“Now I know how to sound like an AIDS specialist after just an evening surf of the Internet,” wrote Zipporah. She and 16 other women have learned to access HIV/AIDS information on the Internet with speed and simplicity. At first, all of the women wanted to enhance their ICT skills to be able to find deeper and alternative information for their stories on HIV/AIDS. After the training, they are able to independently investigate a story and rely on much more than the contents of a press release.
The week-long workshop provided three broad areas of training to strengthen the role of the media in the fight against HIV/AIDS — ICT skills, HIV/AIDS science, and HIV/AIDS journalism. The training provided awareness of the range and quality of HIV/AIDS resources on the Internet, instilled a better understanding of the basic science of HIV/AIDS (infection and spread; opportunistic diseases; diagnosis, treatment and prevention), and of HIV/ AIDS science as a potential source of new stories including latest developments in basic research and implications for local communities and society at large.
“There is a big gap between scientists and reporters, because most journalists in Uganda are not trained in science, and rely instead on acquiring knowledge along the way…” said Margaret Juuko, University of Makerere, Department of Communication, in her address to the participants, “The role of journalists is not only to provide information but also to protect their sources.”
“…In the past; reporters were chased from the homes of patients and their families and friends for their aggressive and insensitive manner — journalists need to be sensitive and tactful towards their subjects,” remarked Joan Mugenzi, New Vision newspaper.
Equipped with ICT skills on the one hand and aware of HIV/AIDS science on the other, many of the trainees are now comfortable in establishing contact with local organizations, NGOs, medical professionals and scientists. “It [the training] has given me confidence and enhanced my knowledge on the disease — HIV/AIDS. I can explain how the virus attacks the immune system and provide websites where people can access information,” said Sofia in her written response to SciDev’s questionnaire.
Aware of the different aspects of HIV/AIDS, the trained women media professionals are producing an increased number of stories including reports on scientific conferences such as those held by the Federation of African Immunological Societies and the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA). Susan Musukuma has become the first journalist to ask local Zambia researchers about their HIV vaccine programme, which is about to begin.
Linda says she now writes through the people living, affected and infected with HIV/AIDS so that people can relate more easily to her stories. “I have generally learnt to give the story of AIDS a new angle,” she says. Fellow trainee Roida has produced articles on social aspects of HIV/ AIDS, which she feels are better researched and contain better background information on HIV/AIDS statistics.
Gloria has discovered a wealth of information from numerous websites that have increased the number of her written stories. She is now working as a freelance writer for SciDev, and has produced three TV documentaries for Ugandan national television and TV news. “http://www. hivinsite.com has been very helpful especially in enhancing the productions I have been doing for the last months,” she wrote in response to the evaluation questionnaire.
“My most recent feature was about Kenyan and Ugandan women being inhibited by culture to participate in AIDS vaccine trials,” said Esther.
The strongest impact of the training appears to have been from the use of the Internet because of the wide range of resources it provides on HIV/AIDS as well as other development related topics.
“The wealth of knowledge that is made available through ICT and Internet has inspired me and now I am taking MSC in Community Economics through distance learning,” wrote Munira to the workshop sponsors.
“The workshop has improved my communication. In this sense I was honored as the Best Reporter in reporting ICTs for Development by the Economic Commission of Africa in May at Addis Ababa”, said Brenda.
A popular impact of the week-long training is the networking opportunity provided to the participants. Networking has boosted the confidence and standing of the women communicators.
Susan Mwangi wrote “The contacts have been useful as information on regional happening has been passed on. I have also been able to know when one of us is attending a related work-shop, by e-mail”.
Linda reported, “I have fortunately linked up with some of the members who benefited from the training… and with an internet news-paper for women by women”. Linda is constantly being contacted by others who require information on HIV/AIDS.
More basic science tuition and more time for ICT training are among the recommendations made by the trainees to contribute towards the development of both training material and practical experience that can be used as the basis of similar workshops in other locations. Rosemary requested more applied journalism training, “More time could have been given on… how one can do an investigative story through examples.”

Two obstacles cited in general were the cost of internet access and limited access to training on website production, radio production, graphic illustration and design.

