Tuberculosis Film Broadcast

This initiative draws on global partnership as a strategy for both creating and sharing the film with a worldwide audience. Tuberculosis resulted from a collaborative effort between 4 organisations: BBC World TV commissioned the documentary for broadcast (each day from June 4 to 9 2004, in honour of World AIDS Day); London-based Rockhopper TV produced it; and the Stop TB Partnership and WHO Stop TB Department provided funding and worked out the main elements and locations for the story in conjunction with Rockhopper.

The documentary's primary focus is on providing information about Directly Observed Treatment, Short course (DOTS) in Rajasthan, India and on TB/HIV in Malawi, with scientific commentary provided by Dr. Douglas Young, chairman of the Stop TB Working Group on New Vaccines. A strong sub-theme running throughout the film, and which is explicitly articulated by Dr. Young as a final note, is the urgent need for new tools - drugs, diagnostics, and vaccines - in order to turn the tide against the epidemic. In that sense, the documentary is intended to serve as an advocacy tool for all Stop TB partners.

In an effort to ensure that as many people as possible around the world watched the documentary during its week of transmission on BBC World, Stop TB asked members of the public to participate in spreading the word by undertaking the following communication activities:

• posting a notice with the description and broadcast times on a website
• circulating an email with the same information to constituents
• directly informing key audiences about the broadcast, e.g., donors, policy makers, ministries, etc.
• watching, and then discussing, the film with others.

Health (TB), HIV/AIDS.

Click here to view the film on the Stop TB Partnership website (the film is quite long and may take awhile to download). Please contact the Stop TB Partnership (below) to inquire about obtaining a copy of the film.