South Africa: It's Not Easy Being HIV-Positive, "Sesame" Says

Sesame Workshop, which produces the long-running children's show "Sesame Street," said it will introduce an HIV-positive Muppet character to the cast of its South African program this fall and is discussing a similar move in the United States. The character has not been designed or named yet, but it likely will be a five-year-old female and a "monster Muppet" like Grover or Elmo, said Joel Schneider, vice president of Sesame Workshop. "We know that she'll be lively, alert, friendly, outgoing and HIV-positive," said Schneider, speaking at the 14th International AIDS Conference. "She'll be healthy, not sickly." The goal is to help destigmatize the disease, promote discussion about it and model positive behavior toward a person with HIV for viewers, who typically are ages three to seven, Schneider said.

How the character contracted HIV is still under discussion, but it likely will involve a blood transfusion or mother-to-child transmission, said Schneider. "We want to show children that it's okay to touch [an HIV-positive person], okay to hug, that a person can still be a constructive part of the community," he said. The addition of an HIV-positive Muppet on South Africa's "Takalani Sesame" -- takalani means "be happy" in the Tshivenda language -- was developed in partnership with the South African Department of Education and the South African Broadcasting Corporation, which airs "Takalani Sesame" three times a day.

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