HIV Disclosure- who benefits most?

Dawn steals in unwelcome; the night has passed so fast! The alarm bell that wakes me up sounds very irritating today. I have three meetings with journalists whom I intend to incorporate in the Network of Journalists Living with HIV. I wish for the umpteenth time that I could have better words to convince my colleagues that HIV is not a moral issue but only a viral infection! I wish, too, they would have guts to disclose to their editors about their HIV sero-positive status and the side effects of Anti Retroviral treatment. This would give all of us a platform to address HIV related issues more concertedly in our media houses.

As I organize my notebook and diary this morning, many things come to my mind: journalists are known for passing information about other people at break-neck speed but barely do they speak about themselves! This reminds me of the 28^th November 2008 when we pioneered a regional East African network of journalists living with HIV. (JLWHA). Strangely, we were only two from Kenya and my colleague wasn’t a trained journalists! Mr. Paul Banoba, the then Regional Program Coordinator at Panos Eastern Africa, the body behind JLWHA, sadly, had told us that despite efforts to get journalists living with HIV from Kenya, he could not get more for the workshop. There were also two journalists from Uganda, one from Tanzania and another one from Ethiopia who pulled out shortly after the workshop.

Banoba had regretted that as he was planning the workshop, he had a long list of journalists living with HIV from Eastern Africa but some had cancelled their flights on the eve of the travel claiming they did not want to disclose their status. The network however has since grown and has merged with the Southern African Chapter where there are more members.

 Today as I arrange to meet these journalists I am thinking about disclosure. “Why would journalist shy from disclosing their HIV positive status whereas they have a platform to address the issues of the pandemic in a more comprehensible manner?” I wonder. The media is gospel trusted and journalists are better placed to inform and educate the public on the upcoming issues of HIV. Being a post and pre HIV test counselor, I advise people on disclosure, but to what depths should one disclose? “Disclosing to people that you are living with HIV is not as easy as announcing “dinner is served!” I remember telling journalists once. “You may disclose to people and end up entertaining your audience with your past!” I had continued.

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Many people have never understood HIV/AIDS disclosure. Before one chooses to disclose, it is important you put into consideration why and what you are disclosing. People have different reasons why they disclose their HIV positive status. There are some people who disclose in a bid to seek sympathy or to evade their responsibilities and others who disclose to make the community around them understand them better. After disclosing, you are also likely to meet people curious to know how you got infected. This leaves you with an independent decision if you want to continue with your story or not. However, people have been known to give all manner of stories on how they got infected in a bid to justify their course. 

I remember a recent JLWHA meeting held at Johannesburg, South Africa where it was established that there were members who had not as much as disclosed their HIV positive status to their families much less their work places. We had therefore agreed to start disclosure campaigns in our respective countries and media houses in order to give journalists a platform to address their experiences and adventure in and out of their line of duty.

I now set out for my meeting to meet journalists whom I could incorporate in our network. I meet the first one in a hotel where we had agreed to meet. He listens to me and shakes his head: “I don’t think I want to talk about my status, not to the media anyway” he says as he walks out on me. The other two are even worse; one cannot be reached on phone while the other calls to tell me that HIV people have abused disclosure. “ I reach my office frustrated and sad. I take my phone and dial a few media-friendly networks and ask if they have someone who has a passion for HIV. After explaining thoroughly about the network, someone on the other end tells me that matters of disclosure are very personal. “I am not promising anything, but I am going for a media workshop where will sell the other idea. Should I get someone, I will let you know” That is the best news I have got today. “At least I have something to wait for,” I smile at myself as I gather my pieces to do a story on stigma.