AFRICA: Film educates youth on HIV/AIDS

JOHANNESBURG, 11 April (PLUSNEWS) - An African film targeting young men is
being used across Africa to educate youth about sexual health issues and
HIV/AIDS.

Filmed in Zimbabwe, Yellow Card focuses on teenage pregnancy, which is often
considered a girl’s problem, and explores what happens when a boy is held
accountable for his actions.

Through the story of Tiyane, a young soccer player who becomes a teenage
father, the movie tackles the issues of unplanned pregnancy, unsafe abortion
and HIV/AIDS.

"Gender-based inequalities still persist in Africa. Girls frequently do not
reach their potential and boys have a false sense of power and domination,"
Elizabeth Lule, the regional vice-president of reproductive health
organisation, Pathfinder International, said. Previously many interventions
focused on women, and this needed to be corrected, she added.

Prior to writing the film-script, interviews and discussion groups were held
with teenagers all over Zimbabwe. The youth interviewed knew about HIV/AIDS,
but said most of the information and education campaigns were "boring and
dull". As a result of these discussions, the film encourages sexual
responsibility, especially among young men.

"There are no prescriptions to matters of sex, whether it is about AIDS,
pregnancy or other issues ... the film doesn’t lecture teenagers. Rather, we
are trying to give them something to think about," film director John Riber
said.

According to the film makers, the film was particularly useful when
communicating with illiterate and semi-literate audiences, but it became
even more so when the issues in the film were discussed as part of a
facilitated discussion.

Funding was received to distribute the film free of charge to organisations
working at grassroots level in Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda.

In addition to the grassroots distribution, the film is showing in cinemas
and on television in all five countries. Alternative distribution outlets,
including mobile units in Tanzania, Kenya and Zimbabwe, and video cafes in
Uganda, Nigeria and Mozambique, are being used too. The film will be
released in South Africa this week.

Although it was filmed in Zimbabwe with a Zimbabwean cast, the film has
proved hugely popular across the continent. It recently aired on Nigerian
television and will soon be used in HIV/AIDS centres in Papua New Guinea.

For more information:
http://www.yellow-card.com/

[ENDS]

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