Communication from a Human Rights Perspective: Responding to the HIV/AIDS Pandemic in Eastern and Southern Africa

Abstract

This paper focuses on one of the most critical issues of the international response to the HIV/AIDS pandemic and it certainly adds to the growing body of literature on approaches that attempt to move beyond behavior change communication-focused (BCC) interventions into more context-based dialogue-based approaches. The authors take into account some of the most relevant conceptual approaches and models that fueled the international debate around HIV/AIDS communication (i.e. Rockefeller Foundations Communication for Social Change; UNAIDS HIV/AIDS Communication Framework) and propose a Communication from a Human Rights Perspective Approach which reflects the human rights-based route undertaken by UNICEF over the past few years in the area of communications. The paper makes several important conceptual contributions. First it enriches the international debate on HIV/AIDS communication and the effectiveness of BCC in the context of HIV/AIDS. Second it brings into the academic literature an alternative communication approach based on years of field experience that responds to the growing HIV/AIDS pandemic. Third it puts community participation and ownership at the very center of the communications response to HIV/AIDS. Fourth it highlights the relevance of various community-based interventions to combat HIV/AIDS. (excerpt)