Awareness campaigns: experience in Mexico

Abstract

The current total of AIDS cases in Mexico is 37,000 of which 86% have occurred in men. The major route of transmission is sexual. The campaign to prevent AIDS has fallen into four phases, and has now been extended to other sexually transmitted diseases, including hepatitis B. The first phase (1985–1989) was based around question and answer brochures, which increased awareness but did not remove misconceptions. A mass media campaign addressed these misconceptions and stressed preventive measures. The campaign was halted by opposition to the promotion of condom use on the grounds that it encouraged promiscuity. The second phase (1989–1992) used more conservative messages, but these were too obscure and failed to reach the target audience. A poster campaign using popular lottery characters was widely accepted. In the third phase (1992–1994), a combination of messages was targeted at different populations, including parents and women, and general public sympathy for social support for people with AIDS was encouraged. In the fourth phase (1996–2000), a mass media campaign was aimed at teenagers, with parents and teachers as support groups. The campaign was widened to include HBV infection, and posters and brochures for teenagers were produced. These are distributed as part of a collaboration with non-governmental organizations providing sex education. The private medical sector is being encouraged to provide facilities for hepatitis B vaccination. So far the campaign has only been established in Mexico City, but it is hoped that this will be extended nationwide. Hepatitis B vaccination has been recently included in the National Immunization Programme for infants in the first year of life and it is officially recommended for at-risk populations.