Images of HIV and Aids in the School Environment in Kisumu City, Kenya

Abstract

Abstract: The fight against HIV and AIDS in Kenya has been achieved through the concerted efforts of government, the media, medical practitioners, religious groups and the general public. Efforts to combat and manage the impacts of HIV and AIDS include the development of Information, Education and Communication materials targeted at adolescents in school. The Kenya government developed media campaign materials that appeared as advertisements in the local daily newspapers. This paper describes the images of HIV and AIDS in advertisements in the print media as seen through the eyes of school-going adolescents. It explains the multimodal nature of the newspaper advertisements. It entails a Critical Discourse Analysis of the images of HIV and AIDS in the print media. This paper provides an interactive sociolinguistic model through which the contradictory discourses of HIV and AIDS might be understood, drawing from Goffman‟s insights on stigma management and the presentation of the self in social interactions. Findings reveal that ambience, body language, colour, gaze, gesture, graphics and imagery work in complementarity to craft the overall images of HIV and AIDS. There is general awareness of HIV and AIDS among the youth and there is need to escalate the fight by highlighting the effects of HIV infection. This paper is significant to educationists and public health practitioners who will be able to assess the impact of their efforts in the war against HIV and AIDS. Keywords: Adolescents, advertisement, discourse, imagery, multimodalities.