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We report data on the distribution and determinants of road deaths and injuries for all victims in Colombia, with the aim of defining targets and priorities for highway death prevention in that country and other rapidly urbanizing nations. Using information from Colombia's Fund for the Prevention of Road Injury and the national death registry, we studied data on deaths and injuries from 1991 to 1995 for the nation as a whole and for the country's two largest cities, Santa Fe de Bogotá and Medellín. Deaths and injuries are rising in the nation as a whole. Of the deaths, 75% occur in urban areas, and 80% are in males. Pedestrians aged 15-34 are a peak subgroup. Thirty-four percent of deaths are attributable to speeding and/or alcohol consumption. Death tolls are highest at night and on weekends. Specific priority targets for intervention are indicated by the fact that 75% of road deaths in Colombia occur in urban areas and that 80% of all victims are males.

Until an effective treatment or vaccine for AIDS is developed, the principal strategy for controlling its spread will remain persuading at-risk and diseased populations to modify behaviors implicated in the transmission of the disease. In the case of homosexual and bisexual men the "risk-reduction" or "safe-sex" brochure has emerged as the most widely used public health intervention modality. While there has been a proliferation of such brochures, to date no systematic analysis of the content or potential efficacy of these materials has been undertaken. The authors carry out two kinds of analyses of a sample of risk-reduction brochures. First, these materials are characterized in terms of 13 characteristics related to their content, and style. Second, the extent to which they incorporate the elements of a standard model of health communication is assessed. Limitations of existing brochures are identified and the implications of the findings for the development of future materials are discussed.

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