The Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on HIV/AIDS (CBMP) unites top broadcasters from across the region in an unprecedented collaboration to develop a coordinated media response to AIDS. In response to former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s call to action under the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI), the CBMP is a structured framework for sharing information and resources among broadcasters with the goal of increasing HIV/AIDS-related programming across the Caribbean.
By sharing information and resources, and building their own capacity to develop and deliver HIV-themed programming content, CBMP broadcasters have established new, coordinated media initiatives that deliver lifesaving messages to help stem the spread of HIV/AIDS and fight AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. CBMP broadcasters cover a total estimated population of some 40 million people in the second most highly impacted region of the world by HIV/AIDS. This represents, by far, the single largest mobilization of media in response to any social issue in the region.
CBMP broadcast members have made HIV/AIDS a business priority – committing a minimum of 30 seconds of airtime per hour (or about 12 minutes per day) to HIV content, as well as pledging to cover AIDS across all programming genres, including news, public affairs, entertainment, and new media platforms. The CBMP is governed by an 8-member Steering Committee of broadcast executives representing a diverse constituency of media houses and countries from the region, with strategic and technical guidance and production support from the Kaiser Family Foundation. The Ford Foundation and Elton John AIDS Foundation provide additional financial support to underwrite production of campaign materials and information resources.
About the LIVE UP Campaign
In March 2007, in conjunction with the ICC Cricket World Cup 2007, the CBMP launched LIVE UP: Love. Protect. Respect. – a cross-cutting brand to support all of the Partnership’s programming components. It is the first media-led campaign on HIV/AIDS to reach across the entire Caribbean and includes new specially-produced television and radio public service ads (PSAs), rights-free long-form programming, and informational materials for CBMP broadcasters to employ in their outreach efforts. Developed by the CBMP with support from a regional advisory committee of media and HIV/AIDS experts, LIVE UP aims to inspire audiences, especially young people, to consider what is within their power to stem the spread of HIV/AIDS. LIVE UP creates a regional movement by linking audiences together across the Caribbean with one message of hope and possibility in an age of AIDS.