UNAIDS: The First 10 Years

UNAIDS The First 10 Years182“But isn’t it interesting howwe have had the emergenceof celebrity leadership in thevacuum of political leadership?”commented Stephen Lewis,former Special Envoy of theSecretary-General for HIV/AIDS inAfrica, somewhat controversially.He then pointed out that celebritiesmay be raising consciousnessbut “… ultimately, it is governmentsand the UN [United Nations] that have to make the difference”.In January 2004,Kofi Annan, theUnited NationsSecretary-General,launched the GlobalMedia AIDSInitiative.He continued: “I mean, Bono himself said, ‘I go to the Foreign Relations Committee in theUnited States when they’re discussing the appropriation in the Senate and I tell them what’sgoing on’, – and he actually used this phrase – ‘and their eyes mist over’. I tell them howmuch more is required and I leave, and they cut the budget’”.From its beginnings, UNAIDS recognized and harnessedthe power of the media in the fight against the epidemic.Working with MTV has been one of the organization’smost successful partnerships. Media companies haveused their creative and technical resources to producepublic service announcements and to weave themesand stories about HIV into their programmes, whethercurrent affairs or ‘soaps’. A new initiative would create ahuge expansion of such activities.In January 2004, Kofi Annan, the United NationsSecretary-General, launched the Global Media AIDSInitiative (GMAI) to underscore the importance of themedia in responding to the AIDS global crisis. He asked all major media companies to committo using their resources to expand public knowledge and understanding about HIV. Executivesfrom more than 20 media corporations across 13 countries attended the launch and committedtheir companies’ resources to raising the level of public awareness and understanding aboutAIDS. Bill Gates, Chairman of Microsoft Corporation, was the keynote speaker.This initiative was conceived by UNAIDS and the Kaiser Family Foundation (a United Statesbased,non-profit, private operating foundation focusing on health issues). In April 2004,Bill Roedy, Vice-Chair of MTV Networks and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, was appointedChair of the GMAI Leadership Committee. He said: “If education is currently the only vaccineavailable to us, then the global media industry has in its hands the means to deliver that vaccine.In Kenya, young peopleaged 15 to 19 producethe newspaper StraightTalk for their peers on allaspects of sexual healthincluding HIV preventionand testingUNAIDS/G. Pirozzi