Mediaids India
Fighting HIV/AIDS through the media in Northeast India
Context and Issue:
While the overall prevalence of HIV in India is below one per cent, the country faces a pandemic of large numbers of affected people due to the huge size of its population. The spread of HIV in India has increased from an estimated 1.75 million adults in 1994 to over 5 million in the last decade. Are the media fully involved in the fight against the virus? How do they address the HIV/AIDS issue in a complex region with such diverse languages and ethnic groups? Coverage of HIV/AIDS issues is relatively limited and tends to lack accuracy, balance and insight. The negative context in which reportage is presented has intensified the stigmatisation of drug-users, especially those with HIV. Moreover, the over-identification of the HIV pandemic with drugs has obscured other methods of viral communication including, most notably, unprotected sex and mother-to-child transmission.
Project's activities:
Media is in a unique position to foster an environment in which AIDS is addressed in a spirit of openness and honesty - an environment that is supportive of AIDS prevention, care and treatment efforts. The Medaids project developed by Internews Europe focused on the seven north-eastern states of India: Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura. In this context, the project seeks to sensitise radio and TV journalists and filmmakers to programming on HIV/AIDS. It aims to create a community of media professionals who can share experiences on the use of broadcast media in addressing issues surrounding HIV/AIDS in India and Europe. Ultimately, cooperation and communication between these journalists will mutually enhance reportage and production activities. The project is also commissioning and arranging to broadcast a series of model radio and television materials in India, which draw on the best EU practices while evaluating local knowledge to create culturally appropriate and effective messages.
Participants and Beneficiaries:
Media shapes beliefs about AIDS and influences everything from the response of governments to public attitudes towards those living with HIV and AIDS. Mediaids, given the scope of its work of improving the media approach to HIV/AIDS and the media in India, has been intensively working at building bridges between existing initiatives and projects, whether local, national or international, to achieve greater coordination and impact. In order to address this issue and improve the quantity and quality of locally relevant and available information about HIV/AIDS, Internews Europe developed a programme targeting four key multiplier groups: senior media managers, mainstream radio journalists and producers; producers of non-news media (talk show hosts and DJs); representatives of people living with HIV community groups; and NGOs involved in ART administration, harm reduction services and care.
Outcomes:
Internews Europe trained 30 radio and televisions jockeys and presenters in Chennai on the theme of getting the message on HIV/AIDS and young people at risk out on air. Twelve electronic media professionals were trained on media ethics, HIV/AIDS coverage and the use of media as an educational tool. A DJ workshop produced 13 jingles in English, Tamil and Hindi, eight case studies and one song. A platform for media professionals from EU and India has been created to share experiences and information on responsible and effective use of media to address sensitive social issues, especially the HIV/AIDS crisis. The training of 21 NGOs and networks of PLHIV representatives has been undertaken to improve their communications and advocacy skills towards media. The project also undertook the training of 24 radio professionals - 12 radio journalists and 12 non-news journalists from phone-in programmers - on how to embed HIV/AIDS-related information accurately with locally relevant and non-stigmatising reporting and messaging. Six radio PSAs (Public Service Announcements) were produced as was a 1-hour live phone-in programme on HIV/AIDS.
“The project has been taking [the] initiative [to reach] into an under-served, media dark region of India with high HIV prevalence rates.”
Mediaids
“You cannot regard Northeast India as a monolithic block : a bunch of strong identities, lot of secessionism and disparities. Reaching out to everybody on a media platform that says ‘lets get together to combat this epidemic’ is in itself a huge, huge challenge.”
Dr Jaya Shreedar, Internews Technical Health Advisor.
