Paidamoyo Chipunza in NYANGA
DEVELOPMENTAL issues should be given the prominence and priority they deserve compared to other issues in both

print and broadcast media, Media, Information and Publicity Sec­retary Mr George Charamba has said.
Addressing journalists at a capacity building workshop on the elimination of HIV infection from mother to child organised by the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric Aids Foundation yesterday, Mr Charamba bemoaned the little space and airplay given to issues like health, HIV and Aids included.

“We dedicate a lot of space to sports, beauty and even the beast (in apparent reference to Mr Ugly Mr Masvinu) but little to issues to do with HIV and Aids. When is it too much to talk about HIV on radio and in newspapers?” he said.

Mr Charamba, who has lost close relatives to Aids-related illnesses, said there is a huge mismatch of the significance of health in the life of a human being and its placement in the newsrooms.

He emphasised the need for media practitioners to be language-sensitive in relation to HIV and Aids reportage.
Language in newsrooms, he said, has a lot to do with where people living with HIV are placed in societies.
“In a highly politicised country like Zimbabwe, Aids is not an outstanding issue that is why it is not on the Global Political Agreement yet it is an issue of humanity,” Mr Charamba said.

He also called on specialised report­ing on health issues for increased and effective coverage of the subject.
Mr Charamba, however, said there were a lot of ethical dilemmas and debates associated with HIV and Aids reporting which among them include provision of condoms in prisons, use of alternative therapies in HIV treat­ment, emergence of Pentecostal churches claiming to cure HIV among others.
About 40 journalists from the public and private media are attending the two-day training being conducted in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and Child Welfare.

National PMTCT and Paediatric HIV Care and Treatment in the Min­istry of Health and Child Welfare Dr Angela Mushavi said the media was a key partner in elimination of new infections in children.

Dr Mushavi called on media practi­tioners to disseminate information that encourages women to deliver in health institutions and register early for delivery for them to access inter­ventions that limit chances of them passing on HIV to their babies, should they be HIV-positive.

Recent statistics on HIV prevalence in pregnant women show that about 16,1 percent of those who attend ante-natal clinics are HIV-positive.
Egpaf is providing PMTCT to 60 of the 62 districts in the country and 1 354 health institutions.