| December 1 is World AIDS Day (WAD) and this year the event is being commemorated under the theme ‘Universal Access and Human Rights’.
According to the World AIDS Campaign, the theme was chosen to address the critical need to protect human rights and attain access for all to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. The theme also acts as a call to countries to remove laws that discriminate against people living with HIV (PLHIV), women and marginalised groups.
Human rights are fundamental to addressing the HIV epidemic throughout the world. The violation of people’s human rights increases their vulnerability thereby exposing them to HIV infection. Ensuring human rights for all people is instrumental in achieving Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.
Issues the media can address:-
- Journalists need to unpack the theme to readers/viewers/listeners. Many people are not quite certain of what ‘Universal Access’ means. This is an opportune time to explain what the term refers to and what the targets are. It would be important if the media took time to look at how far their countries have gone in terms of achieving Universal Access goals and what the ordinary citizen’s role is in ensuring that Universal Access targets are met.
- The media also need to use this time to raise awareness about the rights that people and in particular, PLHIV have, which should be the same rights that everyone else enjoys. These include the right to sex and reproductive health, good health, treatment, good standards of living, and most importantly the right to life.
- Through performing their watchdog role, journalists can highlight and bring out human rights violations in various countries and how the situations can be improved.
- Journalists can also address the following questions: What challenges are PLHIV in different countries facing? It is a documented fact that several countries in southern Africa, among them Zimbabwe have not managed to get everyone in need of treatment onto Antiretroviral therapy. How do these challenges impact on the well-being of PLHIV?
- Is everyone who needs HIV prevention, treatment, care and support, able to access these, irrespective of gender, race, status and political affiliation? If not, journalists need to bring these issues to the fore during this period.
- It is important to speak to policy makers and governments to elicit the challenges they are facing which may be hindering them from achieving the Universal Access targets.
- Many countries made commitments to protect human rights in the Declaration of Commitment on HIV and AIDS (2001) and the Political Declaration on HIV and AIDS (2006). Journalists can take stock if different countries are honouring their commitments and put to task as well as urge those that are not honouring commitments to protect human rights to do so.
- As the World commemorates the 20th anniversary of the adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the Conventions on the Rights of the Child, it is important for the media to highlight human rights issues that affect children living with HIV.
- Various activities will be taking place in various countries in commemoration of WAD. Journalists can track these and provide coverage to the events that will be taking place.
- Take this WAD to allow voices of PLHIV to be heard. They are not often in the news but during this WAD, journalists can go the extra mile by telling the stories of PLHIV.
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