On September 2nd I attended the launch of the report ‘HIV and Stigma: The Media Challenge’ by Sophie Chalk, Director of Campaigns at the International Broadcasting Trust.
Beyond the findings of the report, the launch also included a prominent panel, including Garth Japhet (Founder of Heartlines and the Soul City Institutes, South Africa), Winnie Ssanyu Sseruma (HIV activist), Anne Soy (BBC correspondent, Kenya) and Arvind Singhal (University of Texas).
Hereon is an overview of the main points discussed both in the report (which you should get your hands on!) and the discussion between the panel and the very well-informed audience.
Throughout the discussion, two main challenges were identified: the need to address young people in ICT4D and the media fatigue around HIV and the associated stigma.
Challenge no 1: The need for a clear focus on young people in ICT4D
Potentially every person who spoke, mentioned the need to address young people – both meaning teenagers and younger children.
Teenagers are about to or are already engaging in a sexual life. In countries where HIV rates are high, social taboos often make open dialogue around sexual and reproductive health difficult and the forbidden nature of sex exacerbates HIV stigma. There is a need for ICT4D (information and communication technologies for development) projects that address HIV stigma which are specifically tailored to young people.
Equally younger children can really benefit from learning about HIV at an early age, as they are in some ways blank canvases, who can be taught about HIV without prior judgment and prejudice. For example Garth Japhet mentioned Soul Buddyz, a network of clubs for 8-14 year-olds developed on the side of the Soul Buddyz TV show, which grew extremely popular in South Africa, reaching over 200,000 soul buddyz. Children really wanted to join them because they were ‘fun’ – socializing with children their age around sports and creative activities, while also learning about life skills and HIV.
Challenge no 2: HIV is no longer a story
Media fatigue seems to exist both amongst news broadcasters, as highlighted by Anne Soy, but also amongst young people in Swaziland, as Sophie Chalk shared with us their sentiment of how bored they were with news about HIV. HIV was a story in the 80s and the 90s, but it seems to have lost its appeal in terms of newsworthiness.
It is incredibly difficult to report about the HIV epidemic without stigmatizing vulnerable groups or people living with HIV/AIDS. Journalists need both training as well as access to new stories. Anne Soy was telling us about Kenya, where local journalists have no budget to go out to rural areas and find today’s stories of HIV. This is where NGOs can help. They can provide training, sharing their knowledge and experience, and they can also physically take the journalists to the rural areas and connect them with people who are happy to share their story of HIV.
Journalists do play a role in the fight against HIV stigma, because through their stories, they can share the science; dispel myths of transmission, change people’s views around culpability and morality. They can create a cognitive dissonance against old prejudice about people living with HIV/AIDS, provided HIV is on the agenda of the editorial boards.
Drama as a solution to both?
One answer to both these challenges seemed to dominate the discussion – using drama for social change.
Dramas, like Soul City or Shuga, are a brilliant tool to target young people, as they move away from ‘preaching’ about HIV – abandoning the discourse around what people should do, by using dramatic stories to teach about what living with HIV/AIDS is like. This way, ICT4D can also combat the media fatigue – the science can be taught through the stories of dramas and television and radio soaps.
Interestingly, producer Kate Oates from the UK television drama soap Emmerdale was also present at the event and told us about how she created the storyline of the character Valery discovering her HIV status and the beginning of her life living with HIV/AIDS. Before putting the storyline through, Kate asked the actress whether she was comfortable with it. Kate explained that she felt the need to ask this, as playing an HIV positive character will often have an impact on the actor’s life, who will face questions about it in the media and possibly in their private lives.
Garth echoed this point of view, as he told us how some of the Soul City actors, who play characters living with HIV/AIDS, have become advocates against HIV stigma, as in some sort of para-social interaction, the public sees them as their character. Actors do play an important role in this respect and they can become role models when role models who are actually living with HIV/AIDS are effectively missing.
Someone asked the audience how many famous people living with HIV/AIDS we all knew, and probably most of us could count them on one hand – I definitely can! Some speakers felt that it was time for people living with HIV/AIDS to step up and become role models and inspire a generation! Anne Soy made an interesting point by saying that very few members of the higher social classes come out as HIV positive, whereas amongst the lower social classes, there is less disincentive to be open about one’s status, which exacerbates the idea of HIV/AIDS as a ‘disease of the poor’.
Though, drama isn’t the answer to everything, other media projects focused on young people often in combination with drama are doing tremendous work. These include projects using new media technologies, but also school-based activities as well as after-schools clubs. Fact is HIV stigma is not an old story, it’s very much alive and reports like Sophie Chalk’s are important to remind us of this fact and that efforts to combat stigma are still valuable and necessary.
Digital Good 
Thanks Chantal for your great summary of what was said!