| Name of person responsible / Facilitator | Esther Nakkazi | ||
| Café Name/Title | Basics of HIV reporting: Key issues in HIV prevention that journalists need to know and report about | ||
| Location | Mbarara-Uganda | ||
| Date café held | August 28, 2017 | ||
| Café objectives (The learning objectives should be tailored for each specific café) | • This is the first of several cafés that Hejnu will be hosting across the country. The aim is to interest upcountry journalists on reporting about HIV, and specifically on HIV prevention so that they can report and keep a keen eye on the latest scientific developments in HIV prevention.
• Hejnu also hopes to use the opportunity of hosting the upcountry cafes to continue building partnerships and long-term relationships with the journalists. • This specific café also sought to get an idea on the level of understanding of the journalists on basic HIV prevention issues, with the aim of helping the journalists better understand and report more accurately stories on HIV prevention. |
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| Key speakers | Speaker’s name
1-Dr Asiphas Owaraganise |
Affiliation
Mbarara Paramedical School |
Gender
Male |
| 2- Chris Nahabwe | Public Health
Consultant/Comm Med Centre |
Male | |
| 3-Joyce Tibaijuka | Activist/Peer Educator.
National Community of Women Living with HIVMbarara Branch. |
Female | |
| Participants | We had three speakers for the café and a total of 14 journalists.
Majority of the journalists were fairly young reporters (in the age group 20-29) with between two and seven years experience in media/ journalism.
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| Partners | None | ||
| Highlights, key questions/themes | Dr Asiphas started his presentation by giving a general background of the HIV situation in Uganda. This was followed by a comparison of the situation in the East African region, which indicates that Uganda’s HIV prevalence is still higher than that of its neighbors. This, he said calls for journalists to do more and inform the public that despite the progress of the past three decades, a lot of work still remains to be done.
He then introduced the journalists to the latest HIV figures from the Uganda Population HIV Impact Assessment survey, which was released in Kampala recently. (Almost all the journalists at the café had not heard of the new survey, even though journalists from Kampala had widely reported about it.) The survey showed that HIV prevalence is still higher among women compared to men. The southwestern region, he said has one of the highest prevalence rates at 7.7 per cent compared to the West Nile region. Dr Asiphas listed several drivers of the HIV epidemic, including people with multiple sexual partners, high levels of transactional and crossgenerational sex, limited awareness about the HIV status of their partners and gender inequalities, including gender based violence. He noted that there was still a huge prevention knowledge gap, despite the HIV epidemic being around for several decades and urged journalists to keep reporting about these developments. Dr Asiphas also introduced journalists to the latest prevention interventions such as the use of PrEP. He explained how it works and why it is important in the fight against HIV. Most of the journalists were hearing about PrEP for the first time and therefore most of their questions centered on PrEP and how it works. Journalists sought to know how often a person has to take PrEP for it to work. They also raised questions about possible side effects of using PrEPP and if this is the best way to stop HIV prevention, given that the negative partner would be putting themselves at risk. Dr Asiphas explained that like most medications, |
| Key notes from café and/or outputs/ outcomes | • | Since this was the first café for the Hejnu team, it was a learning opportunity on how best to engage with the journalists, as many have not regularly reported on HIV. | |
| • | While a few said they had reported about HIV issues and health generally, majority had not reported on any specific HIV prevention story. This is largely because of many of the up country journalists correspondent for media outlets which are based in Kampala and therefore tend to report across all beats and not health or HIV specific. But they also said with access to the right information and sources, they are willing to report on the subject more regularly. | ||
| • | From the discussions, it is clear that the journalists do not have access to a lot of the information and latest developments that are happening in the area of HIV prevention. | ||
| • | Many were hearing about PrEP, for instance for the first time and sought to know more about it. | ||
| • | The speakers on the other hand were very knowledgeable and gave updates on the latest developments on HIV prevention. | ||
| Required follow-up/ action items | • | As a result of the café, a WhatsApp group has been set up to continue the discussions and use it as a platform to share information, ideas on HIV stories that journalists can pursue. | |
| • | The journalists requested for regular engagement with the Hejnu team from Kampala and other relevant experts since they said they never get opportunities to specifically discuss HIV prevention issues in the informal way in which the café is organized. | ||
| • | They also said more training on how to best report issues of HIV prevention would help them better understand the subject and any new developments that have come on board. It could also help them build sources for their stories. | ||
| Resources/ Materials used | Press summary: Uganda Population HIV impact
Assessment report 2017 from the Ministry of Health. |
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| Social media posts? | None | ||
| Next café topic and date | September 6, 2017 | ||
| Key speakers/experts for next café | The next café will be held in Kampala and it will focus on the Differential Service Delivery Model (DSDM)—as part of the consolidated guidelines for HIV, line with the Ministry of Health “Test and Treat” policy. | ||
| Type/Group | Speaker’s Name and Org affiliation | ||
| Researcher(s)/Scientists | |||
| Civil society expert(s) | |||
| Government e.g. MoH or NAC or Regulatory body | |||
| Other | |||