The Role of Media in Spreading Awareness of HIV/AIDS in the Rural Areas of Pakistan.

    Health is an important factor in defining human development. The effectiveness of the labor force enhances when people's condition improves. Pakistan is a developing country, and it faces a lot of issues and challenges. One of the leading issues that our country is facing right now is that of health. About 68 percent of Pakistan’s total population resides in rural areas. The people living in the rural areas are more exposed to these health-related concerns as compared to the population living in the urban areas. The provision and distribution of resources in Pakistan is unbalanced between the rural and urban population (the urban population is the more privileged) and as a result of this inequity and inequality, the rural community suffers greatly from major health difficulties and is exposed to a variety of hazardous diseases. Despite the fact that individuals in rural regions face many health issues, both developed and developing countries report a spatially lopsided distribution of healthcare experts, favoring metropolitan and rich areas.

    In today's fast-paced society, communicable diseases, and infections, such as Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs), are a big danger. Sexually transmitted illnesses, often known as venereal diseases, are infections spread mostly through sexual contact. Women are more vulnerable to STDs than men since diagnosis is sometimes more difficult, and treatment is less readily available. If left untreated, STDs can lead to infertility, miscarriage, early birth, or infection in the newborn babies. Untreated STIs are associated to cervical cancer and ectopic pregnancy and are considered to account for 10-15 percent of fetal wastage and 30-50 percent of prenatal infections. They are a major cause of infertility and contribute to the prevalence of blindness, brain damage, pelvic inflammation, spontaneous abortions, ectopic pregnancies, and cervical cancer.

    It is difficult to find countrywide data on the prevalence of STIs in Pakistan because openly discussing reproductive health issues is still a tabooed topic even today and therefore is refrained from being widely debated. The majority of Pakistanis are uninformed of basic health issues. When they become unwell, they seek help from peers and faqirs. They only visit a doctor once their disease worsens. The ratio of qualified doctors to patients in Pakistan is low and varies across urban and rural areas. Although the number of private hospitals is growing, they are still quite costly.

    Health policy is reactive rather than proactive. Although the budget for the health sector has increased it is still necessary to focus on both quantity and quality. Public awareness about health in general, including HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections in particular, is required, in addition to other policy interventions. We find limited recognition and readiness to deal with these illnesses at the policy level. A national HIV/AIDS Strategic Framework was established in 2001, which established strategies to combat the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Furthermore, private organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) sought to educate people about prevention, particularly high-risk populations. However, NGOs' preventative efforts were criticized for being insufficient, as they only reached 5% of the vulnerable population.

    However, by using the media to raise awareness, this process can be accelerated. Media has proved to be a weapon in disseminating information and creating awareness among the masses. Since its inception, media is playing a pivotal part in shaping and changing the public’s behaviors and attitudes. In the fight against AIDS, the media plays a critical role. Education is frequently referred to as the HIV vaccination. Many media outlets are rising to the occasion by raising HIV/AIDS awareness and teaching listeners and viewers about the epidemic's facts and how to combat it. Clearly, media outlets have a significant impact on educating and empowering people to prevent catching HIV. To do so effectively, however, a comprehensive awareness of the problems and roadblocks to widespread and effective HIV prevention education is required.

    Pakistan's National AIDS Prevention and Control Programme initiated a media campaign in March 1994. Staffers had to work within Islamic beliefs to educate the public about the risk of HIV infection and encourage them to adopt behaviors that will help prevent the spread of the virus. The messages in the media were not sexually explicit. They urged Pakistanis to contact an AIDS hotline or ask medical professionals for more extensive information on the disease. The phone number for the hotline is memorable (123). In Islamabad, the two hotlines received 250-300 calls per day. Every week, the service receives 300-400 emails from people requesting specific information. As part of its first wave of raising AIDS awareness, the initiative held workshops for journalists. Following that, the journalists wrote serious stories about AIDS. The program's personnel spent a lot of time trying to get support from Islamic authorities. In order to encourage people to seek treatment for sexually transmitted illnesses, more media experts then joined forces to spread information through various media venues. The organization's main goal was to expand its outreach efforts in the future by collaborating with nongovernmental organizations and creating movies and short tales.

    To some extent, the media has been already functioning along these lines. Many chat shows were being aired on private channels where "taboo" themes are discussed, such as "Equinox" on DAWN TV and "Uljhan Suljhan" on GEO TV. Advertisements promoting HIV and AIDS prevention appeared on state television before the news at 9:00 p.m. There is a type of communication known as "taboo communication" that is specifically designed for this type of communication. Taboo communication is a phenomenon that is underappreciated and understudied. It's significant since it distinguishes itself from other types of communication behavior. It's a type of message transmission in which the communications are thought to be exceedingly private and personal.

    According to a study on Media health awareness campaigns and their significance in disseminating HIV/AIDS-related information it was found that TV is the least utilized source, accounting for only 24% of all campaigns, whereas radio campaigns account for 59% of all campaigns. Advertisements in print media were more popular than those on television, but not as much as those on the radio. The impact of health programmes aimed at spreading HIV/AIDS knowledge and insisting on condom use was varied. People who had some form of interaction with the campaign were found to be more open and less shy about talking about HIV/AIDS; yet, it had little impact on people who use protection.

