Anti-drug and HIV/AIDS PSAs

The Advocacy Section of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) produces and disseminates multimedia materials aimed at raising global awareness about drug abuse issues, such as the linkage between injecting drugs and HIV/AIDS. All of UNODC's radio and television spots are public service announcements (PSAs) available free of charge to radio stations around the world, who may enjoy unrestricted use. UNODC seeks "the cooperation of broadcasters and NGOs to distribute them as widely as possible."

UNODC's campaign entitled "Drugs: Treatment Works" emphasises the importance of effective drug treatment to both the drug-dependent community and the general public. The radio spots offer personal success stories from around the globe of people who have fought their drug addiction through effective treatment. These spots are available with or without music in English and Spanish, and may be downloaded in MP3 format from the UNODC's Think.com website. Also available for download is a 5-minute interview with Mr. Chris Van De Burgh, a UNODC treatment expert, who provides information on different treatment possibilities.

UNODC also created radio PSAs as part of "Let's Talk About Drugs - HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse". The spots are designed to raise public awareness around the dangers of drug abuse and HIV/AIDS and also attempt to dispel common myths that surround the transmission of HIV/AIDS. Various spots - with or without music, featuring male and/or female voices - are available in Amharic, English, French, Swahili, and Spanish. These spots (downloadable in MP3 format), as well as accompanying fact sheets entitled "General Information about HIV/AIDS and Drug Abuse" and "HIV/AIDS Myths and Misinformation Common in Africa" (in PDF format; full-colour, print-quality), are also available for download.

In honour of World AIDS Day 2004, UNODC launched a campaign ("Think AIDS") focusing on the often-ignored problem of transmission of HIV/AIDS through injecting drug use. As part of this campaign, UNODC produced a number of free radio and TV spots. The TV spots, which may be downloaded or ordered for broadcast, are entitled "Never Ending Party" (English ,Russian, Spanish, French, German and Chinese), "The Way of AIDS South East Asia" (Chinese and English), and "The Way of AIDS South Asia" (English). A variety of radio spots may be downloaded in Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, English (USA, UK, or India), Farsi, French, Hindi, Indonesian, Polish, Russian, Serbian, Spanish, and Ukrainian. These spots are also available on a CD, and will be mailed free of charge. Other printed campaign materials may be downloaded on the Think AIDS website.