This is to announce the launching of the UK premiere of Condom Commandos, a new documentary film about HIV/AIDS prevention in the Angolan Army commissioned by ACORD.

Where: Forum @ Christian Aid, 35 Lower Marsh, London SE1 7RL When: Wednesday 26 September 2007 Time: 17:30 -19:00 followed by refreshments

Dr Andre Jose Maria Chimuco, a Major in the Angolan Army and the main character in the film, is coming from Angola for the screening, and will be available for media interviews.

FILM SYNOPSIS

Condom Commandos (24 mins) is a good news story about HIV/AIDS in Africa. Inside the Angolan army, soldiers swap their guns for condoms. Army Doctor Andre Chimuco leads his troops to talk frankly about sex, and change their ideas about women, power, and what you can do with a banana.

This is the first documentary to follow 'Stepping Stones', a radical HIV/AIDS prevention programme with an exceptional success rate in changing sexual behaviour and empowering individuals to negotiate safer sex.

The film shows 'Stepping Stones' in action in the Army and, in parallel, with women from the village beside the barracks. On-screen, local women confront soldiers about their behaviour, and the impact on the community of 5,000 troops stationed far from home and careless about the health risks of buying sex from impoverished local women and girls.

Scenes include both Angolan troops and elderly women villagers talking with astonishing openness about their bodies, their relationships, and their sexual practices.

NOTES FOR EDITORS

o Dr Andre Chimuco, available for media interviews from 26th to 30th September. [He can be contacted via Angela Hadjipateras on: 0794437359 or Marie Aziz on: 020 7065 0850 or mariea@acord.org.uk

o Preview DVDs of the half-hour film Condom Commandos are available. [contact Angela Hadjipateras on 0749937359 or Lucinda Broadbent on 0779003691]

o Stepping Stones is a training package developed by Dr Alice Welbourn in 1995 to promote "gender equity, inter-generational respect and solidarity with HIV positive people, in a human rights framework." Originally set in Uganda, it has since been used by 1,500 organisations in over 100 countries across the globe (for further information, see www.steppingstonesfeedback.org.)

o Shut off from the outside world by two decades of brutal civil war, Angola has, to date, managed to escape the alarmingly high HIV prevalence rates common in most surrounding countries in the Southern African region [South Africa, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Swaziland, Malawi..] However, since the ending of the war five years ago, infection rates have been creeping up. Hence, the urgency of introducing effective measures to stop the further spread of HIV and AIDS in the country NOW before it is too late.

o ACORD (Agency for Cooperation and Research in Development), an Africa-led international alliance set up in 1975, works in 17 countries in sub-Saharan Africa to promote social justice and gender equality. ACORD has been working on HIV and AIDS for over 15 years and is recognised as a leader in the field. It has been using the Stepping Stones approach for almost a decade. This film was commissioned by ACORD as a spin-off of a 3-year project funded by Comic Relief aimed at testing the effectiveness of Stepping Stones as a tool of HIV/AIDS education and prevention.

o Condom Commandos was commissioned by the Angola branch of ACORD from the UK production company mediaco-op, with financial support from Oxfam Novib and Oxfam GB Angola.

o The film will be used widely across Africa and beyond, to promote the 'Stepping Stones' approach.

o Still photos from Condom Commandos attached.

o Copies of the DVD will be available at the launch

o Christian Aid, who is hosting the event, has also used Stepping Stones in many of its country programmes. Well known for its outstanding work worldwide in battling poverty and injustice, Christian Aid is strongly committed to supporting the work of others in responding to HIV and AIDS and other areas.

contact Angela Hadjipateras on 0749937359