TORONTO:

Caribbean broadcasters have welcomed the US$1 million granted by three international foundations to help them produce local and regional programmes to counter the spread of HIV/AIDS.

The funding and technical expertise to produce the television and radio programmes will be provided by the American Kaiser Family and Ford foundations, and the Elton John Foundation out of the United Kingdom.

"This will give us the necessary resources to immediately begin production of our new programming materials," said chairman of the Steering Committee for the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS, Dr. Allyson Leacock, on Wednesday evening at a news conference at the XVI International AIDS Conference being held here in the Canadian capital.

And, to assure regional broadcasters of continuity to produce and air the programmes, Dr. Jacob Gayle said the commitment of the Ford Foundation goes beyond the initial financial commitment.

"That $1 million is just the beginning, so this is not $1 million dollars for the entire life of our partnership; it's just to get it going," said Gayle, who is a university professor on public health at an American university and has served at the United States Centers for Disease Control.

For the Kaiser Family Foun-dation, the intention is not "to give a little bit of help here and there and then step back. We intend to be there as long as there is progress in the production of the programmes," said Matt James, representing Kaiser.

Programme exchange

However, Dr. Leacock said the plans are for the programmes to become commercially viable and sustainable over a long period. She said programmes will be exchanged among the stations that have signed on to the HIV/AIDS programming agenda.

Plans to launch the venture on the electronic media, as a means of giving vital information on behavioural change if the two per cent rate of the incidence of HIV and AIDS is to be reduced, were made in May at a symposium in Barbados. Managers of 33 radio and television stations attended the meeting and approved the project.

Dr. Leacock said technical and journalistic training will be provided for programme producers, actors, script writers and others to be involved in the creation of the HIV/AIDS messages.

"The intention is that there is a transfer of knowledge and skills so that everybody benefits from this ongoing training and development in producing original programmes that are customised for and related to the Caribbean."

The spokespersons for the Kaiser Foundation said their international experience with such ventures in Europe, India and Africa, indicates that young people get their information on HIV/AIDS from the media with a significant level of change in sexual patterns resulting from their encounter with the information.