Tanzania Network of Journalists Living with HIV (TNJ+) was established on January 9, 2010 by eleven founder members, to spearhead the campaign to eradicate HIV/AIDS and help to provide awareness education to convince people take the HIV test voluntarily and be open about their status in order for the campaign to be effective.
OUR VISION:
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The international community has learnt that it can succeed in the response to HIV and AIDS only if the civil society is at the heart of its efforts. Journalists Living with HIV strongly believe that we are a key driving force in the HIV and AIDS responses, and with appropriate support we can help programme planners identity poorly understood factors underlying the spread of HIV and AIDS, promote the acceptance of the existence of HIV and AIDS in the communities, reduce stigma and discrimination and eventually improve the quality of life of those living with or affected with HIV.
WAR AGAINST HIV/AIDS, STIGMA CAN BE WON IF JOURNOS SPEAK UP
By Zephaniah Musendo
The entire newsroom of New Habari (2006) Limited was hushed. Fellow journalists sat motionless, their faces looking mystified not because they did not comprehend what I was telling them, but rather how I dared to say whatever I said.
I had just come from Nairobi where I attended a workshop organized by the regional network of Journalists Living With HIV/AIDS (JLWHA) and I was briefing them on the workshop resolutions that journalists had the noble duty to be in the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Journalists, as communicators, have to pass on information not only on how one could contract the disease, but also to persuade the community to go for voluntary testing, because testing is a step forward in the response against the disease.
Once someone knows his or her health status, then he or she is in a better position to respond to the situation. He or she would attend to the care and treatment clinic for counselling and for anti-retroviral therapy if diognised HIV positive.
Journalists must be brave to speak up openly about their status. It makes a big difference when a journalist writes about voluntary testing and being open and never does anything about it himself or herself and when a journalist who after taking the test and diagnosed positive writes about it and discloses his or her status to the public in order to encourage others to follow suit.
Issues of stigma and discrimination continue to pose formidable barriers to the effectiveness and scale up of prevention, treatment, care and support interventions, but if journalists destroy this stigma jinx using their professional outlets, the HIV/AIDS war will have been half-won.
Those who experience HIV related stigma and discrimination, suffer a range of consequences from loss of employment and housing, inability to access and control their property and resources, alienation from family, friends, exclusion from communities and increased risk of violence.
But with their pens journalists can help win the fight against HIV/AIDS if they drop the myths and step out of the box to speak and write openly about their experiences with HIV/AIDS. Otherwise, those who have not undergone the test will continue to delay or avoid altogether seeking counselling and testing, treatment and other services for fear of being ostracized, rejected or treated differently than others.
Journalists don't have an option. If we are surely people's watchdog, then we must come out of our shells and make our voices heard. We can do this better if we come together and form a national network of journalists living with HIV/AIDS. We must face the challenge and cross the bridge or shy away and be doomed.
THE TASK AHEAD:
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The problem we are facing in Tanzania now is that most journalists are standing behind the fence when it comes to being open about their HIV status and therefore it has been difficult to find members to join the network. Our immediate project would be to conduct a training programme for journalists to remove them from behind the fence and make them active players inside the network. This entails expenses to bring journalists to a training hall, pay for their hotel accommodation and meals, pay for their trainers, pay for their transport to Dar es Salaam and back to their respective homes, and pay for training facilities. We would like to ask for the assistance of willing donors to make this happen soon.
OUR VISION:
-----------------
The international community has learnt that it can succeed in the response to HIV and AIDS only if the civil society is at the heart of its efforts. Journalists Living with HIV strongly believe that we are a key driving force in the HIV and AIDS responses, and with appropriate support we can help programme planners identity poorly understood factors underlying the spread of HIV and AIDS, promote the acceptance of the existence of HIV and AIDS in the communities, reduce stigma and discrimination and eventually improve the quality of life of those living with or affected with HIV.
WAR AGAINST HIV/AIDS, STIGMA CAN BE WON IF JOURNOS SPEAK UP
By Zephaniah Musendo
The entire newsroom of New Habari (2006) Limited was hushed. Fellow journalists sat motionless, their faces looking mystified not because they did not comprehend what I was telling them, but rather how I dared to say whatever I said.
I had just come from Nairobi where I attended a workshop organized by the regional network of Journalists Living With HIV/AIDS (JLWHA) and I was briefing them on the workshop resolutions that journalists had the noble duty to be in the forefront in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Journalists, as communicators, have to pass on information not only on how one could contract the disease, but also to persuade the community to go for voluntary testing, because testing is a step forward in the response against the disease.
Once someone knows his or her health status, then he or she is in a better position to respond to the situation. He or she would attend to the care and treatment clinic for counselling and for anti-retroviral therapy if diognised HIV positive.
Journalists must be brave to speak up openly about their status. It makes a big difference when a journalist writes about voluntary testing and being open and never does anything about it himself or herself and when a journalist who after taking the test and diagnosed positive writes about it and discloses his or her status to the public in order to encourage others to follow suit.
Issues of stigma and discrimination continue to pose formidable barriers to the effectiveness and scale up of prevention, treatment, care and support interventions, but if journalists destroy this stigma jinx using their professional outlets, the HIV/AIDS war will have been half-won.
Those who experience HIV related stigma and discrimination, suffer a range of consequences from loss of employment and housing, inability to access and control their property and resources, alienation from family, friends, exclusion from communities and increased risk of violence.
But with their pens journalists can help win the fight against HIV/AIDS if they drop the myths and step out of the box to speak and write openly about their experiences with HIV/AIDS. Otherwise, those who have not undergone the test will continue to delay or avoid altogether seeking counselling and testing, treatment and other services for fear of being ostracized, rejected or treated differently than others.
Journalists don't have an option. If we are surely people's watchdog, then we must come out of our shells and make our voices heard. We can do this better if we come together and form a national network of journalists living with HIV/AIDS. We must face the challenge and cross the bridge or shy away and be doomed.
THE TASK AHEAD:
-------------------------
The problem we are facing in Tanzania now is that most journalists are standing behind the fence when it comes to being open about their HIV status and therefore it has been difficult to find members to join the network. Our immediate project would be to conduct a training programme for journalists to remove them from behind the fence and make them active players inside the network. This entails expenses to bring journalists to a training hall, pay for their hotel accommodation and meals, pay for their trainers, pay for their transport to Dar es Salaam and back to their respective homes, and pay for training facilities. We would like to ask for the assistance of willing donors to make this happen soon.
April 26, 2010