After reading Helen Epstein’s “AIDS, Inc”, I discovered many different feelings and thoughts on the subject that I didn’t know I felt before. AIDS and HIV testing and most things to do with sexually transmitted diseases are well known nowadays so I didn’t even realize how controversial it was in the past. There were many factors that affected what type of campaigns were to be set up and how to go about bringing them up. Some factors were geography, culture, and age of the audience. I’m so use to how things are now that I was shocked when Epstein stated, “They were more likely to start having sex at very young ages, even below age of fourteen…” (111). I was shocked because culturally where I am from that is a very young age and I would never expect that to be normal for a fourteen-year-old.
Epstein mentioned two programs specifically that she had come to know, and she visited and got to see firsthand. One was called “LoveLife” and the other was called “Inkanyezi”. LoveLife had a positive and cheerful campaign which looked appealing but was not as effective as the campaign that Inkanyezi was. Also, LoveLife was less effective because they tried to create a new consumerist. Inkanyezi was more effective because it dealt more with the reality of AIDS. Family Planning Programs also were mentioned in the text and reminded me of back home when they would come to my high school to give speeches and seminars on AIDS and having safe sex.
It makes sense to me that smaller places have better outcomes because they require less money, so it is easier to fund them. A connection between Hallward’s Ted Talk and Epstein’s text is Hallward describes how when one person tells their story it forms a bond and everyone starts to speak up. In Epstein’s text “social cohesion” is used which then continues to bring up that in Uganda people live closer together which causes the Ugandans to form a bond and discuss more openly about AIDS and to become more compassionate towards each other and the issue (116).
