The second Annual Executives’ Summit of the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP) will take place Wednesday 20th September, 2006 in Maputo, Mozambique. Members of the Steering Committee will convene for their quarterly meeting with a working dinner on the evening of Tuesday 19th, September. If you wish to attend the Executives Summit, pre-registration is required by e-mailing to enoi@kff.org before September 8, 2006.

The Maputo meeting will examine proposals for a comprehensive pan-African framework for the development of HIV/AIDS-related broadcast content, and a multi-year pan-African campaign to drive a set of HIV-prevention related communications themes through centrally developed core content distributed across all member companies and locally developed company content echoing the same themes produced by member companies themselves The chief executives and other representatives of signatory companies will review progress of the Partnership in the past year, discuss issues related to content development capacity, program scheduling, shared and right’s free programming and priorities for action.

The date of this meeting has been selected to coincide with the meetings in Maputo of the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA) and Public Broadcasters International (PBI).

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Kaiser-CNN Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Journalism in Africa

Khopotso Bodibe and Anso Thom of the South Africa-based Health-e news network recently won the first Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation Award for Excellence in HIV/AIDS Journalism in Africa for their investigative reporting on HIV/AIDS. Khopotso Bodibe and Anso Thom were selected from more than 135 applicants from 29 countries by an independent expert selection committee appointed by CNN. The Award, which is part of the prestigious 2006 CNN MultiChoice African Journalist Awards, was presented at a gala event in Maputo which was preceded by a day-long seminar, including a high-level discussion forum and site visits—on the economic and developmental impact of HIV/AIDS--jointly organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. An additional 15 African journalists shortlisted for the Excellence in HIV/AIDS Award participated in a four day program following the Award event designed to broaden their perspectives on reporting the epidemic.

Writing for the Cape Town-based news agency Health-e (www.health-e.org.za), Khopotso Bodibe and Anso Thom earned the award for their investigative reporting on the misuse of vitamin regimens as a cure for AIDS among poor populations in the Cape Town area. The AIDS patients were falsely counseled that antiretrovirals were poisonous and that the vitamins would fight off their HIV infection. A print version of the story appeared in the Johannesburg-based Sunday Times, while the full version is available on the Health-e website here. In addition, a radio version of the investigation was aired on SABC’s SAfm morning show, AMLive and on the Vuyo Mbuli Show. Click here to listen.

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Adding to its collection of international prizes, Mo & Me - the documentary about acclaimed Kenyan photojournalist, Mohamed “Mo” Amin - has won the Chairpersons’ Award at the 2006 ZIFF Festival of the Dhow Countries. Now in its ninth year, the festival in Zanzibar, Tanzania is East Africa’s largest cultural event.

The Chairpersons’ Award is bestowed on "an individual or group of individuals deemed to show exemplified service to community through the arts and in social justice especially, but not only, to Tanzania" and comes as a great honour to Mo & Me and the late Mohamed Amin. The award follows several months of notable achievement for Mo & Me including wins at the New York International Independent Film &Video Festival (Grand Jury Prize for Best Documentary Feature) and at the 39th US International Film and Video Festival in California (Silver Screen Award).

Director: Roger Mills
Country: Kenya
Language: English
Genre: Documentary
Length: 95 Minutes
Rating: Not Rated
Salim Amin is the son of the legendary journalist, Mohammed Amin, and narrator of award winning Mo & Me. Mo & Me is about Mohamed “Mo” Amin, the photojournalist whose TV footage first brought Ethiopia’s 1984 famine to the world, launched Live Aid and We Are The World. It has been feted at film festivals in Los Angeles and Paris, and premiered at the New York Film Festival on May 9th. Long acknowledged as Africa's greatest photographer-cameraman, Mohamed Amin photographed and filmed the major events of Africa, Asia and the Middle East from the 1950's until his untimely death. He was driven by a dream that Africans should tell their own stories. He wanted to portray not just Africa’s pain, but its beauty and successes as well. His courage and drive in the face of extreme adversity are shown as he survives incarceration, torture and, later, amputation in his unrelenting quest to give voice to the voiceless. In 1996 he was aboard an Ethiopian aircraft that was hijacked by Muslim extremists. Mo died on his feet as he attempted to negotiate and reason with the terrorists. In 1997, the renowned international news bureau, Reuters, set up the Mohammed Amin Award in honor of Mo, to recognize outstanding contributions to TV news made by unsung heroes of journalism. This award has become one of the most prestigious in the industry. Crew: Salim Amin – Narrator (culled from this website.)

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International AIDS Conference Opens in Toronto, Canada

On behalf of the International AIDS Society, the Toronto Local Host and the Co-organisers (the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the Canadian AIDS Society) of the XVI International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2006), we cordially invite you to join us in Toronto, Canada, 13-18 August 2006 for the world’s premier biennial event in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.

Participants from around the globe will gather in Toronto to share the latest evidence, ideas and lessons learned in HIV/AIDS research, policies and programmes. Organised around the key challenges facing those engaged in the response to the epidemic, AIDS 2006 will focus on our shared obligation to deliver the promise of HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care to communities throughout the world.

