Season 9
Siyayinqoba Beat It! is a South African magazine show produced by the Community Health Media Trust which discusses hard-hitting topics about people living with HIV and stresses the importance of living positively in a world with AIDS.
The series premiered on e.tv on Tuesday 19 October, 1999 and aired on the channel for the first three seasons. Since Season 4 it has been produced in cooperation with SABC Education and has aired on SABC1.
Season 9 premiered on SABC1 on Thursday 4 April 2013, at 13h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 26 episodes in the ninth season.
Season 9
Siyayinqoba Beat It! is a weekly health and education show for everyone living with HIV and other chronic diseases - as well as their partners, families, friends and care givers.
Since 1999 the show has provided a platform for people living with HIV to share their challenges and victories. Many people living in isolation with HIV have found that through Siyayinqoba Beat It! they are part of a vibrant and growing community of people who are meeting and beating the challenges of HIV.
New presenter Mihle Pike is a vibrant 21 year-old woman. She was a teen mother and had her daughter, Siluxolo Apple, at the age of 17 which was a life changing experience. That same year she finished her matric and went on to study journalism at Walter Sisulu University.
When she was 15 years old she lost her aunt to HIV/AIDS and during her second year she lost her cousin who was only 21 years old. This was the catalyst making her realise that she needed to learn more about the virus.
As a trained journalist Mihle knew that this was the best place for her to practice her skills. Research into HIV and AIDS led her to an internship at Community Media Trust where she was exposed to openness around the virus and made the realisation that life can be lived fully, even if you are HIV+.
Out in the field, the team of young Community Journalists (CJs) based in KZN, Western Cape and Eastern Cape once again research, write, shoot and tell the stories which most affect them and their communities.
The documentary inserts they shoot are personal, informative and educational. Through their work behind the scenes and on camera the CJs continue to motivate other young people to take action and get involved in their communities.
There are many new developments in the public health system and government policy that people at community level are not aware of, such as fixed dose combination of anti-retrovirals for HIV, new protocols and changes to the PMTCT guidelines, all of these changes are for the better and Siyayinqoba Beat It! has committed to making sure that our audiences are up to date with the latest health information.
As always the show focuses on the stories of real people and their access to quality health care. Siyayinqoba Beat It! looks carefully at the department of health's policies and lets you know how this relates to your lives.
Siyayinqoba uncovers uplifting stories where the public health system uses innovative ways to improve health and access to health, but we also show where government is failing to live up to its own policies and try to find ways for improvement.
Good or bad, Siyayinqoba Beat It! will find the story and bring it to all loyal watchers.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! is encouraging all South Africans to exercise and to stay healthy this season. The Get Fit campaign shows real people who are taking responsibility for their own health and getting up off the couch, getting outdoors and getting fit.
The hope is that this will inspire others to exercise and look after their health seeing as South Africa has one of the highest incidences of obesity in the world. Non-communicable diseases such high blood and diabetes can be avoided with a good diet and exercise.
The series is also going out of its way to find the real Health Heroes in South Africa. These are the people who are going the extra mile and are making a difference in their communities, from clinic staff members who run vegetable gardens for the patients to a young Capetonian man who uses his bicycle to deliver medication to elderly people.
The 24-minute magazine show is produced by Community Media Trust in partnership with SABC Education.
About the Show
Complicated relationships. Sex. Domestic violence. An indiscriminate killer. Unfortunately, for many South Africans this isn't the stuff of daytime soap operas, it's a reality.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! tackles HIV/AIDS pandemic issues head on. With the support of SABC1 and SABC Education, Siyayinqoba Beat It! faces hard-hitting topics about people living with HIV.
Proudly presented by people living with HIV, Siyayinqoba Beat It! stresses the importance of living positively in a world with AIDS. The show takes us into the lives of people who are meeting the challenges of this disease – one of the biggest challenges facing South Africa today.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! pulls no punches in its quest for the truth about AIDS-related issues. With its investigative style, the show seeks to not only to expose the crisis created by AIDS but to show how people are able to live a normal life with the disease and ultimately beat it.
By employing Community Journalists with a unique affinity to their neighbourhoods, Siyayinqoba Beat It! is able to candidly reveal real life stories without judgment.
This season the key message of the show is Protect Yourself. Protect Others. This message can be applied to all themes touched on in the show.
For example, reducing one's number of sexual partners protects you and your partner; preventing HIV transmission from mother to child, protect the child and the mother; being screened for TB protects your health and that of those around you and of course using condoms protects you and your partners.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! is premised on the principle that treatment and prevention are interdependent. Key messages that are highlighted on the show include regular testing and starting ARV treatment at the right time; reporting sexual abuse and rape (a major contributor to the spread of HIV), alcohol abuse and its relation to risky sexual practices; partner reduction – more partners means more risk, less partners means less risk and encouraging safer sex always.
Other episodes deal with topics such as: women, sexual abuse and domestic violence; having multiple partners – the so-called “ministers”. This is a slang term given typically to older men who provide food, clothing, transport (i.e. Minister of Transport) or gifts to younger girls in return for sex.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! does not judge those involved in such relationships. Rather the show makes us aware of the risks of being involved in a relationship with many sexual partners.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! encourages us to take control of our lives, seek alternatives and always insist on safer sex.
These themes are also tackled in public service announcements which will be flighted during the show. These PSAs were conceived, written and directed by some of South Africa's up and coming film makers who keep Siyayinqoba in tune with South Africa's youth and speaks to them on their own terms.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! targets all people living with HIV/ AIDS, our partners, families, friends, colleagues and caregivers. It is aimed at the community as a whole - and is therefore a family program.
Background
In 1998, a group of HIV/AIDS activists believed that the epidemic was reaching a crucial stage as it moved from a phase of high rates of infection, to high rates of illness and death.
As the epidemic became more visible, the idea of taking easily understood scientific information on all aspects of HIV/AIDS to a broad audience through television was born.
In 1999, Siyayinqoba Beat It! went on air for the first time. At that time not many people were open about their HIV/AIDS status.
The first programme was dedicated to promoting and role modeling people living positively with HIV. From the outset, the programme was driven by the real concerns of people living with HIV/AIDS who also presented and helped craft the shows.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! targets all people living with HIV and AIDS: our partners, families, friends, colleagues and caregivers.
Siyayinqoba Beat It! inserts typically address all HIV positive people: from HIV positive moms, youth, to HIV positive men who have discovered safer sex through conquering their fear of the disease through treatment.
In the same breath, it addresses all who care for people living with HIV/AIDS.
The programme appeals to anyone who has been directly affected by HIV; and in today's South Africa, almost everyone has had some first hand experience of HIV, and many feel the need to be proactive in responding to the epidemic.