HIV This Week

Johnny L, Mitchell C. "Live and let live": An analysis of HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in international campaign posters. J Health Commun 2006;11:755-67.

As a corollary to The Declaration of Commitment adopted by the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS in June 2001, UNAIDS developed a World AIDS Campaign that sought to eradicate HIV-related stigma and discrimination. The campaign incorporated several educational strategies, including a poster campaign that advocated the just and equal treatment of people living with HIV. In an effort to develop an understanding of these educational efforts, Johnny and Mitchell deconstruct the 2002-2003 World AIDS Campaign posters. While the overall results suggest that the campaign has been successful in redefining images of HIV and AIDS, they also show that certain aspects of these posters may actually serve to reinforce stigma and discrimination. Using a visual studies approach to textual analysis, the authors explore the underlying ideological and cultural assumptions that exist within the posters and provide a method for evaluating such materials.

Babalola S. Readiness for HIV testing among young people in northern Nigeria: The roles of social norm and perceived stigma. AIDS Behav 2006 Dec 27; [Epub ahead of print].

Babalola examined the predictors of readiness for HIV testing among young people in northern Nigeria, paying special attention to the role of stigma. Stigma was measured at two levels: individual and community (social norm). There are commonalities and differences in the correlates of readiness for HIV testing among men and women. For men and women, knowledge about HIV prevention, knowledge about a source for VCT, discussion about condom use for HIV prevention and perceived risk are strong predictors. Knowledge that an apparently healthy person can be HIV-infected is only significant for women. Perceived stigma is a significant predictor for both men and women although the specific dimension of note differs between the sexes. Social norm is strongly and directly associated with readiness among men but has no apparent influence among women. For both sexes, social norm appears to have strong mediating influence on the relationship between personal perceived stigma and readiness. The author concludes that the results strongly suggest that to eliminate HIV-related stigma, it is not enough to target individual cognitive processes; strategic efforts should target social structures in order to change negative social norms.

Editors’ notes: Here is yet another study highlighting the importance of well designed social change communication strategies to create enabling environments for behavioural change and maintenance – in this case, the decision to take an HIV test.