'AIDS Will Not Affect Our Friendship' -- UN, NBA and Partners Begin National Anti-stigma Campaign

'AIDS Will Not Affect Our Friendship' -- UN, NBA and Partners Begin National Anti-stigma Campaign

April 18, 2007

    BEIJING, 18 April /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- The United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Aaron Diamond
AIDS Research Center (ADARC) are partnering with the
National Basketball Association (NBA) on a national,
multimedia HIV/AIDS anti-stigma campaign featuring NBA
All-Star Yao Ming and Chinese film star Pu Cunxin. 

    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com.cn/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg )

    Designed by people living with HIV, university students
and members of the NGO community, the new poster shows Yao
Ming and Pu Cunxin together with young people from
AIDS-affected communities with the message: 

    We have the same feelings, the same dreams, the same
life.
    HIV/AIDS will not affect our friendship.
    We Are Friends!

    As part of UNDP's overall regional efforts to engage
the arts and commercial media sector to reduce stigma and
raise awareness, and in collaboration with UNICEF, UNESCO
and multisector partners in China, this new and
groundbreaking campaign includes the distribution
throughout China of over 200,000 Yao Ming / Pu Cunxin
"We Are Friends" anti-stigma posters, and the
development of a HIV/AIDS resource kit containing the 10
Facts on AIDS, an HIV/AIDS discussion guide and
mini-documentary. 

    "We trust this campaign will help disseminate our
common stand for positive action, care and full integration
of people living with HIV and AIDS in our global
society," says Alessandra Tisot, Senior Deputy
Resident Representative of UNDP China. 

    This innovative and cross cutting campaign builds on
the previous public service announcement (PSA) and the
"We Are Friends" poster campaign which featured
both Yao Ming and NBA legend Magic Johnson. In conjunction
with the Ministry of Health, NBA Cares, ADARC, local NGOs
and several Chinese commercial media organizations, the
previous PSA and posters were distributed throughout China
and assisted in the education on HIV/AIDS prevention while
dispelling misconceptions about the spread of the disease.

  
    "Important partnerships like these give the NBA an
opportunity to use the international power of our brand and
the celebrity of our players to have a direct impact on the
critical issues facing communities all over the world,"
said NBA Senior Vice President Kathy Behrens. 
 
    This wide-ranging campaign aims to advocate the
reduction of stigma associated with HIV and AIDS among the
general population, and to promote the inclusion of family
members, neighbors, co-workers and friends living with HIV
and AIDS and their families into our homes, schools,
workplaces and communities.

    Dr. David Ho, Director of the Aaron Diamond AIDS
Research Center adds, "I commend Yao Ming and Pu
Cunxin for using their super-star status to such a positive
purpose. I am hopeful that the images in this campaign will
encourage Chinese people to overcome their fear and treat
those affected by HIV as friends and equals."

    Based on their national networks and reach into local
communities, the National Population and Family Planning
Commission, the China Association of Ethnic Economy under
the State Ethnic Affairs Commission and the China HIV/AIDS
Information Network (CHAIN), a non-governmental
organization, are the national co-partners for the
distribution of the posters. 

    The National Population and Family Planning Commission
will distribute posters through its network of county level
maternal health centers and community health clinics across
the country, as well as current HIV prevention and
awareness projects. 

    The China Association of Ethnic Economy has translated
the posters into the Tibetan, Uygur and Jingbo (Yunnan)
minority languages. These translated posters will be
distributed to ethnic minority urban areas, minority
schools, and during ethnic minority festivals in Gansu
Province, the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and in
Yunnan Province respectively. 

    To increase the impact and sustained use of these
materials, UNICEF and UNESCO worked with the China HIV/AIDS
Information Network to develop a teacher-friendly discussion
guide around materials from the current and previous Yao
Ming anti-stigma campaigns, including posters and the
award-winning Yao Ming / Magic Johnson mini-documentary. 

    These materials will be integrated into existing HIV
prevention and awareness initiatives in China, including
UNICEF and UNESCO's "Life Skills Education in a
Box" programme. In 2007, this highly popular programme
is expected to reach over 500,000 young people through
school and community peer education activities. 

    As China's largest HIV/AIDS information resource
center, CHAIN will also disseminate the materials to over
500 local NGOs and community-led peer education groups and
private sector workplace education programmes.
Organizations wanting to obtain the Chinese language poster
and/or the discussion guide for their programmes can visit
http://www.chain.net.cn .

    "This campaign is unique in that it relies on the
joint efforts of three UN agencies, two national level
government organizations, the private sector and both a
international NGO and Chinese NGO to distribute and
integrate these materials into existing HIV prevention and
awareness programmes across China," added, Edmund
Settle, HIV/AIDS Programme Manager, UNDP.

    The previous Yao/Magic PSA and mini-documentary was
produced by NBA, ADARC, Thomas Lennon Films and CAMP in
cooperation with China's Ministry of Health. 






    For more information, please contact: 

     Edmund Settle, HIV/AIDS Programme Manager
     UNDP China 
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]