PHA-Exchange> ANNAN URGES MEDIA LEADERS TO USE INFLUENCE TO SPREAD INFORMATION IN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

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ANNAN URGES MEDIA LEADERS TO USE INFLUENCE TO SPREAD
INFORMATION IN FIGHT AGAINST AIDS

ANNAN URGES MEDIA LEADERS TO USE INFLUENCE TO SPREAD INFORMATION IN
FIGHT AGAINST AIDS
New York, Jan 15 2004  3:00PM
Asserting that the public still faces a profound lack of awareness
about HIV/AIDS, Secretary-General Kofi Annan today urged media 
executives from around the world to use their influence to spread
information that people need to protect themselves from the 
deadly disease.

"If there is one thing that we have learned in the two decades of this
epidemic, it is that in the world of AIDS, silence is 
death. As broadcasters, you can bring the disease out of the shadows
and get people talking about it in an open and informed way," 
the Secretary-General said at the launch in New York of the 
Global Media AIDS Initiative, an alliance between the 
UN system and the media born of a partnership between the Joint UN
Programme on HIV/AIDS.

Noting that recent surveys from more than 40 countries show that more
than half of all adolescents and young adults have serious 
misconceptions about HIV/AIDS and about how the virus is transmitted,
Mr. Annan said, "We must and we can change this situation."

He said broadcasters could designate the fight against HIV/AIDS as a
corporate priority. They could dedicate airtime to public 
service messages and provide prominent news coverage to the epidemic.
They could also air special educational or awareness-raising 
programming.

"More widely, you can join together to form partnerships that draw on
shared reach and resources, as some of you have already 
done," he said. "You can reach out to other organizations, such as
Government departments, NGOs [non-governmental organizations] 
and civil society groups. You can offer resources and access to
airtime, while your partners can provide expertise."

The Secretary-General said the UN family and the media could build an
alliance with an ambitious agenda, one that would inform, 
educate and entertain people "as a means to giving them the knowledge
and incentive they need to protect themselves against HIV/AIDS."

"I believe this is a unique opportunity none of us would want to miss -
and its greatest impact will be where it is most needed, 
among young people," he said. "If we can get young people to take the
lead in the movement for change, the pandemic can be turned 
around."