The 1992 Earth Summit: background and prospects.

PIP: In 1989, the UN General Assembly agreed to sponsor a conference on environment and development and that the Heads of State would attend this 1st ever Earth Summit in June 1992. The planned agenda included making concrete changes to the basis of our economic life, relations between and among nations, and the outlook for the future. This would result in restructuring world priorities. Despite the 1972 Stockholm Conference on the human Environment acknowledging the basic link between environment and development, the environment has deteriorated even further, especially ozone depletion. Yet some governments did set up environmental agencies or ministries, like the US Environmental Protection Agency, but they were not allowed to influence economic policy or the policies and/or practices of major sectoral agencies. These environmental organizations relied too heavily on regulation. The 1992 conference needs to result in a political commitment to place reduction of poverty worldwide as the 1st priority since poverty and underdevelopment are strongly related to destruction of the environment. It is particularly important that developing countries improve their strengths by developing their human resources and institutional capacities (science, technology, management and professional skills) and reduce their vulnerabilities, such as dependence on foreign experts. This can best be achieved if they have access to technology. Moreover they must reduce population growth and reach population stability quickly. The 1992 conference in Brazil should also result in a global partnership based on common interest, mutual need, and shared responsibility. The world ecoindustrial revolution has already begun in some countries, such as Japan which has reduced energy use 40% since 1975. In fact, Japan has proven that environmental improvement can be accomplished with high rates of economic growth.^ieng

"Sing and the world sings with you".

PIP: Mass media techniques that combine entertainment with health education are particularly effective in producing behavioral changes. The Enter-educate approach is based on the assumption that the power of mainstream popular culture is great enough to generate models for overall social behavior. Enter-education incorporate 5 factors; projects are personal, popular, pervasive, persuasive, and profitable. The importance of personal identification with characters in a film or radio serial is demonstrated by a Filipino television drama that dealt with teenage pregnancy. 27% of the target audience of 17-24-year-old females watched this show, and 98% found it believable and informative. A campaign in Nigeria to support responsible parenthood was boosted by the participation of a popular rock star. 88% of residents in Lagos reported hearing the 2 songs and seeing the music video that featured this star. A project in Mexico and 10 other countries in Latin America recognized the importance of pervasiveness in its combination of music recordings, radio, and television to reach young people with messages about responsible sexuality. The persuasive effect of television was confirmed in a Turkish television campaign that showed a series of portraits of a family as children were added over time and ended with a portrait containing an empty chair for the mother. The health risks to women of too many closely spaced pregnancies could not have been as dramatically portrayed in print. Finally, enter-education campaigns have the potential to attract commercial support. A campaign in the Philippines against adolescent pregnancy received generous support from corporations in the form of purchase of air time, subsidization of printed materials, and provision of hotline counselors.^ieng

Merolicos and health education.

PIP: Research on merolicos provides valuable information about receptiveness to public health communication. Merolicos are Mexican medicine showmen who by entertaining means such as ventriloquism, mental telepathy, and snakehandling captivate audiences while imparting medicinal information. It was observed that trust in the merolicos extends to people seeking out advice, consultation and explanations. The effective folk traditional health orientation, accessibility and communicative style of the showmen were appealing aspects of the merolicos to the townspeople. In a pilot project the medicine show method of communication was explored in a specific area of infant nutrition in order to evaluate whether the showmen were able to bring about changes in the knowledge, attitudes and behavior patterns of their audience. This involves community selection, message content control, preparation and surveys. Impressive results were seen in adolescents who showed curiosity and attentiveness during the shows. Many young girls valued information about infant care and nutrition. Mexican medicine showmen combine an ability to dramatically work information into community health programs at low potential cost while discreetly disseminating vital health oriented information.^ieng