HIV/AIDS...quo vadis?
HIV AIDS remains a newsworthy subject, given its impact on South Africa... its people, its health system, economy and a range of other areas. According to a South African Department of Health Study, 29.1% of pregnant women were living with HIV in 2006. The highest HIV rates were found to be in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Free State. Until 1998 South Africa had one of the fastest expanding epidemics in the world, but HIV prevalence now appears to have stabilized, and may even be declining slightly.
Whether “denialism” or “acceptance” is official policy, what do ordinary South Africans think?
What are the trends and is there anything we can do?
Graph 1 below shows that the proportion of the total adult urban South African population that considers “AIDS a serious threat to the South African economy” is in gradual decline, from 81% in 2003 to 74% in 2007.
The trends indicate a softening in the proportion that definitely agree with this statement, in favour of the “neutral or disagree” group; now at 26% versus 19% in 2003.
Graph 1
The relative strength of agreement with this statement does reveal interesting differences by racial group... Whites tend to be less strong in their views, with Indians and Coloureds tending to agree more strongly and this is shown in Graph 2.
Graph 2
The need for information regarding HIV AIDS is reflected in Graph 3 below. Blacks are strongly in agreement that they are very interested in information on radio regarding HIV AIDS. The other races tend to not be that interested.
Graph 3
Those who are very interested in gaining information about HIV AIDS via radio tend to also agree with the statement that Aids represents a serious economic threat to South Africa. These results are shown in Graph 4.
Graph 4
Those who are very interested in HIV AIDS information and who consider Aids a threat number 7.2million (41%) of the total population. This is a sizable audience! The bulk, 76% are black and there is a slight bias towards females. The younger, under the age of 34 make up the bulk of this group.
Graph 5
The Radio stations that blacks listen to most often are shown below ranked by the relative proportion that are very interested in information on HIV AIDS.
Graph 6
Conclusion
This short journey into the controversial issue of AIDS indicates that there is a softening in the attitudes regarding AIDS and that despite this there is a strong desire for more information regarding AIDS. Radio programming that meets this need would be welcomed by radio listeners especially those who are black, female, and younger.
Could this be a worthwhile sponsorship opportunity, in the public good?
About A TGI think piece
TGI, first launched in the UK in 1969 now operates in over 65 countries worldwide serving the marketing, media and advertising industry. TGI was launched in South Africa in 2002 and the first data collected covered the second half of 2003. TGI interviews over 15,000 urban South African adults per annum. For more information and comment please contact Tim Bester or Barbara Cooke 011 234 0656 or visit their website: http://www.tgi.co.za
