Workshop journalists listen to a patient with HIV/AIDS

To mark World Aids Day on 1 December, Thomson Reuters Foundation has run HIV/Aids Reporting courses in Nairobi and Beijing for journalists from around the world. December 1 is World AIDS Day, this year strongly promoting the human rights of those affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In an address to mark the day, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urges all countries to remove “punitive laws, policies and practices that hamper the AIDS response, including travel restrictions against people living with HIV. Successful AIDS responses do not punish people; they protect them”.

Many countries around the world have problems responding to AIDS and this year UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIVAIDS, joined the Chinese government in launching a campaign in Beijing to address HIV-related stigma and discrimination.  In a well-timed move, Thomson Reuters Foundation (TRF) has provided a workshop for journalists in Beijing, running in the week leading up to World AIDS Day, to help them improve their coverage of the epidemic and related issues. Around 15 reporters, drawn from Chinese print, agency and broadcasting organisations, spent a week learning about the impact of HIV on the lives of those affected, listening to expert speakers, visiting a hospital specialising in treating HIV/AIDS and writing stories about their discoveries.

In early November the Foundation held a similar HIV/AIDS workshop in Nairobi, Kenya. The 16 journalists taking part there came from as far as Brazil, China, Russia, India and Nepal, as well as from a number of African countries. Among the questions they asked and discussed were:

· How can you find and understand the good science with which to counter the myths and “miracle cures” that people believe in?
· How do I avoid causing panic or raising false hopes?
· How do I report inflammatory accusations or dubious claims made by influential leaders?

Thomson Reuters Foundation held its first HIV/AIDS workshop for journalists in 2003 and has since provided several such courses each year, as well as seminars to raise awareness.
Here are a selection of stories written by journalists who attended the courses in Nairobi and Beijing.

Read stories from workshops on ReutersLink: http://www.reuterslink.org/hivaids.htm

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