HIV is one of the most devastating epidemics in human history with an estimated 60 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide, 5 million of whom are estimated to have been newly infected with the virus in 2002.

Learning to Report the Science of HIV/AIDS

The use of ICTs to improve reporting on HIV/AIDS is one focus of a UNESCO-sponsored workshop for women journalists that opened in Kampala, Uganda, today. The training also focuses on how to cover the science of HIV/AIDS.
The five-day event brings together 15 women participants from African countries, who are professionally engaged in communicating HIV/AIDS information to the public through print, radio or electronic media.
“This workshop constitutes a new departure in terms of HIV media training”, notes Stella Hughes of UNESCO, “Most available training focuses on reporting the social and medical issues of HIV/AIDS but few journalists in countries hardest hit by AIDS are trained to access and handle the latest information on scientific developments”. The intention of UNESCO and co-organiser SciDev.Net, the Science Development Network, is to introduce health communicators to the various ways in which ICTs can help them to source and report on the latest scientific developments.
“It is hoped that an enhanced ability of health communicators to use ICTs will contribute to a better understanding of the nature of HIV infection and to increased awareness of the latest scientific results and their implications for diagnosis, treatment and prevention of HIV/AIDS” commented SciDev.Net director David Dickson. Another aim is to provide stronger counter arguments to those who question the relationship between HIV and AIDS.
Improved media reporting is expected to increase the awareness of the resources available through the Internet and elsewhere as well as awareness among the public and the political community of the importance of both basic research in immunology and other disciplines.
One of the key goals of the workshop, in addition to developing new skills among health communicators, will be to develop both training material and practical experience for holding similar workshops in other locations. Another workshop is scheduled to take place in Asia later this year.

HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon Media Award
for Excellence in Journalism
in Eastern and Southern Africa

Three journalists from Kenya and Uganda were given this year’s HIV/ AIDS Red Ribbon Media Award for Excellence in Journalism. The award recognizes media professionals for giving an exceptional contribution to society by writing, reporting and producing programmes on HIV and AIDS in a manner that raises aware-ness, combats stigma and gives hope and solidarity for people living with HIV/AIDS.

The winners of the awards consisting of US 1500 dollars and a certificate are: Clay Muganda, Kenya (Nation Media group), in the print/ on-line category; Gloria Katusiime, Uganda (WBS Television), in the Television category; and Ndu Okoh, Kenya (Family Media), in the radio category.

Three commendations were awarded to runners-up in each category as follows: Gregory Kalebonye, Botswana (Mmegi-Botswana) print/ on-line, Anne Neindiwe Iddrisu, Tanzania (Channel 10) television and Anne Waithera, Kenya (Citizen Radio) radio.

The award was given to the winners on 27 November 2003 in Nairobi, Kenya, during a ceremony organized by UNESCO in partnership with UNAIDS, UNIC, UNEP and the Kenya Ethical and Legal Issues Network (KELIN) in the presence of Kenya’ First Lady Lucy Kibaki, Klaus Töpfer, Under Secretary of the United Nations and Executive Director of UNEP, Raphael Tuju, Kenya’s Minister for Tourism and Information as well as important personalities of the international cooperation institutions and of media industry in the region.

The activity is part of an overall strategy devised by UNESCO in Eastern Africa to raise awareness and fight against the stigma and discrimination of people living with AIDS. This strategy also includes the setting up of a network of media and journalists specialised in the subject; the production of programmes and materials; the introduction of new training curricula for media professionals and the production of high quality written and audiovisual materials for the general public.

Eastern and Southern Africa have the highest incidence of spread and prevalence of HIV, as such, the partner United Nations and specialised NGOs participating in this event aim at promoting media participation in raising awareness on the human, social and economic tragedy which HIV and AIDS have inflicted on the region.

The HIV/AIDS Red Ribbon Media Award for Excellence is organized by the Media and HIV/AIDS Kelin Network, as part of the “Eastern and Southern Africa Media Strategy against HIV/AIDS”. It is open to journalists from 19 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa namely: Burundi, Botswana, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Namibia, Somalia, Seychelles, Mauritius, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Madagascar, Mozambique, Rwanda Zambia and Zimbabwe.