“Sex like sweet potatoes”: Framing HIV in Fiji media

Media and HIV in Fiji

Hunter, former editor of The Fiji Times, in 1999:

“We want to deal with an actual disaster rather than a potential one like AIDS... Diabetes is a much bigger problem... Numerically, it is a far more immediate problem”.

(Cullen, 2000)

“HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) often seem to lead the health round in Pacific newsrooms”

(Gooch & Williams-Lahari, 2008)

What has changed?

• 1989-1999: 1-2 new HIV cases per year
• 2012: 62 new
• 2013: 64 new
• While there is a global reduction, in Fiji HIV is on the rise

“HIV and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs) often seem to lead the health round in Pacific newsrooms”

(Gooch & Williams-Lahari, 2008)

Framing

"select some aspects of a perceived reality, make them more salient in a communicating text in such a way as to promote a particular problem, definition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation"

(Entman, 1993)

Combination Prevention Framework

rights-based, evidence-informed, and community-owned programmes that use a mix of biomedical, behavioural, and structural interventions ... so as to have the greatest sustained impact on reducing new infections.

UNAIDS, 2009

Framing health in the mass media

Increasing societal awareness and reducing societal stigma:

HIV stigma, discrimination still an issue, April 18, 2013

HIV siege, February 3, 2014

Efforts of religious organizations:

Council of churches happy with HIV-AIDS figures, August 03, 2011

Churches embrace HIV/AIDS sufferers, May 20, 2014

Efforts of sports personalities:

Athletes-cum-advocates Thursday, March 17, 2011

President’s campaign:

President's visit inspires, empowers the young, March 13, 2013

Human rights:

‘Legalise sex trade’, November 28, 2012

‘‘Prisoners have right’ to health care’, June 07, 2011

‘Laws fail to protect HIV patients, says advocate’, August 03, 2011

Women’s rights:

‘Women bear blame for HIV’, July 26, 2011

Domestic violence:

‘HIV link to violence’, August 02, 2011

References

Pictures

Slide 6: http://www.infinityartgallery.com/portfolios/CampbellM/

Slide 15: http://cafepacific.blogspot.co.nz/2014/09/a-fiji-democratic-mandate-for-coup.html

Slide 16: http://depts.washington.edu/sexmedia/educators/stdhiv/images/cartoon_romeoandjuliet.jpg

Slide 21: http://www.mediaaids.org/blog/category/hiv-cure

Slide 22: http://depts.washington.edu/sexmedia/educators/stdhiv/images/cartoon_johnnyandsue.jpg

Slide 25: http://www.apcom.org/spotlight-haus-khameleon-fiji

Slide 30: http://www.med.uottawa.ca/sim/data/HIV_trends_e.htm

Slide 37: http://www-static2.spulsecdn.net/ pics/00/00/71/91/719106_1_O.jpg

Slide 38: http://www.unaids.org/es/resources/multimediacentre/photos/2011/20101201wad2010aroundworld

Slide 39: https://2010sdafrika.wordpress.com/tag/preparatory-school/

All other references can be found in:

Gounder, F., Gounder, R., Cornelius, M. (2016). “Sex like sweet potatoes”: The Implications of HIV Media Framing in South Pacific Developing Countries. Journal of Public Health in Developing Countries, 2(1), 109-120.

Structural frame (77%)

Governmental actions

• ‘Cabinet approves HIV/AIDS Decree’, January 20, 2011
• ‘HIV Decree human rights based’, July 02, 2011
• ‘Policies to address HIV/AIDS’, October 30, 2012

Laws

‘Stop, HIV lover told’, April 20, 2008

‘Luveni wants HIV laws’, May 08, 2008

‘Laws on HIV testing’, June 01, 2011

Impact of HIV on business sector:

• ‘Business council concerned at HIV/AIDS in workforce’, October 09, 2008
• ‘Fighting HIV at workplaces’, March 23, 2013
• ‘Preventing HIV in the workplace’, April 26, 2013
• ‘Tourism, STDs and HIV’, September 16, 2011

Population trends

• ‘HIV to claim 328 lives’ March 19, 2011
• ‘62 newly-detected cases takes HIV/AIDS numbers to 482’, March 7, 2013

"People ask me and want me to say abstinence as a preventative measure. But I say, you are full-blooded young adults and you spend eight hours of a day together. There are those who can abstain and there are those who can't. For those who can't, I say use protection. We know what works and what doesn't.

