ANANTAPUR: Journalists must present an optimistic picture while covering news related to HIV and AIDS as a district-level media consultation on the dreaded disease here on Monday observed that reports of "everything is lost" would have an adverse impact on persons afflicted with the disease.

The workshop was organised by the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, the Andhra Pradesh Press Academy, the Andhra Pradesh Union of Working Journalists and CFAR with the help of UNICEF to create awareness on HIV/AIDS among journalists.

Print media's role

Inaugurating the workshop, Joint Collector Shashibhushan Kumar said media has a great role to play in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Print media, in particular, would shape the public opinion and would create an attitude on the disease, he noted.

District Medical and Health Officer Y. Swaroopkumar Reddy and District AIDS Awareness Campaign convenor stressed the need for increased awareness on the dreaded disease among people.

Three HIV-positive women working with an NGO in the fight against AIDS said that there were umpteen incidents in the district where even Government hospitals had thrown out the HIV-positive patients. They explained that the children of parent who died of AIDS are not getting admission in schools.

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