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86 CHAPTER 4 ■ Love, Sex, and HIV/AIDS

ethical, economic, and political dimensions. Policy makers have realized it is crit-
ical to coordinate interdisciplinary responses from diverse organizations
(Stewart et al. 2001, p. 5), which is a cornerstone of social marketing, a key tactic
in combating HIV/AIDS in developing and industrialized countries for the past
20 years.

MAKI N G A CAS E FO R S O C I AL MAR KETI N G

As the link between public health and commerce, social marketing is the primary
method international organizations such as UNAIDS use to combat global health
issues (Hastings & Saren, 2003). When social marketing can build partnerships
that include governments, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), international
agencies, and private businesses—so-called upstream audiences—working in con-
junction with downstream targets, then the entire social fabric of a community can
be permanently altered (Andreasen, 2006).
National and local organizations often adopt the techniques being used by
global groups, and that is the case in Mexico where HIV is a growing concern.
Because the AIDS epidemic in Mexico is still concentrated in vulnerable popula-
tions, political and healthcare leaders are faced with both the challenge and the op-
portunity to step up prevention measures before the disease spreads to the general
population as it has in many parts of the world. There are, however, cultural obsta-
cles to be overcome, in addition to political and economic hurdles.
According to Mexico’s National Center for Prevention and Control of
HIV/AIDS (Censida), changing how Mexicans view gender roles and erasing wide-
spread prejudice against gays will be necessary to combat the disease effectively.
Censida’s director, Jorge Saavedra, has said repeatedly that machismo and homo-
phobia are fueling the country’s HIV/AIDS epidemic. Saavedra emphasized that
machismo undermines prevention messages and “puts women, as well as men, at
risk” (Machismo, 2006).
In addition to Mexico’s new political regime, an army of international groups
and national activist organizations are publicly committed to making treatment
available to the infected and to changing cultural norms that contribute to the
spread of the disease. Dozens of social marketing campaigns directed to specific
target groups are under way across the country.
Mexico’s commitment to this problem is a matter of public record. Regional
heads of state endorsed the Neuvo Leon Declaration in 2004, a pledge to focus on
HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention (USAID, 2005). The 2008 Secretary of
Health, Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos, has said the decline in new HIV cases will
be achieved mainly through education and awareness. To that end, Villalobos is