ATHENS, Ohio -- A book entitled "Combating AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action," written by Ohio University Interpersonal Communication Professor Arvind Singhal, is being launched today (Nov. 25) at a National Press Club event in Washington, D.C.
The book, co-authored with Everett Rogers of the University of New Mexico and supported by Population Communications International, examines the uses of communication and education as tools to combat the worldwide pandemic of AIDS. Singhal and Rogers have found that misinformation and misconceptions about the disease and its causes have contributed to the spread of the virus in developing countries.
AIDS and HIV infection continue to present a major crisis for the entire world - especially in Africa and Asia. According to Singhal, more than 65 million people have been infected with HIV, of which 25 million have died from AIDS worldwide. Fourteen thousand people are infected every day with 95 percent of the new infections occurring in developing countries.
Singhal says AIDS is the leading cause of death in Africa and two out of every three Zimbabweans between the ages of 15 and 39 are infected.
"Even the bubonic plague doesn't compare (to HIV and AIDS)," said Singhal. "HIV and AIDS have done as much damage in only 20 years."
In the authors' 15-plus years of service to health organizations, they noticed poor use of communication tactics for prevention. According to their observations, many doctors are ill-prepared to use communication as a preventative measure.
With thousands of hospice care units, prevention programs and medical programs designed specifically in response to the AIDS epidemic, the need for a synthesis of successful communication strategy exists, according to Singhal, because so many individuals dedicated to the prevention of the disease are simply unaware of how to talk about the disease.
"The issue is not so easy to talk about, but it is important to talk about it," Singhal says.
"Combating AIDS" is their response to develop the role of communication as an effective strategy in the prevention process.
The authors studied the AIDS policy programs and intervention plans in India, South Africa, Kenya, Thailand and Brazil. They talked to doctors, patients, caretakers and representatives from prevention programs to compile data and collect lessons of effective prevention practices of AIDS in each country.
Singhal and Rogers integrated the effective prevention policies collected from the five countries and highlighted the communication strategies. They hope that prevention programs worldwide will use their model and become more valuable and efficient. In addition, the communication strategies detailed in "Combating AIDS" are meant to be used for the care and support of current victims under clinical care.
Rogers and Singhal's work targets the same population to whom they talked in collecting data for the book.
"We hope that [the book] will influence not just the policy makers, but also the citizens, who should rally and also influence policy makers," Singhal said. "This could lead to more officials interested in curbing the pandemic."
While researching the book, Singhal found concrete evidence of the tremendous success that communication has had in halting the spread of AIDS.
For example, the Thai government under the direction of cabinet minister Mechai Viravaidya started an AIDS prevention program in 1991 that was dependent upon the use of communication as a tool for prevention. Viravaidya issued 30-second public service announcements highlighting AIDS awareness on every radio and television station in the entire country.
The advertisements appeared every hour. It became nearly impossible for Thai citizens not to hear or see a prevention message. Since Thailand put the prevention program into place, new HIV infections have declined from 143,000 in 1991 to 29,000 in 2000.
Singhal wants the AIDS prevention workers in developing countries to learn from the effectiveness of awareness campaigns like that of Thailand.
He hopes the new book will permeate into the pandemic's throng of support and prevention personnel.
"The critical part is to get the word out that this resource exists in the prevention process," Singhal says. "[The book's] usefulness is in how many hands it gets into."
Singhal's teaching specializations at Ohio University include diffusion of innovations, persuasive communication, communication campaigns and organizational communication. He has researched a variety of topics, and is the author of three other books, numerous journal articles and more than 50 conference papers. Why research and write about AIDS?
"A 15-year-old in Botswana has a 50 percent chance of dying to HIV," Singhal says. "I can't think of a better topic to work on."
Singhal and Rogers will be kicking off a four-city tour in India shortly after World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The tour is sponsored by the Public Diplomacy Division of the United States State Department.
"Combating AIDS: Communication Strategies in Action" is being published by Sage Publications. It is available for purchase -- e-mail order@sagepub.com or call (805) 499-9774.
