Media Watch
Government unveils the latest NSP
Much of the post-World AIDS Day Media coverage was dedicated to the new National Strategic Plan on HIV, TB and STIs and media reports have focused on the main goals, key interventions and the whopping R130-billion budget laid out in the plan.
On World AIDS Day President Jacob Zuma unveiled the latest National Strategic Plan on HIV, TB and STIs 2012-2016 to a 5000 strong crowd at Wolfson stadium in Port Elizabeth.
Striking a balance: Normalisation vs trivialisation of HIV
Given the advances in treatment and the proliferation of stories on ‘positive role models,’ the media should be aware of the delicate balance between addressing stigma that people living with HIV often experience and trivialising HIV as a condition.
Another ‘living positively’ story was born last week when former Isidingo actress, Lesego Motsepe, chose World AIDS Day to make public that she has been living with HIV for over a decade.
In a context where HIV is now a manageable albeit chronic condition, personal good news stories around positive heroes often feature in the media.
And while these vignettes do have the potential to address stigma through normalising HIV (especially when they are backed by serious star-power, as is the case with Koyo Bala, Criselda Kananda and of course Motsepe herself), the media should ensure that that these personal stories are covered in such a way that they do not give people the impression that living with HIV is easy.
Pre-teen pregnancy woes
HIV infection amongst pre-teens seems to be a cause for major concern with the release of the 2012- 2016 National Strategic Plan (NSP) which documented HIV prevalence amongst girls between the ages of 10 and 14 at approximately 9.1%. This is according to an article in the City Press.
According to NSP results, HIV prevalence amongst pregnant girls between the ages of 10 and 19 was also on the increase.
Surviving the holidays in safe-sex-style means HIV mentions are a must
This week the Sowetan featured an article detailing how to survive the festive season safe-sex-style.
Given that protecting oneself against HIV is a major safe sex priority in South Africa (one only has to look to the most recent statistics released by the Department of Health on Wednesday), any safe sex guide should - along with other issues like unplanned pregnancy and STIs - zero in on HIV and how it can be prevented.
The article begins by drawing parallels between unsafe sex and the excessive alcohol consumption that is more likely to happen when people are letting their hair down over the festive season.
And while the links between a few-too-many and unsafe sex are well documented, the ‘how-to’ (or how-not-to) list, which accompanies the piece, covers everything but the risk of HIV and how to prevent it.
Beating the World AIDS day DRUM
DRUM magazine has published an impressive spread to mark World AIDS Day, featuring the stories of various South Africans living with and affected by HIV.
These stories might seem like the run-of-the-mill, warm-and-fuzzy-feeling-inducing, good news HIV stories we have come to expect from South African mags, but when taken together it is clear that DRUM’s HIV-featurettes have the power not only to normalise HIV and banish stigma but also have the potential to break the stereotypes around who gets HIV and why.
By highlighting the stories of a diverse array of people, from a white 62-year-old man living with HIV to a young, hip, black homosexual celeb who has recently come to terms with his HIV-positive status, DRUM conveys to its readers that HIV does not discriminate but affects people of all ages, races, sexual orientations and genders.
HIV’s legacy as a condition linked to particular groups and associated with immorality, began as early as the very first AIDS-related deaths and has continued into the present, evidenced by beliefs that HIV is a ‘black disease’.
