Today, World AIDS Day, we can look back at an incredible two years of energy and innovation by the media industry. The Global Media AIDS Initiative was launched in January 2004 aiming to mobilise the world’s media in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Since then over 110 companies from 62 countries have taken up the challenge. New media partnerships and campaigns have been launched in Asia, Europe and Africa. An example of just one of the initiatives is the new co-productions by broadcasters from 14 Asian countries with a potential audience of one billion people. Many more great campaigns are taking place in Russia, Ukraine, India, Indonesia, South Africa and elsewhere.

New evidence in the UNAIDS/WHO global report for 2005 shows reduced HIV infection rates in some countries because of behavioural change. This is encouraging, but the battle is still great. As overall infection rates increase, much greater prevention efforts are needed. Our challenge for 2006 must be to deepen our commitment to prevention.  To this end MTV has pledged that from today there will be HIV/AIDS-related content on all MTV channels, during prime time, every day. It’s a commitment that I’m proud of and it’s one that I want to challenge other media organisations to adopt. If a lack of content is the only thing stopping you, then contact us and we will try and find what you need.  We have to make 2006 an even greater year than 2005, and I believe with your commitment, we can.

Bill Roedy

President MTV Networks International

Chair GMAI Leadership Committee

 NEW PRODUCTIONS / CAMPAIGNS

The Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU), MTV International, several UN agencies and the Kaiser Family Foundation launched "Think Positive: The Asian Face of HIV/AIDS" on November 30 at the Asia Television Forum.  Fourteen national broadcast companies from across the Asia-Pacific region have produced a series of made for television short-form programmes to raise awareness of the global HIV/AIDS pandemic. The content is rights free to ABU members. For more information contact: Anom Sani, anom@abu.org.my

 
New Heroes Project PSAs

The Heroes Project (India), a three year national initiative launched in July 2004, by Richard Gere and Parmeshwar Godrej to work with media organizations and societal leaders in India, has produced new PSAs which can be seen on their website www.heroesprojectindia.org. For more information, contact: Neha Kapil.

 Staying Alive: Sex Drive
A series of stylised “voxpop” messages featuring young people from 13 different countries about HIV/AIDS and related sexual health issues. All spots are rights free and each of them is shot in original language. For more information, contact Sara Piot.

Transit
TRANSIT is the first movie produced for MTV’s Staying Alive campaign. It’s a fast-paced film that uses fiction to deliver crucial HIV/AIDS prevention messages to young people. It explores the themes of emotion and sexuality in a candid and compelling manner to engage young people and encourage them to practice safer sex.  A teaching kit was created to accompany the film; this will be available to download for free from the Staying Alive website. Transit is available rights-free, to get a copy, contact Sara Piot.

STOP SPID
STOP SPID in Russia have produced a number of new PSAs, which can be seen on their website www.stopspid.ru or on TPAA’s site http://www.tpaa.net/ For more information, contact  Natalya Katsap.

“Multitude of Mercies”
“Multitude of Mercies” is BET’s Rap-it-UP campaign short-subject film competition winner, and it will premiere on World AIDS Day on BET (USA). In addition, they have produced a number of new PSAs. For more information, contact Laurel Yamaguchi: laurely@kff.org or go to www.rap-it-up.com

MTV USA’s HIV/AIDS and sexual health campaign THINK has created new programming, including PSAs.  The focus is on HIV/AIDS both from a domestic and global perspective to help inform viewers about the epidemic and ways that they can actively engage in the issue and protect themselves. For more information, contact Julia Davis. Find out about the campaign at www.mtv.com/thinkmtv/sexual_health/.

Enterate

Univision has new PSAs produced by its Eterate campaign for World AIDS Day. For more information, contact Laurel Yamaguchi or go to www.univision.com (keyword enterate).

The Know Is Spreading

Viacom’s KNOW HIV/AIDS campaign in the USA has created this new series of PSAs promoting testing. For more information, contact Julia Davis. To watch the PSAs and get more information on the campaign go to www.knowhivaids.org.

