It is mid-morning break time at the Guyana National Newspapers Limited, publisher of the Guyana Chronicle and the Sunday Chronicle. Staff members from the Accounts, Editorial and Advertising departments are using the short time for the usual fraternizing. This morning, Tuesday past to be precise, the topic is a little different from what usually dominates the inter-office chat.

Word about a new initiative is becoming increasingly infectious within the company. For now the signs are barely noticeable. A previously enclosed room has been opened up and strange woman has taken to occupying it; posters are appearing on walls around the building; and the company toilet tissue in the company has to share its general space with another personal health and hygiene product.

With support from the Ministry of Health, GNNL has embarked on an unprecedented and innovative partnership to assist in the fight against HIV/AIDS. The strange woman in the new office in GNNL is Ms. Paula Sampson, the Ministry of Health’s focal point person for the Project.

Over the past few years, the Ministry has taken the fight to the disease, aided generously by several international donors including but not limited to PEPFAR, the World Bank and the IDB. The country has also received tremendous technical help from the United Nations, UNAIDS in particular and PAHO-WHO. The result has been a slowing down of the once sky-rocketing incidence of new HIV/AIDS infections in Guyana, as well as vastly improved programmes for testing, treatment and care. There are however other areas which continue to need urgent attention.

The GNNL Project addresses two partially overlapping issues in the fight against HIV/AIDS in Guyana. The first issue is HIV/AIDS in the Work Place; the second is Public Awareness and Education. Based on these issues, the project was designed with three main components: Training and Capacity Building; an Outreach Programme; and a Prevention component.

While the public awareness component of the GNNL HIV/AIDS Project will be the most visible aspect of the programme, the bulk of the funding and the focus is going to be geared towards internal initiatives.

So far, the project has seen the hosting of one well-received workshop, geared at familarising management level staff of with key issues surrounding the disease and the effort being made to combat it.

According to Ms. Ava Singh – GNNL’s Marketing Manager – the workshop proved to be particularly informative. Ms. Singh was, as she told Sunday Chronicle, personally left with a better understanding of how infection occurs and, stemming from that, how HIV-positive people can be treated normally and not stigmatized out of fear.

As part of its Outreach Programme, Management has taken the company’s status as a mass media operation to inform a more expansive view of the GNNL work place. At the planning and strategy sessions, a significant part of the agenda deals with the organizing the first initial few of what will turn out to be several workshops for newspaper vendors. The company’s sports club is currently being transformed into a training and workshop area for the several encounters with staff, vendors and other persons connected to the company.

In the realm of public awareness, GNNL has shown a long-standing commitment to publishing correct information on HIV/AIDS. From a publication agreement with the Pan-American Health Organisation (PAHO) in Guyana to on the ball coverage of news from the ‘battle’ front to in-depth features on the impact of the disease, the newspaper has shown an unflagging dedication to helping combat the disease.

The “2006 Revised National Policy Document on HIV/AIDS in Guyana”, coming out of the National AIDS Programme Secretariat (NAPS) of the Ministry of Health cites the value of the media in combating the disease.

“The role of the media,” states the Document, “is important in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Media programmes should be designed to challenge attitudes of discrimination and stigmatization with respect to HIV/AIDS. Both the media and advertising agencies should be sensitive to HIV/AIDS and human rights issues and should work to reduce sensationalism in reporting and eliminate the inappropriate use of language and stereotypes, especially in relation to vulnerable groups.”

For any media entity, however, research into HIV/AIDS and the crafting of articles which demonstrate an up-to-date knowledge of the issues concerning the disease can be time and resource consuming activities.

The partnership with the Ministry has enabled this media house to embark on an ambitious Public Education and Awareness campaign. From this week onwards until the end culmination of the project next year, likely even beyond that, this paper will be dedicating a substantial amount of space every week to issues dealing with HIV/AIDS.

In keeping with the recognized need to disseminate correct information about the disease to the general public, particularly in the area of Stigma and Discrimination, the Sunday Chronicle will be featuring articles on general HIV/AIDS issues, interviews with persons living with and affected by the disease, and information geared towards prevention.

Both aspects of the programme are focused on behaviour change, a critical component in the fight against HIV/AIDS.

Sampson’s wealth of experience in dealing with HIV/AIDS provides the main technical direction for the project. Sampson also serves as the liaison between the media house and the Ministry. Outside of her clear passion for dealing with HIV/AIDS issues, she is excited about the unique opportunity that working with GNNL presents for engaging that passion. If Sampson had her way, the entire staff of the newspaper would be attending whole day training sessions with some frequency.

The project is managed by a select committee, representing various departments within the company. The GNNL HIV/AIDS Workplace Programme Committee constitutes ten members with the company’s General Manager (ag) Mr. Nandkumar Puran acting as chair. Committee will provide oversight for every aspect of the programme, from the workshop target groups to the general thrust of each article.

For now, however, the signs of things to come are subtle. Outside of the establishment of Ms. Sampson's office, referred to by some staff as GNNL's "AIDS Secretariat", the only clear indications of the intensive programme about to get underway is the fact that the number of HIV/AIDS awareness posters around the building has quadrupled; and the boxes of condoms that are now made available in the company washrooms.

The three main components of the GNNL HIV/AIDS Project.

• Training and Capacity Building – involves the establishing and equipping of a training centre and an office for the focal point person. To improve the capacity and awareness of GNNL employees and 200 agents and vendors.

• Outreach Programme – to raise the general level of awareness by way of editorial articles.

• Prevention – to increase HIV/AIDS prevention by spreading knowledge and correct use of condoms