Whether “denialism” or “acceptance” is official policy, what do ordinary South Africans think?
What are the trends and is there anything we can do?
Graph 1 below shows that the proportion of the total adult urban South African population that considers “AIDS a serious threat to the South African economy” is in gradual decline, from 81% in 2003 to 74% in 2007.
The trends indicate a softening in the proportion that definitely agree with this statement, in favour of the “neutral or disagree” group; now at 26% versus 19% in 2003.
Graph 1
The relative strength of agreement with this statement does reveal interesting differences by racial group... Whites tend to be less strong in their views, with Indians and Coloureds tending to agree more strongly and this is shown in Graph 2.
Graph 2
The need for information regarding HIV AIDS is reflected in Graph 3 below. Blacks are strongly in agreement that they are very interested in information on radio regarding HIV AIDS. The other races tend to not be that interested.
Graph 3
Those who are very interested in gaining information about HIV AIDS via radio tend to also agree with the statement that Aids represents a serious economic threat to South Africa. These results are shown in Graph 4.
Graph 4
Those who are very interested in HIV AIDS information and who consider Aids a threat number 7.2million (41%) of the total population. This is a sizable audience! The bulk, 76% are black and there is a slight bias towards females. The younger, under the age of 34 make up the bulk of this group.
Graph 5
The Radio stations that blacks listen to most often are shown below ranked by the relative proportion that are very interested in information on HIV AIDS.
Graph 6
This short journey into the controversial issue of AIDS indicates that there is a softening in the attitudes regarding AIDS and that despite this there is a strong desire for more information regarding AIDS. Radio programming that meets this need would be welcomed by radio listeners especially those who are black, female, and younger.
Could this be a worthwhile sponsorship opportunity, in the public good?
