Nigerian Journalists Monitor - Counter HIV/AIDS Stigma
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FrontLines, September 2004:
http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines/fl_sept04/pillars.html
ABUJA, Nigeria: A year ago, Journalists Against AIDS, a nongov-
ernmental organization (NGO) more commonly known as JAAIDS, be-
came Africa's leading NGO delegate to the board of the United
Nations' Program on HIV/AIDS.
A year later, at the 15th International AIDS Conference in Bang-
kok, the group presented several papers discussing lessons
learned and ways to fight stigma and discrimination against peo-
ple living with the disease.
JAAIDS, which educates Nigerian journalists about HIV/AIDS, has
received some US$ 195,000 in funding from USAID to train report-
ers, provide them with various tools and resources, and monitor
and analyze media coverage of HIV-positive persons.
About 4 million of Nigeria's 137 million people live with
HIV/AIDS. But with some 170,000 new cases annually of the dis-
ease, fighting discrimination against people living with
HIV/AIDS and raising awareness for the need for affordable
treatment in Nigeria are issues that USAID wants to support,
said Sandra Jordan of the Bureau for Global Health.
"The media forms a critical component in informing, shaping, and
influencing societal values, perceptions, and attitudes towards
literally any subject," she said. "The need for the media to be
comprehensively involved in the fight against the [HIV/AIDS]
pandemic is crucial."
Over the past two years, JAAIDS trained some 200 reporters on
how to look for accurate data regarding HIV/AIDS and write in
ways that do not stigmatize people with AIDS.
The group also holds 11 media roundtables a year. At July's
roundtable, the topic of discussion was the spread of HIV/AIDS
in Nigerian prisons. Among the speakers was the medical director
of the Nigerian Prisons Service. Participating journalists
learned about the growing problem, and later organized a prison
tour to see the problem first-hand.
JAAIDS organizes similar policy roundtable discussions and work-
shops to bring together journalists with healthcare providers
and people living with AIDS.
Aside from training and discussion, the group offers information
tools and some oversight for Nigerian media.
JAAIDS publishes a monthly analysis of HIV/AIDS print media cov-
erage, which is distributed to media editors and reporters and
posted online. JAAIDS staff sift through Nigeria's major daily
newspapers and eight weekly magazines, examining the use of lan-
guage, presentation, prominence of usage, topics covered, use of
pictures and illustrations, and sources of information.
The group annually hands out an award to reporters and news or-
ganizations in recognition of coverage focused on prevention and
care of HIV/AIDS.
To help reporters stay abreast of HIV/AIDS news, JAAIDS runs
several websites and newsletters. An example is AIDS News Ser-
vice, a 16-page monthly bulletin about HIV/AIDS and reproductive
health problems that goes out to some 4,000 reporters, editors,
and media managers free of charge.
JAAIDS also runs a website that features policy documents, re-
search reports, studies, and news relevant to the HIV/AIDS
situation in Nigeria and statistics on the epidemic for 16 coun-
tries in West Africa.
Although based in Nigeria, JAAIDS has lent a helping hand to re-
porters in neighbouring countries such as Kenya and Ethiopia.
FrontLines is the employee news publication of USAID
http://www.usaid.gov/press/frontlines