Behavior Change and Public Health in the Developing World

"This is a highly readable and very interesting book that opens a new chapter in thinking about international health form a public health perspective. It makes a compelling case for not only understanding the health problem but the health context. This means looking at policies and politics that are upstream from where the problem is typically addressed. This book will give a new and clear direction to teaching and responding to public health issues in developing countries. It is chock full of examples that illustrate the important principles, values, and lessons that are nicely elaborated in the book. For anyone interested in making a difference in the public health of the developing world, this book will be a vital resource."

—Lawrence Wallack, Portland State University

"This excellent text is targeted to those with little international experience and those unfamiliar with social and behavioral approaches to enhancing public health. The book clearly explicates social and behavioral approaches to resolving health problems in global terms."

—Noreen M. Clark, PhD, University of Michigan School of Public Health

"John Elder pulls together the story of communication and public health. This book will be a unique guide for both health professionals, and communication students to the ideas and programs that have shaped the past thirty years. It goes beyond the story of advertising and campaigns and exposes the real contribution of social marketing and social advocacy to some of the biggest public health success stories of our time." —William Smith, Academy for Educational Development, Washington, D.C.

This volume emphasizes experience in behavior change programs for the prevention and control of the world's biggest killers: malnutrition, respiratory infections, diarrhea, vaccine-preventable diseases, wasteful fertility, HIV/AIDS, and tobacco use. These programs are linked to theories and models that most typically frame them: health communications and social marketing, learning theory, media advocacy, and community self-control. Descriptions of programs and related literature presented in the book were selected essentially for how well they represent the application of a theory to a specific health or disease target.