Effective Health Message Design

Abstract

The greatest health communication challenge of the 20th century—preventing the spread of HIV and curtailing the AIDS epidemic—threatens the health of citizens for the next century despite governmental efforts to limit the spread of the deadly disease. The authors analyze a governmental media campaign, the America Responds to AIDS campaign waged by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, outlining strengths and shortcomings of the effort. This article applies the workable integrative negotiation (WIN[UNKNOWN]) principles of COAST[UNKNOWN] (communication, options, alternatives, standards, and trust) in a descriptive analysis of a specific national marketing communication effort by the government. The authors concur on the necessity of a comprehensive approach of individually adapting health care messages to advance the overall quality of media campaigns and the health of America in general.