Reporting on HIV and AIDS- Highlight concerns of vulnerable groups (Daily Graphic page 11, 04/10/08)

Article: Salome Donkor
The story told by a 31-year-old HIV positive woman at a three-day workshop on “Effective reporting on women and HIV and AIDS” at Dodowa, touched the hearts of participants.
The woman (name withheld) was infected with the virus by her partner (now deceased), who never disclosed his status to her when he tested positive.
Following persistent illness, the woman was tested for HIV and when she disclosed the results to her partner, he became offended and threw her out of their home.
The woes of the woman were compounded when she lost her job at the time that she was sick and also became homeless, but thanks to the support of public-spirited individuals and organisations, she is now living a positive life and has become an HIV and AIDS advocate.
More pathetic was the story of a 14-year-old orphan who has lost both parents through AIDS and is also living with the virus.
She is being catered for by a relative but things have been very rough for her, and sometimes she is unable to take her antiretroviral therapy because there was no food for her, while money for the payment of her school fees and for the procurement of other educational needs is difficult.
These may just be two examples of the difficulties encountered by thousands of HIV sufferers, who apart from facing personal and societal stigmatisation are confronted with financial constraints and find it difficult to make ends meet to lead positive lives.
The workshop, organised by the Women Media and Change (WOMEC), a non-governmental organisation, with sponsorship from the African Women Development Fund, was attended by female journalists from both the private and state-owned media organisations. It was aimed at sharpening their skills to promote effective use of the media to report on HIV and AIDS.
A presentation by Dr Oliver Commey of the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital on the topic, “Women’s vulnerability to HIV and AIDS”, gave a number of reasons that buttressed the point that women greatly bear the brunt of HIV and AIDS.
This, he explained, was in view of the fact that women were commonly blamed for bringing the infection home. They are rejected, demonised and stigmatised and also suffer health-related stress, as well as lost time from economic activities.
HIV positive women are also concerned about the issues of marriage, fertility, stigma, disclosure, security in marriage, harassment and access to treatment and care.
Dr Commey said statistics indicated that globally, only 10 per cent of people living with HIV knew their status and in Ghana it was eight per cent.
He said this meant that more people did not know their status, while 77 per cent of the 17.5 million women living with HIV and AIDS were in sub-Saharan Africa.
He said it was necessary for everybody to check his or her HIV status to ensure good health.
He also advised rape victims, who may have been exposed to the HIV infection, to report for treatment within 48 hours. Such victims, he said, could receive a post exposure prophylactics treatment at the 93 HIV counselling and treatment units and regional hospitals to stop the infection.
Mrs Bernice Heloo, International President of the Society of Women and AIDS in Africa (SWAA), said the organisation, funded in 1988, was operating in 41 African countries to champion the cause of women and children who were affected and infected with the disease.
She said more women were vulnerable to HIV infection due to biological, social, economic, social-cultural practices, wife inheritance, as well as the low level of education of women and the patriarchal nature of society, adding that HIV had worsened the plight of a number of women.
She said women should be concerned and critically look at the factors that fuelled the spread of the virus and “conspire to make women more vulnerable to the disease”, stressing that key players needed to look beyond the current approaches of preaching abstinence, being faithful and condom use to underlying social and cultural factors that made women vulnerable to the virus.
A lecturer at the Ghana Institute of Journalism, Mr Tim Quashiegah, said reporters should educate themselves on the dynamics of HIV and AIDS and write on the topic with precision and clarity, exhibiting creativity, with a resolve to make a difference in their reportage.
The resource persons urged the media to write stories to address the misconception that HIV was a disease of the poor and write about HIV positive people who had made it in life and also talk about the social needs of people living with the virus, which include shelter, good food and employment.
They said the media needed to educate the public to know that there were facilities accessible in every regional hospital and a lot of other health facilities totalling 93 sites in all parts of the country, where full ART were being offered for people living with the virus at a cost of GH¢5.00 a month.
The public also need to be informed that testing HIV positive is not a death sentence but the ART, in combinations of three or more drugs that do not cure HIV infection, prevent the development of AIDS and prolong the lives of HIV sufferers.
The media also need to gather, analyse and disseminate accurate information on HIV and AIDS and keep authorities on their toes.