Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2002. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
PRNewswire - December 19, 2002
"We're very pleased to be working with India's entertainment community to fight pediatric AIDS in India," said Kate Carr, President and CEO of EGPAF. "The celebrities involved are not only able to raise funds -- they are key to raising awareness of HIV/AIDS in a country where the epidemic is growing rapidly, especially among children and young people."
A Time for Heroes India will honor acclaimed Indian film star Amitabh Bachan, and will be hosted by more than 40 celebrities from Indian cinema, television, and music, as well as actor Richard Gere. The event is expected to raise over $250,000 to help support EGPAF's sites in India. The Gere Foundation India Trust will receive donations on behalf of the beneficiary programs. The event is being organized with support from the Indian government, the Gere Foundation, Parmeshwar Godrej, and the Naz Foundation.
"I am proud to be joining Parmeshwar Godrej in organizing A Time for Heroes India, because India urgently needs heroes -- from the powerful and famous to our own friends and neighbors -- to come forward at this crucial moment to contain this epidemic," said Gere.
A Time for Heroes India will include carnival games, live entertainment, and contests for those in attendance. Guests will also have the opportunity to take photos with their favorite stars. MTV will sponsor a musical stage with special guest performers. A huge line-up of celebrities scheduled to attend the event includes: Richard Gere, Aamir Khan, Anoushka Shankar, Amitabh and Jaya Bachchan, Lata Mangeshkar, Anil Kapoor, Akshaye Khanna, Aishwarya Rai, Akshay Kumar, Amisha Patel, Anil Kapoor, Arjun Rampal, Ashutosh Gowarikar, Bipasha Basu, Bobby Deol, Boney Kapoor, Celina Jaitley, Chunkey Pandey, Esha Deol, Fardeen Khan, Farhan Akhtar, Feroz Khan, Govinda, Jackie Shroff, John Abraham, Juhi Chawla, Kapil Dev, Karan Johar, Kareena Kapoor, Lara Dutta, M F Husai, Mahima Chaudhary, Manisha Koirala, Manoj Bajpai, Milind Soman, MTV VJs, Preity Zinta, Rahul Bose, Rani Mukherjee, Raveena Tandon, Saif Ali Khan, Sanjay Kapoor, Shilpa Shetty, Shobha De, Sonali, Bendre, Sridevi, Sushama Reddy, Sushmita Sen, Twinkle Khanna, Urmila Matondkar, Vivek Oberoi, and Zeenat Aman.
The Indian mother-to-child transmission prevention sites, located in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mysore, and Pune, are part of EGPAF's Call to Action Project, a global initiative to prevent infant HIV infection in resource-poor areas with high HIV prevalence. The Call to Action Project currently works at more than 250 sites in 17 countries in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe, Central America, and the Caribbean. Each site provides voluntary HIV counseling and testing to pregnant women, and provides medical interventions to reduce the chances of HIV-positive women passing the virus on to their infants.
India is home to almost 4 million people living with HIV -- more than any other country expect South Africa. Each year, 27 million babies are born in India. If just 2% of their mothers are HIV-positive, then almost 200,000 babies could be infected annually in the absence of effective interventions.
About the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
The Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation is the leading worldwide non-governmental organization dedicated to identifying, funding, and conducting pediatric HIV/AIDS research, as well as promoting global education, awareness, and compassion about HIV/AIDS in children. Through its international Call to Action Project, the foundation is leading the way in successfully preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV in the developing world and laying a foundation for additional care and support for families with HIV. Building upon the successful model it created with HIV/AIDS, the foundation is also addressing other serious and life-threatening diseases facing children through the Glaser Pediatric Research Network. The Network brings together five of America's pre-eminent academic medical centers in an unprecedented collaboration that will accelerate better treatments for seriously ill children, help train the next generation of pediatric clinical investigators, and serve as a united voice to advocate policies that improve children's health worldwide.
SOURCE Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation
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