Published on 13/12/2018

Training and awareness raising for journalists on media coverage of key populations

Within the framework of the response to HIV/AIDS, Enda Santé is implementing the Global Fund Project New Financing Model 2 (NMF2), with ANCS as Principal Recipient. The involvement of civil society will have enabled a more efficient implementation of programmes in order to improve access to services for the population and to put an end to epidemics, by accelerating the response to AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria.

Given the prevalence of HIV in key populations (MSM, PS, prisoners and IDUs), which is far higher than the national average, adequate care for these communities is a public health issue.

Rejected, these key populations often live on the margins of society and health structures, but are nevertheless bridging groups because of their multi-faceted contacts with the rest of society, which faces risks.

In order to provide better care for the populations most vulnerable to HIV, the actors around the National AIDS Council (CNLS) have identified the fight against stigmatisation and discrimination of these groups as one of the determining factors.

To this end, it was decided, among other things, to work with the media, which constitute a space where these phenomena are expressed.

Indeed, a content analysis of the media shows that the way in which they handle information about key populations can influence society's perception of these groups.

In this sense, Enda Santé held a training and awareness-raising workshop on 24 and 25 November 2018 with members of the network of health journalists, and journalists from the local media of the department of Mbour, one of the areas most exposed to the HIV epidemic with a prevalence twice as high as the national average.

During two (02) days, the journalists were trained on :

  • the epidemiological situation of key populations and the activities being carried out to control it
  • public health issues and issues related to achieving the 90-90-90 and eradicating AIDS by 2020 are clarified
  • Factors of stigmatisation and discrimination in the media, their impact and ways to avoid it
  • approaches for professional coverage of key populations
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