The General Assembly of Diseases

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By Pierre Sauvalle, Cameroon/France, animated at Pictoon Studios, Dakar, based on an original idea by Mamadou Macki Bah, aged 17, from Kayes, Mali, and featuring Senegalese music star Ismaël Lô

This animated tale takes place in Contaminobo, home to germs like Tuberculosis, Polio, Hepatitis, Measles… and "Microbe Diarrhea". The germs are angry and afraid because humanity has been making such great strides against them. They greet the arrival of "His Royal Heinous, Overlord AIDS" with joy, believing that his strategy of attacking the human body's defence system will save them. Unfortunately for them, we have been spying on their "General Assembly"! From the germs' own mouths, we have learned how we can outsmart AIDS and protect ourselves from him and his cronies.

• length: 8 minutes 46 seconds
• date: 2000
• currently available in: American Sign Language, Dioula, English, Fon, French, Hausa, Igbo, Italian (subtitles), Kinyarwanda, Kiswahili, Lingala, Mina, Mooré, Portuguese, Pulaar, Twi, Wolof, and Yoruba

Please click here to view and download photos from the shoot of the film The General Assembly of Diseases.

Key topics for discussion:

• How HIV is spread: How the virus can enter the human body

• The relationship between HIV and STDs, or sexually transmitted diseases

• What HIV does if it gets inside the human body

• How to protect oneself from HIV infection
  

Discussion topic 1:
How HIV is spread: How the virus can enter the human body

IN THE FILM: HIV/AIDS explains that there are three ways in which he can spread from one person to another. What are they?

HIV/AIDS explains that he can spread, or be transmitted from one person to another, in the following ways:

1. The blood route: HIV can be spread if the blood of an HIV-infected person gets into another person's body.

2. From mother to child: A mother who lives with HIV can pass the virus on to her baby.

3. Through unprotected sex: An HIV-infected person can pass the virus on to his or her sexual partner unless they use appropriate protection correctly.

IN REAL LIFE: Of the three ways in which HIV is spread, which one is the most common?

The overwhelming majority of people living with HIV in the world today became infected through unprotected sex with an HIV-infected person.

Discussion topic 2:
The relationship between HIV and STDs, the sexually transmitted diseases

IN THE FILM: During his speech, HIV/AIDS asks one particular group of germs to serve as his assistants. He then says to that group of germs: "You and I will do terrible things together." Do you remember which group of germs that was?

It was the STDs - the sexually transmitted diseases.

IN REAL LIFE: How do HIV and STDs work together?

They often work very closely together.

An STD, increasingly referred to as an STI, or sexually transmitted infection, is an infection that one can get through unprotected sex. There are lots of different STDs, for example syphilis and gonorrhea. They can have different symptoms, but all of them affect a person's sexual organs. Some STDs don't have any symptoms at all.

Germs can get into the body a lot easier if our skin has been damaged. Even the tiniest of cuts, sometimes too small to be seen, are big enough for a virus (like HIV) or other germs to get in.

STDs often damage the skin and cause cuts on a person's sexual organs. That means that HIV can get into a person's body much easier if that person has unprotected sex.

If a person has an STD, it is essential that he or she have it treated swiftly and correctly, because STDs can cause a lot of pain and might even cause sterility, that is to say that they can make it impossible for the person to have children. The good news is that most STDs can be completely cured.

Discussion topic 3:
What HIV does if it gets inside the human body

IN THE FILM: In Contaminobo, this imaginary village of germs, HIV/AIDS' speech makes the other germs really happy. Why?

HIV/AIDS explains that, once he gets inside the human body, he goes about damaging the body's defence system -- the immune system. Once HIV has succeeded in weakening the defence system, it becomes much easier for other germs to attack that person's body and to cause disease.

IN REAL LIFE: How does the human immune system work? What does HIV do to the immune system?

Everyone's body is protected against infection and disease by what is called the immune system. The immune system fights bad germs that try to cause disease. It fights the germs in three ways:

1. The immune system tries to make it hard for bad germs to get into the body in the first place.

2. If bad germs do get into our bodies, the immune system tries to prevent them from causing disease.

3. If the bad germs do manage to start to cause disease, the immune system fights hard to solve the problem and stop the disease in our bodies.

HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, is a particularly bad germ, because it weakens and eventually destroys the body's defences. Once our defences are destroyed, other bad germs can get into our bodies and cause disease. That explains why people who are living with AIDS often have many different health problems all at the same time.

Discussion topic 4:
How to protect oneself from HIV infection

IN THE FILM: In his presentation, HIV/AIDS provides some vital information on how we can keep him from getting into our bodies. What did he say?

The key is prevention.

One way we can prevent HIV from getting into our bodies is to avoid contact with other people's blood. We should never use instruments that cut or pierce the skin (needles and blades, for example) if they have been used by somebody else and not correctly sterilised afterwards.

HIV can also spread through sex. In his speech, HIV/AIDS said that a person can prevent sexual transmission of HIV by being faithful to one's partner or by using a condom every time one has sex.

IN REAL LIFE: Fidelity and condoms are two strategies to prevent sexual transmission of HIV. There is also a third possibility. Can you name it?

The answer is abstinence, which means that a person does not have sexual relations at all. If a person never has sex with anybody, they have a 0% chance of becoming infected with HIV from sex. However, they must still be careful to avoid coming into contact with other people's blood.

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