There is need to raise awareness on the role that men can play in prevention of mother to child transmission (PMTCT) interventions in Zambia if the national response to the issue is to be successful.

This came out during a PSAf organised media training workshop on HIV prevention that was held in Lusaka, Zambia on 6 and 7 October. The workshop brought together 32 print and broadcast journalists from across Zambia, both the public and private media. Of these, 15 were from community radio stations, while the rest were from mainstream institutions.

After the presentations from the National AIDS Council (NAC), and the figures and statistics given, the journalists expressed a great zeal on how the contributors felt the country could work to reduce the HIV prevalence rates.   

Journalists raised issues of why it is still difficult to discuss about Sexual Minority groups in the media and they can come up with ways to spear head dialogue. 

The media also engaged the PMTCT expert on what they think National Aids Council (NAC) should do to improve PMTCT services.

One Journalist, Moono Hamasukwa from Radio Chikuni gave an account of how health workers sometimes treat expecting mothers.

After the workshop, the media practitioners resolved to focus more on promoting male involvement in PMTCT to enhance the national response.

 “It was shocking to hear from the National Aids Council’s PMTCT expert Mercy Ulaya the challenges that low male involvement in PMTCT bring to the response. If partners of pregnant women are involved, some of these challenges will be addressed. As journalists, we need to play our role by promoting male involvement,” said a journalist who attended the workshop.

The workshop was part of a series of activities being implemented across Southern Africa under the PSAf HIV and AIDS programme’s Communicating HIV Prevention project, which is funded by the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC). The project is aimed at empowering local communities to drive the HIV prevention response in Southern Africa. 

The workshop’s objective were to enhance Journalists’ understanding of epidemic trends, and country progress of the HIV/AIDS response; motivate journalists to play their role play in advancing effective communication of HIV Prevention; and to sensitize Journalists on some of key national prevention issues and priorities.

The workshop, like other ones held under the project in other countries, combined expert presentations and interactive feedback sessions, focusing on the different key issues.

All the participants made a commitment to sign-up for the fellowships being offered under the programme. Participants from community radio stations also committed to initiate the establishment of radio listening clubs or to work with already existing ones. Work plans and feature ideas from the journalists are currently being compiled.The participants also said they would raise dialogue on issues that are not adequately discussed because of traditional beliefs.