An on-going project by the Panos Institute Southern Africa (PSAf) to support media coverage of pertinent health issues like prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT)  is gaining ground in Angola, where the media has taken a leading role in tackling the issues.

PSAf is currently working with print and radio journalists in Angola to enhance their capacity to advance the cause of PMTCT in the country. This is part of the regional Communicating HIV and AIDS in Southern Africa project, which is partially funded by the SADC HIV and AIDS Unit. The project, which is currently being implemented in Angola and Mozambique, seeks to empower local communities to drive the response to HIV prevention to ensure that responses to the pandemic are shared and driven by the most affected.

In August, PSAf successfully conducted a media training workshop to sensitise journalists on the pertinent issues around PMTCT. The workshop focused on raising journalists’ appreciation of the issues as a necessary and very important aspect of HIV Prevention programmes.

The impact of the training was immediately evident. Journalists who took part in the training have been conducting interviews with local women and men, highlighting their experiences with access to PMTCT services. Based on the skills attained during the workshop, the journalists have been consistent in packaging the interviews into radio programmes focusing on gender, religious beliefs and other socio-cultural issues that deter women from accessing PMTCT.

It is hoped that these programmes will inform policy makers and programme planners on issues that they should focus on in planning PMTCT intervention. The key issues discussed on the interactive radio programmes shows that there is need for more dialogue between men and women on issues around access to health facilities that provide PMTCT, and also issues around Voluntary Counselling and Testing that are generally a subject of great concern for most women than men.

 PSAf has since supported the re-packaging of information around PMTCT issues into a media information pack to facilitate on-going reporting even after the media fellowship period elapses. Based on some consultations with journalists on knowledge gaps, a document has since been was compiled but is yet to be translated into Portuguese and published. This process will be finalised by the second half of the year.