Health advocates
push TV shows to address AIDS and other diseases

Health advocates are hoping to take advantage of the enormous popularity of medical-based television programs like E.R., Scrubs, and CSI to deliver important messages about AIDS and other diseases to viewers, the San Jose Mercury News reports. Government officials are even contacting scriptwriters at the various TV production companies and sending advisors to Hollywood to educate producers on the importance of addressing a number of serious diseases on their programs.

The impact of television in the health arena is significant, according to a 2001 federal government survey of more than 3,700 Americans. More than half of those surveyed said they learned something about a disease, its warning signals, or how to prevent it from watching television programs.

"Research shows that people pay attention to health information in TV story lines, and they even take action sometimes," Vicki Beck, director of Hollywood, Health, and Society, a joint project of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Cancer Institute, the University of Southern California's Norman Lear Center, and others, told the Mercury News. (Advocate.com)