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Al Azhar Park Concert demonstrates effectiveness
of partnership approach
 Al Ahzar Park in Cairo was the spectacular
setting for an outdoor festival on December 10, 2004 aimed at
raising awareness of HIV and AIDS. Pop singing sensations Khaled
Selim and Simone showed their support by giving headline
performances at the free event, with opening musical act
Habayebna. Dr. Nasr El Sayyed, Undersecretary of the Ministry of
Health and Population and Director of the National AIDS Program,
introduced the government’s new Voluntary Counseling and Testing
Center for HIV and AIDS to the thousands of young people and
families there.
The festival was the highlight of a series
of activities organized throughout Egypt in support of World
AIDS day, observed on December 1st, by a group of
international organizations working with national partners and
the Ministry of Health and Population to implement a national
HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. The campaign strategy is based on
an “enter-educate” model, a proven approach that uses
entertainment as a medium to communicate important social and
health messages to targeted audiences. Over the past few weeks,
activities aimed at increasing awareness of HIV and AIDS have
been stepped up, including radio and television programming,
celebrity endorsements, magazine inserts, mobile text messaging
campaigns, community drama productions, documentary screenings,
and youth competitions.
Organizers of the AIDS campaign include
UNAIDS[1],
UNFPA[2],
UNICEF[3],
UNODC[4],
UNDP[5],
UNHCR[6],
NAMRU-3[7],
USAID/FHI[8],
the Ford Foundation and CARE[9],
in collaboration with the National AIDS program (NAP) and the
Egyptian NGO Network against AIDS (ENNAA). The AIDS campaign is
bolstered by the national family health campaign spearheaded by
the USAID-funded Communication for Healthy Living project
in partnership with the Ministry of Health and Population and
the State Information Services of the Ministry of Information.
The family health campaign, with the slogan, “Sahatek, Sarwetek,”
(Your Health, Your Wealth), includes a component on HIV/AIDS
with messages on risk behaviors, safe injection, modes of
transmission, and the importance of screening included in
campaign materials and programs. Prior to the World AIDS day
activities, the CHL project produced several targeted press
inserts for the popular “Shebab” magazine—circulation
250,000—aimed at youth to raise awareness about the disease.
The services and hotline number of the NAP’s voluntary
screening and testing center featured prominently on the
back cover of the inserts.
For more information about the campaign
or HIV/AIDS, please call the NAP Hotline at
02-3152802/1
[1] The Joint United Nations
Program on AIDS
[2] United Nations Fund for
Population Activities
[3] United Nations Children’s
Emergency Fund
[4] United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime
[5] United Nations Development
Program
[6] United Nations High
Commission on Refugees
[7] U.S. Naval Research Center
in Cairo
[8] United States Agency for
International Development-funded Family Health Initiative
[9] A 12-member consortium of
countries focused on poverty reduction
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