BEAT IT! 1999

Beat It! 1999 Episode 1

In this the first episode of Beat It! 50 people infected and affected by HIV joined the Beat It! team to discuss their expectations of the show. They also discussed disclosure, stigma and discrimination. This stigma and discrimination in society was made evident by the episode’s Special Report which looked at the murder of Gugu Dlamini in December 1998 because of her HIV positive status.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 2

In this episode the Beat It! team investigated what the implications would have been if AIDS where to be made a notifiable disease in South Africa. Dr Andrews and Faghmeda Miller discussed some rules for better living with HIV/AIDS. Some of these rules are repeated in the episode’s Food for Life section. Marc Lottering ended the show with the awarding of the Red Noose and Positive Person’s Awards.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 3

What is mother-to-child-transmission? How is the virus passed on to the baby? What are HIV positive pregnant women's options? These are some of the questions that the Beat It! Team answered in this the third episode of the 1999 series.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 4

In this episode of Beat It! the team interviewed a whole spectrum of people with experiences around the prevention-of-mother-to-child-transmission and with their help debunked the argument that the roll-out of PMTCT would be economically impractical. The episode actually arrived at the exact opposite conclusion: by not rolling-out PMTCT AIDS sick babies will place bigger strain on the healthcare system. The episode also addressed the differences between HIV and AIDS.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 5

In this the fourth episode of Beat It! we looked at the state of public healthcare in South Africa and at how this impacted on both the positive community and the community at large. In the first of a series of Human Rights inserts we interviewed Fatima Hassan from the AIDS Law Project about medical aid schemes and particularly the case against Old Mutual. The episode also addressed the differences between HIV and AIDS.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 6

In the 6th episode of the 1999 series the Beat It! team looked at the hope and promise of antiretroviral medication. Justice Edwin Cameron spoke openly about how these drugs saved his life and how his viral load became undetectable. In the second Human Rights section Fatima Hassan from the AIDS Law Project spoke about the legal requirement to provide anyone testing for HIV with pre and post test counselling.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 7

In this episode the Beat It! team looked at what was withholding government from making antiretroviral treatment readily available to the HIV positive South Africans that could not afford to buy this life saving medication themselves. The Human Rights section went on to look at the discriminatory practices of the South African National Defence Force.

Beat It! 1999 Episode 8

In this episode the Beat It! team looked at the state of HIV and AIDS advocacy in South Africa. In the Human Rights section we see how Nkosi Johnson and his foster mother Gail brought about the adoption of a HIV/AIDS Schools Policy. Right at the end of the show the team included an additional insert in which Zackie Achmat explained why he was not taking antiretroviral therapy - despite needing it.