Bridging the Gap: Conference Record [Abstract book, International Conference on AIDS (12th: 1998: Geneva, Switzerland)]

12th World AIDS Conference

Abstracts 34219-34223 729

Conclusions: Selected annotated World Wide Web "link" sites help beginners
approach the rich but often chaotic and unreliable content of the Internet by
providing the editorial viewpoints and recommendations of trusted organizations
known to healthcare professionals and service providers.
586*/34219 Media impact/agreement between a NGO and a
national newspaper: A successful experience of
collaboration
Alejandro Brito1, A. Diaz2, C. Bonfil2, M. Figueroa2, M. Zozaya2. 1Zempola
9-205 Col. Narvarte 03020; 2Letra S Sida Cultura Y Vida Cotidiana AC, Mexico
City, Mexico
Issue: We, the non-governmental organizations need to ensure a continuous
collaboration with the media in order to have an impact on public opinion and
create consensus favoring the most effective and proper responses to face the
AIDS pandemic.
Project: Through an agreement of collaboration with La Jornada, one of the
most influential and popular newspapers in Mexico, our organisation, a team of
journalists and specialists in different areas, publishes a supplement fully dedicated to the subject of AIDS and its relation to health and sexuality every month.
With our publication, named Letra S, we want not only to inform the reader on
the preventive measures against HIV transmission and on the most advanced
therapies to fight it, but also to serve as support and liaison to community work,
and to offer a continuing body of analysis and proposals on medical, social,
cultural and ethical aspects related to the AIDS pandemic in Mexico.
Results: In one year of constant work we have managed to distribute 1,210.000
issues of Letra S, based on a circulation of 80.000 issues per month, through the
newspaper. We also distribute a monthly average of 6.000 issues to Non-government and Community based Organisations, hospitals and clinics where persons
living with AIDS receive attention. In a brief period of time, our journalistic project,
Letra S, has had a favorable impact on society and has gained public influence.
Lessons Learned: It is important to maintain the subject of AIDS constantly
present in the public attention and discussion. But in order to reach a wider social
impact (particularly to get the attention of the young people), an AIDS publication
must strive to open itself to the larger subjects of human health and sexuality.
34220 Red alert: Stop AIDS. A radio program segment
Noel Juban, S.D.P. Mercado, G. Trillana. Doktora Foundation, 547 Pedro Gil St.,
Ermita, Manila, Philippines
Issue: In developing countries like the Philippines where the AIDS epidemic is
still at its earlier stage, there is a need for powerful tool in the dissemination of
HIV/AIDS awareness and information.
Project: A health-oriented radio program, Doktora, geared toward the masses
tries to incorporate HIV/AIDS information segment into its program. The show
runs five days a week and the segment last for 5-7 minute discussion on current
HIV/AIDS issues two to three times a week or 2-minute advertisement information
on other days. The two minutes information focuses on themes like "Fight AIDS,
Not People With AIDS, and contact numbers of Remedios AIDS Hotline and
Women's AIDS Hotline, both under the Remedios AIDS Foundation, Inc. The
program segment aimed to increase AIDS awareness among the listeners and
to direct inquiries to the proper NGO's that can help on their HIV/AIDS-related
problems.
Results: The Red Alert: Stop AIDS segment has been running for a year and
the segment continues to run up to the present. A cross sectional survey among
telephone callers of the program showed that radio ranks 2nd to television as their
major source of information on HIV/AIDS. A report by Reach Out, the partner
NGO of the program segment, showed that of the 4,120 calls received for 1996,
60 (1.46%) mentioned the radio advertisement as their source of the telephone
number. For 1997, out of the 4596 actual calls, 92 (2.0%) have Radio Show
(Doktora) as source and the 63 (1.37%), radio ads or a total of 155 (3.37%) or an
increase of >100%.
Lessons Learned: In areas of developing countries, where the radio is the immediate means of information of the people, information via the radio (in the form
of program segment or ads) can help disseminate the information on HIV/AIDS
transmission and prevention.
34221 Developing a TV campaign to debunk traditional beliefs
about male sexuality
Alicia Lourdes M. De Guzman, J.B. Fleras. ReachOut Foundation, 2/F Villa
Bldg., 78-80 Polaris cor. Jupiter Sts., Makati, Philippines
Issue/s: Filipino men harbour traditional beliefs about male sexuality that could
encourage behaviour that put them at risk for HIV and STD infection. How can
we use media to change these mistaken beliefs?
Project: ReachOut Foundation, with funding from the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), is currently implementing a project entitled "A Public Service

