Scrutinized was produced in Gaborone early in 2020 at the Botswana Harvard AIDS Partnership (BHP) and portrays the sentiments of six adolescents around HIV/TB. The majority of the footage was shot and designed by the participants, whose identities have been concealed at the request of the Ethics Board.
The film forms collaboration between biomedical researchers at the BHP and the Eh!woza public engagement programme. Participants conceptualised and shot the majority of interviews over a 10-day workshop period in February 2020. While in 2000, Botswana had an HIV prevalence of 40%, the country has made massive strides in combatting the disease and is widely regarded as an example of how other high HIV burden regions could do the same. The film documents the thoughts, experiences and attitudes of young people towards HIV and its endemic partner, TB.