Public figures taking on HIV

Nalaka Gunawardene and Vindana Ariyawansa

December 1 was observed as World AIDS Awareness Day, and 2011 marks 30 years since the new pandemic emerged. It was on June 5, 1981 that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in the Untied States issued its first warning about a rare pneumonia called pneumocystis circulating among a small group of young gay men. Although it was not realized at the time, this was the official beginning of what became the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

In 1982, the CDC coined the term AIDS, for Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, but the cause was still unknown. The virus was finally isolated and given a name in 1983: Human Immunodeficiency Virus, or HIV.

The first HIV infection in Sri Lanka was reported in 1987, and the country is still classified as one with a low prevalence of HIV. The National STD/AIDS Control Programme at the Ministry of Health has recorded a total of 1,429 HIV infections in Sri Lanka up to September 30, 2011. Their website also says that the estimated number of people living with HIV/AIDS would be around 3,000.

Today’s Wiz Quiz pays tribute to courageous men and women who have committed their lives to spreading the message of HIV/AIDS – about its prevention as well as about better treatment and integration of those already living with HIV.

1.The societal stigma associated with HIV prevents most people infected with HIV from publicly (or even privately) acknowledging their status. This is why some health activists now say that stigma and discrimination associated with HIV are in fact worse than the virus itself. The first HIV infected person in Sri Lanka to publicly declare her status was an eminent pediatrician. She had been infected by HIV-contaminated blood given during a transfusion at a government hospital after she was injured in a road accident in 1995. She went public with her HIV status in 1997 and campaigned tirelessly for HIV prevention as well as proper treatment and care for those living with HIV. Who is this remarkable lady, who died in 2004?

2. The joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, known as UNAIDS, works with a number of outstanding personalities to strengthen public awareness on the issue. Called UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors, they are prominent individuals from the arts, entertainment, sport and other fields of public life. The latest addition was announced in November 2011, when an internationally known Korean football player was appointed as a UNAIDS International Goodwill Ambassador. In this capacity, he is to raise awareness on HIV prevention among young people and help break down the barriers of stigma and discrimination surrounding HIV, both in his country and across Asia. He was the first Asian footballer to receive FIFA’s World Cup Bronze Ball in 2002. Who is he?

3. SAARC Goodwill Ambassadors on HIV/AIDS was launched in 2008 to raise the issue of HIV/AIDS in the political and public agenda in South Asia. It uses entertainment and sporting celebrities with high public and media appeal to reach the widest possible audiences with the message of avoiding risky behaviour and removing stigma and discrimination against People Living with HIV and AIDS. Initially, two South Asian celebrities were designated as SAARC Goodwill Ambassadors for HIV and AIDS. One was Lankan cricketer Sanath Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka. Name the accomplished Indian actress and social activist who was the other.

4. Who is she? A Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist, she has long campaigned for social justice and environmental causes. Her 2007 song ‘Sing’ was born out of her involvement with Nelson Mandela’s 46664 campaign and Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), both of which seek education and health care for those affected by HIV. The same year, she established ‘The Sing’ Campaign, an organisation dedicated to raising funds and awareness for women and children affected by HIV and AIDS. In 2010, UNAIDS designated as an International Goodwill Ambassador for HIV/AIDS, in which capacity she focuses on the rights of girls and women who are more vulnerable to HIV infection.

5. The red ribbon has become universally associated with HIV/AIDS. It was conceived in 1991 at the Visual AIDS Artists Caucus, New York, USA. Painter Frank Moore lived in upstate New York, where a neighbouring family was displaying yellow ribbons in support of their soldier-daughter’s safe return from the Gulf War. It struck him that the ribbon could be a metaphor for AIDS as well, but he changed the colour to red to symbolise both blood and love.

The artists who developed the Red Ribbon design wanted to keep the image copyright free, so that no single individual or organisation would profit from the use of the red ribbon; and everyone would use it as a conscious raising symbol, not as a commercial or trademark tool. The Red Ribbon was officially launched at which high profile event related to the performing arts in 1991, where all the nominees and presenters voluntarily wore the ribbons?

6. Forming the northern part of the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal is the largest oceanic bay in the world. It resembles a triangle in shape, and covers a total area of 2,172,000 square kilometers. It is bordered mostly by the Eastern Coast of India, southern coast of Bangladesh and Sri Lanka to the west, and Burma and the Andaman and Nicobar Islands (which are part of India) to the east. Called in earlier history as the Chola Lake, it later came to be known as Bangal ki Khadi in Hindi after the region of Bengal. The Bay of Bengal appears as ‘Sinus Gangeticus’ or ‘Gangeticus Sinus’ in ancient maps of the world. What did that literally mean?

