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CABLE POSITIVE JOINS FORCES WITH VOICE OF AMERICA
TO FIGHT HIV/AIDS
NEW YORK, NY - June 27, 2000 More than 23 million people are living with HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan Africa, where 13.7 million men, women and children have died of the disease-a figure of infection and death that greatly surpasses the totals of every other nation in the world combined. Worldwide, since the epidemic began 20 years ago, 16.3 million people have died according to the World Health Organization. "What we are seeing is a continent on fire with this infection," said Dennis Mangers, Senior Vice President, California Cable Television Association, and President, Cable Positive Board of Directors. "Whole families, entire villages are being wiped out by AIDS. Nearly 11 million African children have been orphaned, because their parents, aunts or uncles have been debilitated or died from the disease. We have the means to help, and an obligation to do it." "VOA reaches more people in Africa than any other communications medium," said Steve Villano, Executive Director, Cable Positive "with some 40% of their listeners -or almost 36 million people-located throughout Africa. They have a network of reporters and free-lancers in the field who can cover the Continent, reporting on the virus first hand, and bring our joint message of HIV education and prevention to the people of the Sub-Saharan countries. This is a powerful, public-private partnership between Cable Positive-and our industry resources-and the VOA with its vast international audience and skilled network of field reporters."
CP JOINS FORCES WITH VOICE OF AMERICA TO FIGHT HIV/AIDS The VOA/Cable Positive initiative will use radio, television and the internet to reach Southern African audiences, and tell the stories of people either struggling with the disease, or its destructive effects upon their families. "We extend our heartfelt appreciation to Cable Positive and Marc Nathanson for their generous assistance in the launch of our Africa HIV/AIDS initiative," said Ungar. "This is a solid start to highlight the message in Southern Africa and help reduce the spread of the disease and devastation being visited upon millions of African families." The HIV/AIDS education and prevention message will be spread throughout Africa over VOA's airways and through a series of awareness-raising concerts held in cities across southern Africa. Representing Cable Positive at the check presentation ceremony at VOA world headquarters in Washington, D.C., were Mangers; Mangers' partner, Michael Sestak; Curtis Symonds, Executive Vice President, Affiliate Relations and Marketing, Black Entertainment Television, and Cable Positive Honorary Chair; Daniel L. Brenner, Senior Vice President for Law and Regulatory Policy, NCTA, and Cable Positive board member; and Villano. Following the check presentation to Ungar, the Cable Positive delegation met with the VOA's editorial board, and with reporters, field staff and division chiefs, from the English to Africa and Portuguese to Africa Language Services of the VOA to discuss the intensified public education campaign about HIV and AIDS. Cable Positive, founded in 1992, is a non-profit organization dedicated to unifying the talents, resources, access and influence of the communications industry to raise AIDS awareness; to fund AIDS education, research and care; and to promote a more compassionate climate for people whose lives have been affected by HIV and AIDS. For more information, call 212.459.1502 or visit www.cablepositive.org. The Voice of America broadcasts news and information in 53 languages to an estimated audience of 91 million people each week. VOA began broadcasting in 1942 and is part of the International Broadcasting Bureau, which became an autonomous U.S. Government civilian broadcast service on October 1, 1999, under the authority of the Broadcasting Board of Governors.
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