November 14, 2007 - In November 2007, the Belarusian Association of UNESCO Clubs and UNISTAR radio station have launched an information campaign aimed at preventing HIV, AIDS and STIs among male drivers and population as a whole. The campaign is carried out under the project “Prevention of HIV, AIDS and STIs among Commercial Sex Workers on Highways.”

UNISTAR radio station has created three social ads based on interviews with men of different social groups and ages, who are talking about buying sex as unacceptable to them. The campaign also includes commentaries on the issue of road-based commercial sex by European reporters of UNISTAR radio station from Russia, Germany, Latvia and Estonia, and an authoring programme on the situation in Belarus. Moreover, UNISTAR is going to conduct surveys through its official website on the listeners’ attitude to HIV and selling sex on roads. The results of the surveys will be announced within news blocks. The campaign will last through the end of 2007.

While commenting on UNISTAR’s decision to partner in implementing the project “Prevention of HIV, AIDS and STIs among Commercial Sex Workers on Highways”, head of PR-service of the radio station, Natalia Kulinka noted, “UNISTAR is a commercial radio, which shares the principles and rules of socially responsible business. Therefore we provide information support for socially important topics as well as attract the attention of our audience to really serious concerns of the society, whose wellbeing depends on how effectively we deal with these problems together.”

“We are going to be the first in this country to talk about sex business within the framework of the project. We will appeal to men, not to women, for buying sex is equivalent to sexual exploitation of people and thus unacceptable,” stressed Alina Ostling, UNDP Programme Officer.

Prevention work has been already performed in partnership with FM radio stations under the UNDP/UNAIDS project. From July through November 2007, the “Intersection” project has been implemented through Radius FM radio station. The project has a somewhat different nature: it is aimed primarily at raising the awareness of the population about all aspects of HIV and STIs.

For reference: the UNDP project “Prevention of HIV, AIDS and STIs among Commercial Sex Workers on Highways” was launched in April 2007 in partnership with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Raising the awareness of people in at-risk groups about the problem as well as convincing them to change their behavior to a safer one is one of the major tasks of the project.

For additional information please refer to Olga Satsuk, project PR specialist, ph. 276–25–93, or Elena Rodionova, Project Manager, mob. 405-20-11.

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