Richard Gere urges Indian stars to take leading public health role

Hollywood star Richard Gere is in India trying to persuade local celebrities to do something that is commonplace in other countries but rare in ultra-conservative India - use their charisma and influence to spread Aids awareness.

Two causes are close to Gere's heart: Aids and Tibet. As a Buddhist, he makes frequent trips to India to meet the Dalai Lama but he also uses his fame from films such as Pretty Woman to help Indian Aids groups. This latest visit comes just after the release of official figures showed that India now has 5.1 million people infected with Aids, second only to South Africa.

Gere is helping the India Aids Foundation (funded by the Bill Gates Foundation), with its Heroes Project, an attempt to rope in Bollywood film stars and cricket players to be 'brand ambassadors' for the Aids cause. So far, no famous Indian has appeared on television or in print advertisements to help remove the stigma associated with the disease or advocate the use of condoms.

Gere has already persuaded cricket star Rahul Dravid to make a series of anti-Aids advertisements for television and he is hoping to get many more celebrities on board before he leaves for Bangkok to attend the 15th international Aids conference.

His brother David Gere is also in India to promote the use of India's folk art as a vehicle for getting anti-Aids information across to the illiterate masses in the countryside.

The campaign involves theatre troupes, singers, painters, puppeteers, and dancers weaving information about Aids into their traditional performances or arts.