Mandela to discuss AIDS in MTV documentary

Former South African president Nelson Mandela is set to appear in an open forum with young people to discuss HIV/AIDS as part of an upcoming MTV documentary focusing on his life and his work on HIV/AIDS issues. The hour-long program, set to air in July, will launch the cable TV network's 2003-2004 "Staying Alive" HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. For the film, Mandela has invited young people from all over the world to visit his Johannesburg home to discuss issues of concern to them, including AIDS. "With rising HIV infection rates around the world and the issues of war, terrorism, and discrimination, young people now have so many important decisions to make in their lives," Mandela said. Mandela is the founder of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, which has played a major role in forming youth HIV/AIDS education programs in South Africa and other developing nations in Africa. The documentary is being produced by MTV's parent company, Viacom, in association with the Nelson Mandela Foundation, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, the World Bank, the Kaiser Family Foundation, and Family Health International's YouthNet.