The Media and HIV response in Zambia 


Zambia is one of the countries in Africa hardest hit by the HIV epidemic. The Zambia Population-Based HIV Impact Assessment (ZAMPHIA), a household-based national survey, was conducted between March and August 2016. It measures the status of Zambia’s national HIV response. The results state that there are approximately 46 000 new cases of HIV annually among adults from ages 15 to 59 years. With the national prevalence of HIV among adults aged 15 to 59 years at 12.3 percent: 14.9 percent among females and 9.5 percent among males. This corresponds to approximately 980 000 people living with HIV (PLHIV) in that age group.

However, this data focuses only on heterosexual couples and does not address the realities of key populations. Fortunately, under the country’s fast track HIV response and the 90 90 90 UNAIDS Strategy of ending AIDS by 2030, Zambia formulated a national HIV Strategic Framework from 2017 to 2021. It has further defined key populations to include gay men, transgender people, and men who have sex with men (MSM).

For a country with strong religious and cultural values, this decision was bound to attract opposition. Pro-LGBTI discussions have always been met with opposition by religious leaders. In February 8^th, 2012, Church of God overseer, Bishop Mambo urged the government to engage the church and civil society in fighting homosexuality. His view was that it was slowly corrupting the country.

The country’s national HIV response coordinator, the National AIDS Council (NAC) has taken a leadership role in ensuring that stakeholders are organised with unity of purpose to address the HIV issue. To this effect, in June 2017, the NAC held a dissemination meeting of the National AIDS Strategic Framework (NASF:2017-2021). This policy document guides the implementation of the country’s HIV response, with stakeholders in Livingstone city - in the Southern Province. Unfortunately, this meeting was negatively reported on by the media with headlines like: “Livingstone is the gay capital of Zambia” – Lusaka Times. An online newspaper carrying the headline: “The number of Homosexuals in Livingstone on the rise” cited that: “…some of these men even fight each other in some of the joints over foreign clients who seek their services. It seems lucrative as some of them have even constructed houses using the income they generate.”

Follow up articles by other news outlets over the next months sustained this negative rhetoric. This slowed down existing interventions by local key populations organisations and international partners. As the affected community went underground for fear of victimisation and possible arrest. The Daily Nation, another online and print paper, had an article titled: “Homosexual Business Shocker”. Here it stated that information is emerging in Livingstone about gay and lesbianism being practiced in the tourist capital. This was following the exposé of a secret “indaba” which was held at a popular hotel in the city.

The local LGBT+ community was living in fear of being arrested by an overzealous police service. The latter put under pressure as members of the local community called upon it to act. Frank Zulu, a local gay man aged 29, who had been working with an LGBT+ organisation felt the harsh effects of homophobia when people started pointing at him as “one of them”. This was due to his outreach work in the local LGBT+ community especially in ensuring that it is linked to health care. “We had to suspend office operations including community outreach because the risk was too great,” Zulu said.

On the contrary, the meeting in question was a public engagement convened by the NAC, to which media houses were also invited. As reported in the media, NAC Grants and Decentralised Response Coordination Unit said the NAC had identified MSM as a key driver in the spread of HIV. While clearly pointing out that the meeting was about addressing the national HIV issue by ensuring everyone has access to treatment and care including MSM. Unfortunately, the invited media houses, The Daily Nation and The Zambia Daily Mail opted to sensationalise this development. Their misleading articles were picked up by other media houses and social media – causing more traction for the problematic sentiment.

To address this and prevent loss of gains, NAC and other cooperating partners including local key populations’ organisations met with media houses to raise awareness. The focus was on the correct, factual and objective reporting that would inform the public and therefore improve the HIV response. A representative from NAC reiterated that the purpose of the NASF is not the promotion of homosexuality but to help guide the HIV response by leaving no one behind. This, based on the reality that treating only select communities will not result in ending AIDS by 2030. He pointed out that key populations remain among the most vulnerable to HIV because of the stigma they face when accessing HIV and Aids treatment, care and support services.

For the affected community of key populations in Zambia, the media does play a huge role in ensuring they access treatment and care. If the reporting is negative the consequences include the affected communities staying away from treatment and care, rising stigma in health care systems, and violence from the general community. The NASF is therefore a validation of the importance of everyone working together and leaving no one behind. This is key for Zambia to attain its Aids elimination targets by 2030.