Posters share with music and poetry an ethereal, intangible quality that lends a sweeping potency to their message. They are like snapshots that capture in a single frame what an epic film might take three hours to accomplish.
Posters, like graffiti, have always held special currency in Latin America, the Caribbean, the United States, and Canada. They not only reveal sociocultural differences, but also reflect particular concerns of particular places at a particular point in time, and are the medium of choice to communicate messages to the public succinctly, directly, and repeatedly.
In the developing countries, posters frequently become vehicles for community education. They are most effective when they are simple and assertive. This verbal edge, combined with eye-catching graphics, has elevated them to a popular art form symbolizing the vitality of the artists and societies who create them.
Who uses posters? Those with a cause: university groups, labor unions, political parties. Health shares with these interests a desire to promote hope for a better tomorrow, greater civic awareness and responsibility, and a collective sense of well-being: its messages, like theirs, has the power to penetrate to the very core of human existence, proving that health is both a social issue and a political concern.
- Sustainable Development - Bolivia
- AIDS Discrimination - Argentina
- Healthy Communities - Cuba
- Health Care - Brazil
- Tobacco Prevention and Control - United States
- Tobacco Prevention and Control - Costa Rica
- Poliomyelitis - United States
- Safe Water Supply - Inter-American Association of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering, Caribbean Water and Wastewater Association, and PAHO
This selection of artwork was culled from almost 400 posters and is based principally on design impact. We wish to thank all PAHO/WHO country offices, divisions, and programs, and other public and private agencies who participated in this project.
-The Editors
