By Alick Nzangaya
The National Aids Commission (NAC) has urged the local media to help in fighting the spread of HIV by reporting on issues that are fueling the spread of the virus.
This is according to NAC Corporate Services and Public Relations Officer Karen Msiska who was speaking over the weekend during a day long orientation session on HIV/AIDS Reporting with journalists under the tag, Blantyre Press Club.
Msiska said there are a lot of issues surrounding the spreading of HIV that needs public attention and he said the meeting was to acquaint journalists with skills on how they can accurately report on such issues.
He further added that the media should from now start publicizing what used to be secrets which were fueling the spreading of the virus claiming this will help top government authorities to know what is really happening and immediately find lasting solution.
“We do realize that the media is a very important component in as far as advancing messages on the HIV national response plan is concerned and that is why we thought of engaging them through this training.
“We would want to urge the media to really pick and expose all these issues that assist in the spreading of the virus because we know that once something has been exposed, authorities and policy makers would look into ways of addressing the situation,” said Msiska.
The publicist further cited the rampant spreading of the virus amongst the youths as an example of issues which needs to be reported so that there should be an immediate solution as reports indicate that most youths are being infected with the virus by adults.
Msiska continued to say that such malpractices could end the country’s vision of defeating HIV by 2030 claiming the youths who are contracting the virus from adults, will transmit it to their age mates whom they will get married to.
“We do not think that people infecting this young population are their age mates, we feel that some adults are playing with these adolescent girls. So we are encouraging the media to report such issues so that it is dealt with accordingly,,’ he added.
He concluded by advising the media to as well help in ending some cultural practices like kusasa fumbi which he claimed are still happening in some parts of the country by informing the public the dangers of such practices.
