Use of New Information and Communication Technologies in the Fight Against HIV/AIDS in Rural Fundong, Northwest Province, Camero

This 19-page article reports on research taken in Fundong, a rural area of the Northwest Province in Cameroon with a population of about 66,000. The research explored current awareness about and attitudes to HIV/AIDS relating to new information and communication technologies (NICTs) and the impact that NICTs can have in the future. Data was compiled via questionnaires and focus groups, conducting interviews at community, group, and household levels, in both rural and urban regions of Fundong.

The report supplies a synopsis of the area, describing its geographical location, educational facilities, religious and ethnic constitution, “social tissue” (leisure facilities, community groups and associations, including two for people living with HIV/AIDS), economic activities, and current access to information technology. Interviewees articulated their understanding of the causes of HIV/AIDS, knowledge of methods of prevention, perceived challenges to carrying out these methods of prevention and preferred ways of finding out information. The author explains certain factors about life in Fundong that put people at risk of lacking access to information about HIV/AIDS or contracting HIV. These include practices such as polygamy and scarification, carried about by doctors and “tradipractitioners” using blades which may not be sterilised and may be shared with other patients. Those people who are not well educated cannot understand information disseminated in English or French and require information in their mother tongue. Towncriers, who spread news in local indigenous languages, have a potential role to further spread information about HIV/AIDS. Newspapers also have limited reach, as they are either weekly or monthly.

The article explores which media interviewees had access to and what their preferred media might be. Technical problems such as electricity failure and an absence of radio signals, hamper communication. The research findings provide recommendations supplied by respondents, for media education plans in the area. It was generally noted that for the sources or messages to contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS in the community, government and other stakeholders should consider the following points.Information sources should:

• provide more magazines and brochures on HIV/AIDS for the youths freely;
• show actual pictures of AIDS patients, possibly those they can identify;
• send more qualified AIDS sensitisation facilitators to the suburbs to inform and educate the population on how to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS;
• ensure that newspapers and magazines are provided with question and answer columns on HIV/AIDS matters; and
• create posters that are more graphical and less wordy.

Respondents recommended that the following messages be conveyed in media:

• AIDS patients should be shown on television unshielded, so as to cause those who doubt its existence to accept it;
• Messages should be transmitted in “pidgin English” and in the local languages;
• The different manifestations of HIV/AIDS should be clearly explained, so people can differentiate it with what they refer to as slow poison.
• Doubts surrounding the effectiveness of condoms and their proper usage should be clarified.

Participants recommended that the following measures be taken to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS in Fundong:

• Condoms should be shared freely with all sexually-active people on an ongoing basis, since people are ashamed to buy them;
• AIDS messages should be announced at all local gatherings;
• More AIDS NGOs need to be established, with financial empowerment;
• Female condoms should be made available, so as to give the woman a say in sexual matters;
• Traditional institutions should be used to inform and educate people about HIV/AIDS;
• Job opportunities need to be created for rural dwellers;
• More churches should be encouraged to participate openly in AIDS campaigns;
• People should be educated on the proper use of condoms;
• Teachers should, the first ten minutes or so of their periods, remind students/pupils daily about how to avoid HIV/AIDS;
• The use of sterilising agents by barbers, hairdressers and traditional healers should be enforced;
• Free HIV-screening should be arranged for all sexually-active people in the community; and
• Attendance at nightclubs in the area should be checked.

To request a copy of the full article as a Word document, please contact tohnole@yahoo.com