Newsroom

Toronto, 13 August - Hollywood star and HIV activist Richard Gere donned the Red Ribbon Award pin at the AIDS 2006 conference in Toronto today, as he made an anticipated appearance at the community space hosted by the twenty-five Award finalists.

The actor, who runs the India-based HIV/AIDS foundation Healing the Divide, was welcomed to the space by two finalists from the PT Foundation Mak Nyah (Transgender and Transexual) Programme in Malaysia. It was the second meeting between finalist Sulastri Ariffin and Gere, who first met two years ago at the last international AIDS conference in Bangkok.

Mr. Gere was participating in an MTV training session for young film makers on HIV and AIDS, which took place in the Red Ribbon Award community dialogue space.

Sulastri and her community colleague Roslan Hamzah (Salina), who work to empower transgender and transsexual people and support sex workers and others living with HIV, represent a little-known team of HIV experts: local people battling the growing global epidemic in their own cities and villages.
 
The Red Ribbon Award: Celebrating Community Leadership and Action on AIDS recognises that communities have developed innovative and practical responses to the growing HIV pandemic, often in the face of war, genocide, and extreme poverty.

Between August 12 and 18, their inspirational stories will be brought to light at the community dialogue space at the Toronto AIDS 2006 conference, the world’s largest forum on HIV and AIDS.  Five winning communities will be announced at a gala dinner on Wednesday, 16 August. UNDP is leading on the Red Ribbon Award on behalf of the UNAIDS family and other partners.

More details of the real-life stories of these communities and the challenges they face in responding to the HIV epidemic are available at: www.redribbonaward.org.

MEDIA INQUIRIES: To set up interviews with the community representatives before or during the conference, or to confirm attendance at the Red Ribbon Award dinner, please contact: Ms. Niamh Collier-Smith, UNDP New York: + 1 212 906 6111, niamh.collier@undp.org or, in Toronto: + 1 917 213 0671, newsroom.bb1@undp.org

Broadcast-quality footage of the communities at work in Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Ukraine will be available. For broadcast-related inquiries, please contact Boaz Paldi, UNDP New York: e-mail: boaz.paldi@undp.org