Report by: Ishmael Barfi
The media has been urged to ensure proper reportage on issues relating to HIV and AIDS as well as educate the general public on the significance of showing care, love, and affection to Persons Living with HIV (PLHIV) in the country.
Dr. Kyeremeh Atuahene, the Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), believes this would help curb stigma and discrimination against PLHIV, saying these affect the well-being of Persons Living with HIV.
“Stigma and discrimination against them make them coil into their shells out of fear instead of coming out to test for their status and seek treatment”, he asserted.
Dr Kyeremeh Atuahene, the Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC), made the passionate call at the two-day training of media practitioners across the country.
To him, Persons Living with HIV are our brothers and sisters who need love, care, and affection rather than stigma and discrimination.
The two (2) day National Media Training under the auspices of Ghana Aids Commission (GAC) in collaboration with USAID, PEPFAR, and Send Ghana held at Peduase, Eastern Region was to engage selected journalists across the media space on HIV-related Human Rights Stigma and Discrimination.
Addressing participants, the Director of Technical Services at GAC, Dr. Fred Nana Poku acknowledged the role and importance of the media in the dissemination of information.
Therefore called on the media to support the GAC in its drive to make stigmatization and discrimination of PLHIV, a thing of the past.
Explaining further, he stressed that the sensitivity of HIV and the sensationalism portrayed in the media warrants the training to help put things in their proper perspective in the media.
Throwing more light on the situation of HIV in Ghana, he explained that, child to birth rate has reduced, testing among individuals has increased whilst death of patients has also reduced to 9000.
In addition, per statistics, a total of 354,927 adults have been infected with 115,238 being males and 239,692 being females respectively.
Women, Dr. Fred Nana Poku noted are always vulnerable and at high risk when it comes to HIV, attributing it to anatomical and other socio-economic reasons.
“How do we stop our brothers and sisters from getting HIV? It is killing more Adolescent people and so we need to do something about it”, he bemoaned.
Therefore, Dr. Fred Nana Poku tasked participants (Journalists) to make a conscious effort to educate the general public and ensure proper reportage.
Meanwhile, the Ghana AIDS Commission (GAC ) over the years has adopted an HIV AIDS response strategy to curtail the rate of infection, especially mother-to-child transmission.
This strategy which includes community and media engagements has contributed immensely to the reduction of the HIV Prevalence rate in Ghana which stood at 2.9% in 2009 to as low as 1.66% as recorded in 2022.
Despite the above feat, the Director of Technical Services reiterated that the Ghana AIDS Commission is not complacent as it has resolved not to leave any stone unturned in achieving greater strides in this regard.
Adding “ stigma and discrimination remain pervasive in Ghanaian society which leads to social isolation, reluctance to seek testing and treatment as well as creates barriers to access healthcare services.”
On her part, the USAID representative, Zohra Balsara indicated that her institution has supported the Ghana government with 1.5 million dollars in the fight against HIV and AIDS and looks forward to an appropriate reportage from the media after the training.
Representing the leadership of the Ghana Journalist Association,(GJA), the Public Affairs Officer Rebecca Ekpe commended PEPFAR, Send-Ghana and its partners for the training.
To her, the training would help journalists produce write-ups that speak positively of persons Living with HIV as well as evidence-based write-ups, to eradicate stigma and discrimination, based on myths and misconceptions.
The role of the media she noted was to avoid the use of negative language in their description of PLHIV to intensify their plight, therefore advised participants to adhere to the ethics of responsible journalism, avoiding rumor and speculations regarding the HIV and AIDS hence stick to evidence-based sources to enrich their reportage.
She said stigma could drive people to hide the illness to avoid discrimination, prevent people from seeking health care immediately, and discourage people from adopting healthy behaviors.
“As communicators, we help shape the minds and actions of many people by using innovative ways to surmount these health challenges.
“Together we can help to destigmatize HIV and AIDS and that can also contribute significantly to curbing the spread of this disease”, she added.
Source: www.thenewindependentonline.com
