African solutions to African problems and the Ebola virus disease in Nigeria

Africa grapples with the world's most serious public health crisis, but this article shows that there are public health solutions that work in the African setting. When the Ebola virus disease outbreak was announced in Nigeria in July 2014, some public health specialists worried that an apocalyptic outbreak would sweep through the vast slums of Lagos. The words “Ebola” and “Lagos” in the same sentence were viewed as a dangerous combination, due to the large population of Lagos and the inefficient health care system in the city. Contrary to this view, the outbreak of Ebola virus disease was successfully contained in Nigeria. This article focuses on the factors that were responsible for this success. It examines strategies developed within Nigeria that help to ensure the successful containment of the disease. The paper identifies lessons that can be learnt by other countries from the Nigerian experience.     

Recovering religion: practising intersectoral cooperation in a time of cholera

ABSTRACT

Due to social and historical forces resistant to predictions of religion’s waning influence in the modern world, responses to contemporary epidemics continue to involve local religious entities and global religious networks. This viewpoint draws on the history of the 1854 cholera epidemic in London to highlight how histories of cooperation between religion and public health can help focus current thinking about the potential for intersectoral cooperation in response to modern epidemics.     

The historical contribution of faith-based health providers in the Ecuadorian health system: an overview of the evidence

ABSTRACT

Faith-based health providers (FBHPs) have historically shaped the national health system in Ecuador, yet there is little robust evidence of this role, or their current contribution to the national health system. This article situates FBHPs in the Ecuadorian health system, using secondary analyses of national health surveys to consider changes in contribution from 1998 to 2014, and synthesising this with secondary literature. The research confirms the important role that FBHPs have historically played in Ecuador, but also shows that their current role needs to be better understood if universalisation of health service coverage is to be achieved.     

Models of engagement between the state and the faith sector in sub-Saharan Africa – a systematic review

ABSTRACT

In sub-Saharan Africa many individuals rely on non-state health providers, and engagement between state and non-state providers is increasingly common. Little analytic work has been done on the varied models of engagement, resulting in a lack of clarity about the promises and challenges of public–private engagement (PPE) for health. Despite their prevalence, PPEs often fail. Faith-based health providers (FBHPs) form a significant proportion of the non-state health sector in sub-Saharan Africa, and the number of partnerships with FBHPs is increasing. Building on a prior systematic review project that developed a typology of organisational models for PPE for health, this article reports on a secondary analysis, highlighting PPE initiatives with FBHPs.     

Female genital cutting in Egypt: drivers and potential responses

ABSTRACT

Female genital cutting (FGC) is a major issue at the interplay of faith and health in development. The practice is in part faith-inspired, and has clear negative health impacts. The prevalence of FGC remains especially high in Egypt. This article reflects on some of the factors that lead to the perpetuation of the practice by analysing data from the 2014 Survey of Young People in Egypt. The focus is on whether religiosity, acceptance of traditional gender roles and discrimination, attitudes towards women’s autonomy, and age at marriage affect attitudes towards FGC, controlling for other factors. The results suggest that all these factors do indeed play a role.     

THE INVISIBLE MINORITY

SUMMARY

The object of this article is to illustrate the extent to which continuing education can be applied as a public relations instrument in alumni relations. Alumni as a prime target group in any university's public relations programme can exert an influence on the university. Apart from their own direct involvement in the canvassing of funds and students, alumni can also exert a meaningful influence in the interest of the university as opinion leaders and decision-makers within the community.

In carrying out a public relations programme, the public relations instruments must be made available to the university in such a way that alumni may be reached to best advantage. The connection between alumni and their university must be strengthened by involving them substantially in the prime concern of the institution – namely education.

In the article, it is suggested that continuing educational programmes aimed at alumni are ideal public relations instruments for supplementing existing programmes.     

Media,democracy and the public sphere: towards a reconceptualisation of the public sphere

ABSTRACT

This article brings a synthesis of the recent literature about the role the media have played for the transformation of the public sphere. Departing from this literature, a general research framework for a critical political economy of the public sphere is presented. The central thesis of this approach is that a political economy of the public sphere shouldn't be restricted to an analysis of its institutional configuration and the actual labour process, but must extend its radius of action from the production of media messages to a political economy of reception and its signification.     

