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Media and HIV/AIDS
By Chitra Ahanthem
In a fast shrinking world, thanks to the advancements of science and technology in the realms of communication, media plays a significant role in civil societies today. People over the world and across all walks of life of life keep abreast of the latest happenings in the world through the media. From rural or urban settings to business establishments or agro-based industries, to students or sports enthusiasts, the media is the first and last resort for catching up on news on various fronts-social, political, economy, medicine and health, science and technology, arts and culture, besides others.
Of late, various forms of media - print, electronic and radio have become mouthpieces for advocating social issues: family planning, rights of the girl child, dowry, and consumer rights to name a few. But the big question here is whether the media is doing enough for the complex ridden HIV/AIDS scenario in the country.
AIDS (Acquired Immune-Deficiency Syndrome) is caused by a virus called HIV (Human Immune-Deficiency Virus) which breaks down the immune system of the human body, our main ’defense mechanism' against diseases. Once HIV enters the human body, it increases vulnerability to skin infections. Tuberculosis, Pneumonia, Diarrhea and a host of other illnesses, eventually leading to death. No effective cure or vaccine has been developed for HIV/AIDS so far though certain drug combinations called Anti-Retrovirals (ARV's as they are called), have proved effective for the illnesses that come along after HIV infection.
The first case of HIV was reported from Tamil Nadu while that of AIDS was reported from Maharashtra amongst female sex workers (both in 1986). Given the taboo that is associated with sex in the Indian context despite giving Kamasutra to the entire world, it was well inevitable for moral tags to creep in into how HIV/AIDS was being perceived by people at large - Health Officials, Politicians, Law Makers and the media included. The negative downside increased all the more when random blood samples collected from injecting drug users in Manipur tested HIV positive (ICMR, 1989-90). To a large extent, the media was responsible for the term "high risk group/behavior" coming into existence. With this term came the segregation of HIV/AIDS from other incurable diseases.
The media fraternity looked into HIV/AIDS for sensationalism and quite overlooked the gross violation of the rights of people infected and affected with HIV/AIDS -job terminations, hospitals and doctors refusing to admit them. It was an equally guilty partner in that the initial stages of the HIV/ AIDS chapter in India were highlighted by real people and their photographs, often with details of how the infection came about. It turned a blind eye to the fact that contracting HIV/AIDS had nothing to do with one's moral behavior - that people could get it and often got it unknowingly; that a person infected with HIV did not necessarily mean being promiscuous heterosexually or homosexually or being an injecting drug user. And because of this oversight, people with HIV/AIDS had to contend with much stigma and discrimination. The first few public awareness messages did greater harm than good as they focused more on the scare factor and shifting the blame to particular risk ‘groups’.
Over the years, certain sections of the media have shown a better understanding while highlighting HIV/AIDS related issues - gender sensitivity, confidentiality, access to treatment, standard of care and nutrition etc. Ironically enough, it has also become a medium for baseless claims in the form of advertisements and some infamous cover stories of print publications regarding 'cures'.
People living with HIV/AIDS do not need hype from the media. They need advocacy for the rights that are due to them and correct information about access to treatment for the diseases that are but a part of their lives. As for the large multitude of people who could be infected and affected with HIV/AIDS due to lack of knowledge, the media fraternity has to take up the initiative in putting across relevant information. In this endeavor, traditional forms of media: songs, drama, skits, plays, puppetry related to HIV/AIDS can help reach out to the illiterate majority (modes of transmission and prevention, safe sex and correct usage of condoms, sexually transmitted/transmissible diseases).
A sustained advocacy of the HIV/AIDS scenario by and in various forms of media has become all the more necessary to bring about more awareness and dissemination of information, effective political commitment to policies to provide better and efficient care services, cheaper medicines for infections, trail regimens and how existing Government Policies are helping or hindering the cause. There is a pressing need to address HIV/AIDS related issues beyond a health care set up and focus on its-implications on the economy and productivity of the work force. The task will not be easy given its technicalities and complex nature, and in that, media-has to go hand with Health experts and Researchers besides involving the so called field workers who deal with HIV/AIDS and those living with it.
(This article has been facilitated by a fellowship given by the National Foundation for India under its North East Media Exchange Program (2002).
(Courtesy: The Imphal Free Press)
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