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SAfAIDS in bid to increase HIV and AIDS knowledge levels amongst Zim media practitioners
Beatrice Tonhodzayi, Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS)
January 15, 2009

Southern Africa HIV and AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAfAIDS) with support from Population Services International (PSI) and the National AIDS Council, under Global Fund Round Five, is facilitating theme based discussion fora with the media in a bid to sensitise journalists about HIV and AIDS, and TB issues.

Last week, a discussion was held whose main objective was to increase awareness amongst media practitioners about the different models of HIV testing and counseling.

For many years, the voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) model has been touted as the ideal approach to people discovering their HIV status in Zimbabwe. However coverage of testing through VCT has remained inadequate in most settings. Coupled with high levels of stigma, this has had led to poor uptake of such services, where available.

It has also been observed that though crucial in the uptake of counseling and testing services, provider-initiated testing and counselling (PITC) has remained under-utilised. The model, which represents an HIV testing model that can be recommended as part of the standard health care to all people who visit health care facilities, can lead to an increased uptake of testing and counseling, if fully integrated within the health provision system.

Addressing journalists at the media briefing, held at the SAfAIDS Zimbabwe office, medical practitioner, Dr. Paul Chimedza said PITC should be recommended as part of the standard health care to:

• all people presenting at health facilities with signs, symptoms, or medical conditions that indicate HIV infection such as oral thrush or Tuberculosis
• infants born to HIV positive women as a routine component of the follow-up care
• children presenting with sub-optimal growth or malnutrition in generalized epidemics
• men seeking circumcision as an HIV prevention intervention

With an enabling environment and adequate resources, Dr. Chimedza said PITC should even be recommended to all adults and adolescents seen in health facilities, whether they are medical or surgical practitioners, public or private institutions, in patients or in the out patients departments of hospitals.

"It should be recommended as part of the normal standard of care provided to the patient, regardless of whether they show signs and symptoms of underlying HIV infection or not. Even if what brings you to the hospital is a leg problem, PITC should be offered to you," he said.

However, Dr Chimedza said it was important for the media in its coverage of PITC issues to make it clear to the public that a person could still decline the test offered under PITC if they did not wish to be tested.

"It is not a mandatory form of testing, so one should not feel they are being forced to undergo an HIV test once they visit a health service provider. However, we would like to encourage people to take advantage of PITC, to find out their HIV status, which is the best way of getting access to the relevant treatment, care and support early," he said.

Journalists raised a lot of pertinent issues, among them whether PITC should be encouraged in Zimbabwe with the current challenges in terms of a shortage of human resources in health institutions and access and availability of anti-retroviral drugs. This should lead to an increase in the number of news articles generated by the Zimbabwean media that explore current HIV and AIDS interventions and how the country can move forward in its national response.

Aulora Stally, the facilitator of the briefings, urged the journalists to hone in on the personal stories and remove the unnecessary jargon from their reportage as one way of moving towards a more effective reporting culture while SAfAIDS country representative, Mrs Monica Mandiki said the journalists would emerge out of the briefings better informed about the different testing models and HIV and AIDS and TB issues in general, which in turn would empower the public, who constitute the media's audience.

"What you say and don't say actually has a bearing on how people end up making decisions and living their lives," she said.

At the end of the briefing, journalists said they had gained a better understanding of the various benefits and disadvantages of PITC and would report more widely on it as a model the public might want to consider.

The SAfAIDS media briefings on PITC, Treatment Literacy, HIV and TB and Stigma and Discrimination respectively will take place in Harare and Bulawayo on a weekly basis until February.

Visit the SAfAIDS fact sheet

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