HIV\AIDS: Towards A Better Media Reportage
By Folashade Oladipo

Gbenga Odeleke, a reporter with Guardian newspaper covers the health beat. On a number of occasions, he has written stories on issues relating to HIV/AIDS. Because many Nigerians still do not believe that the virus exists, and, in order to “scare” those still practicing unprotected sex out of the habit, Odeleke said he uses language to pit his readers against the “dreaded, killer disease.”

“I use these words to portray the enormity and the danger involved when the virus is contracted. The language is intended to dissuade people from engaging in casual sex and exposing themselves to all sorts of risks,” said Odeleke.

Using descriptors like burden, scourge, victims, sufferers, dreaded, killer disease and so on, Odeleke and other journalists create an image of fear, horror and hopelessness when addressing HIV/AIDS issues.

According to HIV activists, this kind of language so commonly used in media reports further stigmatizes people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) and actually perpetuates the problem instead of helping stem it.

In a publication of Projekthope, a right based HIV NGO “Vulnerability to HIV increases when people are denied the right to information; or when they are misinformed.’’ The publication also noted that other stigmatizing captions and words often used in the media include, “ fight, ravaging, battle, raging, carrier, promiscuous, ordeal, sufferers, tackle, havoc and many more.

For James Egejuru, pediatrician and medical director, Shepherd Hospital, Ikeja, Lagos, HIV is as manageable as diabetes, high blood pressure and sickle cell anaemia. “So long you have access to treatment and you adhere to your drugs and other conditions attached, you can live your life as long as God allows. It is not curable right now just like diabetes and high blood pressure but you can manage it successfully,” Egejuru said in an interview. He advised journalists to “be wary of words which can further stigmatize people living with the disease” as it might be to the disadvantageous in the long run.

Expanding on Egejuru’s warning, some individuals living positively with HIV/AIDS think the consequences could in fact be fatal if the trend of “media stigma” continues.  Dozie Ezechukwu, Program Office, Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria (NEPWHAN) explained that what people read and hear in the news media about HIV and AIDS is almost their only source of information on the issue. Similarly, what positive individuals read and hear has a strong impact on their own sense of acceptance or stigmatization of the disease.

“When you are positive, your sense of worth goes to the dogs. You feel so unworthy. You take your cue from what you hear around you. And from what the media is saying, HIV equals death,” said Abigail Atirene, an HIV positive woman.

Compounding this is the worrisome trend of people’s reluctance to come out for voluntary testing and know their HIV status. Rotimi Coker, consultant psychiatrist and head, psychology department, Lagos State University Teaching Hospital, LASUTH, said stigmatization caused by media reportage further prevents people from going for a test. “When people think of the way those who already have the virus are been treated, they become reluctant to do the test and those who know their status don’t want to disclose it for fear of being isolated by the society,” said Coker.