Volume 1, Number 2
April-June 1996

Vol. 1, Num 2: Contents | Editorial | Up Front | Abstracts

Editorial
SCOTT C. RATZAN

In the early months of 1996, a number of different events serve to remind us of the breadth of health communication issues:

1. Lawmakers passed the largest communication bill in U.S. history, pledging to change communication "as we know it." The bill presents special implications for competition and cooperation among computers, television, telephones, the Internet, and media ownership. At the same time, legislators in the nation's most populous state, California, are contemplating the repeal of the mandatory helmet law that has reduced motorcycle fatalities by 45%.

2. Meanwhile, there are continuing questions about leaders' health -- whether it be François Mitterand's lack of disclosure, Andreas Papandreou's ailing health, or U.S. presidential candidate Bob Dole's age.

3. Biotechnology successes continue to be heralded in public debate:

• A fat substitute has recently been approved for sale in the United States.

• There has been optimistic discussion of a synergistic treatment to slow the progression of AIDS.

• Xenographic transplantation of baboon bone marrow is being investigated as a treatment for HIV in humans.

• The U.S. Surgeon General's office has recommended one or two ounces of alcohol in one's daily diet to protect against cardiovascular disease.

4. Americans who might not regularly focus on health issues continue to hear dialogue on the rights of individuals with HIV, as infected basketball star Magic Johnson returned to play basketball in the National Basketball Association. At the same time, the U.S. Army prepares to discharge over 1000 HIV-infected servicemen.

This hodgepodge of information gets disseminated without any specific or serious strategies to meet the challenges that these events represent. Yet they demonstrably affect the health of our communities. Instantaneous communication technology could become a global force that would sweep away coups and outworn dogmas and borders of the past. But we still lack a coherent and effective strategy for using modern communications to deal with the health and the well-being of our society.

The problem of smoking is particularly illustrative of the need for health communication strategies. The incidence of tobacco use is escalating throughout the world; for the first time in U.S. history, lung cancer has surpassed breast cancer as the leading cause of death among women. And even with this knowledge, each day last year 3000 teenagers in the United States -- 1000 of whom will ultimately die from the effects of tobacco -- became first-time smokers. Nonetheless, in the United States and around the world, the debate continues to focus on individual rights, as opposed to doing the right thing, as we uncover the evidence of unconscionable behavior of the tobacco executives who knowingly maximize profits by selling death throughout the world. Properly formulated strategies by health communicators (in government agencies, nonprofit organizations, and health care providers) could help to reframe such debates and set the agenda in a way that would communicate the real health issues, which are critical to the maintenance of public health.

The mission of this journal is to advance the public good by presenting the best research into effective and ethical communication, techniques, and strategies. Our hope is that the contributions herein will help you to advance your research or meet your communication challenges.