The Communication Initiative

[Rowan]

This is a contribution from ROWAN WAGNER to the Communication and Media for effective HIV/AIDS policy discussion in the lead up to the Mexico City AIDS International AIDS Conference - see opening orientation note. reply to this email or email to contribute



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Hi Warren,

I believe that we should encourage policy makers to develop communication policies that:


1. Are holistic in addressing both societal needs for safety and individual needs for recognition. By this I mean balancing the need to educate and support behavioral change in a wide range of setting that includes education, workplace and health systems and helping those who are marginalized by the mainstream to have a voice in terms of access and support.


2. That are in a clear and understandable language and are transparent in terms of resource allocation, benchmarks of success to include benefits to society and what negative consequences could occur if the policy fails and are in the form of living documents – that help people understand the who, what, why and how of HIV/AIDS policies.


3. That includes cultural sensitivity but not at the cost of protecting society from dangers brought by the effects of HIV/AIDS in terms of loss of life, economic degradation and the destruction of communities.[/list]


These would go a long way to improving the process of addressing the core issue of reducing the spread of HIV/AIDS and supporting those with the disease in getting access to drugs and services that allow them to live productive positive lives. In turn I hope that we in this community begin to learn what the challenges that policy makers face in terms of special interests (including our own) in developing policies and legal frameworks that may not be popular but are essential to the generating behavioral changes that are needed to control and stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, in order for us as a professional social movement to better assist policy makers and society at large in addressing the core challenge of eliminating HIV/AIDS from the greater society.

Rowan E. WagnerTashkent, Uzbekistan
Send instant messages to your online friends http://uk.messenger.yahoo.com


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