fraycollege, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the South African National AIDS Council (SANAC) recently hosted a webinar to launch a new handbook with guidelines for journalists reporting on HIV in Eastern and Southern Africa.
The handbook was developed by fraycollege, with support from SANAC and UNAIDS-SA, following a successful training programme for journalists held late last year and features regional statistics and data from the annual UNAIDS Report as well as practical tips and guidance on ethical reporting on HIV and how to use social media and multimedia tools for effective storytelling.
The launch webinar featured a panel discussion with civil society leaders working directly with people affected by HIV across the region and included practical advice for journalists and communicators on how to improve coverage of HIV. The panellists were Sibongile Nkosi, Co-Executive Director of The Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+), Uganda-based human rights activist, gender equality advocate and Programs Manager at Fem Alliance Uganda (FEMA), Tasha Muyira, and National Chairperson of Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), Sibongile Tshabalala. You can watch the recording of the webinar to hear their insights here
According to SANAC Communications Manager, Nelson Dlamini, the manual serves as a reliable source of information endorsed by both SANAC and UNAIDS and will help media professionals stay abreast of current trends in HIV management so that they can conduct reporting that is informed by both data and emerging priorities. “I hope it will encourage increased and improved HIV coverage and inspire more accurate portrayals of the situation concerning HIV, since it is still one of the most difficult public health and social epidemics.”
Communication and Advocacy Officer for the UNAIDS South Africa Office, Zeenat Abdool, said the manual is important tool for journalists because it can help them understand terminology, evolving discourse and technologies in the HIV sphere, adding she is looking forward to feedback on how it has enhanced HIV reporting, what can be done better, and to have more journalists reaching out to UNAIDS, SANAC and its partners.
“Working with Fray is always amazing; I think they’ve always done their work well. It helps when you have communicators who have come from the newsroom and understand the dynamics and know the questions the journalists need answers to as well as anticipate the information that journalists are going to need.”
fraycollege CEO, Mamaponya Motsai, said the handbook is designed to build the confidence of journalists and communicators and facilitate informed discourse about HIV in our communities. “We hope that it will reinvigorate enthusiasm for reporting on HIV, reminding journalists that the topic is not about numbers, but about people and should always include a human lens.”
You can download the handbook here. Share widely and help keep the HIV story alive!
Below is a recording of the webinar.
