Salif Keita HIV/AIDS MALARIA DOCUMENTARY IN MALI

Filming set for October 2006

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter".

Martin Luther King, Jr.                       

Here are some of the facts that matter:

"More than 75,000 children have died of AIDS in Mali"

"More 250,000 people are living with AIDS in Mali"

"More than 40,000 people die of Malaria in Mali each year"

 "Malaria kills 2 out of 100 children under 5 in Mali"

                          "Both Malaria and AIDS are 100% preventable"

"There is no proven cure for Malaria or AIDS, except for education and prevention"

   HIV/AIDS Mali

Mali, a landlocked nation of 12 million located in West Africa, has so far escaped the worst of the HIV/AIDS epidemic that is devastating so much of sub-Saharan Africa. Approximately, 1.7 percent of Malians have been infected with HIV. Relatively moderate rates of internal and external migration and Islamic social and sexual mores (90 percent of Malians are Muslim) may partially explain Malis low HIV incidence rate relative to other sub-Saharan nations.

Despite the low rate of HIV/AIDS infection in Mali today, USAID's Synergy project reported indicators that HIV could spread very rapidly. Less than 10 percent of Malian women know how to avoid AIDS, and only 2 percent of women use condoms to prevent transmission of HIV. A second factor is the high level of HIV in commercial sex workers; 52 percent of prostitutes tested in urban areas were HIV positive. A third area of concern is the seasonal migration of farm workers to and from Cote dIvoire, the West African country with the highest rate of HIV infection. Finally, the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM) is widespread, leaving the 90 percent of the female population having undergone FGM at greater risk for HIV.

Malis current low rate of HIV prevalence is in part due to political commitment at the top. Former President Alpha Oumar Konare (later elected head of the African Union) appeared on television to promote the use of condoms to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. The social marketing of condoms, a typical part of HIV prevention programs, has been complicated by Malis extreme poverty, the perception of its government as corrupt and ineffective, and the opposition and criticism of Muslim clerics and conservative politicians.

Malaria in Mali

Malaria is endemic throughout Mali; if malaria prevalence has remained constant since the United Nations Statistics Division's last reported data in 1998, Mali has approximately 440,000 reported malaria cases each year. More than 10 percent of those cases are fatal. USAID has reported that an estimated 85 percent of pregnant women in Mali contract malaria.

There are at least 300 million acute cases of malaria each year globally, resulting in more than a million deaths. Around 90% of these deaths occur in Africa, mostly in young children. Malaria is Mali's leading cause of under-five mortality.

In Mali, malaria is understood to be both a disease of poverty and a cause of poverty. Annual economic growth in countries with high malaria transmission has historically been lower than in countries without malaria. Economists believe that malaria is responsible for a growth penalty of up to 1.3% per year in some African countries. When compounded over the years, this penalty leads to substantial differences in GDP between countries with and without malaria and severely restrains the economic growth of the entire region. Malaria also has a direct impact on Mali's human resources. Not only does malaria result in lost life and lost productivity due to illness and premature death, but malaria also hampers children's schooling and social development through both absenteeism and permanent neurological and other damage associated with severe episodes of the disease.

Malaria in Mali kills approximately ten times more people than AIDS in Mali.

Sources: Synergy Project; BBC country profile; WHO Report 2003: Global Tuberculosis Control; United Nations Statistics Division; World Bank; USAID mission in Mali; Epoch Times

Project Overview

The goal of the documentary is to increase awareness about HIV/AIDS and Malaria in Mali, and to provide an overview of the social-economic effects of the diseases on the population in Mali. Our primary focus will be on the children affected by the diseases.

The project will be filmed during a 2-4 week period in Bamako, Mali. It will include in-country footage of the existing AIDS and Malaria facilities and treatment centers in Mali. It will include interviews with NGOs, corporations, and government agencies currently working on projects to combat both diseases. The documentary will provide an objective account of the current crises in Mali, with interviews with the people directly affected, and with objective accounts of the measures being taken in Mali to stop the spread of both HIV and Malaria.

The film will be set to the backdrop of the music of international sensation, Salif Keita, and will include his partial narration as he walks us through Bamako, Mali as we unravel the effects of the diseases, and the work being done to eradicate them. By providing a cultural and musical tone to the documentary, the objective is to provide an entertaining incentive in order to educate all audiences around the world about the current state of AIDS and Malaria in Mali.

The documentary will be filmed by noted filmmaker and photographer, Kristian Ranker, who has worked extensively with Rolling Stone Magazine among many other acclaimed publications. The project will be co-produced by Salif Keita, Kristian Ranker and Coumba Makalou, Executive Director of Conscientious Organizations Using Music to Bring Awareness that aims to raise awareness and money for causes through use of music and art. All three co-producers have donated their personal time, the use of their personal and professional resources and talent in order to make this documentary a reality. The main goal of the documentary is to create an educational and attention-grabbing film on AIDS and Malaria in Mali.

All profits made from the documentary will be redistributed as funding for AIDS and Malaria projects in Mali.   The completed DVD has received global distribution sponsorship from an international London-based agency.