Editors and managers of top media organizations across Nigeria have committed themselves to supporting the national response to the HIV/AIDS challenge in the country. This commitment was made at the end of a two-day workshop held recently in Calabar, the Cross River state capital. Face to face to with the reality of HIV/AIDS like never before, the gatekeepers of the media saw the epidemic at personal levels. As a group, the media managers committed their organization - the Nigerian Guild of Editors (NGE) - to deploying their skills and influence to the anti-AIDS campaign.

"The AIDS epidemic is a real threat; as editors, we need to do more in terms of sensitization", said Mallam Halilu Baba Dantiye, the Guild's president. For most of the participants, HIV/AIDS had remained an issue discussed only in abstract terms, until the workshop.
The choice of Calabar, the alluring, touristic capital city of Cross River State as the workshop venue, helped to bring home the reality of the epidemic.

Among the 36 states of Nigeria, Cross River, with 12 percent prevalence, has the highest average HIV infection rate. The 25 participants were particularly touched by the delivery by two of the resource persons at the training programme, Ms. Doris Emmanuel and Elizabeth Ndon, both openly HIV-positive. Doris, an energetic speaker, was the
2003 recipient of the Breaker of Silence Award instituted by Journalists Against AIDS (JAAIDS) to honour individuals whose personal actions have broken the silence surrounding aspects of HIV/AIDS. "I am really touched by the optimism and zeal they have shown in their response to being HIV-positive," remarked Ikechukwu Ameachi, an editor with Daily Independent. "It is clear that there is a whole lot of truths about HIV/AIDS that the public is not sufficiently informed about, and which stories the media need to tell", he added.

For Jika Attoh, CEO of Cosmo Radio, Enugu, what has become clear is that the media has to change its current approach to reporting HIV/AIDS. "The work of the media in making change happen is enormous and needs a more pro-active approach than we have shown". Radio especially, he said, has the capacity to make change happen, if media professionals are properly sensitized. The Calabar workshop was part of interventions under a project called 'Mobilising Media', designed to harness the capacity of the Nigerian media towards HIV prevention, care and support. Implemented by Journalists Against AIDS, the project partners with the three professional media associations in the country: the Nigeria Union of Journalists, the National Association of Women Journalists and the Guild of Editors. With support from the National Action Committee (NACA), the project will also develop a HIV/AIDS training manual for the media in Nigeria. Constance Ndubuisi-Enyali Journalists Against AIDS(JAAIDS).