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After participating in the Public Broadcasters Global Media Summit for Combating HIV/AIDS, Nadia Halim, president of Channel 1 Egyptian Television, was guest of honor at a dinner hosted by Consul General and Mrs. Abderahman Salaheldin on May 6. The summit on HIV/AIDS, part of the 28th Annual INPUT Conference held in San Francisco May 1 through 6, was hosted by the Independent Television Service (ITVS), the Public Broadcasting Service and the Kaiser Family Foundation.
Following Mrs. Halim's introductory remarks on the importance of mass media in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS, guests viewed a screening of "Let's Fight AIDS Together." The Egyptian-produced 30-minute documentary is being shown on the country's 22 channels to an audience of 200 million throughout the Arab world, Halim said. Featuring individuals with the disease, as well as public health officials who are striving to educate the public on the issue, the film's message is that HIV/AIDS should not be a stigma, and that people should be encouraged to seek advice and treatment and openly discuss the issue.
Solly Mokoetle, chief operating officer of SABC Television in Johannesburg, South Africa, expressed interest in sharing films his country has produced on the subject and in the two countries working closely to promote public awareness and dispel the taboos associated with the disease.
Malawi Television director general Rodrick Mulonya and senior production engineer Clemence Mvonye discussed the problems their Central African country is facing in fighting HIV/AIDS. They, too, were interested in working with their Egyptian colleagues to vigorously address the problem.
Consul General Salaheldin's physician wife, Dr. Thoraya Mohamed Elkhadrawy, noted Egypt's bold steps of including sex education in school curricula. "It is very important that young people learn about AIDS," she told the guests seated in the elegant salon of the Pacific Heights Consulate.
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