The New York Times recently examined a campaign that aims to promote HIV awareness and prevention through several media outlets. The campaign was created by 17 students ages 16 to 23 as part of a Youth AIDS Media Institute program. The institute was formed by Cable Positive, an HIV/AIDS telecommunications organization that receives support from the Motorola Foundation. The students are from four community-based HIV/AIDS service groups in the Northeast, according to the Times.

The campaign — called “There’s no LOL in HIV” — features television commercials, a Web site, and pages on the social networking sites Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, as well as on the video sharing site YouTube. In addition, the campaign features text messages and print advertisements. Cable Positive will distribute the TV commercials to cable channels and local cable systems. The ads feature the students who created the campaign acting as students who are misinformed or in denial about HIV/AIDS. The ads “use humor to focus them back on responsibility,” Sean Strub, president and chief executive at Cable Positive, said. Cox Communications, Suddenlink Communications and Time Warner Cable have requested the commercials, Rob Feinberg — who works in account services at the Watsons, a New York-based marketing firm that worked with the students on the campaign.

The students participating in the campaign “were given a mandate to create a multi-platform, peer-to-peer education campaign for Cable Positive, which was their client,” Strub said. The idea behind the campaign is that “when you go to the communities you want to educate and give them the tools, you get a much better product,” Strub said. Paul Orefice, partner and creative director at the Watsons, said that the students wanted the campaign to be “funny.” Orefice said, “They said, ‘We look at so much media all day, you have to pull out all the stops to get our attention,’” adding that the humor gets students’ attention “in a fun and engaging way” (Elliott, New York Times, 5/11).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

A recent column in the Victoria Times on Canada’s response to HIV/AIDS, written by Times columnist Kate Heartfield, “overlook[ed] the real story here — that Canada is dedicated to getting results” in treating and preventing HIV/AIDS in Canada and worldwide, Canadian Minister of International Cooperation Beverley Oda writes in an Ottawa Citizen opinion piece.

Oda continues that she was “disappointed” that Heartfield in the column said that Canada’s support to the Global Fund To Fight AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis was “saccharine.” Oda writes that Canadians should “be proud that this government is a leading contributor to the Global Fund,” adding that the Canadian government “recently committed an additional $450 million, with a significant portion going to HIV/AIDS.” According to Oda, this contribution is the country’s largest commitment to global health through an international organization. She writes that “more important than the dollars spent are the results achieved” and that Canada, through the work of the Global Fund, has “touched the lives of countless worldwide.” She notes that as of 2008, the Global Fund has “provided 1.75 million people with antiretroviral treatment; provided medical services, education and community care to 2.8 million orphans; and supported 46 million HIV testing and counseling sessions.” In addition, Canada’s contributions to the World Health Organization’s “3 by 5 Initiative” allowed three million people to receive antiretroviral drugs by 2007, and the country continues to be one of the largest supporters to this effort, Oda writes.

She continues that Canada’s investment of $84 million in 2008-2009 is a historical high and that the Public Health Agency of Canada, through the Federal Initiative to Address HIV/AIDS in Canada, is “investing $45 million over the next two years in national and community-based funding for AIDS service organizations.” She concludes, “Canada’s commitment to fighting HIV/AIDS is evident through its partnerships with dedicated Canadian and international organizations, as well as donor and recipient countries. Together, we can stop AIDS. And that is something to be celebrated, not dismissed” (Oda, Ottawa Citizen, 5/11).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.

South African President Jacob Zuma on Sunday appointed physician Aaron Motsoaledi as health minister, replacing Health Minister Barbara Hogan, who was appointed to a public enterprises position, London’s Guardian reports. Motsoaledi previously served as a provincial education minister. Hogan had been appointed to the post last year to replace former Health Minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang (Smith, Guardian, 5/10).

According to AFP/Google.com, Zuma responded to concerns about the appointment, saying that Motsoaledi is a “well-known doctor who has handled this department at a provincial level in the past.” Zuma added that Motsoaledi is “a very energetic and able comrade so I don’t think you should be very worried.”

HIV/AIDS advocates said the leadership change at the Health Ministry could hinder South Africa’s efforts to address HIV/AIDS. Mark Heywood, a spokesperson for the Treatment Action Campaign, said Zuma’s decision to replace Hogan is “very disappointing,” adding, “We have an entirely new political team responsible for health at a time where the health system is in critical need of resuscitation and in need of continuity and understanding.”

Zuma has said he is committed to fighting HIV/AIDS, and advocates are calling for “visible leadership for a strong national response,” AFP/Google.com reports. According to AFP/Google.com, a “challenge” Zuma faces is finding enough funding to maintain the country’s antiretroviral drug program, which is the largest national antiretroviral program worldwide and provided about 700,000 South Africans with treatment as of November 2008. The South African government plans to increase funding for HIV/AIDS programs by 932 million rand, or about $112 million, and double treatment over the next three years; however, the country also is facing its first economic recession in nearly two decades, AFP/Google.com reports (AFP/Google.com, 5/11).

Reprinted with kind permission from http://www.kaisernetwork.org. You can view the entire Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report, search the archives, or sign up for email delivery at http://www.kaisernetwork.org/dailyreports/healthpolicy. The Kaiser Daily Health Policy Report is published for kaisernetwork.org, a free service of The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation.

© 2009 Advisory Board Company and Kaiser Family Foundation. All rights reserved.