TY - JOUR
T1 - Sexually transmitted infection and public health in South Africa
T2 - Educational campaigns for prevention, 1935-1948 and 1999-2008
AU - Jeeves, Alan
AU - Jolly, Rosemary J.
N1 - Funding Information:
Alan Jeeves and Rosemary Jolly jointly hold a Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada grant comparing South Africa’s experiences of sexually transmitted infections prior to the introduction of antibiotics with its contemporary experiences of STIs, including HIV/AIDS. They are also involved in research funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health on the links between gender-based violence and coercion, and the spread of HIV/ AIDS in rural South Africa.
Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the support of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada that financed the initial stages of the research. The Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded the project entitled ‘Transforming Violent Gender Relations to Reduce Risk of HIV/AIDS Infection among Young Women and Girls.’ In addition to the authors of this paper, the investigators in 2004–2006 were Will Boyce and Nomusa Mngoma, Queen’s University; Sarita Verma, University of Toronto; Steve Reid, Centre for Rural Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal (critical review of the proposal, instruments, procedures and data collection); Eleanor Preston Whyte, HIVAN, University of KwaZulu-Natal; Tracy Vienings, Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, Johannesburg; Claudia Mitchell, McGill University (critical review of the proposal and procedures); and Belinda Dodson, University of Western Ontario (critical review of the proposal and data collection). The following gave valuable support to the project as research assistants: Diane Davies, Ncedile Mankahle, Vuyelwa Mkhize, Tobias Mngadi, S’thembile Ngidi, Cyril Nkabinde, Hana Saab, Sid Sahay and Siduduziwe Zulu. The authors also wish to thank the editors of this special issue and their readers for their helpful suggestions for revision.
PY - 2009/8
Y1 - 2009/8
N2 - This contribution compares two educational campaigns for prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in South Africa: against syphilis in the decade before penicillin became widely available after World War II, and against HIV since 1999. The syphilis campaign was led by the South African Red Cross. The HIV/AIDS campaign is in the hands of loveLife, a well-financed health non-governmental organization. Widely separated in time, they nevertheless share basic characteristics that help to explain their limited effectiveness. Much public education for STI prevention assumes that accurate medical information, if delivered effectively, will promote necessary behaviour change to reduce risk of infection irrespective of the class, culture or education level of the target groups. Approaches based on that premise largely failed against syphilis in South Africa and have so far failed again against HIV/AIDS. The paper contends that the health propaganda generated in both campaigns took insufficient account of the socio-economic circumstances and beliefs that frequently constrain changes in behaviour even when self-preservation is at stake. As mass campaigns, they were unable to respond to regional and local differences that affected reception of their messages. Recipients of public funding and support, they each aligned themselves with prevailing political discourses in ways that also impacted on effectiveness. Despite these and other preventive efforts, syphilis in the 1940s, like HIV in the years since 1994, continued undiminished to take a heavy toll of people's lives and health.
AB - This contribution compares two educational campaigns for prevention of sexually transmitted infections (STIs) in South Africa: against syphilis in the decade before penicillin became widely available after World War II, and against HIV since 1999. The syphilis campaign was led by the South African Red Cross. The HIV/AIDS campaign is in the hands of loveLife, a well-financed health non-governmental organization. Widely separated in time, they nevertheless share basic characteristics that help to explain their limited effectiveness. Much public education for STI prevention assumes that accurate medical information, if delivered effectively, will promote necessary behaviour change to reduce risk of infection irrespective of the class, culture or education level of the target groups. Approaches based on that premise largely failed against syphilis in South Africa and have so far failed again against HIV/AIDS. The paper contends that the health propaganda generated in both campaigns took insufficient account of the socio-economic circumstances and beliefs that frequently constrain changes in behaviour even when self-preservation is at stake. As mass campaigns, they were unable to respond to regional and local differences that affected reception of their messages. Recipients of public funding and support, they each aligned themselves with prevailing political discourses in ways that also impacted on effectiveness. Despite these and other preventive efforts, syphilis in the 1940s, like HIV in the years since 1994, continued undiminished to take a heavy toll of people's lives and health.
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U2 - 10.1057/sth.2009.3
DO - 10.1057/sth.2009.3
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:68249103663
SN - 1477-8211
VL - 7
SP - 264
EP - 283
JO - Social Theory and Health
JF - Social Theory and Health
IS - 3
ER -
