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Type of production: Documentary feature

Subject: HIV/AIDS

Audience: General audience

Production year: 2004

Duration: 58 minutes

Language versions: English, French, Italian

Countries: Malawi

Producer: ETHNOS TV productions, with support from the MEDIA PLUS Programme of the EU

Rights:   
Rights: please contact: Elisa Mereghetti ETHNOS - via Toscana 182- 40141 Bologna, Italy - info@ethnosfilm.com

Summary: Catherine Phiri was a 40 year-old nurse from Malawi, mother of two children, who discovered to be HIV-positive following the death of her husband due to AIDS. Risking isolation and even violence in a conservative society such as that of her country, Catherine decided to speak about her condition in public, and to use her experience and her voice to break the silence surrounding AIDS. She thus became a respected leader and a source of inspiration for many people.  The association which she founded in 1994, the Salima HIV/AIDS Support Organization (SASO), is dedicated to the support of AIDS orphans, to the spreading of information on HIV-AIDS and to the assistance and care of AIDS patients. As her illness was progressing, Catherine continued in her own battle till the very last day, with the same determination and courage which has characterized all her life.