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15 Communication Strategies for Confronting AIDS Empowering the Children of Africa Arvind Singhal The introduction to the present volume cited singer Oliver Mtukudzi’s question to the youth of Zimbabwe about the AIDS crisis: “What shall we do?” In the context of Zimbabwe, where 45 percent of the children under the age of five are HIV positive and where one of every two fifteen-year-olds is likely to die of AIDS, Mtukudzi’s question embodies both a national crisis and a continent’s anguish. So what shall we do? While there are no short-cuts or simple formulas for tackling AIDS, the discourse of what can be done is framed in the context of courage, hope, and possibilities . While the world is now more than twenty years into the HIV/AIDS crisis with no promising vaccine in sight, and with relatively few effective and sustainable prevention programs , several key lessons have been learned about confronting the pandemic. I discuss these lessons from my vantage point as a communications scholar interested in overcoming the communicative challenges presented by HIV/AIDS: silence, denial, 230 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. blame, stigma, prejudice, and discrimination. McGeary aptly summarized these challenges: “The victims don’t cry out. Doctors and obituaries do not give the killer its name. Families recoil in shame. Leaders shirk responsibility. The stubborn silence heralds victory for the disease: denial cannot keep the virus at bay.”1 How can communication strategies address these challenges— strategically, creatively, and compassionately? I organize the response to this question around four key communicative lessons. Perhaps some of these lessons can empower the children of Africa as they face the relentless onslaught of AIDS. Lesson 1: “When the Lion Comes, Make a Loud Shout” In April 2002, during the International Conference on HIV/ AIDS and the African Child, held at Ohio University, I picked up a copy of African Recovery, which featured a story on how Uganda is facing the AIDS “lion.” In this story, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni goaded his fellow African heads of state to personally lead the charge on AIDS. He said: “When a lion comes to the village, you don’t make a small alarm. You make a very loud one. When I knew of AIDS, I said we must shout and shout and shout and shout.”2 Museveni’s use of the word shout signifies a key communication strategy to confront AIDS. Shouting signifies a mustering of political leadership, a call to action, and, perhaps more important, the need to be heard loud and clear amid a cacophony of confusion or, as some have suggested, a deafening veil of silence. Museveni believes that his fellow “village chiefs” need to confront the AIDS lion head-on as the beast continues to decimate the village stock, especially the most vulnerable young ones. Doing anything less is unpardonable. Communication Strategies for Confronting AIDS / 231 You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. 232 / The Children of Africa Confront AIDS Fig. 15.1. High school students in KwaZulu-Natal Province, South Africa, during an interactive theater performance designed to break the community ’s silence on AIDS. Johns Hopkins University Center for Communication Programs. Photograph by Patrick L. Coleman, JHU/CCP. Used with permission. You are reading copyrighted material published by Ohio University Press/Swallow Press. Unauthorized posting, copying, or distributing of this work except as permitted under U.S. copyright law is illegal and injures the author and publisher. In our communication courses, we discuss the importance of analyzing communication phenomena by posing the question , Who says what to whom in what context and with what effect? Once again, Museveni’s follow-up remarks to his fellow African chiefs reflect a strategic grasp of communicative action : “When a district health officer comes to address a village meeting, 20 people show up. When Museveni addresses a rally, 20,000 show up. That’s the time to pass the AIDS message.” “The top leadership needs to supervise the AIDS war.”3 Breaking the silence on AIDS by “shouting” loudly allows a nation, a community, or a family to step up from words to...

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