Not enough reporting on HIV-AIDS, says study

HIV-AIDS in Namibia is under-reported, the voices of those most affected are least heard and the gender dimensions of the pandemic are not well reflected, according to a new study.

The HIV-AIDS and Gender Baseline Study, conducted by Gender Links and the Media Monitoring Project, covered nine media houses in Namibia and 118 in 11 SADC countries. The study, which forms part of the Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV and AIDS and Gender led by the Southern African Editors’ Forum (SAEF) monitored 37 001 news items over one month in 2005.It found that only four per cent of all the news items in Namibia focused on, or mentioned, the pandemic – only slightly higher than the regional average of three per cent.This varied from 19 per cent in Lesotho, to only one per cent in Mauritius and two per cent in South Africa, which has the largest number of people living with HIV-AIDS globally – estimated at over 5 million.In Namibia, people living with HIV and AIDS constituted a mere one per cent of all news sources, compared to over 40 per cent of Government officials and officials representing international organisations.Despite the disproportionate burden of the pandemic borne by women, who constitute the highest proportion of those living with HIV and provide most of the care, women constitute zero per cent of news sources overall in Namibia – in contrast to the rest of the region, where women with HIV constituted 52 per cent of such sources.A breakdown of topics covered by the media shows that the gender dimensions and major drivers of the pandemic were not well reported.Although the bulk of the coverage in Namibia (52 per cent) centred on prevention, there was little coverage on treatment (10 per cent) and impact (six per cent).”On the positive side, most stories on HIV and AIDS in Namibia are original stories (71 per cent), reported by journalists within the newsrooms, rather than obtained from agencies and guest writers.This shows that newsrooms are investing resources in obtaining original stories on the pandemic,” the report said.Namibia also had the highest proportion of HIV-AIDS feature articles (26 per cent) compared to the rest of the region (10 per cent).A team of local consultants, led by Emily Brown of the Polytechnic of Namibia and Sarry Xoagus-Eises of the Gender and Media Southern Africa (Gemsa) Network, conducted the monitoring between October and November 2005.The study was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa) with some support from UNAIDS.The study, which forms part of the Media Action Plan (MAP) on HIV and AIDS and Gender led by the Southern African Editors’ Forum (SAEF) monitored 37 001 news items over one month in 2005.It found that only four per cent of all the news items in Namibia focused on, or mentioned, the pandemic – only slightly higher than the regional average of three per cent.This varied from 19 per cent in Lesotho, to only one per cent in Mauritius and two per cent in South Africa, which has the largest number of people living with HIV-AIDS globally – estimated at over 5 million.In Namibia, people living with HIV and AIDS constituted a mere one per cent of all news sources, compared to over 40 per cent of Government officials and officials representing international organisations.Despite the disproportionate burden of the pandemic borne by women, who constitute the highest proportion of those living with HIV and provide most of the care, women constitute zero per cent of news sources overall in Namibia – in contrast to the rest of the region, where women with HIV constituted 52 per cent of such sources.A breakdown of topics covered by the media shows that the gender dimensions and major drivers of the pandemic were not well reported.Although the bulk of the coverage in Namibia (52 per cent) centred on prevention, there was little coverage on treatment (10 per cent) and impact (six per cent).”On the positive side, most stories on HIV and AIDS in Namibia are original stories (71 per cent), reported by journalists within the newsrooms, rather than obtained from agencies and guest writers.This shows that newsrooms are investing resources in obtaining original stories on the pandemic,” the report said.Namibia also had the highest proportion of HIV-AIDS feature articles (26 per cent) compared to the rest of the region (10 per cent).A team of local consultants, led by Emily Brown of the Polytechnic of Namibia and Sarry Xoagus-Eises of the Gender and Media Southern Africa (Gemsa) Network, conducted the monitoring between October and November 2005.The study was funded by the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida) and the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (Osisa) with some support from UNAIDS.