IOM today launched a video series designed to protect tens of
thousands of migrant workers in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS)
from HIV and AIDS.

The videos, funded by the Netherlands, target migrants on the
move and away from home and who, faced by new social norms, run a
higher risk of contracting HIV than other social groups. They also
focus on communities hosting migrants and people living near the
region's fast expanding highway network.

"The ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Highway
Network is opening up internal and cross-border mobility in the
GMS. Economically it represents a great opportunity, but some
locations along the route are very vulnerable to HIV due to
high-risk behaviours fuelled by alcohol and injected drug use,
ethnic and socio-economic disparities, and outward labour
migration," says IOM Regional Medical Advisor, Dr. Nenette
Motus.

"Areas where sections of the road or other infrastructure
projects are under construction can also be at risk because of the
presence of relatively cash-rich foreign contract workers, their
need for high-risk recreational activities and the local economy
that develops around this," she observes.

The HIV and AIDS - Safe Mobility Package "For Life, With Love,"
which was devised in partnership with national health authorities
and stakeholders working with migrants and mobile communities in
Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, the Lao PDR and Myanmar, comprises an
animated video series and life skills activities manuals.

Intended for use by governments, NGOs and grass root
organizations to raise awareness of HIV and AIDS and population
mobility, the package is designed to reduce HIV vulnerability and
high-risk behaviour among migrants, mobile workers and
mobility-affected populations in the GMS.

The eight ten-minutes animated video series follows a cast of
characters as they migrate to new places and experience new social
environments to address general HIV and AIDS awareness, gender
issues, access to services and reduction of stigma and
discrimination.

The modules, which have been developed in Khmer, Burmese, Lao,
Vietnamese, Thai and English, focus on increased HIV vulnerability
in migrant source, transit and destination communities.

A trailer of "For Life With Love" can be viewed on IOM's South
East Asia website at "http://www.iom-seasia.org" target="_blank" title=
"">www.iom-seasia.org.

For further information, please contact:

Chris Lom

IOM Bangkok

Tel. +66.819275215

E-mail "mailto:clom@iom.int">clom@iom.int