TV to Prevent HIV/AIDS

In October 2002, a PMC team held two workshops in Swaziland. The first workshop, a three-day strategy development session, enabled representatives from various organisations to present their communication strategies, approaches, and activities. The purpose of this workshop was to foster the creation of a national communications strategy for HIV/AIDS to guide all organisations and government ministries and bring overall coordination. The second, two-week workshop, was designed to train the creative teams from the three television shows in methods for entertaining while educating, as well as in production skills.

HIV/AIDS.

According to organisers, approximately 38% of the adult population in Swaziland is HIV-positive. Thirty-four percent of pregnant women are HIV positive; 10,000 Swazi children are likely to be newly orphaned every year over the coming decade. Among people with STDs, 70% are HIV-positive, and among those with TB, 80% are HIV-positive. The disease has afflicted 90% of all people occupying hospital beds.

PMC is a non-profit organisation that focusses on motivating people to have smaller families through family planning, increasing HIV/AIDS prevention awareness, and elevating the status of women.