurate and reliable. This makes peer education a very effective way of reaching marginalised groups. For example, peer education programmes have been found to work well in prisons, where authority figures are often distrusted