Project promotes informed HIV/AIDS coverage in Yoruba and Ogu

September 20, 2006 :: Kingsley Obom-Egbulem Journalists Against AIDS(JAAIDS)Nigeria

How would you explain terms like 'viral load' or 'CD4 Count' in Yoruba (the language widely-spoken among peoples of south-west Nigeria), or in Ogu (the langage of indigenous populations of Lagos and Ogun States of Nigeria)?

This was the challenge confronted by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) Nigeria and the Lagos State AIDS Control Agency (LSACA)in a just-concluded project on
community media mobilisation on HIV and AIDS.

“Reporting HIV and AIDS in Yoruba language can be an arduous task", says Ms. Bimbo Amosun, health editor of Eko FM/Radio Lagos, which produces health programmes for people of the predominantly Yoruba speaking areas
of south-western Nigeria and parts of neighbouring Benin Republic.

"The lack of adequate Yoruba news sources and resource materials create a lot of limitation, which I believe affects increase sensitisation and awareness creation amongst those who can understand only Yoruba language”, she adds.

Amosun, who anchors a Yoruba language health programme, says her greatest challenge has been that of finding guests or experts who can speak Yoruba language fluently on air.

“When I invite health experts who are Yoruba-speaking to my programme, they basically struggle and often end up speaking English all through. That has no useful impact on my target audience, who expect me to communicate
information in the language they are comfortable with”, Amosun remarks.

The situation is even worse for Ogu language presenters and reporters. Prior to the JAAIDS/LSACA project, Ogu language reporters had never received any training on AIDS reporting, neither were there are resource materials to guide their reporting.

“You can hardly find anyone who can conveniently discuss HIV and AIDS in Ogu language", laments Opeyemi Gandonu, an Ogu language newscaster and reporter on Lagos Television (LTV8). "The situation is worsened by the fact that health programmes dedicated for Ogu language speakers are not given enough slots on stations”.

Another challenge is that common Yoruba translations for HIV and AIDS are heavily-loaded in negative value judgements, and are usually inaccurate or stigmatising.

For instance, the common description for AIDS in Yoruba is 'aarun ko gbogun', which translates to 'disease that has no cure'. Such a translation adds heavily-loaded interpretative judgement to a straightforward issue. Another common translation for AIDS is 'aarun apanirun'(disease of utter destruction).

Thankfully, the trend is now changing, going by an evaluation of the just-concluded community media mobilisation project undertaken by Journalists Against AIDS with funding by LSACA.

An evaluation of the project by an independent consultant, reports that Yoruba and Ogu language reporters trained under the project, have adopted the use of non-stigmatising termilogies in reporting HIV and AIDS on their stations.

A content analysis of news stories and programmes produced by reporters trained under the project, show that they no longer use stigmatising descriptions about HIV and AIDS.

"For instance, HIV is now referred to as 'kokoro HIV' (the virus called HIV). EKO FM has even gone ahead to produce jingles titled 'Eeyan eleran ara ni gbogbo wa. Aisan ko gbodo ya wa soto'(We are all human beings. No disease should tear us apart) which runs regularly on the station”, the evaluation report notes.

Ogu language reporters and producers are also making efforts. On LTV8, news broadcast in Ogu language now starts off and round up with a jingle that says:‘omo he do ofun hunnu hunnu le ma hon naye blo mi yan wan na ye’ (meaning: do not separate yourself from people living with HIV. They are not your enemy).

While the dearth of HIV and AIDS experts who can speak confidently in Yoruba of Ogu still remains a challenge, the lack of resource materials on HIV and AIDS in the two languages is being addressed.

Courtesy of the LSACA grant, Journalists Against AIDS has produced two publications: “What you need to know about HIV/AIDS" and “Using appropriate language in HIV/AIDS Communication" in both Yoruba and Ogu.

The publications were launched by the executive secretary of LSACA, Dr. Aderemi Desalu, in Lagos on Tuesday 13th September 2006.

For more information about the project or a copy of the evaluation report, send an email to kingsley@nigeria-aids.org