PRESS RELEASE
Elena Franchuk Foundation "ANTI-AIDS"
Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, January 15, 2004

The media companies have committed to at least one year of media placements for public service announcements, to incorporating awareness of HIV/AIDS issues in ongoing programming and to providing media support for charitable and educational events.

The Foundation aims 1) to draw attention to the problem of HIV/AIDS by conducting informational and educational campaigns and 2) to raise funds to finance projects on HIV/AIDS prevention, care, as well as eradication of the stigma and discrimination facing HIV/AIDS infected people.

In 2004, the foundation will expand the scope of the media campaign with additional television and print advertising. It will continue to organize events that raise awareness and funds to help the most vulnerable groups. The foundation's first charity fundraiser was a concert held at the National Opera of Ukraine on December 12, 2003 featuring U.S. soprano Jessie Norman and Russian conductor Vladimir Spivakov.

The concert raised over $200,000USD to benefit orphans living with HIV/AIDS. The foundation is also actively soliciting video-messages of support from world leaders and celebrities active in the global anti-AIDS fight.

HIV-infection is growing rapidly in the Eastern Europe/Central Asia region. The World Health Organization estimates about ? million people in Ukraine are currently HIV-infected - 1% of the adult population or one in every hundred persons.