A postmodern critique of public relations theory and practice

ABSTRACT

Public relations is defined as the management of communication. However, the theory and practice of public relations are based on a modernist understanding of organisation. Alternative perspectives on the societal and organisational role of public relations are limited. This article explores the contribution of a postmodern critique of public relations, and the differences between modernism and postmodernism, particularly in organisational context. The current debate between critical theory and postmodern critique is also reviewed. Postmodernism is particularly critical of the public relations focus on strategy and management. It rejects the manager as a rational being who has the ability to determine organisational outcomes through strategies, which are viewed as discursive techniques used to enhance the power of some corporate actors. Modern public relations is a hegemonic practice that interpellates practitioners into the system to legitimise the perspectives and actions of corporate managers as objective knowledge, particularly through discursive practices in organisational media. Finally, the media relations role of public relations is critiqued for its creation of a hyperreality that leads to the creation of a hypercivilisation that has no factual existence. This article concludes with suggestions for a postmodern research agenda and defends the simultaneous use of critical and postmodern theory.     

Positioning independent community media: Findings from a case study of six small South African newspapers

Abstract

This article brings defining aspects of ‘community media’ – as proposed by a group of media stakeholders – into dialogue with research findings from a study on small ‘independent media’. One significant difference between the two media sectors is that the former is usually understood as being driven by commune-style ownership and community control, and the latter by private ownership and profit-driven control. We argue that perceptions constructed by this difference potentially marginalise small independent media organisations. It may compromise their access to funding as well as obscure how, and how much, they contribute to their communities. We find that the six South African small independent newspapers in this research meet defining criteria for ‘community media’. Research findings on issues such as social responsibility, participatory democracy, media diversity and the generation of skills and wealth demonstrate how the principles and practices of the two media sectors overlap. So we propose ‘independent community media’ as a more inclusive and appropriate concept and term for small community-oriented publications, irrespective of their ownership profiles or relationship to profit. Independence is also examined – particularly how the newspapers balance editorial independence with outside control: this reveals inequitable practices currently threatening some newspapers’ survival and success.     

The unhealthy divide: how the secular-faith binary potentially limits GBV prevention and response

ABSTRACT

While progress has been made in creating conversations between the secular and faith actors involved in developmental issues, a distinct binary still exists. This could potentially be limiting a holistic response to gender-based violence, a global public health, development, humanitarian, and human rights issue. This article explores how perceptions of this binary – faith versus secular – are understood to impact GBV prevention and response efforts. Drawing on interviews conducted during a scoping study, the opinions and experiences of actors from faith-based organisations and academic institutions are used to shed light on how the faith-secular binary is being upheld and challenged, and how it is perceived to be impacting holistic GBV prevention and response.     

Public relations in the public eye: Two case studies of the failure of public information campaigns

Abstract

The authors examine two instances in which public relations efforts undertaken in behalf of foreign governments became the subject of public attention or controversy, finding in each case that the news image of the client government worsened. Comparing their results with other research that has identified more positive public relations outcomes, they conclude that public awareness of the manipulative efforts distinguished these cases and contributed to the observed effects.     

The Future of Chemical Weapons: Implications from the Syrian Civil War

Abstract

With chemical weapons (CW) use in Syria raising questions about the health of the CW norm, this article analyzes whether the Syrian case will lead to further proliferation and use of chemical weapons by states. We examine the use of chemical weapons at Ghouta in 2013 and on the Hama Plains in 2014 and find that: first, chemical weapons have demonstrated limited military utility in Syria, either tactically or as a tool of civilian victimization; second, the costs of use have been repeatedly demonstrated by the international reaction to their use; and third, the use of sarin—a nerve agent—has attracted a stronger international response than the use of chlorine, a less lethal agent. Consequently, we conclude that the Syrian case is unlikely to lead to significant proliferation and use of chemical weapons; any that does occur is most likely to involve states already outside the CW norm.     

Stemming the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa: Are our HIV/AIDS campaigns failing us?

Abstract

Media-based campaigns are critical tools in changing the behaviours that are fuelling the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. However, given the absence of an effective behaviour-change response in the face of the epidemic, many have come to doubt the efficacy of these campaigns. Campaign designers who profess to using best-practice principles in designing HIV/AIDS campaigns also report that although some of these campaigns book changes in beliefs and attitudes, they seldom have a significant effect on the behaviours that are fuelling the epidemic.

This situation raises a number of general questions with regard to South African HIV/AIDS campaigns: How effective are media-based campaigns in general in changing health-related behaviours? Are South African HIV/AIDS campaigns successful or not? If not, why not, what could be done to optimise their efficacy? What aspects of South African HIV/AIDS campaigns contribute to their efficacy and could be up-scaled in future campaigns?

This article provides a critical analysis of the processes followed in the design of the Living Positively Campaign and of the design features of the messaging of the booklet Living positively with HIV and AIDS. This analysis clearly indicates that despite claims by campaign designers of adherence to best-practice heuristics, very few of them are implemented in the design of HIV/AIDS campaigns.     

