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Maggots, Microbicides and uBhejane: The Ins and Outs of Health Reporting

Judith King. HIVAN. May 2006
Below follows a summary of an interview with Kerry Cullinan of Health-e News, by Jeremy Maggs on Media@SAfm, 23 April 2006.

Effective health communication involves ?“a hybrid of facts and perspectives?”, according to award-winning journalist, Kerry Cullinan.

Having covered political issues before taking up health reporting for the last five years on behalf of the independent Health-e News agency, Cullinan?’s approach to articles on medical issues is cautious and thorough: ?“As Dr Mamphele Ramphele once said succinctly, most of us in South Africa don?’t know very much about our bodies and how they work. Health information involves human lives, so it?’s important that when writing about studies on AIDS vaccines or microbicides, one confers closely with the scientists involved in order to set out the findings and their implications as accurately as possible.?”

Fortunately, although Cullinan and her colleagues work to client deadlines, they are not as rushed as mainstream media practitioners, allowing them time to focus on the finer details of stories, and to consult two or three sources for verification of claims.

Another advantage of producing output for this news agency stems from its donor funding obviating the need for income from advertising revenue; this frees the journalists to embark on deep investigation of claims without pressure from or in conflict with commercial interests, whether these be held by pharmaceutical companies or alternative health product manufacturers ?– with both sectors of the healthcare industry racking up millions of Rands in turnover, the stakes are high, and positive visibility in the media is critical for their marketing strategies.

In presenting health-focused articles, the often indistinct line between sensation and information is exemplified by the most recent national public health scare, in the form of rat-tailed maggots apparently emerging from household water sources in various provinces. Broader editorial commentary notes that over a short period, the reported size of the creature had grown from one centimetre to that of ?“a small rat?”, and the threat to health by drinking water infested with these larvae has assumed nightmarish proportions in the public psyche. Many mainstream reports linked this threat to vulnerable sub-populations including those with weak immune systems, such as the very young, the elderly and HIV-positive people.

Cullinan cites the HIV/AIDS epidemic as having brought into the glare of media headlights the longstanding divide between Western allopathic medicine and traditional, indigenous remedies.

?“The question of how to regulate natural indigenous medicines, which reside in ancient tradition, and is so much a part of people?’s lives, is crucial and complex. We are all searching and hoping for a cure for AIDS, and many people are being exploited by offers on Durban?’s streets from, literally, hundreds of purveyors of immune-boosters and so-called cures. Desperate patients are paying out lots of money for these products, which could be better spent on nutritious foods.?”

As the personal and professional partialities of key figures in the field of HIV/AIDS shore up opposing arguments for different treatment modalities, the direction of media focus and the quality of discerning reportage influences public opinion and debate, and this directly affects individual choices and human welfare.

Plant derivatives are used in the development of medicines. As Cullinan observes, ?“about sixty percent of Western allopathic medicines are synthesised from plant substances?”. But these plant products need to be tested and proven to work before being touted as cures. In the context of HIV and AIDS, conveying the findings of health research studies and clinical trials to the general public has never been more important.

The Traditional, Complementary and Alternative Medicine (TCAM) Programme at the University of KwaZulu-Natal?’s Nelson R Mandela Medical School is working on clinical trials for natural immune-boosters. A trial of sutherlandia is beginning at Edendale Hospital, and the SA Medical Research Council?’s Indigenous Knowledge Systems [Health] Unit assesses the health benefits and toxicology of traditional remedies through international standards of ethical scientific methodology.

The University?’s TCAM research leaders have been drawn into the prevailing debate on claims that uBhejane, a preparation of 69 herbs blended and dispensed by Durban-based traditional healer, Zeblon Gwala, is highly effective in relieving the opportunistic infections associated with HIV and AIDS. Although preliminary research on the activity of uBbhejane on cell-lines in test-tubes has been conducted, there were no findings to support a claim that the herbal mixture could constitute an ?“AIDS cure?”, as some media reports have described it.

As to whether media practitioners and the public are taking health reporting more seriously because of the complexities of HIV and AIDS, Cullinan holds that the ravages of the epidemic have caused health issues in South Africa to become highly politicised, which complicates the presentation of these stories.

?“Every year, a new controversy emerges. The latest is government?’s blocking of the Treatment Action Campaign and AIDS Law Project?’s accreditation for the UN General Assembly on AIDS. The field of AIDS has become highly contested between a new democratic government and an activist movement. It?’s about power, and who has the right to speak on behalf of those living with HIV and who has the right to set the agenda on AIDS. It is very unusual to find this level of activism around a disease. You don?’t find cancer patients involved in forums to educate themselves about chemotherapy.?”

?“As journalists, our instincts are to give both sides of a story coverage, so the AIDS denialists initially got a lot of coverage. But I think initially we did not understand the science properly. There is so much empirical evidence proving that HIV causes AIDS.?”

?“Many journalists are intimidated by the ?‘science?’ of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and this means that they shy away from reporting on it.?” While Cullinan is concerned that there are too few specialist health journalists in the field, and believes that a greater training and recruitment effort should be mobilised in this regard, she hails exemplary individuals who are publishing work of refined quality: ?“Tamar Kahn, who writes for Business Day, has a science degree and brings a lot to the field.?”

A recent After8 Debate as broadcast on SAfm dealt with the subject of uBhejane. A transcript of this debate can be accessed on the righthand side of this page.
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