 HIV/AIDS RELATED TRAINING

Internews

Internews aims to harness the power of the media to respond effectively to the AIDS epidemic. It attempts to address the numerous obstacles that journalists and media managers face in covering AIDS issues so that local media are equipped with the resources and skills necessary to take on the complex issue of HIV/AIDS for years to come. It has programmes and training in Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, India, Southeast Asia and the former Soviet Union.

Training featured in last newsletter http://www.aidsmedia.org/section/training/?type=5

 FREE CONTENT ON HIV/AIDS

The News Market

The News Market is a video archive and distribution service that enables journalists to find, preview and download free broadcast-standard video and other multimedia content over the Internet.  You have to register to use the service, and once your information is verified you use a password and username to access content. By typing in ‘HIV’ or ‘AIDS’ into the key word search you can preview relevant material.

Sites with free content featured in last newsletter

http://www.interworldradio.net/ ; http://eu.staying-alive.org/stayingalive/shells/h_watch.jhtml ;

http://www.aidschannel.org/mediamanage/search?TotalCount=689&&Offset=15

http://www.unicef.org/videoaudio/

AGENDA

October

Johannesburg: African Broadcast Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS

3-5: the Kaiser Family Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation and the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), in association with the Southern African Broadcasting Association (SABA), convened 80 executives from 27 of the top broadcasters in Africa for a summit in  Johannesburg. A key outcome was the formation of the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS.  The Partnership has committed to substantially increase airtime for the broadcast of HIV/AIDS-relevant programming across all genres. In the weeks and months ahead it will seek to engage other broadcasters, public and private, across the continent. For more information visit: www.broadcasthivafrica.org

Moscow: Executive Meeting of the Russian Media Partnership to Combat HIV/AIDS

27: The Russian Media Partnership to Combat HIV/AIDS, a collective of more than 40 media and communications companies, met in Moscow to reaffirm the commitments it made last year. RMP announced a new series of StopSPID PSAs expected to hit airwaves in January 2006. Separately, the Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS will launch a new version of the Russian StopSPID website (www.stopspid.ru) to coincide with World AIDS Day. The online HIV/AIDS resource is intended to encourage and support interactive dialogue and action on AIDS and related issues among users, in addition to providing extensive information about the epidemic and ways to prevent infection. For more information on all this in English visit it at http://www.tpaa.net/ 

New York: UNICEF campaign launch

UNICEF and UNAIDS launch global campaign entitled Unite for Children. Unite against AIDS, focusing on the enormous impact of HIV/AIDS on children. The global campaign aims to achieve measurable progress for children based on internationally agreed goals in four key result areas: Prevention of mother-to-child transmission; pediatric treatment; prevention; and protection and support of children affected by AIDS. People can follow developments in the campaign at www.unicef.org/uniteforchildren.

 November

Geneva: UNAIDS/WHO new report

UNAIDS/WHO ‘AIDS Epidemic Update’ for 2005 released. Provides latest global, regional and national figures on the epidemic. See full report on-line at http://www.unaids.org

 December

International

1: Activities around World AIDS Day are organised worldwide. To check what’s happening in your country go to the World AIDS Campaign website:

http://worldaidscampaign.info/index.php/wac/wac/world_aids_day/wad_2005_events

Abuja, Nigeria

4-6: 14th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Africa to be held in Abuja

 2006

(Date TBD): Ukrainian Media Leaders Summit: Kiev, Ukraine
(organized by Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS)

 May

(Date TBD): Caribbean Media Leaders Summit on HIV/AIDS: Bridgetown, Barbados (organized by the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU), Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and Kaiser Family Foundation)

15-17:  Eastern Europe HIV/AIDS Conference: Moscow, Russia (organized by AIDS Infoplus, East West Institute and TPAA with support of the International AIDS Society (IAS))  

 June

(Date TBD): UN member states are discussing a resolution for a high level meeting on the follow-up to the outcome of the twenty-sixth Special Session: implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS.

 August

13-18: XVI International AIDS Conference: Toronto, Canada (Organized by International AIDS Society)

www.aids2006.org/

 PRESS RELEASE