7. Who was he? A British lawyer and academic, he served as the first Vice Chancellor of the University of Ceylon from 1942 to 1955, during which time he oversaw the construction of its campus at Peradeniya and the shift there in 1952. An authority on constitutional law, he served as an advisor to first Prime Minister D S Senanayake, and wrote several books including Cabinet Government, and The Constitution of Ceylon. Upon returning to England, he served as Vice Chancellor of Cambridge University from 1961 to 63. He was responsible for drafting the Constitution for the Federation of Malaya (now Malaysia) and was an advisor to Pakistan.

8. Lester James Peries made Gamperaliya (Changes in the Village; 108 min; 1964) based on the Sinhala novel of the same name, written by Martin Wickremasinghe.

The movie was groundbreaking in Sinhala cinema, and was shot entirely outside of a studio using one lamp and hand held lights for lighting (at a time when most films were still being made within studios). Although not an immediate commercial success, it was critically and internationally acclaimed, and won the Golden Peacock at the International Film Festival of India and the Golden Head of Palenque in Mexico, both in 1965. It was one of the first Lankan films to be internationally recognised. Name the journalist, poet and literary critic who wrote the screenplay of Gamperaliya.

9. Omar Khayyám (1048 – 1131), the Persian poet, mathematician and astronomer, wrote a famous collection of poems called Rubaiyat. The first and most famous English translation of Rubaiyat was by Edward FitzGerald (1809 – 1883). A leading Lankan poet and lyricist adapted one verse from the Edward FitzGerald’s Rubaiyat and created a song opening with the words ‘Gee Pothai Mee Withai’, which was sung by W D Amaradeva. Who wrote this song?

10.The fourth and final installment of this movie franchise, based on the romance/fantasy novels written by Stephanie Myers, recently grossed US dollars 500 million worldwide within 12 days of its theatrical opening, becoming the second fastest movie ever to reach that income milestone. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Part 2) was the fastest to reach that mark, in just six days. Name this movie.

11.A certain western African country was created in the 1800s for all former slaves in Americas who were freed, and wanted to return to their original home continent. Beginning in 1820, this country was settled by freed American slaves who were helped by the American Colonisation Society, a private organisation that believed ex-slaves would have greater freedom and equality in Africa. The country was formally declared in 1847, and established a government modeled on that of the United States, and even named their capital after the fifth president of the US. What is this country?

12. This Bangladeshi doctor turned writer has authored many works of fiction and poetry, but she became known worldwide when her 1993 novel ‘Lajja’ (Shame) was banned in her home country. She has been controversial owing to her feminist views and her criticism of Islam in particular and of religion in general. Under threat from religious fanatics, she has been living in exile in various countries and currently believed to be in India. Who is she?

13. A well known novel originated from a game its author played with his stepson. Drawing a map on a rainy day, Robert Louis Stevenson was urged by the child to make up stories to go along with the drawings. Stevenson liked his own stories so much that he wrote them down. These, in time, became the basis for a new novel. What did he call it?

14. The second edition of ‘Among Those Present’, a series of biographical essays by an iconic Sri Lankan journalist, was released in November 2011. That came out nearly half a century after its original publication in 1963. It features pen portraits of key people who shaped the life and times of Ceylon in the years before and after independence, including Anagarika Dharmapala, Don Stephen and Dudley Senanayake, Ediriweera Sarathchandra, G P Malalasekera, Nicholas Attygalle, Senarat Paranavithana and Yakkaduve Pragnarama Thero. Who is the author of this famous book?

15. The captain of Sri Lanka national women’s cricket team stepped down in October 2011 after being in that role for six years. She did so “to give another player a chance” to captain Sri Lanka and also for “personal reasons”. Who is she?

Last week’s answers

1. Joseph Conrad’s An Outcast of the Islands (1896)
2. Robert Parrish
3. Kandy Railway Station
4. Chandran Rutnam
5. King Bhumibol Adulyadej (King Rama IX) of Thailand
6. Fidel Castro of Cuba
7. Lunuganga
8. Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (Movement for Justice)
9. H A J (Herbert Alexander Jayatilake) Hulugalle (1899 - 1981)
10. Toni Morrison
11. Ethiopia
12. Indonesia’s President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
13. Jetawanaramaya
14. Sir John Lionel Kotelawala (1897 - 1980)
15. Margaret Smith Court