- A new three-part television series exploring the lives and love of a group of friends in Nairobi will be screened in a partnership between the United Nations and MTV to reach out to young Kenyans to highlight that HIV is not a death sentence.
“It’s fast, it’s furious, it’s cool – and that’s exactly how we filmed it,” said Lupita Nyong’o, who plays Ayira, one of the lead roles in the show entitled Shuga.
Her character is a college student torn between a boyfriend her own age and an older man in the series that underscores how behaviours – including having multiple sexual partners, exploitation and alcohol abuse – can increase young people’s vulnerability to HIV.
“Especially where we were doing the scenes, was where we were doing the HIV testing, there was a hush on the set,” Ms Nyong’o said at a panel discussion recently at the New York headquarters of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), which collaborated with MTV and other partners to produce the show.
“It was a heavy time for us, and a lot of actors said, ‘This is real. Yeah, this is real – and I need to make a change in my life.’”
Messages about AIDS prevention are especially vital in East and Southern Africa, the heart of the global epidemic, according to UNICEF, with young women particularly affected by the virus.
“In some countries, as many as three young women to each young man are infected,” said Susan Kasedde, the agency’s Senior Specialist in HIV Prevention.
According to UNICEF, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), out of a total population of nearly 40 million people in Kenya, up to two million are living with HIV.
UNICEF acknowledged that popular programmes like Shuga alone will not bring an end to the epidemic, but can help to fight the stigma faced by people living with HIV.
afrol News - It is called "financial inclusion", and it is a key government policy in Rwanda. The goal is that, by 2020, 90 percent of the population is to have and actively use bank accounts. And in only four years, financial inclusion has doubled in Rwanda.
afrol News - The UN's humanitarian agencies now warn about a devastating famine in Sudan and especially in South Sudan, where the situation is said to be "imploding". Relief officials are appealing to donors to urgently fund life-saving activities in the two countries.
afrol News - Fear is spreading all over West Africa after the health ministry in Guinea confirmed the first Ebola outbreak in this part of Africa. According to official numbers, at least 86 are infected and 59 are dead as a result of this very contagious disease.
afrol News - It is already a crime being homosexual in Ethiopia, but parliament is now making sure the anti-gay laws will be applied in practical life. No pardoning of gays will be allowed in future, but activist fear this only is a signal of further repression being prepared.
afrol News / Africa Renewal - Ethiopia's ambitious plan to build a US$ 4.2 billion dam in the Benishangul-Gumuz region, 40 km from its border with Sudan, is expected to provide 6,000 megawatts of electricity, enough for its population plus some excess it can sell to neighbouring countries.
front page
| news
| countries
| archive
| currencies
| news alerts login
| about afrol News
| contact
| advertise
| español