SADC media take a stand against HIV and AIDS

25 November 2008: On 1 December 2008 over 130 media houses in 11 countries in the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) region will publicly launch HIV and AIDS policies as part of commemorations to mark World AIDS Day.

 

The launch of policies marks the climax of a three-year Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV and AIDS and Gender led by the Southern African Editor’s Forum (SAEF) that aims to ensure that 80% of media houses in the region have HIV and AIDS and Gender Policies by the end of 2008.

 

The purpose of launching the policies is to recognise media houses that have committed to playing a part in mitigating the impact of HIV and AIDS as well as gender equality by drafting and adopting HIV and AIDS and Gender policies.

 

The launches will be simultaneously undertaken in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; Lesotho; Madagascar; Malawi; Mauritius; Mozambique; Namibia; Seychelles; Swaziland; Tanzania; and Zambia. Gender Links and the Media Institute of Southern Africa (MISA) lead the policy arm of MAP. 

 

Baseline data from research done prior to the policy roll in 2005 out showed that HIV and AIDS constitutes less than three percent of all coverage in the region; that only four percent of sources are People Living with HIV and AIDS and that the gender dimensions of the pandemic are not well understood or reflected in the media. A similar study on media in three French speaking countries in the SADC region conducted in 2007 produced similar results showing that HIV and AIDS constituted a very low average of 2.1% of all coverage and that such coverage lacked depth.

 

The Gender and Media Baseline Study (GMBS, 2003) showed that coverage of gender equality issues constitutes two percent of all coverage; that women comprise only 17 percent of news sources and that women are portrayed in a narrow range of roles, most often as sex workers or victims of violence.  

 

The policy launches will be officiated by distinguished officials from government and multi-lateral institutions working in the area of HIV and AIDS. Media houses that have drafted and adopted media policies will be awarded certificates in recognition of their stand against HIV and AIDS.

 

After the policy launches, participants from the 11 countries will engage in a cyber dialogue for an hour from 12:00 South African time to discuss the importance of media policies on gender and HIV and AIDS as well as the value of care work. The cyber dialogue is a real time online chat is open to anyone who wishes to participate. To log-in please go to: http://www.genderlinks.org.za/page.php?p_id=217 and follow the log-in instructions.

 

The launch of the policies coincides with World AIDS Day whose aim is to strengthen global efforts to address the challenges of the AIDS pandemic and will provide an opportunity to give visibility to the problem of HIV and AIDS. The events will also serve to mobilise the attention of the media so as to help raise regional and global awareness on the state of the epidemic. MAP views the media as a powerful instrument for social change that can be used to mitigate the twin challenges HIV and AIDS and gender inequalities in the media and society in general.

 

Gender Links and its partners intend to conduct a further Gender and HIV and AIDS Baseline Study in 2009-2010 to evaluate the impact of this policy process. During 2010, Gender Links will focus on working with newsrooms to develop gender policies.

 

For more information contact the Gender, HIV and AIDS and Media Manager, Dumisani Gandhi at: map@genderlinks.org.za or Cell: +27 78 585 0366 or Tel: +27 11 622 2877.