Richard Gere Tours Clinics in India, Appears With Other Actors To Promote HIV/AIDS Awareness, Prevention
AIDS advocate and actor Richard Gere on Sunday while touring clinics in southern India emphasized the need for treatment of sexually transmitted diseases to reduce the spread of HIV, the IANS/New Kerala reports (IANS/New Kerala, 10/23). Gere on Saturday night joined Indian actors to host "A Time for Heroes," an entertainment program sponsored by the Heroes Project, which is partners with the Kaiser Family Foundation and the Avahan Initiative of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program, which aimed to educate the public about HIV/AIDS and reduce the stigma associated with the virus, marked the launch of the Heroes Project in the region (Times of India, 10/22). The Heroes Project -- which includes celebrities from Bollywood films, sports figures, business leaders and government officials as spokespeople -- aims to increase public discussion of the Indian HIV/AIDS epidemic with television, radio and print advertisements (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS Report, 7/8/04). "You can change anything in partnership with others," Gere said, adding, "We don't have to rely on the government to do everything. The beauty is in the effective community response towards fighting the disease" (Geetanath, The Hindu, 10/23).
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