TVN (Chile) Television Series to Feature HIV-Positive Character -- Director Hopes to Open Public Discourse on Taboo Subject

A director of popular television dramas in Chile, Vicente Sabatini, plans on introducing for the first time a national TV series character who has HIV. Sabatini hopes that once the character is in the living rooms of Chileans, he can help begin a serious discussion about the disease.

AIDS is the second leading cause of death for men ages 20 to 44 in Santiago, and public knowledge about the disease is limited. The first government-sponsored HIV/AIDS prevention campaign since 1997 began only this year. Condom sales have actually decreased 10 percent since 1997, and the number of AIDS cases has grown steadily to 8,000. It is estimated that more than 30,000 people have HIV, and the health ministry estimates that by 2005 some 5,000 Chileans will die from AIDS annually. Teenage pregnancies have increased by 37.8 percent between 1999 and 2000.

The government's campaign is extremely limited in scope. The two leading Chilean media sources, the Catholic University's television and radio stations and the influential newspaper El Mercurio, refuse to run government campaign ads that promote condom use.

Many HIV/AIDS activists argue that the political clout enjoyed by the Catholic church and other conservative organizations in Chile is disproportionate compared to that of organizations interested in promoting responsible sexual behavior. It is this media culture that Sabatini, who is known for igniting controversy, will challenge. In a recent series titled Romane, one of his teenage characters became pregnant and struggled to decide whether to have an abortion -- a procedure that is illegal in Chile. Of the new HIV-positive character, Sabatini said, "The Ministry of Health and other experts are interested in promoting condom use. I'm interested in opening people's minds. . . . My objective is to increase tolerance and a diversity of thought about important social issues."

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