Productions: Cronicas

Panoscope . Media Briefings . Island Beat . Our Own Voice . Le P'tit Nouvelliste
Order Publications

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
February 28, 1997
Contact: Marcela Sánchez-Bender
The Panos Institute
(202) 223-7949
Total words: 1,167

HIV/AIDS, AN ISSUE OUT OF TUNE IN CENTRAL AMERICAN RADIO

By Ernesto Landos

English français español kreyol

One out of four individuals in Central America has access to a radio receiver, while less than one in ten has access to a television set. As an economical and easily transportable media, radio is still an ideal system in the region for reaching the majority of the population and for keeping it informed.

Radio stations in Central America, with the exception of Costa Rica, remain fundamentally indifferent to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. In spite of their recognized influence as a medium with the widest reach in the region, radio has not taken advantage of its potential in AIDS education and prevention issues, according to various radio professionals and experts.

"The main problem in approaching the sensitive issue of AIDS, beyond the lack of awareness, is the lack of resources. If it weren't for donations, the coverage would be almost null," said Gustavo Rim, manager of Radio "Mix" of Panama, a station dedicated to youth, a population particularly vulnerable to the risks of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. According to Rim, if it were not for public service announcements paid for by the health agencies and foundations dedicated, the stations would hardly dedicate airtime to the topic.

María Teresa Fajardo, news coordinator for Radio Cadena YSU in El Salvador, considers that it is not only due to the lack of resources that the stations close their doors to the discussion of HIV/AIDS. According to her, the responsibility falls on the radio professionals themselves whom, in spite of having the potential to educate the population about the realities of AIDS, lack the initiative to tackle the issue or the support of their superiors to do it.

"Sometimes the air time is (available), but how the disease is affecting us is considered unimportant," Fajardo said. "When you realize that El Salvador is the country with the second highest number of AIDS cases (in Central America) you become afraid, but soon after you forget it." On December 1996, El Salvador became the second Central American country most affected by the epidemic with a total of 1,629 cases, according to the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

In El Salvador, as in most of the countries of the isthmus, radio stations rarely invite specialists to talk about the issue in opinion programs or any other formats. Exceptions are seen mostly when the Ministry of Health or FUNDASIDA, a foundation dedicated to the prevention of the sickness, pay stations to transmit information on their frequencies. But this situation seems to happen less and less due to the lack of resources. Sometimes news stations broadcast wire stories about AIDS, but they do not mention specific data related to the particular situation of the country.

In the midst of this scenario, Costa Rica emerges as the only country in Central America where radio stations give airtime to the characteristics and effects of HIV/AIDS. Between 1993 and 1995, for example, the Ministry of Health's Department of AIDS Control, funded an aggressive public education campaign about HIV/AIDS that included a total of 490 radio announcements on three national stations. Thanks to its well-defined policies to fight AIDS, Costa Rica has the second fewest AIDS cases in the region -- 1012 in total, with 517 deaths, according to PAHO.

"We have a lot of space to cover the (topic of HIV/AIDS), even more because the government knows the benefits of radio and emphasizes its permanent campaigns on this media," explained José Domínguez, radio announcer with Radio Sensación in San José. "Besides, we are aware that we ought to protect the family institution and stop sexual promiscuity at all cost, It is false that sex is uncontrollable." Even though many experts agree on the importance of self-control, they explain that AIDS is the result of many other causes, not only promiscuity.

Nicaragua, the largest country in Central America, reports the lowest AIDS incidence. According to PAHO, as of 1996 it registered 140 cases of the disease and 83 deaths.

But those numbers were not attributed to prevention campaigns produced by health authorities or to informative programs created by the mass media. Abraham Quijano, news editor at Radio Sandino in Nicaragua, suggests that the explanation rests mainly on the Nicaraguan culture itself. According to him, thanks to the fact that sex is still considered a taboo in many sectors of the population, sexual promiscuity has remained at a low level.

Quijano expressed that "all media, radio among them, give little attention to the issue, and only limit themselves to report the scarce information given by the Ministry of Health." The information is transmitted to the population through news programs at the news stations and some announcements that the government reports in all mass media. The rest of the stations do not deal with the issue.

Something quite different is taking place in Honduras, the country with the highest rate of HIV prevalence in the region. According to PAHO, more that 5000 AIDS cases have been reported, with 1033 deaths.

Due to these alarming figures, in the last months more airtime has been dedicated to the problem, said Juan Carlos Barahona, news chief at the Radio Nacional of Honduras. Still the vast majority of these radio stations, except for the news stations, do not deal with the issue of AIDS in their programming.

Barahona said that HIV/AIDS has been regularly incorporated into specific programs, as news or feature items. But he regretted that the government still does not seem to have the same perception of the problem. The Ministry of Public Health seldom produces public service announcements to transmit prevention messages.

In Guatemala, as in Honduras, the news stations are taking up the issue of AIDS periodically, said Ileana Archila, director of the news program "Patrullaje Informativo" of Emisoras Unidas in Guatemala. However, according to experts in the country this coverage is still scarce and out of context.

Doctor Eduardo Aratoon, medical director of the main AIDS clinic in Guatemala, recognized, however, that the stations are ready to give the space to programs about HIV. Unfortunately, there are no sufficient "competent" people to be in charge nor the resources that would allow to produce them, he added.

Laura Asturias, a communicator and AIDS activist in the country, currently produces one of the few programs geared towards creating awareness about the sickness. But due to the lack of resources, her program is currently broadcast on a station with such little power that it reaches a minimal percentage of the population that could benefit from its content.

"The issue of AIDS is still very stigmatized and has not been able to earn the attention it requires from media," said Asturias. According to her, the owners or directors continue to believe that it does not affect them and, in that way, contribute to maintaining it as "an invisible issue" in the radio stations of Guatemala and other countries.

Ernesto Landos is a radio reporter for Cadena YSU in El Salvador.

Read other Cronicas