Media Campaign on Reproductive Health." Under this project, ReachOut Foundation collaborated with McCann-Erickson Philippines to design a media campaign
to introduce the term "reproductive health" (or RH) to the public. To facilitate
understanding, the RH elements were grouped under: (1) Responsible Parenthood; and (2) Responsible Sexuality. The TV PSA on responsible parenthood
was aimed at married couples, while that on responsible sexuality was directed
at the unmarried segment of the population, particularly males. TV PSAs were

developed to counteract traditional ideas about male sexuality. It was pre-tested
for comprehension and acceptability through focus group discussions among
three (3) groups of male participants: (1) out of school youth; (2) students; and
(3) young married men.
Results: In general, participants were able to grasp the messages of the TV
PSA: (1) It is okay to use condoms for protection against STDs and unwanted
pregnancies; and (2) It is not necessary for a man to have many sexual partners
or to play around in order to prove his masculinity. The TV PSA was subsequently
aired on all TV channels with the assistance of the Philippine Information Agency
and the Association of Broadcasters.
Lessons Learned: It is possible to confront traditional beliefs and show how
these could be detrimental to one's health. Moreover, it is possible to encourage
health seeking behaviour through the use of mass media like TV. In this particular
TV PSA, the call to action was, "Find out more about Reproductive Health by
consulting the nearest health center."
34222 Using the media to improve the social climate - WAD 97
Adam Crosier. Health Education Authority, Trevelyan House, 30 Great Peter
Street, London, UK
Objectives: The 'social climate' is a concept which is hard to define, but one
which is often described as having a central role to play in the formation and
maintenance of a supportive environment for HIV prevention. In Britain, negative
and misleading media coverage were some of the reasons for government led,
national HIV prevention campaigns, which have run since the mid 1980s. In
common with other similar nations, the resources for such campaigns in the UK
aimed at the general public have been reduced significantly during the 1990s.
Consequently, greater attention has been paid to working with journalists to influence their opinions and to encourage them to produce material supportive of
health promotion aims, rather than mounting expensive paid-for campaigns. This
study sought to examine the volume and nature of media coverage on matters
relating to sexual health overall and the impact of the World AIDS Day 1997 event
in particular.
Methods: A range of printed media (national dailies, weeklies, regional and
local newspapers) were scanned during the period October 1997 to January
1998 for any reference to sexual health matters. The volume of coverage, nature
of content and tone of coverage were assessed using a standardised scoring
system.
Results: Over 1000 individual items were identified. The single most reported
health topic was HIV and AIDS. The nature of the coverage was broad, ranging
from reporting of local events, human interest stories and reports of epidemic
forecasts. The volume of coverage increased rapidly around World AIDS Day. The
tone of the coverage varied significantly. The majority of reporting was neutral.
Some coverage was supportive and a minority negative.
Conclusions: Editorial policy of newspapers appeared to influence whether
and how stories about sexual health matters were reported. There remains scope
for health promotors to work with editors and journalists to take greater interest
in matters of sexual health.
S34223 Mediated homophobia? The cultural production of AIDS
bodies
Raymond Donovan. University of Newcastle, Newcastle; 166 Sutherland Street,
Paddington NSW2021, Australia
Issue: Academic analyses of the news coverage of HIV/AIDS suggest that the
media is motivated by sensationalism and wilful prejudice. Queer critiques charge
that the media is motivated by bigotry and homophobia. The media is positioned
as either irrationally anti-queer, or collusive in the privileging of heterosexism.
Project: The project explores the symbiosis between the medical construction
of a disease entity, and the cultural reproduction of it in the guise of the homosexual body. Mediated representations of AIDS-bodies are not merely mythological
tapestries which reflect free-floating prejudices about homosexuality as the 'cause'
of the epidemic. Rather, this discursive study of the Australian print media asks
how it might otherwise be conceived that a pathogenic syndrome came to be
sedimented in the public imagination as a pathology of gays? In medical discourse, AIDS is resonant with images of suspicious viral-bodies, whilst in media
narratives they are represented as 'carriers' of polluted fluids. However, the
medical phenomenon is simultaneously a cultural reproduction of the original
descriptors (CAID, GRID etc) of pathogenic bodies which were originally 'known'
to be polluted.
Results: Rather than dismiss reportage of the epidemic as homophobic, media
narratives are usefully unpacked for the light they reveal as to the 'truths' which
link AIDS with homosexuality. Instead of focussing on a scabrous media which
exaggerates and mythologies, a discursive analysis contributes to the unravelling
of the knowledge-truths which the mediated representations embody.
Lessons Learned: Homophobia and sensationalisation have been, and to
some extent continue to be, characteristic of media narratives. Reportage of the
epidemic in the Australia media is indebted to the primacy of medical discourses.

The project throws into relief the importance which medical signifiers contribut to
the cultural production of AIDS-bodies.