The Newsletter of the Pan American Health Organization |
IN FOCUS
Radio Project Links AIDS and Youth Raising the ribbon. Volunteers in the Dominican Republic placed a giant red ribbon on a building as part of a national World AIDS Day campaign to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. ©Nery Estevez/COPRESIDA Young radio enthusiasts in Brazil spent three days working with adult HIV/AIDS experts to see how radio can be used to inform adolescents and young adults about HIV/AIDS and prevention. At the invitation of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), in cooperation with the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), Brazil's Ministry of Health and several other organizations, 35 Brazilians aged 25 and younger spent Nov. 6–8, 2003, in a radio studio in Salvador, in Brazil's northeast, practicing radio production techniques and exchanging ideas with adult communications professionals and experts on HIV/AIDS and public health. Participants produced a series of pilot radio programs focusing on HIV and youth issues, including drug abuse and gender differences. The results will be recorded on CD-ROM and video for distribution by UNAIDS later this year. The event was part of a larger joint initiative involving PAHO, UNAIDS, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Brazil's Ministry of Health and a number of other partners to develop a strategy for prevention of HIV/AIDS among Brazilian youth. |