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AIDS IS EVERYBODY'S CONCERN

FRIDAY, JULY 23, 1993

AIDS IS A PROBLEM WHICH CONCERNS EVERYBODY AS THE RISE OF HETEROSEXUAL TRANSMISSION OF THE AIDS VIRUS (HIV) HAS BECOME THE MOST DOMINANT FEATURE OF THE AIDS PROBLEM IN THE TERRITORY.

THIS IS THE MESSAGE THAT THIS YEAR'S AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN WANTS TO PROMOTE.

ACTING DIRECTOR OF HEALTH, DR MARGARET CHAN, AT A PRESS LAUNCH OF THE 1993 AIDS AWARENESS CAMPAIGN TODAY (FRIDAY), SAID TWO NEW TV ANNOUNCEMENTS IN PUBLIC INTEREST (API'S) WOULD BE INTRODUCED.

DR CHAN SAID: "THE API'S FOCUS ON THE TRANSMISSION BETWEEN MEN AND WOMEN, AND POSSIBLY FROM A MOTHER TO A CHILD."

OF HIV

"OUR NEW API'S DO NOT GIVE OUT HARD FACTS LIKE WHAT WE DID IN THE PAST. INSTEAD, THE AUDIENCE WOULD BE FACED WITH A SERIES OF QUESTIONS, WHICH WOULD VERY LIKELY LEAD то SELF-ASSESSMENT OF HOW AIDS COULD CONCERN HIM OR HERSELF, SHE ADDED.

L

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DR CHAN POINTED OUT THAT IT WAS THE FIRST TIME THAT THE AIDS CAMPAIGN WAS DEVELOPED BY A PRIVATE ADVERTISING AGENCY

MCCANN ERICKSON (HK) LTD.

SHE MAINTAINED THAT THIS REFLECTED ALSO ON HOW THE COMMUNITY, PARTICULARLY THE PROFESSIONALS, COULD BE INVOLVED IN OUR FIGHT AGAINST AIDS.

NOTING THAT "TIME TO ACT" HAD BEEN SET AS THE THEME OP THE COMING WORLD AIDS DAY, DR CHAN SAID THE GOVERNMENT WAS RESPONDING TO THIS CALL BY FINE-TUNING ITS EXPANDED AIDS PROGRAMME ΤΟ REACH EVERYONE IN THE SOCIETY.

SHE EMPHASISED THAT MEDIA PUBLICITY REPRESENTED ONLY ONE ASPECT OF THE COMPREHENSIVE PROGRAMME ON AIDS PREVENTION AND CARE IN THE TERRITORY AND THERE WERE SUPPORTIVE EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES UNDERTAKEN BY THE GOVERNMENT AND THE COMMUNITY TARGETING DIFFERENT SECTORS OF THE SOCIETY.

THE CHAIRMAN AND MANAGING DIRECTOR OF THE MCCANN MR KINGSLEY SMITH, SAID THE OVERALL MESSAGE OF THE TV "THINK ABOUT AIDS. IT COULD HAPPEN TO YOU".

MR SMITH SAID: "OUR TASK WAS TO CONVINCE PEOPLE ΤΟ RISK OF CONTRACTING AIDS MORE SERIOUSLY, AND TO ENSURE THAT THEIR FAMILY AND FRIENDS WERE EQUALLY AWARE."

ERICKSON, API'S WAS

TAKE THE THEY AND

MR SMITH RECALLED THAT THERE WERE THREE PROBLEMS IN DEVELOPING AN ADVERTISING CAMPAIGN CONCERNING AIDS.

HE SAID: "THE FIRST OF THESE WAS THE NATURAL COMPLACENCY THAT EXISTS, THE FEELING THAT "IT CAN'T HAPPEN TO ME, OR TO EVERYONE IN FAMILY IN SOCIAL CIRCLE".

MY

/HE STRESSED

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