Media Urged to report cautiously about HIV/AIDS & strive to Combat Stigma

During a campaign organized by RRP+ in collaboration with the network of Rwandan journalists in the fight against HIV/AIDS (ABASIRWA), UNAIDS, RBC and other stakeholders, Journalists have been urged to be very mindful, while reporting about HIV/AIDS, if the fight against stigma among people living with HIV is to be achieved.

This was a call made by Sylvie Muneza, Chairperson of the Rwanda Network of People Living with HIV (RRP+) during a 3-day Awareness campaign against stigma and discrimination among people living with HIV that was held in Musanze District.

The campaign brought together over 20 journalists from different media houses, RRP+ staff both at the national and district level as well as Rwanda Biomedical Centre representatives.

‘’Although we are seeing positive impact in the fight against discrimination and stigma among people living with HIV, there is a lot that we need to do. Many a times, people are stigmatized by their family members, workmates, friends and it is my plea that the media plays its role in reporting factually and bear in mind that the topic they are reporting about is a sensitive one,’’ she said.

Muneza went on to caution the journalists who attended the awareness campaign to always remember that since they have a big platform, it is their role to use it to the best of their abilities to fight stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

‘’Nowadays, there are phrases or verbal statements that have been normalized when reporting news about HIV/AIDS and when you really think through them, they are not only misleading but have also enabled stigma and discrimination and I call upon members of the media, those around today and those that aren’t here today to desist from using them,’’ Muneza added.

The awareness campaign came at the right time because on March 1, 2024, Rwanda joined the rest of the world to celebrate the 10^th Anniversary of Zero Discrimination Day. It was aimed at raising awareness about discrimination’s harmful effects and advocate for inclusive policies, strengthening journalists’ efforts against HIV/AIDS stigma and facilitate collaboration between RRP+ cooperatives and journalists to combat stigma and discrimination among PLHIV, documenting their achievements.

During the awareness campaign, one of the Youth Ambassadors for RRP+, Divine Uwanyiragira shared with the media her story and journey being a young person in Rwanda with HIV and why she decided to use her voice to fight stigma and discrimination against people like her.

‘’I decided to use my voice to raise awareness about HIV. Of course, I have come across challenges in form of stigma and people who make remarks that I am doing all this for the money’’ she said.

Uwanyiragira says that as a person living with HIV, she has faced stigma in various forms with one of them being abandoned by someone she thought was in love with her. ‘’There was this person I was seeing and I opened up to them and before I knew it, they were avoiding me and I understood where it came from. Issues like this are the reason why we need to come out and raise awareness and share our stories with the public.’’

In a bid to tackle stigma and discrimination among people living with HIV, RRP+ supports 300 cooperatives across the country and the media was able to visit two of them in order to hear and learn from the people living with HIV, how they overcame their fear of stigma and discrimination, the work they do in the cooperative and their life goals.

During a visit to Girubuzima Cooperative, members of the media and RRP+ were able to talk to members of this cooperative, majority of whom are living with HIV. Its President Leonard Ntawukiramwabo noted that the Cooperative started with only 7 members who were all HIV positive but it currently has 38 members, some of whom are HIV negative but joined because they were impressed by the work, energy and resilience of the founding members of the Cooperative and decided to join them.

‘’When I found out that I was HIV positive in 2006, I lost all hope for living. I was discriminated against by my family and friends and I did not like myself anymore. But when I realized that I was not the only one with this problem, I got some hope. So, when the idea of starting this cooperative came up, it was welcomed by all of us as a way to find solutions to our binding factor,’’ he said.

This cooperative grows Irish potatoes and garlic which they sell to earn money but also consume a portion and this is because they were able to beat self-stigma and decided to now focus on living healthy and enjoy life like any other person.

One of the members of this cooperative says that the best decision she has made in her life is to start taking her ARVs and also join this cooperative. She says, that she faced a lot of stigma after she found out she was HIV Positive but when she found a new home and family in the cooperative.

’Being in the cooperative gives us a sense of togetherness and I feel like I am not alone. Right now, we have been able to take ourselves from poverty because we grow crops that we sell and we are living healthy because we know there are people that got our backs,’’ Jacquline Nyiraromba said.  

One of the members of ABASIRWA noted that such awareness campaigns are really important as they help the media to always be in the loop of how they are supposed to report about HIV/AIDS. Some of the members of ABASIRWA admitted how they have learnt a lot from the campaign and wish such initiatives were held more regularly.

‘’To be honest, there are some phrases I thought were okay to be used when reporting but from this campaign, I have learnt that they are not the right ones to be used. I have also learnt how to even use my platform better to fight stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS,’’ Jean D’amour Biseruka stated.  

Authored by Peter Nkurunziza