(‘Think before sex’, September 26, 2012)

The pull to indulge in risky sexual behaviour in today's modern society is stronger than before. The pressure to conform to a sexual merry-go-round system with its demands and tempting pleasures, is intense. The young, the middle-aged, the elderly, are all enticed.

‘Dare to do right’, December 1, 2013

The report released in Nadi last month by Minister for Women Doctor Jiko Luveni said women and men were "going for sex" because it was like sweet potatoes.

‘Sex like sweet potatoes’, August 10, 2011

In this day and age, women "just go for it" when they want sex, said a 28-year old Fijian woman living with HIV. "When they want it, they just go," she said in a report commissioned by the Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation. "It becomes easier for them to get the virus because they never use condoms and they do not know about HIV."

‘Behaviour blamed’, August 15, 2011

Medical frame (10%)

Health behaviour frame (13%)

"I come from a conservative family and there was no way I could have gotten infected. After I found the courage to tell my husband and my family about my condition, then only did my husband confess to being HIV positive," she said. "He told me he got the infection from his first wife."

‘Choice determines future: HIV carrier’, May 12, 2007

• ‘Choice determines future: HIV carrier’ May 12, 2007
• ‘Never give up hope’ June 28, 2010
• ‘Sex like sweet potatoes’ August 10, 2011
• ‘Behaviour blamed for rise in HIV’ August 15, 2011
• ‘Protection is the key’ November 28, 2012
• ‘Think before sex, students told’ September 26, 2012
• ‘Dare to do right’ December 1, 2013

Respondents believe in

faith, prayer cure

A number of people-including health workers-who were quizzed in a survey on the transmission of HIV and AIDS say they believed HIV infection could be cured by faith and prayer.

(December 15, 2011)

HIV patient dies after herbal treatment

A person living with HIV/AIDS who was on antiretroviral (ARV) treatment in Suva and was later treated with herbal medicine at Lutunavonu, Nailega in Tailevu has died.

(March 07, 2012)

Coconut oil cure-fact or fiction

Dr Mary Enig, a biochemist and probably the world's leading expert on coconut oil, writes "Monolaurin inhibits the growth of many pathogenic microorganisms." One of the ways it does this is by disrupting the lipid membranes of viruses, and Enig lists HIV, herpes and influenza as examples of viruses that have been shown to be destroyed by monolaurin. 

(March 21, 2010)

Pathological disease:

‘Calls for reintroduction of universal infant prophylaxis’, May 22, 2012

Blood testing:

‘Low HIV test rates’, November 28, 2013

Treatment:

‘New hep C, HIV drug’, July 21, 2014

Medical treatment vs alternative treatment:

‘HIV patient dies after herbal treatment’, March 07, 2012

Medicine vs religion:

‘Respondents believe in faith, prayer cure’, December 15, 2011

Medical

• Health categorized as disease

• Disease: pathogens

• Deviation from a biological norm

• Can be diagnosed

• Emphasis is on cure, or medical intervention

Health Behaviour

• Individuals’ likelihood of undertaking adaptive health practices

• Individuals’ beliefs, desire, confidence and self-belief

• Illness is the result of poor lifestyle choices

• Emphasis is on prevention

Structural

• Relationship of social structures with macrolevel social, economic and political developments

• Access to medical healthcare

• Emphasis is on people’s health and wellbeing status

“Sex like sweet potatoes”:

Framing HIV in Fiji media

8th Pasifika Massey Conference, 24-25 Nov. 2015 Massey University, Palmerston North

Farzana Gounder

Lecturer, International Pacific College

and Research Associate, University of Waikato