AFRICAN BROADCAST MEDIA PARTNERSHIP AGAINST HIV/AIDS LAUNCHES COORDINATED, MULTI-YEAR MEDIA CAMPAIGN IN 25 COUNTRIES

 New Continent-Wide Programming Effort Challenges Africans to Imagine “An HIV-Free Generation”

This World AIDS Day, December 1st, the African Broadcast Media Partnership Against HIV/AIDS (ABMP), an unprecedented coalition of 41 public and commercial radio and TV broadcast companies across 25 African countries, will launch the first coordinated, pan-African media initiative on HIV/AIDS under the theme “An HIV-Free Generation…It Begins With You.”

The new initiative, which will encompass all types of broadcast media programming over the next three to five years, begins with a series of Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) that encourage people living in Africa to consider what they can do as individuals, families, communities and nations to stop the spread of HIV on the continent. The PSAs feature outstanding Africans, including both iconic heroes of African history and young Africans who are the future of their countries, promoting the message that individuals can create a personal response to the epidemic.

Subsequent phases of the multi-year initiative will focus on the behaviors and attitudes that drive HIV infection in Africa, including gender inequity and AIDS stigma. The initiative will combine PSAs with longer programming developed by participating companies that integrate campaign themes across media platforms – from news and entertainment to drama. Participating companies will coordinate messaging and strategies on HIV/AIDS across geographic boundaries and companies, while remaining sensitive to local context and needs.

ABMP is an historic pan-African coalition of commercial and public broadcast companies committed to significantly increasing and improving HIV-related programming throughout the continent, and to promoting leadership against AIDS. ABMP members have pledged to devote a minimum of 5% of daytime programming (approximately one hour daily) to HIV/AIDS themes, one of the most significant AIDS awareness commitments by broadcasters anywhere in the world. ABMP is also working to help develop program production capacity and broadcast skills across member companies, to promote joint production of HIV/AIDS-related content.

ABMP members range from Africa’s largest and most powerful media companies, such as the South African, Nigerian and Kenya Broadcasting Corporations, to smaller, locally focused broadcasters such as Angola National Radio and Radio Lesotho. Broadcast media is highly influential throughout Africa -- radio is almost universal on the continent, and TV reaches about 40% of Africans, a rate that is much higher in certain countries. New media, such as internet and mobile phones, are also becoming increasingly popular.

“ABMP differs from many other AIDS awareness efforts both in the scope of its reach, and in the fact that its messages are designed to inspire positive action against HIV/AIDS,” noted ABMP Steering Committee Chair, Solly Mokoetle, who is Chief Operating Officer of the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC). “Broadcast media has played a critical role in building AIDS awareness across the continent, but we all agree that these efforts must be strengthened and better coordinated. This initiative will encourage viewers and listeners, especially the young people who are at highest risk of infection, to adopt healthy lifestyles to reduce their HIV infection risk, and to challenge the stigma and discrimination that drive AIDS underground.”

ABMP member companies:

• Integrate HIV/AIDS themes across all of their programming – in news, public affairs, entertainment, and drama;
• Develop and share HIV/AIDS-related programming, which includes the key themes and messages of ABMP’s strategic communications framework, individually and in collaboration with other ABMP members;
• Work together to strengthen each other’s broadcast skills and production capacity, improve journalistic standards and operations, and develop editorial policies and quality-assurance guidelines on HIV programming; and
• Will evaluate the impact of their efforts on an ongoing basis, using an agreed monitoring framework and benchmarks.

Through a partnership with the African satellite broadcaster MultiChoice, ABMP is also reinforcing broadcast messages through a complementary simple messaging service (SMS) number that allows viewers to text on their mobile phones what they are doing to advance an HIV-free generation. It is hoped that the SMS number will be used in future phases to provide additional consumer information about HIV/AIDS.

ABMP began in response to the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), a program developed by UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, in collaboration with UNAIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation, to encourage the world’s media leaders to develop new strategies and increase their efforts against HIV/AIDS. The Kaiser Family Foundation provides operational, technical and financial support to the ABMP. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the Coca Cola Africa Foundation, the Nelson Mandela Foundation, and The Merck Company Foundation provide additional financial support.

For more Information go to www.broadcasthivafrica.org
Email: contactus@broadcasthivafrica.org

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