Asian Media Leaders Step Up to the AIDS Challenge

(December 14, 2005) Influential media leaders from across South Asia
met in Bangkok on December 7 to accelerate the media response to HIV
and AIDS. The regional summit, which was sponsored by the US Agency
for International Development, was the initiative of the Asia
Pacific Leadership Forum on HIV and AIDS and Development (APLF), a
program spearheaded by the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

The 2005 UNAIDS/WHO AIDS Epidemic Update stated that one million
people were newly infected with HIV in South and Southeast Asia this
year alone.

The meeting, which was coordinated by Internews Network, brought
together print and electronic media executives representing national
and regional outlets from Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan,
providing these leaders with the opportunity to formulate
commitments and action plans for strengthening the media's response
to the epidemic.

Community and Population Development Association Director and well-
known senator, Mechai Viravaidya, delivered the keynote address,
stressing the responsibility of the news media and regional
governments to keep AIDS high on the political and social
agendas.

Participants committed to giving more air time and print space to
the coverage of HIV and AIDS issues; communicating and broadcasting
local voices; and sharing programming concepts, ideas and
information. As part of their action plan, they called for the
formation of national media forums on HIV and AIDS and the creation
of an internet based platform that would enable an exchange of ideas
and concepts.

This regional meeting followed national level meetings in each of
these countries where more than 100 media leaders participated in
developing concrete plans of action on AIDS-related media coverage.
The APLF aims to keep AIDS at the top of regional and national
agendas in Asia and the Pacific, promote effective leadership and
intensify commitment at all levels.

The event was coordinated by Internews Network with support from
Policy Project and the US Agency for International Development.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:
Sarah Breul, (sbreul@...) Internews Network in Thailand
Program Associate

http://www.internews.org/news/2005/20051214_thai.html