The influence of AIDS today radio

22 World Health • SOth Year, No. 6, November-December 1997 The influence of AIDS Today radio James Deane Rural radio station in Niger. AIDS Today radio programmes: an efficient way to make people aware of the disease. Photo Still Pictures/l. Schytte © II The future impact of the AIDS epidemic will be determined not by what happens in the laboratory or in the surgery but by what happens in the bedroom." The speaker was a senior World Bank official at a recent Panos seminar. He might, with equal accuracy, have claimed that the future of AIDS will be determined not only in the bedroom but also in the boardroom - and the newsroom and the cabinet office and in all the places where decisions are taken which shape the response to HIV I AIDS in an increasingly com- plex world. The AIDS epidemic has struck at a time of rapid global political and economic change. The last 15 years have witnessed increased migration, an upsurge in global tourism and growing economic inequalities, all factors which have contributed to the rapid spread of HIV; but we have also seen lasting positive benefits, particularly in terms of increased democratization and pluralism, and a change towards more information- driven societies. People the world over are increasingly demanding to be informed, to contribute to politi- cal decision-making and to claim their rights . The policy decisions on HIV/AIDS, too, are becoming in- creasingly complex. They range, for example, from debates over the extent to which breastfeeding should be promoted among women who are HIV positive to the ethics of vac- cine-testing in developing countries, from whether sex education should be taught in schools to whether people with HIV who infect others should or should not be held crimi- nally responsible. For those of us seeking to contain HIV in developing countries, these social changes and the increasing complexity of policy responses required to tackle the epidemic present fundamental challenges. What is increasingly clear is that HIV I AIDS prevention cannot suc- ceed if it is restricted to "educating" and "persuading" people to change their sexual behaviour. People in- creasingly need to be involved in the decisions which affect their lives, as these decisions need to be their own. Responses to AIDS need to emerge not just through the top-down for- mulation of a group of agencies and government officials but principally through national debates which can draw in the views, perspectives and experiences of many components of society, particularly the most mar- ginalized. The Panos Institute produces a range of information materials for media, nongovernmental organiza- tions and policy-makers in develop- ing countries which are designed to faci litate and stimulate such debates. They include news features, media briefing documents and a regular radio programme, "AIDS Today". AIDS Today is a 15-minute programme produced on tape which is disseminated to around 80 radio stations worldwide, principally in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific. Produced in English and funded by the European Commission, the programme is designed to fulfil four objectives: • to stimulate public debate within countries on the implications of HIV I AIDS and on the strategies being employed to combat the disease; • to provide audiences in develop- ing countries with compelling, imaginative and highly relevant analysis of HIV I AIDS issues within an international context; • to provide an international outlet for journalists in developing countries who are reporting and investigating HIV I AIDS issues in their countries; World Health • 50th Year, No. 6, November-December 1997 • to build the capacity of develop- ing country radio journalists to report on HIV I AIDS issues in their countries by carrying out a range of activities designed to improve both the substantive and the technical quality of their reporting. Programmes are accompanied by a full transcript to facilitate translation into other languages, and a number of recipients weave interviews and sound-effects of the programme into their own programming. We also produce at least one background media information sheet with the programme, providing essential facts about the issue. These can help producers to organize phone-ins or discussion programmes around issues raised in the AIDS Today programme. Information sheets are, through a separate process, trans- lated by our partners into 10 African and Asian languages and dissemi- nated to around 1500 print media worldwide. Perhaps the most important elements of the AIDS Today project are its capacity-building activities. Journalists face substantial obstacles in reporting effectively on AIDS, including poor training, few re- sources for travel even within their country, and low levels of senior editorial commitment to covering the issue. To address some of these, Panos awards fellowship grants to developing country radio journalists which enable them to take some days or weeks away from their work to research an HIV I AIDS-related issue in depth and to travel to inter- view a range of people, from experts and politicians to care workers and ordinary members of the public. We particularly stress the importance of including the views of people with HIV or AIDS. The material is com- piled by journalists into documen- taries or other programmes for their own broadcast, and we put together a condensed version of their programmes for international syndication. The project also led to two meet- ings earlier this year, one of which was for 50 radio and print journalists from 10 African countries who came together to form a new African Media Network on HIV/AIDS. The second meeting brought together radio producers and journalists from the Caribbean to form a similar network. Journalists at both meet- ings produced "codes of ethics" for journalists reporting on HIV I AIDS in their region. Building the capacity of journal- ists to produce their own radio programming on issues such as HIV I AIDS is essential. Radio is the most widely accessible medium in the world and, although AIDS Today is regularly broadcast by around 50 radio stations internationally reach- ing an audience of millions, it has limitations. The programme is pro- duced in English, thus limiting its main audience in most countries to a relatively educated middle class. Translation of the programme does take place, but on a limited scale. However, the programme can broach some sensitive issues - such as sex education - which national broadcasters otherwise would not be able to cover easily. Coming from an international source, it can help break down some taboos, as well as provide important insights into issues that otherwise would get little or no coverage. Programmes to date have focused on a range of issues, including: • the prospects for AIDS vaccines; • AIDS and young people; • vaginal virucides; • testing for HIV and the right not to know; • tuberculosis and HIV, safe blood; • Thailand's 100% condom policy; • home-based care; • combination therapies and the implications for developing countries; • traditional healers; • orphans and HIV; • employment rights of people with HIV; • sex, AIDS and children; • HIV in prison; • breastfeeding and HIV; • criminal law and HIV. Programmes are available (with scripts) from Panos priced £20.00 for each tape (two programmes per tape). They are available free of charge to radio stations in develop- ing countries. • 23 Mr James Deane is Director of Programmes of the Panos Institute in London. For further information, please contact the Panos Institute, 9 White Lion Street, London N 1 9PD, United Kingdom (tel. +44 171 278 11 11 ; fax +44 171 278 0345; e-mail: panoslondon@gn.apc.org}. Panos-London is an independent information institute which exists to stimulate debate on global development and environment issues. By providing authoritative, balanced and accessible information, Panos raises understanding of neglected or poorly understood issues . Panos- London works throug h a series of regional Centres for Publ ic and Pol icy Debate in Southern Africa, East Afr ica and the Horn and South Asia . The Institute is registered as a charity in the UK and is funded by the aid agencies of the governments of Sweden , Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands and the UK, and by the European Commission and a number of nongovernmental organizations and foundations.