Politics and Policy – Media Watch
ANC dome debacle: Media throws caution to the wind
The condom has once again come up against bad press after news reports claimed that a batch of government ‘Choice’ condoms, ordered from the national health department for the ANC’s centenary celebrations, was sub-standard.
Taking a more critical eye to media reports reveals that the bulk of the coverage has incorrectly given the impression that the condoms have been proven to be defective, when in fact they have yet to undergo laboratory tests.
According to countless news reports, thousands of condoms distributed to venues at and around the ANC centenary celebrations were recalled by the Free State Department of Health, after the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) received complaints from centenary celebrants that the condoms were prone to bursting and leaking.
DA launches Campaign Coercion
The Democratic Alliance’s (DA) most recent HIV testing campaign blatantly ignores the ethical principle of informed consent, preying on and coercing socio-economically vulnerable South Africans.
If the news is anything to go by, Helen Zille is up to her eyeballs in HIV-related controversy yet again, after the Western Cape launched a campaign offering substantial cash prizes to people who screen for HIV.
And while some off-the-street respondents interviewed in an article for today’s (Tuesday’s) edition of The Citizen feel that it is a good way to motivate people to test, the ‘HIV testing lotto’ is essentially unethical because it robs people of the ability to make the decision to test with full knowledge of what that decision might entail.
In other words Zille’s harebrained scheme violates what is best expressed by the ethical principle of informed consent, that is, knowing full well what you are saying “yes” to.
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.
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.
Eastern Cape health horror
The Daily Sun this week featured the new MEC for health in the Eastern Cape’s crusade to restore and improve the province’s health services.
The Daily Sun reports that in a daring undercover operation, the MEC, Sicelo Gqobana, bought government-issue painkillers from a public health worker’s home for R 30. It is medication that ought to be supplied to patients at no cost. “They said they could sell me any medication or drugs I want”, he recounts.
This is not the first “can of worms” Gqobana has cracked open. Since his appointment last November, the article reports that the MEC for health has been exposing malpractice and weeding out unethical conduct.
