Organised jointly by UNESCO Dhaka and New Delhi Offices, the workshop was the first of its kind in the development of multimedia training tools for media professionals in Asia. It was guided by the adage: "Tell me and I will forget; Show me and I will remember; Let me do and I will understand". It brought to the knowledge of trainers new skills which they are now able to use in building country specific training tools, reflecting the rich cultural diversity of their individual environments.

The participants showed high motivation and commitment to this new exercise. They learnt how to use video clips, voice over, add music and design elements on web pages and CDs, to illustrate their different messages relating to HIV/AIDS.

Special attention was paid to appropriate language in covering the many dimensions of HIV/AIDS. They debated on why it was necessary to use words that were inclusive and did not promote discrimination and stigma. The participants agreed that it was the duty of journalists to inform and change mindsets.

Each group made a presentation on the HIV/AIDS situation in their country covering its social, legal, cultural and human dimensions. This gave the opportunity to other participants to compare and analyse the situation along with the media response.

For Irina Safonova, a participant from Kazakhstan, the four-day workshop was time well spent. "In my country over one thousand persons get infected every year. Seventy per cent of them are young intravenous drug users. It becomes imperative for journalists to first know and then report about this issue”.

This Dhaka workshop was convened within the framework of the UNESCO project on Reducing the Impact of the HIV/AIDS Crisis in and through Education, contained in the wider project on Mitigation of HIV/AIDS crisis in Asia through Education, financed by the OPEC Fund for International Development. It is the first in a series of workshops which will be extended to other Asian countries in the overall objective of expanding preventive education through the media.