As mass communicators, health professionals can do better. In the future,
we need to improve our use of the mass
media for health promotion and prevention of STDs, including PID. Aware¬
ness of AIDS is widespread, largely because of the attention given it by the
media. Teenagers are a special audience
for the broadcast media; they spend an
average of 23 hours a week listening to
the radio or watching television.73,74
Public service announcements, which
are increasingly being aired to encourage condom use in high-risk settings and
to publicize hotline telephone numbers
for further questions, need to be used
more widely.