Health Communication for Health Promotion: The Role of HIV/AIDS Prevention Campaigns among Youth in Mozambique

Health communication for development and social change constitutes an essential interdisciplinary field for

understanding processes of social transformation in the domain of public health. Drawing on a critical review of the paradigms

of communication for development modernisation, dependency, participation and emerging approaches this article examines

how each of these models shapes the design, implementation and effectiveness of HIV/AIDS prevention campaigns targeting

young people in Mozambique. The study also examines the evolution towards Communication for Social Change (CSC),

highlighting participatory strategies, digital communication, entertainment-education and social marketing. It is argued that

approaches centred exclusively on the transmission of information reveal limitations in promoting sustainable behavioural

change, particularly among young populations in contexts marked by structural inequalities, gender norms and stigma. In

contrast, participatory, culturally contextualised and digitally diversified models demonstrate greater effectiveness in promoting

the active engagement of young people and behavioural transformation. The analysis integrates empirical evidence from the

Mozambican context, based on research conducted in the city of Maputo combining content analysis of campaigns, a

questionnaire survey of 390 young people and six focus groups with 58 participants.