StarTimes Vows to Lead Campaign on HIV Prevention

Emma Okonji

At the inaugural meeting of Global HIV Prevention Coalition held in Geneva, Switzerland on October 10th-11th, StarTimes Vice-President, Guo Ziqi, made known the desire of the Pay Tv company to champion campaign on the prevention of HIV prevention.

At the meeting, Ziqi sent a strong message towards reaching the prevention targets of the 2016 Political Declaration on Ending the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS).
With this declaration, United Nations Member States have committed to reducing new adult HIV infections to fewer than 500,000 annually by 2020 and ending AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) have since been working on generating support for a global HIV prevention coalition with the aim of strengthening and sustaining political commitment for primary prevention.

Co-convened by UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé and UNFPA Executive Director, Natalia Kanem, the Inaugural Meeting of Global HIV Prevention Coalition gathered United Nations Member States, civil society, philanthropists, academics and international organisations to launch the Prevention 2020 Road Map for achieving the global commitments on HIV prevention.

As the representative of the only private sector media organisation present at the meeting, Ziqi said he was committed “to make full use of our resources and play to our strength to implement the road map to ensure the message reaching the largest number of people at the shortest time possible to make the most impact. StarTimes will be at the vanguard of HIV prevention.”

Established in 35 countries, StarTimes is a leading digital TV operator across sub-Saharan Africa, providing a signal covering the whole continent, with affordable digital television to over 10 million subscribers.
“For StarTimes, these are not just 10 million subscribers, they are 10 million families, including the key population who can be reached with the urgent message and the hope of ‘Ending AIDS as a public Health Threat by 2030’ with the joint effort of UNAIDS,” Ziqi added.

On May 12th, StarTimes and UNAIDS formally established partnership with signing a memorandum of understanding in Beijing focusing on HIV prevention through StarTimes broadcasting network.
According to Ziqi, “though internet is developing rapidly, TV remains the primary channel for information for the overwhelming majority of African families. As a Digital TV operator, StarTimes has a lot to offer for HIV prevention.”