AIDS 2006 marks the 10th anniversary of the breakthrough in HIV/AIDS treatment known as “highly active antiretroviral therapy” (HAART), first announced at the XI International AIDS Conference in Vancouver––the last time the International AIDS Conference was held in Canada. It also marks the 25th anniversary of the first reports in the US CDC Weekly Morbidity and Mortality Report of a new illness, which later came to be known as “AIDS”. As we gather in Toronto, we will examine the progress made since then and focus on the steps we must take now to reach the vision of “One World, One Hope” that was embraced at the 1996 meeting.

The Conference will also greatly expand its reach to those around the world who are not able to attend in person with webcasts, transcripts and presentations available on the Conference website. The Conference Organising Committee has also lowered the financial barrier to participation. For the first time, registration fees for those from less-developed countries will be significantly lower and we hope to provide more scholarships than ever before to participants who lack the means to attend.

WEBCASTING

In collaboration with the International AIDS Society, the Toronto Local Host and co-organizers of the conference, Kaiser will provide free, online access to the conference proceedings to NGOs, news organizations, policymakers, researchers and others on kaisernetwork.org. The daily coverage will include:

• Live and tape-delayed webcasts and transcripts of each day's sessions, including the opening and closing sessions, all plenary sessions, and selected other sessions and press conferences.
• English-, French- and Spanish-language audio podcasts of select sessions; slide presentations from select conference sessions.
  Daily narrated video highlights of conference developments.
• A free Daily Roundup email providing direct access to the latest coverage (sign-up here).
• News summaries from international media in the Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report.
• Interviews with newsmakers and journalists to summarize conference developments.

SPECIAL SESSION

Media and AIDS: Spreading Information Faster than the Disease
Monday, August 14, 2006 at 18:00 -20:00 - Metro Toronto Convention Center - Session Room 5 / Level 800

Richard Gere, actor and founder of Healing the Divide, will open a session on the critical role of media in raising awareness, changing attitudes, and fighting stigma. Moderated by Bill Roedy of MTV Networks International, this panel of broadcast executives and a leading AIDS advocate will discuss the mobilization of the media industry following the 2004 launch of the Global Media AIDS Initiative by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a special meeting organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS.

Major new media coalitions and public awareness campaigns have emerged in Africa, the Caribbean, India and Russia. Media executives from these regions and countries will discuss and share key challenges and achievements in their expanded response to HIV/AIDS. Panelists will also discuss models of partnership between local organizations, government institutions, and media companies that have led to well-coordinated and highly-leveraged campaigns.

More information and resources are available here.

The 3rd South African AIDS Conference 2007, to be held in Durban in June next year, will be guided by the theme Building Consensus on Prevention, Treatment and Care. The conference will present a platform to discuss contentious issues in the prevention, treatment and care of HIV and AIDS, and will aim to build a common understanding among participants on key strategies to stem the spread of the epidemic.

Scientific knowledge about HIV infection and AIDS is advancing rapidly at global and local levels and there is a need to disseminate and discuss the latest information and insights gained by those engaged in research, policy making, programme implementation and service delivery’, explained conference chair, Dr Olive Shisana.
The conference will build on the last two highly successful South African AIDS Conferences, held in 2003 and 2005, the latter which attracted more than 4 500 delegates from government and non-government sectors, academia, the private sector, donors and the media.

The 3rd South African AIDS Conference will be held at the International Convention Centre in Durban from 5 to 8 June 2007.

For more information, or to register as media representatives, visit the conference website at www.sa-aidsconference.com.

For more information, contact Ina van der Linde, Media Relations, Human Sciences Research Council. Tel: +2712 3022024; Cell: +27823310614; e-mail: ivdlinde@hsrc.ac.za.

South African Television Serial Drama on HIV/AIDS Leads to Decrease In Stigma and Improved Prevention Behaviors among Youth. So says report

New research from the Health Communication Partnership (HCP), a global communication initiative, reports that a television serial drama about young adults living in a rural South African town impacted by HIV/AIDS has led to improved attitudes about HIV/AIDS, stigma, and living openly and positively with HIV among its viewers. According to the research, the TV show, Tsha Tsha, which focuses on the lives of several young people exploring love, sex, and relationships in a world affected by the realities of the AIDS pandemic, has helped increase knowledge and general awareness about HIV/AIDS. Findings also showed various self-reported shifts in HIV attitudes, beliefs, practices, and behaviors.

The South Africa Broadcast Corporation (SABC) Education and SABC One, Curious Pictures, the Centre for AIDS Development Research and Evaluation (CADRE), and HCP collaborated to develop this entertainment-education drama series. By depicting the challenges facing young South Africans, the series aims to enhance its young adult viewers’ capacity to reflect on their own problems, engage in developing solutions, and become active agents in shaping their future.

More findings show that viewers were more likely to practice HIV preventive behaviors, such as abstaining from sex, being faithful to one partner, having sex less often, using a condom to prevent HIV, or using a condom at last sex as well as being more likely to undergo Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) to determine their HIV status.

For more on this report, click here and here.