Activities:

Discussion points

• How important is health education in a developing country?
• Why do you need to be sensitive to the views of religious leaders if you are working on a project like this in a developing country?
• What are the different ways you can get messages across to people if they can’t read or write?
• Why is it important that people from the country itself are involved in developing the health messages for their fellow citizens?

Planning a health education campaign

Ask students to identify a developing country where HIV is a growing problem. They should find out as much as possible about how health messages are currently being put across ­ establishing why this is the case. They should also gather together some data on HIV rates, particular challenges facing health workers, and any organisations that are currently working in that country. Then they should plan a campaign to change people’s minds or behaviour.

Here are some of the questions that students could consider: Should they focus on educational work with young people? Should they try to change attitudes amongst older generations? Should they use videos, posters, leaflets, songs? And how should they work with people in the country itself so that the messages are appropriate in terms of the content and tone?