Staff Report
A UNM professor is playing a key role in improving the communication strategies that can be used to help control the spread of HIV/AIDS in developing nations.
Everett Rogers, a Regents' Professor in the Communication and Journalism Department, has co-written a book, Combatting AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action, that details the importance of using communication strategies to influence government policy and gender relations in curbing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The book attributes the global spread of the deadly virus and points to factors such as political inaction and a lack of funds to control the disease.
"We feel that the model has broad applicability to other social problems, especially where stigma and prejudice are involved," Rogers said in a press release.
Rogers and coauthor Arvind Singhal of Ohio State University interviewed hundreds of doctors, government officials, HIV-prevention program directors and patients around the world to research their book.
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The authors present research on two broadly successful communications strategies -- entertainment-education soap operas and radio and television public health campaigns.
Both reach large audiences and promote preventive behaviors. Popular soap operas with effective HIV/AIDS messages are aired in South Africa, India and Brazil.
Thailand saw the number of new HIV cases drop from 143,000 in 1991 to 29,000 in 2000 due in part to a $48 million education and public health campaign.
Beyond advocating HIV/AIDS prevention, Rogers said that communication strategies can be applied to combat other global social problems such as racism, illiteracy and environmental problems.
Rogers has been teaching in universities and conducting scholarly research for the past 45 years. He is best known for his book "Diffusion of Innovations," now in its fifth edition.
