Actor,
HIV/AIDS Advocate Richard Gere Says Media is Crucial in Fighting Pandemic
August 14, 2006
16th International AIDS Conference
Aug.
13 to 18, 2006
Actor and HIV/AIDS advocate Richard Gere on Monday at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto joined media officials from the Caribbean, India, Russia and South Africa to promote the media's role in raising HIV/AIDS awareness, the Associated Press reports (Duff-Brown, Associated Press, 8/14).
Gere in 2004 co-founded the Heroes Project -- which uses celebrities from Bollywood films, sports figures, business leaders and government officials as spokespeople to increase public discussion of the Indian HIV/AIDS epidemic with television, radio and print advertisements (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 10/24/05).
Gere has collaborated with Peter Mukerjea, CEO of STAR India television, to reach an estimated 70 million viewers with its HIV/AIDS public service announcements, in partnership with Avahan, the India AIDS initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Kaiser Family Foundation (Heroes Project release, 8/14).
Star CEO Peter Mukerjea and Gere at a press conference Monday said STAR is renewing a five-year commitment worth $23.16 million to continue the Heroes Project campaign. "When it comes to HIV/AIDS, we did not bat an eyelash to bringing it on ourselves to do something to make a difference," Mukerjea said (Associated Press, 8/14).
"As a media company, the most effective thing we could do was use our platform and reach out to the millions of people who watch television shows every evening with messaging that was going to connect with them in a society which is extremely sensitive to the subject as a whole," Mukerjea added. "I deeply love India, and I will continue to deeply love India," Gere said, adding, "And it's deeply important to me that India not make the mistakes that we made in America -- where we had no leadership, we didn't take it seriously and hundreds of thousands of people died who didn't have to" (Ubelacker, Canadian Press, 8/14).
According to a report released last week by India's Registrar-General and Census Commissioner, an estimated 11 million people in India could die of AIDS-related illnesses by 2026 (Priest, Globe and Mail, 8/15).
Moderated by Bill Roedy of MTV Networks International, the conference session on media and AIDS featured a panel of broadcast executives and a leading AIDS advocate discussing the mobilization of the media industry following the 2004 launch of the Global Media AIDS Initiative by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan at a special meeting organized by the Kaiser Family Foundation and UNAIDS. Video of the session is available online.
Source: kaisernetwork.org
-- a free service of the Kaiser Family Foundation
View
Video:
Media and AIDS: Spreading Information Faster than the Disease
Panelists at this session 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.
Welcome and Introductions (2:44)
Helene Gayle, M.D., M.P.H.
Co-Chair, XVI International AIDS Conference
President, International AIDS Society
CEO, CARE USA
Bio - Helene Gayle
Richard Gere (10:42)
Actor and Founder
Healing the Divide
Gere Foundation
HIV Video (4:43)
Bill Roedy (8:34)
President
MTV Networks International
Chair
Leadership Committee, Global Media AIDS Initiative
Panelists (38:52)
- Dr. Allyson
Leacock
General Manager
Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation
- Solly Mokoetle
Chief Operating Officer
South African Broadcasting Corporation
- Peter Mukerjea
Chief Executive Officer
STAR India
- Vladimir
Pozner
Journalist and President
Russian Television Academy
- Phill Wilson
Founder and Executive Director
Black AIDS Institute
Questions and Answers (Q and A) (42:18)
Read
Transcript:
Media and AIDS: Spreading Information Faster than the Disease
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