    The Society for the Advancement of Community Health, Education & Training (SACHET) organized a community gathering at the male and female community mehfils (meetings) in Shadara village, rural Islamabad, Pakistan, to commemorate World AIDS Day (December 1, 2003). SACHET employed live street theatre to promote conversation about HIV/AIDS-related stigma and prejudice in conjunction with the National AIDS Prevention and Control Program (NACP). A street theatre performance by SACHET's theatre troupe kicked off the interactive session. Young performers explained to rural audiences - in a fun way - that AIDS is a dreadful disease about which they may still know very little. The play was created to establish a setting favorable to breaking down taboos that cut off debate about HIV/AIDS by starting from an imagined state of ignorance.

    Following the interactive performance, medical experts answered attendees' questions in a question-and-answer session. The SACHET Health Program staff emphasized the importance of utilizing screened blood, disposable syringes, and contraceptives like condoms. They also advocated for the formation of an open environment in which sexually transmitted illnesses (STIs) and HIV/AIDS are no longer taboo topics. They claim that barriers to information and STI prevention services exist because of limits on women's movement and that peer education activities are needed to raise awareness and encourage healthy reproductive health practices. The final goal was to persuade the audience to have a good attitude toward persons who were suffering from the sickness.

    A drama named “Baydardi” was aired on ARY Digital in the year 2018. It starred Affan Waheed and Aiman Khan in lead roles. The plot deals around the terrible disease HIV/AIDS, which is taboo in Pakistani culture. Pakistanis believe that HIV/AIDS is only transmitted through sexual contact, however this drama shows that it may also be transmitted through sharing needles, unsanitary equipment used during childbirth, contaminated blood transfusions, and sharing razors, among other things. It was very thoughtful move on the part of the producers and writers of the drama 'Baydardi' for bringing such a powerful story to the screen. The story is educational and informative since it examines the true cause of AIDS transmission. The parable also warns us not to act on our emotions physically since we never know where danger lurks.

    An article was published in the New York Times on August 31^st, 2021, which featured different stories with pictures of the people specifically kids suffering from HIV /AIDS living in Subhani Shar village outside Rato Dero in southern Sindh. The article also included a detailed description of the stories of the kids; what symptoms they had and how was HIV detected by the doctors etc. The article also pointed out that contrary to the belief that the majority of us have that the infection in infants and toddlers is acquired through vertical transmission, which means an H.I.V.-positive mother conveyed the virus to her child during pregnancy, birth, or breastfeeding referring to the majority of HIV/AIDS cases in infants.

    The two Ratodero children mentioned in the article had H.I.V. when neither of their parents had. Neither child had a persistent ailment that would necessitate rounds of blood transfusions or regular renal dialysis, putting them at risk for blood-borne infections. However, it was discovered by the doctor that the kids had contracted the virus due to the use of reused needles. After this many other kids with similar symptoms were examined and they too had unfortunately become victims of the virus. The article has been written by Helen Ouyang who is a physician, writer, and assistant professor at Columbia University Medical Center, and the pictures of the kids published were clicked by Sarah Caron who is a Paris-based photographer who works in Pakistan.

    In my opinion publishing, this article was definitely the need of the hour as the health care of the population living in the rural areas of Pakistan is often ignored and not paid much attention to. But this article has created awareness about the difficulties and issues related to health faced by the people living and rural areas and villages of Pakistan to not just the people of Pakistan but people all over the globe as well since New York Times is a globally famous newspaper and read by people across the world. The enormous outbreak of the HIV epidemic. Many newspapers covered the stories of the children suffering from HIV in Subhani Shar Village which further contributed to educating and informing the general public about the challenges faced by the people especially kids of the village.

    Now is the time to create awareness-raising materials regarding HIV/AIDS for our society. We can split our groups based on age and gender for this purpose, and build information, education, and communication (IEC) materials to meet their needs. Movies and dramas can be made that highlight the issue of HIV/AIDS and how to take preventive measures to reduce its risk. Radio commercials on HIV/AIDS risk and precautions should be aired, the ads run on radio can prove to be very effective as most of the people living in villages and rural zones have easy access to radio. TV commercials should also be broadcast on entertainment, cooking, and news channels in their prime slots which target men who watch the news and talk shows on the news channels, and women who spend their time watching morning shows, dramas, and cooking shows.

    Awareness messages that are produced during popular adolescent and female-oriented programmes can be quite beneficial. In such cases, discussions and conversation programmes with doctors, representatives from relevant organizations, and religious leaders can be beneficial. Life Skills projects for adolescent-age students in schools and street children in Pakistan are a fantastic example of NGO-led initiatives. Moreover, print news articles on HIV prevention should be published in newspapers and magazines as they are easily accessible to both rural and urban populations. Men mostly read newspapers in the morning while women mostly read magazines, so it is easy to target both the male and female populations.

    In Pakistan, the only way to win the HIV/AIDS struggle is to focus on prevention. The only way to start a change is for the people who have the power to do so - Pakistan's parliamentarians, journalists, filmmakers, authors, screenwriters, drama producers, etc,- to become involved. However, the government must also provide full support and engagement in order to bring and sustain change on the ground. The role of Pakistani parliamentarians and media professionals becomes critical, as they are the vehicles that can affect change, not only by launching various preventive programmes under the auspices of a National HIV/AIDS Policy but also by assisting in the removal of stigma associated with the disease, all of which will help to prevent a sharp increase in HIV/AIDS cases.