Conveying Concerns: Media Coverage of Women and HIV/AIDS (PDF: 203KB)

(September 2001) In many countries, HIV/AIDS represents the deadliest emergency and the greatest social, economic, and health crisis of modern times. The virus has many allies. For one thing, silence and denial have fueled its transmission. Just as cultural and religious taboos inhibit open discussion about sexual practices and preferences, including the use of contraceptives, shame and guilt have surrounded this virus that spreads mainly through sexual contact. Many governments have also been slow to acknowledge the crisis and to formulate policies and programs to halt the spread of the epidemic.

Poverty is another key ally. Those who can afford the costly anti-AIDS treatments prolong their lives, while the world's poor — the majority of whom are women — die in overwhelming numbers. One of the most significant challenges is the epidemic's profound impact on the lives of women, whose lack of economic autonomy and low social status often render them powerless to reject risky behaviors or to negotiate the most basic precautions against the disease. Women and girls also provide the main sources of support for the sick and dying, even when they themselves need care.

This Conveying Concerns, the fifth in a series compiled through the Women's Edition project of the Population Reference Bureau (PRB), examines the epidemic's impact on women and girls from the perspective of women journalists. In July 2000, PRB assembled senior journalists from 10 countries for a seminar to discuss women and HIV/AIDS prior to the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa. The journalists subsequently produced special supplements in their newspapers and magazines as well as radio programs that highlighted local and international aspects of the epidemic. Excerpts from these supplements and programs are printed here.

The articles and scripts are abridged and appear in five sections, each with an introduction. These sections represent the specific topics addressed by the journalists. The first section looks at women's special vulnerability to HIV and is followed by sections on the transmission of the virus from mother to child, young people, migrants, and people living with HIV and AIDS. The articles in this booklet were produced from various cultural perspectives. However, they all emphasize that women's economic dependence on men, as well as society's acceptance of different standards of behavior for women and men increases women's vulnerability and the burden of the epidemic on women. The articles also demonstrate that the media have a role in helping to remove the shroud of silence and denial surrounding the disease.

Contents

Preface
Global Overview: The Changing Face of HIV/AIDS
Women's Special Vulnerability to HIV/AIDS
Women and AIDS: Being Good Is Bad for Your Health
Are You Positive? Women at Risk
The Agony of Being African and Woman
Calling the Shots
Mother-to-Child Transmission
Report on AIDS
HIV/AIDS — Silence and Deafness: The Hlabisa Hospital
Young People and HIV/AIDS
Current Problems
Are You Positive?
Migration and HIV
Filipinos and AIDS: It Could Happen to You
HIV/AIDS — Silence and Deafness: Rural Africa
Improve Our Behavior Ourselves
People Living with HIV or AIDS
Positive — and Carrying On
HIV/AIDS: Another Silence to Be Broken
HIV-Positive Florence: The Face of Courage and Hope