Some really good story ideas came out of the discussion forum on children and HIV hosted by the HIV/AIDS and the Media Programme at Constitution Hill on May 11.

HIV/AIDS and the Media fellows Glynis Clacherty and Christina Stucky presented their research that documented the voices of 17 young children living with HIV.  

The children were already in a support group and knew their HIV status. The researchers gave the children life-sized dolls to use as props – alter-egos that would give them enough “emotional distance” to discuss difficult topics such as disclosure, secrecy, stigma, and hospitalisation, openly, without touching too close to home.

While it’s not practical for journalists to walk around with life-size dolls whenever they’re doing a story that involves children, this technique is something to think about. By discussing how an imaginary character feels about particular situations, the children were able to freely express their own feelings through story-telling.

Anybody who has interviewed children knows how difficult it is to get more than a one or two word answer out of them. If you add to this the difficulty of obtaining informed consent from the children and caregivers, it’s easy to see why this is often a neglected part of HIV/AIDS reportage. (The “consent” part is often easier than the “informed” part.)

Getting children’s voices back into news coverage is important, because they often bring fresh viewpoints to stories that otherwise “fatigue” readers will their same old boring sources. Also, their voices can add depth and perspective to stories about the pandemic.

The forum discussion raised some fascinating topics around children and HIV that the South African media has yet to cover in any real depth.

Here are some:

• A caregiver’s fear of telling a child that he or she is HIV-positive. According to the researchers, caregivers often do not tell children what their HIV status is, because of fear of stigmatisation. That fear is often internalised by children once they find out they are HIV-positive.
• How well children who receive ARV treatment are doing. Dr Claire Egbers of the Harriet Shezi Children’s Clinic at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital told the forum that stories about children responding positively to ARV treatment are rare in the media. “Every day we see a miracle,” she said, but often those stories don’t get media attention.
• Male caregivers who look after their or other people’s HIV-positive children. Men are often given a bad rap when it comes to looking after their HIV-positive wives and children; it would be interesting to hear about men who care for their HIV-positive family members, and how they confront the stereotypes in their communities.
• A generation of HIV-positive teenagers who were infected at birth rather than through sexual intercourse or needle use. A story about how teenagers, having successfully navigated one particular set of stigmas as HIV-positive children, now deal with life and a whole new set of stigmas as HIV-positive teens.
• The reproductive rights of HIV-positive mothers versus the rights of their potentially HIV-positive children. Do HIV-positive mothers have the right to have children, knowing that there is a chance they could transmit the disease to their newborns, even with treatment?

Telling stories emanating from the HIV/AIDS pandemic in Southern Africa is never easy. Sometimes, outside stimuli such as this workshop help to make one think about angles, approach and ethics, which ultimately should translate into better storytelling. Look out for the next workshop advertised on JournAIDS, or email the project co-ordinator of the HIV/AIDS and the Media Project, Natalie Ridgard. – Richard Frank

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