Journalism PhD student helps boost HIV/AIDS awareness in South Pacific
A recent South Pacific conference has brought a major breakthrough in a University of Queensland journalism PhD student's campaign for HIV/AIDS awareness in the region.
Journalism lecturer and Catholic priest Trevor Cullen, whose thesis analyses press coverage of HIV/AIDS in the South Pacific, has been invited to organise a week-long workshop to educate Papua New Guinea journalists on how to cover HIV/AIDS. The invitation came after Fr Cullen, sponsored by UQ's Journalism Department, addressed media editors from 21 countries at the Pacific Islands News Association (PINA) conference in Fiji.
"I'm extremely pleased - I've been trying for at least three years to get this workshop because PNG has the highest number of HIV infections. It is between 17,000 and 20, 000 at the moment and with a population of 4.6 million, the potential for spread is enormous," Fr Cullen said. "The head of the United Nations AIDS committee Dr Peter Piot said a country like PNG had all the ingredients for an epidemic on the scale of sub-Saharan African countries. Zambia and Zimbabwe have HIV/AIDS infection rates that affect 20 percent of their populations."
Fr Cullen, who worked in PNG before coming to Australia, believes the media has a vital role in educating those at risk. He has been frustrated by scant media coverage in Pacific countries threatened by a potential HIV/AIDS epidemic.
"I've been involved in HIV/AIDS work since the mid-80s in Africa and when I came here it was as if I was watching a ?repeat performance' in the South Pacific. I was amazed at the complacency and the denial about the disease," he said. "So I've been researching and holding workshops and meeting with South Pacific editors to encourage them to wake up to the danger and break the silence. People need to be told clearly and consistently about how to protect themselves. The media are so well-placed to shape people's perception of HIV/AIDS, yet until recently they presented a ?theoretical' disease just based on facts and figures. There was no human face given to the problem - but that is changing."
Fr Cullen said another "dramatic breakthrough" at the PINA convention was the presentation of the prestigious Pacific Islands News Association Media Freedom award to French Polynesian journalist Maire Bopp, who went public with her HIV status at last year's convention. He said the presentation showed the region's editors had recognised the importance of HIV/AIDS awareness.
Fr Cullen was also sponsored by UQ to present a paper on media and AIDS at the Fifth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in Kuala Lumpur, which attracted delegates from 67 countries. He appreciates the opportunity to share his research and admits he has "always been an activist". He campaigned for literacy and against political oppression during his 10 years in Africa and worked with homeless people for three years in London.
For more information, contact Fr Trevor Cullen (telephone 07 5437 0659 or email tacullen@ozemail.com).