A View of Public Action as Collective Action: Evidence From an Indian Village

A theory of public action will be a sociological one, for it can explain the activities of different individual stakeholders who are both driven by varied motives and interests and are required to come together for achieving some avowedly public objective. On the basis of a review of scholarly literature and three case studies of public action (based on ethnographic fieldwork) in an Indian village, this study observes that public action is far more complex than celebrated problems of collective action. In public action we want collective action to happen and deliver optimum outputs for target publics. But this should at the same time offer gains, rewards, and outcomes of different kinds to different stakeholders. This discussion aims to outline the scope and possible types of public action. Such a discussion has important implications, for policy as public action should be designed adequately as collective action with differential rewards in place for participants.     

Terrorism and public opinion: A five country comparison

This article examines public attitudes towards terrorism in five countries: Uruguay, Spain, Italy, Germany and Northern Ireland. It analyzes public concern over terrorism, images of the terrorists, support for the terrorists' goals, and public approval of anti‐terrorist measures. There are significant differences between nationalist and revolutionary terrorism. Nationalist terrorists have a high degree of support from an ethnic constituency, while revolutionary terrorists attract a much smaller degree of support primarily from the educated young. It is concluded that public opinion towards terrorism is a product of complex historical situations, and that public attitudes are unaffected by the terrorist campaign itself.     

Timothy E. Cook: 1954–2006

Abstract

This article describes the organizational and operational aspects of diplomacy's interplay with the news media in Britain. It examines the media's role as a source of information for ministers, officials, and the wider public; the media's effect on official and unofficial thinking; the media's roles in interdepartmental coordination and during international negotiations; and the uses of the media by the government as channels to mold public attitudes at home and abroad. It concludes by considering the implications of advancements in media technology, and greater public interest in international affairs, for media diplomacy.     

Public Diplomacy and the International Paralympic Committee: Reconciling the Roles of Disability Advocate and Sports Regulator

Abstract

Whilst the link between international diplomacy and the Olympic movement has been the subject of extensive academic and journalistic enquiry, the experience of diplomatic discourse relating to the relatively youthful Paralympic movement has received little attention. It occurs not just in the context of state diplomacy, where for example the Paralympic Games may provide a conduit for the pursuit of specific policy objectives, but also in relation to the engagement of the International Paralympic Committee [IPC] as an evolving non-state actor in the diplomatic process. The idea of the IPC as an advocacy body engaged through public diplomacy in promoting disability rights needs exploration as an element of the contemporary politics of disability. This analysis considers the relationship between the activities of the IPC and wider lobbying by disabled people’s organisations as a means of leveraging change in domestic and international policy toward disability. In relation to the global development agenda, it also assesses IPC responses to the gulf in resourcing for para-sport as well as related health and education provision between high- and low-resource regions. It considers the response of the organisation from the perspective of public diplomacy and locates that response within the wider diplomacy of development.     

Applying an open systems public relations model to destination image development

Abstract

Public relations is essentially a communications function concerned with relationships, image and image development and it is from this perspective that the subject is viewed. A literature survey of the use of public relations in tourism indicated that no structural theoretical framework for its application in destination image development has been postulated. This was found to be the case in both tourism and public relations literature. In this article, such a framework is devised. Adapting an existing open-systems public relations model to represent the process of establishing a tourism relationship between a tourist-generating country and a tourist destination does this. This model was used as the foundation for formulating a public relations strategic framework.     

Entering Through the Sport’s Door? Kosovo’s Sport Diplomatic Endeavours Towards International Recognition

ABSTRACT

In December 2014, the International Olympic Committee [IOC] granted full membership to Kosovo. For the young state, which had declared its independence only in 2008, this decision meant that it could take part in the upcoming 2016 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. This analysis illustrates the significance of Kosovo’s full IOC membership. Arguing that IOC membership can be identified as both the “end” and “beginning” of Kosovo’s diplomatic endeavour towards international recognition, the role of sport within this process is illuminated. It mirrors the strategic value of representative sport for a nation-building process as well as its particular significance for public diplomacy in Kosovo. Kosovar political elites shifted their focus towards sport because “traditional” diplomatic efforts, despite being successful to a certain extent, could not break the seemingly cemented status quo considering its United Nations [UN] status. Inclusion in the “Olympic family” represents more than just a symbolic victory for Kosovar diplomacy. The Kosovar nation-building and -branding process, emblematised through the “soft power” of representative sport, could be increasingly used to create symbolic pressure on states that have not yet recognised Kosovo; its ultimate diplomatic goal remains to enter the UN, even if it has to be through “sport’s door.”