Network of Journalists Living with HIV and AIDS (JLWHA)

According to organisers, the network hopes to challenge stereotypes associated with people living with HIV and AIDS (PLWHA) and to project PLWHA in a positive and empowering light. JLWHA objectives and activities include:

• facilitating a safe place for journalists living with HIV and AIDS in high prevalence settings in Africa and the Caribbean to network with each other and articulate their issues openly;
• building capacities of interested individuals living with HIV/AIDS in low or concentrated prevalence settings in Asia to enable them to write and produce in-depth and investigative features on HIV/AIDS from the perspective of the vulnerable communities;
• facilitating a safe place within the media workplace environment to help those living with HIV and AIDS articulate their concerns openly; and
• disseminating information from the perspective of PLWHA through multiple dissemination mediums to influence public and policy debate.

Panos organised a three-day meeting to introduce journalists to the concept of the network and networking. This included the sharing of testimonies and exploring how to engage the media further in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The group also looked at issues of tuberculosis and HIV and AIDS co-infections and issues of HIV and AIDS and the media. Click here [PDF] for Bearing Witness to Living with HIV and AIDS , a report from this meeting which includes journalists' testimonies.

HIV/AIDS

Panos Eastern Africa, based in Kampala, Uganda, is a regional non-governmental apolitical organisation working with the media, civil society, policymakers, and international agencies in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, Tanzania, and Uganda to promote a wider understanding of the use of information in development. Panos Eastern Africa is a part of a global network of Panos Institutes based in Southern Africa, Western Africa, South Asia, London (UK), France, Canada, and the Caribbean.

The Panos Global AIDS Programme is a network of offices within the Panos Institutes in Africa, Asia, Canada, the Caribbean, and Europe working on participation, ownership, and accountability in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Panos Global AIDS Programme seeks to provide in-depth information on the social and economic causes and consequences of the HIV and AIDS epidemics in the developing world. Panos is also involved in the development of contemporary approaches to HIV and AIDS communication.