The Price Of Life Aids

Marina McMurchie

COMMUNICATIONS LISTENING LEVEL 4

This communication piece is presented in the form of a documentary. The documentary is titled “The price of life” and is part of a series called “The money programme”. The documentary was aired on BBC2; the reporter was Nils Blyth and was about the aids epidemic in Africa and how their government is not funding treatment for those who suffer from aids.

I think the fact that this documentary was aired on BBC2 an educational television channel along with the complexity of some of the wording and terminology in the documentary suggests this article would be aimed at a target audience of professionals, such as people working in the medical profession, people in government and people working in the pharmaceuticals industry. However I think this documentary would also be of interest to anyone who has a general interest in the subject of aids.

I think the initial purpose of this documentary is to provide information. The documentary provides information such as the percentage of people infected by aids, medical treatments and other health issues that affect people once infected by the aids virus. This is achieved by shown interviews with different professionals throughout the documentary such as university professor Alan Whiteside, Aids consortium director Morna Cornell and Doctor Sean Drysdale. Another purpose of the documentary I think was to shock people, I think you would have t watch a documentary like this one to get a good insight to the suffering that goes on in Africa due to aids, I for one was very shocked by their living conditions, medical care and their lack of what seemed to me as their understanding of the seriousness of unprotected sex and their risk of contracting the aids virus.

I think this documentary achieves the purposes outlined in answer three by the way the reporter Nils Blyth presents the documentary he speaks in a professional manner covering all the issues, he has good eye contact and good body language. Another speaker in the documentary is Busi Chamane where she talks about her own battle with the HIV virus and how it affects her and her daughter’s everyday life, listening to Busi gives you a personal insight of an aids sufferer.

I think this documentary achieves the purposes outlined in answer three by the way the reporter Nils Blyth presents the documentary he speaks in a professional manner covering all the issues, he has good eye contact and good body language. Another speaker in the documentary is Busi Chamane where she talks about her own battle with the HIV virus and how it affects her and her daughter’s everyday life, listening to Busi gives you a personal insight of an aids sufferer.

This documentary is about aids in Africa and the struggle the people have to receive any sort of medical treatment. The documentary shows a woman Busi Chamane an HIV sufferer and talks a bit about her experience coping with aids. Busi was infected with the HIV virus by her husband who worked away from home, Busi’s husband left her and her children and sold their home; Busi was then sacked from her job due to being HIV positive and was also throwing out by her family. On top of this the biggest fear Busi was going through was that her daughter who was born after Busi was infected would also be infected with the HIV virus but after months of tests her daughter was giving the all clear. The documentary also touches upon the issue of government funding for medical treatment for those who suffer from the virus. British made drug AZT (Glaxxo Welcome) is a drug that can prevent the virus being passed from mother to child and is being offered to Africa at a cut price 75% but the African Government say they wont bulk buy as they have doubts in regards to the price, safety and effectiveness. The documentary also films the workers of the platinum mines where hundreds of men work they all live around the mines sharing hostels and are away from their wives and families all year only returning home once. The mines are surrounded by shanty towns and prostitutes who have contributed to 45% of the miners carrying the HIV virus and taken it home to their wives.

Busi Chamane showed a few different feelings and emotions throughout the documentary at the start of the documentary you see Busi looking happy and singing at church but throughout the documentary her feeling about being infected with the HIV virus become more apparent. Busi said when she first found out she was infected she was was angry, scared and in denial and also feared for her daughters health. Throughout the time Busi has been infected she has managed to come to terms with her virus and is determined to make the most of the rest of her life, however she still shows anger towards the government and the drugs companies who appear to have the attitude that profits are more important than life.

I think this documentary has been very effective in achieving the purposes outlined in question three, it achieves this by the good communication, body language, eye contact, good vocabulary. It films people in their homes, out in their community and in the hospitals where you see one patient dying surrounded by family and friends singing and praying around her bedside. It also achieves the purpose of giving information by talking to professionals i.e. medical, government, university professors and people working for the aids consortiums. It shows good footage of the miners drinking and mixing with prostitutes and also talks to a girl who worked as a prostitute who is now campaigning for safer sex in order to help stop the aids epidemic from rising further.