Resources search

Disability and HIV policy brief

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO)
OFFICE OF THE HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (OHCHR)
April 2009

Expand view

This policy brief discusses the actions needed to increase the participation of persons with disabilities in the response to HIV and to ensure that they have access to HIV services which are both tailored to their diverse needs and equal to the services available to others in the community. Recommendations of actions for governments, civil society and aid agencies are provided, having been defined in consultation with a broad range of stakeholders including people living with HIV and persons with disabilities. An example from South Africa is highlighted. This document is beneficial for anyone working in disability and development with HIV and AIDS

UNAIDS expert consultation on behaviour change in the prevention of sexual transmission of HIV : highlights and recommendations

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
2007

Expand view

This is the report of a two-day meeting to consider the state of knowledge around behaviour change measures for the prevention of the sexual transmission of HIV. Participants identified four priority issues around this: prevention measures that are effective in concentrated epidemics; analysis of and responses to sexual behaviour involving multiple concurrent partners and other hyperendemic scenarios; gender inequality, inter-generational sex and gender-based violence as major sources of vulnerablity to women and girls in hyperendemic scenarios; and HIV-related stigma and denial as barriers to behaviour change. Analyses of these issues produced a number of recommendations

Getting the message across : the mass media and the response to AIDS

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
December 2005

Expand view

The mass media have the potential to provide a platform for discussion, communication and education on HIV and AIDS, giving a voice to people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA), challenging stigma and discrimination, lobbying policy makers and building partnerships and capacity through sharing and transferring skills and expertise. However, mass media can also disseminate misleading messages, while HIV/AIDS communication competes with other topics for broadcasting time and audiences. This report presents three case studies of effective and creative use of the media in South Africa: Soul City and Soul Buddyz adopt an 'edutainment' approach, aiming both to educate and entertain; the Community Health Media Trust produces a series of programmes addressing issues concerning people with HIV/AIDS; Takalani makes television and radio programmes, to encourage small children to develop self-esteem, offer positive models and destigmatise PLWHA. Detailing the lessons learned from these experiences, the report looks at how target audiences are chosen, how partnerships are formed, how topics and ideas are developed and what ethical issues arise

The Senegalese antiretroviral drug access initiative : an economic, social, behavioural and biomedical analysis

DESCLAUX, Alice
et al
April 2004

Expand view

This very thorough analysis of the Senegalese Antiretroviral Drug Access Initiative (ISAARV) presents preliminary results from the initiative's first three years. The analysis explores four aspects of the programme: treatment access, adherence, therapeutic efficacy, and the impact of this treatment programme on the Senegalese health care system

HIV/AIDS and communication for behavior and social change : programme experiences, examples, and the way forward

SINGHAL, Arvind
June 2001

Expand view

The purpose of this workshop was to: map out strategies for implementation of communication programmes for behaviour and social change; strengthen links between communication programmes and priority issues in HIV and AIDS in developing countries; and increase technical soundness in communication programmes, projects and strategies of organisations working on HIV and AIDS prevention, care and treatment. Several recommendations about the role of communication for behaviour and social change in HIV and AIDS programmes emerged from the workshop’s deliberations

HIV and health-care reform in Phayao : from crisis to opportunity

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
2000

Expand view

Describes the successes and challenges of the fight against hiv/aids in the Phayao district of northern Thailand. While existing measures have succeeded in reducing seroprevalence among vulnerable groups (pregnant women, military conscripts), progress has levelled off. To enable further progress, the authors have identified profound health care reforms, at the level of 'purpose and roles': the sector is charged not only with providing services, but with couselling and enabling individuals and communities to assess how hiv/aids affects them, to change their behaviour as needed, and to learn from their actions

Communications framework for HIV/AIDS : a new direction

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
1999

Expand view

This framework, the product of a participatory research project on the use of communications for HIV prevention, finds conventional communications that focus on behaviour change limited in their scope and effectiveness. It questions the relationship between knowledge and behaviour, and the stress in ‘behaviour change’ communication on individual change. For sustainable change, the influence of a number of domains of social context need to be addressed, including: political and policy frameworks, gender, socio-economic status, spirituality and religion, and culture. It builds on these domains to create broad regional strategies for communications in Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean. Its suggestions for future national strategies combine interpersonal communication and mass media in key areas of HIV/AIDS prevention and care. It stipulates that participatory processes are central to designing and operationalising national strategies

Gender and HIV/AIDS : taking stock of research and programmes

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
1999

Expand view

Discusses public health and social science research on risk and vulnerability as applied to both men and women (in terms of prevention, care and support). Examines current programming priorities in public health and development for gender and HIV, highlights trends and issues, and identifies challenges and gaps

Communications programming for HIV/AIDS : an annotated bibliography

JOINT UNITED NATIONS PROGRAMME ON HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
1999

Expand view

This annotated bibliography pulls together published and unpublished research and examples from practice based on communication strategies for HIV/AIDS prevention and care. It highlights the literature in both theoretical and practical applications. Researchers and practitioners can use this bibliography to identify key books, articles, and reports that deal with specific communications-related aspects of HIV/AIDS prevention and care.
The first section contains references related to the different theoretical concepts in HIV/AIDS communication, and examples of their application in different settings. The theories considered are the diffusion of innovations, the health belief model, the theory of reasoned action, the AIDS risk-reduction and management model, the sense-making approach, and social learning and cognitive theories. The second section of this bibliography covers examples and reports of HIV/AIDS communication campaigns. In doing so, it provides references dealing with traditional mass media campaigns, multimedia campaigns, and the role of interpersonal and small-group communication in media campaigns; as well as more recent approaches to health and HIV/AIDS communication such as media advocacy and entertainment-education. The third section of this document contains references on community response to HIV/AIDS. Culture and context occupy the fourth section, which includes citations that might help users identify key references associated with some of the issues identified as highly relevant to future HIV/AIDS communication, such as language and different ways of knowing and communicating in varied contexts

E-bulletin