'Staying Alive'
CNN and MTV join forces for World AIDS Day special
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November 27: 2130CET
November 28: 1430 & 2330 CET
December 1: 1430 & 2230 CET
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(CNN) -- Every six seconds someone is infected by HIV, nearly 15,000 people each day. More than 50 per cent of the people infected with HIV in 2003 were under the age of 25.
As the threat of HIV/AIDS continues to spread, CNN International and MTV International have joined forces to reveal how the epidemic is affecting young people around the world.
"Staying Alive: A CNN & MTV News Special," co-hosted by CNN anchor Monita Rajpal and MTV presenter Tim Kash, features Bollywood movie stars, African street performers and Russian drug users, among others, in a series of personal stories that bring the issue of HIV sharply into focus.
This show will be broadcast to a potential viewing audience of 1 billion people around the world in the days leading up to and including World AIDS Day, December 1. It will feature news segments from Thailand, Tanzania, the United States, Russia, China, India and Brazil.
Rena Golden, senior vice president of CNN International said: "We are thrilled to be co-producing such an important program geared to provide our joint global audiences with access to vital information that is both relevant and compelling.
"It has been estimated that 38 million people are currently living with HIV/AIDS. We firmly believe that education and democratic dissemination of credible information is the key to fighting this epidemic.
"Given that CNN and MTV are making the program rights free and cost free to all broadcasters, I hope as many of them as possible take up the challenge to deliver this message through the distribution of 'Staying Alive.'"
Among the stories featured in the program:
In northern Thailand the classroom is the new battleground against AIDS. Children as young as 9 are being given sex education lessons by teenagers with HIV. There are currently 700,000 known cases of HIV in Thailand, where an increase in casual sex among young people has become a worrying trend. CNN's Aneesh Raman reports from Chang Mai, which has one of the highest prevalency rates of HIV in Asia, on the efforts to protect a new generation in a country where sex tourism continues to thrive. (Full story)Abstinence-only groups in the United States preach "no sex" as the only form of safe sex. Organizations like The Silver Ring Thing travel from city to city with a show featuring bands and comic sketches, encouraging teenagers to pledge abstinence until marriage. While abstinence groups have won the support of U.S. President George W. Bush, critics say pledges don't last and condemn a lack of discussion of safe sex alternatives. Monita Rajpal reports from a Silver Ring Thing event in Charleston, West Virginia, speaking to supporters and critics of its program, which aims to reach 20 percent of young people in the U.S. within seven years.Needle sharing is the main way in which the HIV virus is spread in Central and Eastern Europe, but sex with prostitutes is taking the epidemic beyond the drug community into the general population. Outside Moscow, HIV patients face a shortage of the drugs which can delay HIV becoming AIDS. CNN's Ryan Chilcote talks with doctors in St. Petersburg who have the power to decide who gets them and who doesn't, meets members of an HIV/AIDS support group and reports on demonstrations held in protest at the lack of treatment drugs available. (Full story)A young Indian businesswoman is fired when she becomes infected with HIV and faces a grueling struggle against prejudice and stigma. That's the plot of the groundbreaking movie "Phir Milenge," which addresses the issue within a Bollywood film for the first time. With Bollywood's huge influence on popular culture, MTV's Cyrus Broacha reports on how "Phir Milenge" could prove to be a catalyst for the fight against AIDS in India.The Chinese government has previously faced criticism for playing down the risk of HIV even though the country has one of the fastest growing rates of HIV infections in the world. There has been a 30 percent annual rate increase of reported HIV infections over the last five years. With the government's increased involvement in AIDS awareness, and the appointment of its own "AIDS ambassador," it's creating something of a government-sponsored sexual revolution in China. CNN's Kristie Lu Stout reports from Beijing, where hundreds of condom machines are being installed across the campus of Qinghua University. (Full story)The people of Africa continue to suffer by far the worst effects of HIV and AIDS. More than 12 million children have been orphaned as a result of AIDS. In Tanzania, a community theater is fighting the epidemic by performing in villages and market places, where people even stop their trading to watch. The report speaks to actors on their goal to cause public debate and teach young people how to avoid the risks of infection in the place that saw some of Africa's first cases of AIDS 20 years ago.In Brazil, MTV's Sarah Oliveira gets the word on the street by talking to young Brazilians about their attitude to AIDS and condom use in a series of vox pops.
