African HIV charity slams mainstream media over racist reporting of HIV

[Guest guest]

http://www.blackbritain.co.uk/news/details.aspx?i=2284 & c=uk

African HIV charity slams mainstream media over racist reporting of HIV

cases

Mainstream media presents racist stereotypes of black men as sexual

predators

The Chief Executive of African HIV Policy Network (AHPN) has hit out at

the mainstream media over its reporting of Everson Banda, the Zimbabwean

asylum seeker who is alleged to have passed on the HIV virus to several

women. On September 14 'This is London's' online report stated: "An

asylum seeker who had sex with scores of women...has given at least six

HIV." It went on to accuse Banda of sleeping with: "Thirteen members of

staff and a number of holidaymakers during three seasons." Describing

him as: "A burly African" , the report said that he: "Wooed girls at the

campsite's pubs and bars, plying them with drink before walking them

back to his berth." Commenting on the report and similar ones that

appeared in The Sun, The Daily Mail and The Times, AHPN's Chief

Executive, Dr Max Sesay told Black Britain : "It's the blanket

generalisation as well as the stereotyping and the very immediate link

with asylum," that the organisation finds problematic. Dr Sesay said:

"It has nothing to do with asylum status. Every time they talk about HIV

they talk about asylum. It's a juxtaposition that creates a lot of

concern. But they do it all the time and I don't think we can now sit

and not be responding to things like that." Dr Sesay said that the time

"has long gone" when AHPN can continue to ignore these type of stories

that appear in the mainstream press. "Now we respond to all of them,"

"Plays into the hands of people who immediately equate black men with

sexually predatory behaviour. It's just stereotyping." According to Dr

Sesay there was insufficient information available for the media to jump

to that conclusion: "There was no evidence that he had been tested and

there is no evidence that he knew about his status." He suggested that

mainstream publications should exercise far more care and sensitivity

when reporting on these types of cases. When asked whether he thought

the reporting amounted to racism, Dr Sesay told Black Britain: "I think

we have always said that in a lot of the stereotyping there are racial

undertones. The talk of sexual prowess - even in the days of the

immediate post-war period in Britain, if you look at the racial

discourse in which we blacks were presented who came from Africa and the

Caribbean, we were sexual predators." Therefore it would appear that

little has changed in that respect.

Sensationalised reporting deterring Africans from getting tested for HIV

It's beginning to have a very serious, negative impact on a lot of the

accomplishments we have made on the ground to encourage Africans to

present early to services. It's driving them underground and making sure

they don't get tested.

Dr Sesay told Black Britain that the stereotypes of asylum seekers, HIV

status and sexual predators all combine to present powerful negative

images of African people. He said that the presentation of these stories

as in the example of Banda does not allow one to get to the real truth

of the matter.

AHPN remain concerned that such sensational stories only serve to

reinforce already negative perceptions of African people. But there are

also other negative consequences. According to Dr Sesay such stories and

the stigma they create for HIV positive people deters individuals from

coming forward to have HIV tests.

Dr Sesay told Black Britain: "A lot of asylum seekers who have an

unclear immigration status and are in transition in this country may or

may not be refused medication on the basis of their asylum case."

Whilst the asylum case is in process many of applicants are entitled to

receive medication, but Dr Sesay said that much more work needs to be

done on the ground to encourage people to apply for medication. All the

evidence points to African asylum seekers applying for medication at

very late stages of their cases, contrary to the perception that many of

them only come to the UK for free medical treatment:

"This is contrary to media reporting that Africans flock here to access

medication. Africans present later than most other groups. The

impression you get in the media is that these guys are health tourists

who come here to access NHS treatment, " he said.

Dr Sesay also said that the only circumstances under which an individual

can be said to have acted recklessly is if they are fully aware that

they are HIV positive and knowingly pass the virus on through having

unprotected sex:

"If people don't know, you can't accuse them of being reckless. It's

beginning to have a very serious, negative impact on a lot of the

accomplishments we have made on the ground to encourage Africans to

present early to services. It's driving them underground and making sure

they don't get tested."

Dr Sesay said that many individuals go to their GPs and refuse to

disclose their sexual history because they are scared and don't want to

say anything that can be used against them at a later stage. AHPN have

had feedback from clinicians which suggests that the honesty and

confidence that is supposed to exist between doctors and their patients

is being eroded.

"People are refusing to disclose everything they know about themselves

to their doctors," he told Black Britain. "They are aware that if courts

want to obtain records they can subpoena the NHS and it can be used to

present evidence against them in court."

Dr Sesay told Black Britain that in the long term it is "not in the

interest of public health that the media continue to report things in

the way it does. The media must be more responsible in their reporting

of HIV cases."