A communicative analysis of HIV and aids discourse in Nyanza province, Kenya

Abstract

Communicationis a key ingredient of all aspects of human interaction and is carried out to pass information, exchange ideas or simply to establish a sense of oneness or commonness between two or more interactants. This study analyses the dominant discourse on HIV and AIDS in Nyanza Province, Kenya, their underlying assumptions and the parties involved in their creation and dissemination. The concern with communicationin reference to discourse on HIV and AIDS discourse arises from the fact that despite decades of spirited campaigns, HIV and AIDS has attained pandemic proportions and, in the absence of a cure, effective communication remains a crucial means of stemming its spread. Given that infection with HIV is a problem with broad social,cultural, as well as economic implications, there is an urgent need to examine the communication as well as communication strategies used in the campaign in order to assess their effectiveness. The study had five objectives: To identify the representations of HIV and AIDS in discourse in Luo Nyanza, to establish the extent to which the inhabitants of the region are aware of the modes through which HIV is transmitted, to describethe response of the inhabitants to the information aimed at stemming the spread of HIV in the region. Additionally, the study sought to evaluate the role of cultural beliefs,norms and practices in the spread of HIV in the region and to assess the treatment of these cultural beliefs, norms and practices in the discourse on HIV and AIDS. The significance of this study lies in the fact that in the absence of a cure or vaccine against HIV, effective communication aimed at prevention of infection through change in sexual behaviour and continual practice of healthy sexual practice is humanity's only hope.The conceptual framework for the study comprises Discourse AnalysisFramework, Systemic Functional Linguistics, Communication Theory Paradigm as well Communication Campaign Theory and Advocacy. The study draws from multiple sources of data - questionnaires, document collection and content analysis. The population sample is drawn from three districts of Luo Nyanza - Bondo, Kisumu and Homa Bay which are representative of the Northern, Central and Southern parts of Luo Nyanza respectively. Purposive sampling technique was employed in the study to select respondents who would best help in understanding the problem and research questions. The findings of the study indicate that the choices made in the language used to communicate information on HIV and AIDS realize different representations of HIV, AIDS and PLWHA. In addition, the knowledge displayed by the inhabitants of the Lake Victoria region on HIV and AIDS is superficial rather than specific, pointing to a need to be specific about the aspects of behaviour that need changing.