ALLIANCE AGAINST AIDS HOSTS MEETING WITH THE MEDIA THIS WEEKEND

August 09, 2007

The Alliance Against AIDS’ along with the Latin American and Caribbean Council of AIDS Service Organization is holding a three day working meeting with the media this weekend.  The five year project is entitled “Community Based Advocacy and Networking to Scale Up Prevention in an Era of Expanded Treatment”.  Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS’, Rodel Beltran Perera, says they hope the media will help with the five year project.

Rodel Beltran Perera:Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS

“Not only share the project itself and what the project is all about and its objectives in networking in more involvement of the community,including the media,but also to share with the media what we’ve been doing so far and this project now goes into its third year.It’s a five year project,but we now go into our third year and we want to share with the media our accomplishments but also,how the media can work with us in promoting the objectives and targets of the project.”

Arturo Cantu:Love FM

“You choose the media because there’s not much media involved in this fight against AIDS.That’s why you’re doing this?”

Rodel Beltran Perera:Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS

“We feel that the media has a very important role in taking out the message about not only prevention and yes we want to push prevention and education,because that is what a lot of people know what is HIV/AIDS.but there’s a lot of people that do not know and do not have the information and so they place themselves at risk.So the media is important in pushing the message of protection,prevention and education.It’s important that the media also knows about the treatment that people,living with HIV/AIDS can access medication,health services.So the media plays an important role in pushing the message,also protecting the rights of people,wherever persons are ill-treated,that the media knows what’s going on and rights about it and reports about it and work with us and wants to see better lives for people living with HIV.”

The working meeting which will run from Friday until Sunday will be held in San Ignacio Town.  According to Perera, after the meeting it is expected that more in depth reporting on HIV and AIDS issue will be done by reporters and journalists in Belize. 

Rodel Beltran Perera:Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS

“We’re looking for,that we see more of the media,much more in depth reporting,much more production in programming,much more articles being written not only about experiences and statistics but actually what effect the disease is having on our society at all levels,at the economic level,at the health level,at the educational level,at the political level too.”

Arturo Cantu:Love FM

“Mr.Perrera,something very interesting about this is that information is not available to the media because what the officials would say is that it’s something confidential.So in other words,we’re not going anywhere if we’re trying to write articles about it.We just get the basic which is just statistics in general.We don’t really get what effect it really has on the economy and the country and so on.”

Rodel Beltran Perera:Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS

“Well,we want to change that because most of this information is public knowledge and one of the things we’ll have at this meeting,what we’re faced with,we will have a lot of information.But information on HIV/AIDS we must respect of course,people who are going through certain aspects of the disease.But to give information on statistics is public knowledge.The information of what it’s costing,we’re working on that.When it comes to information I think that we as an agency are very open about information.So I think that there are some instances where we respect the information on people living with HIV and AIDS.”

Rodel Beltran Perera, Executive Director for the Alliance Against AIDS’.  At the meeting the media will be able to meet with the project leaders and with government and community leaders involved in the National Response to HIV / AIDS in Belize. 

|

|