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Lack of attention imperils progress made in fighting HIV

Category: HIV

New medications have led to significant improvements in treating HIV and AIDS. However, as the impact of the disease becomes less severe, many people are ignoring the dangers that it still poses. Some experts are concerned that this could lead to a decrease in HIV testing and an increase in risky sexual behavior that could contribute to a resurgence of the disease.

In fact, a recent study conducted by researchers at the University of Leeds and Queen's University Belfast has found that media coverage of the HIV/AIDS pandemic decreased by 70 percent in developed countries over the course of the last 20 years.

During most of the 1990s, researchers found that an average of 1.5 articles about HIV appeared in each issue of 115 of world's leading news papers. However, that number has dropped to less than 0.5.

Researchers said that if the trend continues, it could jeopardize many of the strides made in developed countries toward eliminating the disease.

"HIV/AIDS has emerged as a key issue that increasingly tends to be treated with neglect by newspapers based in the developed North," said Frank Figge, who led the investigation. "This does not necessarily come as a surprise, as the remarkable progress that has been made in tackling HIV/AIDS has also largely been restricted to the wealthy North."