HIV/AIDS, Gender Issues Get Low Media Coverage

Speaking at the launch of the HIV/AIDS and Gender Baseline Study findings and Media Action Plan (MAP) at the Maharaja Conference Centre in Gaborone last week, Communications, Science and Technology minister, Pelonomi Venson-Moitoi, noted that cross-generational sex, gender- based violence and gender power relations, which are significant drivers of the epidemic, received less than six percent each of the total coverage while cultural practices received no coverage during the study's monitoring period.

The study was conducted in 11 countries of the Southern African region in a month in 2005. It looked at 37,000 news items from newspapers, radio and television.