IWMF's PROGRAMS

HIV/AIDS Reporting Fellows Produce Groundbreaking Investigations 

With funding from M•A•C AIDS Fund, the IWMF provided 10 South African-based reporters a year-long HIV/AIDS investigative reporting fellowship, including one-on-one coaching and stipends to conduct interviews and in-depth research.  As a result of the program, fellows produced innovative stories on the complex issues surrounding the epidemic.

Forgotten and shunned by society, a South African sex worker with HIV agreed to tell her story to IWMF fellow Nastasya Tay of EyeWitness News in a rare min-documentary – a cautionary tale for the world to see.

Tay tracked down “Snowy,” a 25-year-old man “who feels like a woman,” after talking to aid workers. She spent countless hours filming and interviewing “Snowy,” who comes alive in the 12-minute video as a compassionate figure driven to the streets after her father repeatedly beat her. To protect Snowy’s identity, Tay blurred her face in the video. Watch it here-- caution disturbing scenes.

“These people are often turned away from clinics,” said Tay, 27, an investigative reporter. “This isn’t the life she pictured for herself.”

Tay’s compelling story of Snowy aired at a time when the government removed discrimination against sex workers as part of the World AIDS Day agenda.  After Snowy’s story hit the airwaves, the government put protection of sex workers back on the agenda in a move to prevent the spread of HIV, she said.

Reporting fellow Harriet Mclea of the Times tracked an HIV-positive pregnant woman for five months as she underwent antiretroviral treatment in the hopes of delivering a healthy girl. “Oh, my God,” the mother screamed, when the doctor told her recently, “Your child is HIV-negative.” Read her story here.

Although a record number of people are on antiretroviral treatments, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS Tuberculosis (TB) and Malaria canceled its next funding round highlighting “the precarious nature of HIV/AIDS funding,” reports IWMF fellow Laura Lopez Gonzales of IRIN/Plus News.

“Faced with the global economic downturn and less money from donors, national HIV programs in East and Southern Africa - the region hardest hit by HIV/AIDS - are struggling to stay afloat, “ she reports, detailing the shortage country by country. Read more here. 

IWMF fellow Zinhile Mapumulo’s investigation  showed that thousands of men crammed into South Africa’s overcrowded prisons are being raped by other inmates. They often leave the facility without seeking medical attention or get drugs to prevent sexually transmitted infections like HIV. After her report, the government investigated. Read more here.

The following is a full list of stories produced by the fellows in HIV/AIDS Reporting in South Africa program.

• Project Overview
• Fellows
• Photos
• Videos