The independent

Journalists urged for objective reports on AIDS

A three-day workshop on HIV/AIDS sensitization for Gambia health journalists ended Friday November 30 with a suggestion for the media to reports objectively on the national and international dimension of the pandemic. The workshop, which was aimed at improving the awareness of reporters on HIV/AIDS and the manner in which stories pertaining to the subject could be reported by them drew participants from various sectors of society. The president of the Health Journalists’ Association Madi Ceesay admonished his colleagues to be mindful of objectivity in the way they report stories about HIV/AIDS. “We have to be objective in the way we report. “There is no excuse for inaccuracy in reporting” Mr. Ceesay told journalists. The manager of the National Aids Control Programme Alhagie Colley also stressed the need for journalists to be reporting objectively, which he said is the best way to provide a comprehensible appraisal of the situation. He also spoke of the need to avoid sensationalizing stories and begetting negative consequences.

Mr. Colley stated that the Aids epidemic is a cross cutting issue which he said does not affect the health sector alone. He said the average journalist’s effort in sensitizing the public on HIV/AIDS will go a long way in complimenting their efforts as health personnel on the forefront of the fight against the disease. Saihou M. Ceesay the director of the National Aids Secretariat (NAS) said growing evidence of the increase of HIV particularly HIV infection among our youth population as per current clinical data is of great concern to the Department of Health. He appealed to health journalists to avoid sensational reporting, which according to him reinforce fear, apathy and renders us all as collective losers in the campaign against the spread of the disease. Mrs. Rose Claire Charles dilated on the various forms in which HIV/AIDS can be transmitted from individual to individual. She warned people to desist from unsafe sex which is the main factor for HIV/AID transmission.

 

QUESTION TO NAS

WHAT IS THE SITUATION AS REGARDS HIV/AIDS IN THE GAMBIA?