Academy for Educational Development

Washington, D.C., March 30, 2009 —Neill McKee, who is internationally recognized for his expertise in development communication, recently joined AED as the associate director of the AED Center for Global Health Communication and Marketing. He is widely known for creating long-term, successful communication programs for behavior change.

McKee joined AED from the Center for Communication Programs at Johns Hopkins University, where he was the regional director for Asia. There he directed Healthy Russia 2020, a project focusing on HIV/AIDS prevention among youth, the prevention and treatment of drug use, reproductive health care and access to family planning, and the overall promotion of healthy lifestyles among Russian youth.

Previously, as the regional communication advisor and HIV/AIDS network coordinator for UNICEF in Nairobi, McKee launched a project called “The Sara Communication Initiative,” which promotes gender equity through stories about HIV/AIDS prevention and care and teenage pregnancy, and their contributing factors, such as sexual abuse and exploitation, and child labor.

Prior to that, McKee served as UNICEF’s chief of program communication in Bangladesh, where he launched “The Meena Communication Initiative.” Using multimedia to tell the story of a girl named Meena, it addresses issues of health care, access to education, and quality education for children in South Asia. Both initiatives are still operating today through support from UNICEF and the private-sector.

“Neill McKee has developed successful strategies to address some of the most pressing public health issues facing developing countries,” said Margaret Burns Parlato, senior vice president and director of the AED Global Health, Population, and Nutrition group, “and his expertise will help advance AED’s innovative work in health-related communications.”
 
McKee is the author of several books, including, Strategic Communication in the HIV/AIDS Epidemic (2004) and Social Mobilization and Social Marketing in Developing Countries (1992).  He also was chief editor and a contributing author for Involving People, Evolving Behaviour (2000).

AED is a nonprofit organization working globally to improve education, health, civil society and economic development--the foundation of thriving societies. Focusing on the underserved, AED implements more than 250 programs serving people in all 50 U.S. states and more than 150 countries.

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