Caribbean Broadcasters Partner with the Global Media AIDS Initiative to Expand HIV/AIDS Programming and Information Resources in Haiti
Centre de Communications Sur le SIDA (CECOSIDA) to Lead Programming Distribution
PORT-AU-PRINCE, 14 November 2007 – The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) and the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) today announced a new collaboration to make HIV/AIDS-related programming content and other resources available – in Haitian Creole – to radio and television audiences across Haiti beginning on December 1, 2007 – World AIDS Day.
According to UNAIDS, Haiti’s estimated national adult HIV prevalence is 3.8% -- the highest level in the Western Hemisphere. There are approximately 190,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Haiti, and there were about 16,000 AIDS-related deaths in 2005.
The GMAI is providing technical and financial support to translate and make available to local Haitian broadcasters HIV/AIDS-related programming content produced through the CBMP’s LIVE UP campaign, a Caribbean-focused HIV/AIDS pubic information campaign. The content will feature television and radio public service ads (PSAs) and long-form programming, including episodes of LIVE UP: The Show, a new news magazine program produced by the CBMP that highlights HIV/AIDS issues across the region. The Centre de Communications Sur le SIDA (CECOSIDA), a national association of journalists and media professionals based in Port-au-Prince, will lead efforts to adapt the programming and secure commitments from local Haitian broadcasters to air the content.
“Through this collaboration, the CBMP continues to make strides to expand the availability of high quality HIV/AIDS-related programming in the region and encourage awareness and public discourse,” said Dr. Allyson Leacock, Executive Director of the CBMP. “Through this partnership, millions of Haitians will gain access to potentially life saving information about HIV/AIDS and their health.”
“This partnership demonstrates how the GMAI leverages the power of the media in the fight against HIV/AIDS by bringing companies together in common cause to inform and challenge stigma in some of the hardest hit regions in the world,” said Dali Mpofu, Chairman of the Global Media AIDS Initiative and Group Chief Executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation.
In an effort to make information more readily available, the Digicel Group, a leading regional mobile phone provider, is also working with the CBMP and CECOSIDA to connect their 1.8 million subscribers in Haiti with local HIV resources. Using SMS mobile phone technology, Digicel’s mobile phone customers in Haiti will be able to have HIV information sent directly to their mobile phones. In addition, the GMAI and CBMP are partnering with YeleCinema to include HIV/AIDS education messages during outdoor film screenings and special events to reach tens of thousands of citizens of Haiti’s poorest communities that have little or no access to television.
“Haiti has been hard-hit by HIV/AIDS, and it is important that we empower our population with lifesaving information. Now, we are pleased to join resources with our media colleagues from across the Caribbean to harness the power of radio and television to encourage Haitians to be informed, get tested, and protect themselves,” said Roosevelt Jean Francois, President of CECOSIDA.
About the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS
The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) unites more than 50 top broadcasters from 23 countries in the region’s first coordinated media response to the pandemic. The Partnership creates a structured framework for sharing information and resources among broadcasters that significantly expands HIV/AIDS-related programming and public education activities across the Caribbean. Member broadcasters deliver HIV/AIDS information across a variety of platforms and formats, including targeted public service announcements (PSAs), entertainment programming, news and public affairs programming, and online resources.
In March 2007, the CBMP launched LIVE UP: Love. Protect. Respect. – a new cross-cutting brand to support all of the Partnership’s programming components. Developed by the CBMP with support from a regional advisory committee of media and HIV/AIDS experts, LIVE UP aims to inspire audiences, especially young people, to consider what is within their power to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. LIVE UP creates a regional movement by linking audiences together across the Caribbean with one message of hope and possibility in an age of AIDS. CBMP broadcast members have made HIV/AIDS a business priority – committing to a minimum of 30 seconds of airtime per hour (or about 12 minutes per day) to LIVE UP content, as well as pledging to cover AIDS across all programming genres, including news, public affairs, entertainment, and new media platforms.
With a regional headquarters in Barbados, the CBMP receives strategic and technical guidance and production support from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Ford Foundation and the Elton John AIDS Foundation provide additional financial support to underwrite production of campaign materials and informational resources. For more information, visit http://www.cbmphiv.org
ABOUT THE GLOBAL MEDIA AIDS INITIATIVE
Launched in 2004 by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in coordination with the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS, the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) mobilizes leading media companies around the world to leverage their vast resources to address AIDS. Through large-scale national and regional coalitions of media -- a network that includes some 200 media companies -- the GMAI leverages the communication power of mass media to get out information about HIV and challenge stigma related to the disease. The GMAI is led by a board of media executives, chaired by Dali Mpofu, Group Chief Executive of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). The Kaiser Family Foundation provides strategic and operational direction. The GMAI also receives support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Ford Foundation. For more information, visit: www.thegmai.org .
About CECOSIDA
Founded in 1999, the Centre de Communications Sur le SIDA (CECOSIDA) is a national association of journalists and media professionals committed to fighting the impact and spread of HIV/AIDS in Haiti. Based in Port-au-Prince, the organization has a strong network of contacts across some 60 national and regional media outlets, including the country’s leading radio and television broadcasters. CECOSIDA has organized numerous HIV/AIDS-related public education activities, and in 2003, became an active member of the country’s National AIDS Commission, the primary implementing partner for the Global Fund. With members across all 10 regions of the country, CECOSIDA and its partners carry out media campaigns and outreach activities in communities most affected by HIV/AIDS, using technologies best-suited for the Haitian environment. For more information, visit http://www.cecosida.org.
###
