April 7, 2008 USC Annenberg's Hollywood, Health, and Society Receives Grants to Launch New Initiatives Sandra Buffington named new program director of Norman Lear Center project

LOS ANGELES -- Two prestigious new grants, including a grant to the University of Southern California from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, are expanding the scope and ambition of Hollywood, Health & Society (HH&S), the pioneering health communication program working with the television and film community, now in its seventh year at the USC Annenberg School for Communication's Norman Lear Center.

A three-year grant of over $1.37 million from the Gates Foundation will enable HH&S to develop an entertainment-education strategy to increase U.S. public support for global initiatives to reduce health disparities and disease around the world. Main goals of the new effort include increasing the accurate presentation of global health topics, such as HIV-AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria, in popular primetime TV shows; and increasing understanding and support among TV viewers of global health programs that can save lives and reduce disease, especially in Africa.

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Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
Guided by the belief that every life has equal value, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives. In developing countries, it focuses on improving people's health and giving them the chance to lift themselves out of hunger and extreme poverty. In the United States, it seeks to ensure that all people—especially those with the fewest resources—have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life. Based in Seattle, the foundation is led by CEO Patty Stonesifer and co-chair William H. Gates Sr., under the direction of Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett.