US embassy cable - 05MAPUTO365

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 MAPUTO 000365 
 
SIPDIS 
STATE FOR IIP/G/AF (TJDOWLING AND EYORK) 
STATE FOR AF/PD (PEHRNMAN AND CDALTON) AND AF/S 
(HTREGER) 
STATE FOR S/GAC (ABLACK AND KRAPPOSELLI) 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: OIIP, OEXC, SCUL, KPAO, WZ, HIV/AIDS/PEPFAR 
SUBJECT: RESULTS REPORT: IIP SPEAKER ANDREW PETKUN 
IGNITES DISCUSSION ON HIV/AIDS 
 
 
1.Summary: Andrew Petkun, HIV/AIDS activist and 
photojournalist spent a productive two weeks in 
Mozambique lecturing and showing his photographs of 
people living with HIV/AIDS to students and 
journalists. Through this technique of showing people 
the human face of the disease, he carried HIV/AIDS 
prevention messages, as well as helped reduce the 
stigma of the disease. End Summary. 
 
2.Name of Speaker and Dates of Program: HIV/AIDS 
Activist, Andrew Petkun, February 22 - March 4, 2005. 
 
3.Summary of Topic, Venue and Audiences Addressed: 
d: 
Petkun was programmed as an HIV/AIDS prevention 
speaker in support of the MPP Global Health goals. 
Petkun had a busy programming schedule during his trip 
to Mozambique. His primary audiences were journalists 
and students, though time was also carved out for him 
to tour orphanages, clinics and hospitals, and for him 
to take pictures or to address these groups, as 
appropriate. Highlights included presentations to: 
(i) over 100 journalism students at the national 
school of journalism; (ii) over 100 medical students 
at Catholic University in Beira, Mozambique's second 
largest city and home to some of the highest infection 
rates in the country; (iii) students at the newly 
christened Martin Luther King, Jr. High School in 
Matola, outside of the capital city; (iv) journalism 
associations in Maputo, Beira and Chimoio; (v) police 
in Maputo; and (vi) a public audience on his final day 
that included National HIV/AIDS Coordinator, Joana 
Mangueira. 
 
4.Audience Size: During his trip, Petkun directly 
addressed a total audience ranging from 750-1000 
people, though through media exposure, his messages 
reached tens of thousands more. 
 
5.Effectiveness of Speaker in Communicating Intended 
Messages to Target Audiences: Outstanding. Though 
billed as a photojournalist, Petkun uses his 
photographs as a tool to become a powerful HIV/AIDS 
activist. The use of his photographs clearly struck 
home with Mozambican audiences around the country and 
served to underscore his message that "no single act 
of pleasure" is worth the pain and suffering HIV/AIDS 
can cause. While Petkun does not have a medical or 
public health background, his layman's evangelical 
approach combined with the visual imagery of people 
living with the disease is an effective prevention 
device. 
 
6.Quality of IIP Support: Good. The only comment 
post has is that the transmittal of the final travel 
schedule for Petkun to post was somewhat delayed, 
causing similar delays in the confirmation of his 
program in country. Otherwise, communication was 
excellent throughout the process. 
 
7.Immediate Results/Impact: As demonstrated by the 
high level of the media coverage described below, 
Petkun's visit stirred a national debate about 
HIV/AIDS. The fact that Petkun was in the country for 
two weeks allowed for travel along the Beira Corridor, 
home to the highest infection rates in the country, as 
well as heavy saturation with media outlets across the 
Southern and Central parts of the country. 
Exceptionally notable were his presentations to 
journalism and medical university students. Both 
presentations were well received and were made to 
audiences that are important to the continuing fight 
against HIV/AIDS. Both presentations were extended 
well past the original allotted time due to the number 
of questions the presentations provoked. 
After the initial media coverage, a scheduled visit to 
a USG-funded project was canceled by the project 
participants because of the photographs shown on 
television. After negotiations between the Embassy, 
CDC and the project, Petkun was allowed to visit the 
site with the caveat that no photographs were to be 
taken. While this example illuminates some of the 
work that still needs to be accomplished to engender 
leadership on HIV/AIDS in Mozambique, Petkun himself 
noted during his trip that Mozambicans seemed much 
more open to discussing the disease and its 
consequences than he had been led to believe, and in 
fact, much more so than many other countries he had 
visited. 
Also notable was his final presentation, which 
included students, media, private and public sector 
participants. Petkun challenged the government of 
Mozambique, including the newly elected president, to 
use its moral authority to combat the epidemic. Joana 
Mangueira, the National HIV/AIDS coordinator, was in 
the audience. She was clearly moved by the 
presentation and gave a lengthy monologue during the 
debate afterwards, indicating that Mozambique needs to 
find similar innovative ways to convey the prevention 
message to its citizens. She asked for Embassy support 
in continuing Petkun's effort and in making it 
sustainable. 
As a side note, the smiles on the faces of orphans in 
Beira when Petkun shared cookies his daughter had 
baked and the applause that erupted from journalism 
students when Petkun announced that the U.S. Embassy 
would be providing pizza at the end of the 
presentation demonstrated that public diplomacy often 
relies on thoughtfulness as an inexpensive alternative 
to other means. 
To date, Petkun's visit has had a continuing impact. 
Quotations from his final presentation scrolled at the 
bottom of the screen a week after he departed during 
the showing of "Let's Break the Silence", a popular 
national television show dealing with HIV/AIDS topics 
which airs on TVM, the state-run channel. 
 
8. Press placement: Petkun's visit received 
outstanding media coverage by television, radio and 
print outlets, as summarized below: 
Television: Petkun was interviewed by four television 
stations on his initial day, including: TVM (national 
coverage up to 2,000,000 people); RTP-Africa 
(international coverage primarily to lusophone 
countries); STV (Maputo coverage up to 1,000,000 
people); and TV Miramar (Maputo coverage up to 
1,000,000). 
Additionally, footage and interviews from Petkun's 
final presentation aired on the popular Saturday 
afternoon show "Let's Break the Silence" the day after 
his departure, and the same show featured quotations 
by Petkun the following week scrolling at the bottom 
of the screen throughout the broadcast. 
Radio: Petkun appeared on radio interviews four 
times, including twice on Radio Mozambique on both its 
English and Portuguese language broadcasts. He was 
also interviewed on community radio stations in Beira 
(up to 500,000 people) and Chimoio (up to 300,000). 
Print: In total, ten articles appeared about Petkun 
in the Mozambican print media. 
Four of those articles appeared in the state-run 
daily, Noticias (nationwide circulation of 25,000, 
readership of 250,000). The most provocative of those 
pieces was a March 4 editorial entitled "Sex: The Only 
Pleasure for the Poor?" in response to the lecture 
Petkun gave to journalists in Chimoio. Excerpts from 
that article include: 
"Andrew Petkun showed himself to be a profound expert 
of the African mentality on HIV/AIDS. As an American, 
Petkun better knows our weak points on this issue . . 
. based on our cultural habits and their relationship 
with poverty, ignorance and sexuality. He was, 
without a doubt, one of the best at conveying a large 
amount of knowledge to his audience as to how we must 
behave as a people and as a nation in the prevention 
and fight against this pandemic." 
"It was an interesting lecture, and I think it will 
help us change our mentality. All of us have already 
heard of the illness, but, unfortunately, we still 
continue to insist upon risky behaviors. Polygamy, 
sexual abuse of minors, multiple partners, unprotected 
sex, and alcoholism are some of the practices that 
lead to the disease and must therefore be prevented." 
On March 2, the weekly Embondeiro (circulation of 
10,000, readership of 50,000) stated that "[t]he 
American photojournalist took the discussion of death 
beyond his black and white pictures. He also spoke 
about the drama of AIDS to journalists at the 
Mozambican Photography Association and passed them the 
responsibility of spreading the work regarding 
HIV/AIDS deaths." 
Also on March 2, the daily Beira paper, Diaro de 
Mozambique (circulation of 10,000, readership of 
50,000), ran an article regarding the necessity of 
confidentiality during HIV/AIDS testing, quoting 
 
SIPDIS 
Petkun as saying, "[h]ealth professionals who cannot 
maintain confidentiality when dealing with HIV/AIDS 
issues must be dismissed because it is a crime to 
disclose to strangers the HIV status of people who are 
tested." 
 
9. Comment: By any standard, Petkun's two weeks in 
Mozambique were enormously successful, and the focus 
on journalists and students proved highly beneficial. 
Through the student audiences, Petkun impacted the 
attitudes of hundreds of future leaders regarding the 
HIV/AIDS crisis. Through the journalists, Petkun was 
able to spread much needed prevention and reduction of 
stigma messages to tens of thousands of Mozambicans. 
End Comment. 
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