The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) of the Public Health Service made public health history in 1988 by mailing the pamphlet, "Understanding AIDS," to every household in the United States. Approximately 126 million copies were distributed, reaching at least 60 percent of the population according to several national polls. The pamphlet was produced and mailed at a cost of about 20 cents per copy. The impact of "Understanding AIDS" by itself on AIDS-related behavior was not fully assessed. Extensive message pretesting and other commercial marketing techniques to improve the effectiveness of the brochure, however, helped "Understanding AIDS" achieve an increase in awareness and concern about AIDS. A number of lessons were learned during the process. They included the importance in such an enterprise of setting a deadline, doing formative research, receiving active support from senior management, achieving a consensus on scientific knowledge, using communications experts, centralizing the final decision-making function, maximizing publicity surrounding the mailing, building a base of support among constituency groups, planning distribution logistics from the very start, and designing evaluation into the process from the beginning.
By 1982, community responses to the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic were evident in some cities in the United States. Community responses were planned, developed, and coordinated largely by service-oriented, community-based organiz...
One of the goals of the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) policy on the prevention of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) is to support business organizations in implementing HIV and AIDS infor...
Since acquired immunodeficiency virus (AIDS) was first identified in 1981, it has become one of the leading causes of death in men and women 25-44 years of age in the United States. The urgent public health response to the human immunodeficiency viru...
The National AIDS Information and Education Program (NAIEP) commissioned the National Academy of Sciences to design a prototypical system of research for use in the evaluation of the agency's media campaign. It consists of four types of evaluation: f...
The AIDS Community Demonstration Projects are multicenter prevention projects directing community-based interventions to members of hard-to-reach groups at risk of infection from human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), which causes acquired immunodeficie...
Donovan, Robert J.; Jason, Janine; Gibbs, Deborah A.; Kroger, Fred;
Published Date:
1991 Nov-Dec
Source:
Public Health Rep. 106(6):645-651
Description:
An examination by the Centers for Disease Control and the Research Triangle Institute concluded that "hard-to-reach" populations could be reached with AIDS prevention messages through the broadcast and print media and that a study should be undertake...
The National AIDS Hotline (NAH), a service of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), is an information resource for the population of the United States, its Territories, and Puerto Rico concerning the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and acquired i...
The Centers for Disease Control is conducting two investigations of the outcomes of HIV counselling and testing services offered persons at high risk for infection with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). One investigation is a trial conducted at...
The National AIDS Clearinghouse is an information service provided by the Centers for Disease Control. The Clearinghouse was established in 1987 to respond to increasing numbers of public and professional inquiries, to disseminate accurate informatio...
As the epidemic of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) has evolved over the past 10 years, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has been at the forefront of the scientific efforts that have char...
The "America Responds to AIDS" campaign is the focal point of an integrated mass communications system for AIDS education and information dissemination developed by the National AIDS Information and Education Program of the Centers for Disease Contro...
Responding to the facts that (a) the AIDS epidemic is occurring among black and Hispanic populations disproportionately to their percentage of the U.S. population and (b) effective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) prevention programs are racially, ...
During the 1987-90 period, five phases of new AIDS information materials were released to the general public in the ARTA campaign, including a national mailer. The five were "General Awareness: Humanizing AIDS" in October 1987, "Understanding AIDS," ...
Scarlett, Margaret I.; Williams, Kenneth R.; Cotton, Mary F.;
Published Date:
1991 Nov-Dec
Source:
Public Health Rep. 106(6):667-672
Description:
The authors address a unique partnership among private and public organizations, that of the American Red Cross and the Centers for Disease Control of the Public Health Service. The partnership stimulates an integrated community response to preventin...
If the transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is to be prevented, the environment in which people live should predispose them to engage in and sustain safe behaviors. Too often in public health, the range of organizations that make up tha...
Collins, Carlyn L.; Mullan, Robert J.; Moseley, Robin R.;
Published Date:
1991 Nov-Dec
Source:
Public Health Rep. 106(6):727-732
Description:
At the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), educational activities concerning acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) are directed to many target audiences; important among these are health care and public safety workers. Several CDC programs are des...
The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) that causes AIDS will continue to threaten public health for years to come. Despite some popular misperceptions, adolescents are at risk of infection. Twenty percent of persons reported with AIDS have been ages ...
Public acceptance of the Surgeon General's brochure, "Understanding AIDS," was investigated in a nationwide telephone survey of a representative sample of 2,000 adults generated by random digit dialing. A response rate of 75 percent was achieved. A t...