« Love as a Test »

A Kyrgyz-produced TV serial to fight against HIV/AIDS

Adyl is a young successful Kyrgyz man. He is a good IT student at the national university and is about to get married with a young woman with the approval of her family. One day, Adyl's university organizes an action against HIV/AIDS and all students decide to take an HIV test.

This is how Adyl discovers that he is HIV-positive. His life takes an unexpected turn and confronts him with his past. Like too many young boys in Kyrgyzstan , Adyl used to be an injecting drug user in his teenage years and was infected through a contaminated syringe.

    Adyl now has to confront rejection and discrimination from family and friends. But amid the turmoil, he also meets people who will support him. Among them, his ex-girlfriend, Kamila, who was once the love of his life. They will both find out that love does not die easily, and prevails over the most challenging situations…

Love as a Test is the innovative way that the United Nations and the Government of the Kyrgyz Republic have found to address the issue of HIV/AIDS in Kyrgyzstan . This mini-series in 4 parts tells the story that could happen to many young people in the country, too many of whom know too little about HIV and its ways of transmission.

The educational purpose of the drama is to sensitize the people of Kyrgyzstan about HIV and about the challenges faced by people living with HIV, in particular due to stigma and discrimination. But the serial also touches on issues affecting Kyrgyz youth today, such as drug abuse, friendship, university studies and … love.

The serial also provides many insights in some aspects of family life in Kyrgyzstan. It discusses strong values, such as family bonds and solidarity, tradition and modernity, and relations between brothers and sisters in face of a major challenge.

Love as a Test helps the viewer reflect upon HIV/AIDS and people living with it in a more tolerant and understanding way. It tries to decrease fear and denial and make people aware that “ it could happen to anyone - it could have been me” . It also contains information about the disease, how it develops, how it is contracted, how society can cope with it, about its social, economic and health aspects, and how to protect oneself.

A concept: entertainment-education

Love as a Test has been developed under the concept of Entertainment-Education. It has both a social and educational purpose. Entertainment-education as serial dramas or soap operas on TV have been successfully used in many countries, by UNFPA and other organizations, to boost social change and life skills based learning. Issues brought up are often social problems that affect many people: alcoholism, violence against women, ethnic conflicts, unemployment, racial and class inequalities.

Following this principle, a scenario was carefully elaborated by Galina Gaparova and Rinat Tukhvatchin from Bishkek's Children Media Center . It was then reviewed and reworked several times under the supervision of the United Nations and with the cooperation of international media experts.

Premiere

Love as a Test has been broadcasted nationwide on a popular urban TV channel reaching between 150.000 to 200.000 viewers in Kyrgyzstan., KOORT, from February 16 to 19, 2006.

For some feedback on the premiere of the serial, read this article.

The success of the serial was so great that several TV channels immediately expressed their interest in broadcasting it. Cable TV channels and local regional channels have already re-broadcasted the serial several times.

Currently a Kyrgyz version is in the dubbing process, to be broadcasted on the more far reaching Kyrgyz national TV that would reach another 500,000 to 1.5 million people in all regions of the country.

Partnerships

Love as a Test is a successful example of several UN and non-UN organizations:

Most of the budget for the TV serial came from UNAIDS Programme Acceleration Funds through the UN Theme Group on HIV/AIDS in the Kyrgyz Republic .

UNDP conducted the project implementation.

UNFPA provided additional funding and implemented the cross-media marketing campaign, aimed at promoting the TV serial as widely as possible. It also created 4 related information spots, providing additional information on HIV/AIDS related to the serial.

UNV participated in the distribution of promotional material to announce the TV serial. Two international UNVs, respectively in UNDP and UNFPA, coordinated the production of the TV serial and the cross-media marketing campaign of the project.

InWent, a German consulting organization, provided training for the scenarists and the production team.

The Unit of Coordination and Monitoring in HIV/AIDS from the Office of the Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic coordinated broadcasting agreements and will ultimately hold the copyrights of the TV serial for further use.

Future directions

A short version of the 4-hours long serial is being developed and will be released during the year. This version will give the opportunity to show the serial in schools, universities, trainings and community centers where there is a potential to raise awareness about HIV.

A newspaper based on the serial will be published during the summer and distributed countrywide along with the broadcasting of the serial in Kyrgyz language. The newspaper will contain a lot of information on HIV/AIDS.

There is an interest to promote Love as a Test in other CIS countries and in particular in Kazakhstan and Tadjikistan.

Fact sheet

For more information

Consult the website of Love as a Test (in Russian only): www.life.vircity.kg

Contact Nariste Chynybaeva, Mass Media Coordinator, Unit for coordination and monitoring in HIV/AIDS area, Office of Prime Minister of the Kyrgyz Republic, tel: +996-312-664-155.