Media Literacy, Key In HIV/AIDS Response – NACA

For Nigeria to make better impact in HIV/AIDS response, there is the need to ensure that media practitioners are well educated on the intricacies of HIV/AIDS to enable them pass on the right messages to the public.
The South-South Zonal Coordinator of National Agency for the Control of AIDS (NACA), Dr Uduak Daniel, re-emphasised this recently after a three-day training workshop for Journalists in the zone on HIV/AIDS reportage.
Daniel, who was instrumental to the gathering of journalists reporting health in the zone, stated that the realization of how strategic the media is in HIV/AIDS response necessitated the organisation of the workshop after which participants are expected to put into practice what they garnered during the training in their various media across the South-South of the country.
“The media needs to be informed, and know the right things to do. So, we have a vision to have HIV/AIDS knowledgeable media in the South-South, and the only way for that to happen is to train the media in everything on HIV/AIDS, and how they can deliberately use whatever knowledge they have to come up with stories that would enhance social change”, she said.
She used the opportunity to call on governments at all levels in the South-South, and the country at large, to promptly fill the gaps warranted by the withdrawal of donor agencies from the country in HIV/AIDS response.
“That donor agencies are leaving the States is not a new thing, because they stated from the onset how long they intend to carry out their interventionist activities.
“After they leave, it is expected that the government would sit up and effectively own-up the interventionist measures already in place”, she stated.
According to her, “we should know that whatever they (donor agencies) do for us is strictly based on humanitarian interest. After they leave, it’s expected that the government should take the responsibility of owning the processes”.
Part of this responsibility, she continued, include: to ensure that everybody is protected against HIV/AIDS; everybody is knowledgeable on the pandemic; and everyone has access to diagnosis and treatment.
The Zonal NACA Boss also called on Journalists trained at the three-day workshop, which took place in Calabar, the Cross River State Capital, to ensure that they work according to the terms of reference given them in their various media in terms of their HIV/AIDS reportage.
“I’m looking forward to the platform being known as one through which advocacy on HIV/AIDS will come back to the front burner at all levels in the South-South”, she said.
Speaking on how stigma and discrimination has affected HIV/AIDS response, the Executive Director, Institute of Strategic Communications and Development, Fayman Omini, said stigma has always been a cog in the wheel of HIV/AIDS response.
“Stigma has has been a huge concern since the beginning of HIV/AIDS response in Nigeria. It occurs at different levels: community, facility, workplace, etc.
“Part of the problem is that most of the people are not knowledgeable about HIV/AIDS. Some people are driven by fear, so they stigmatize others”, he said.
The result, he explained, is that “people who are supposed to access treatment services are not going to get the services because of stigma at the service points, where the health care providers stigmatize them”.
Omini, who was the Lead Facilitator at the three-day workshop added that “when people who are infected are not having access to treatment, you know what that means”.

By: Sogbeba Dokubo