DoH selects ad agency for TB campaign

Media Moguls, the agency specialising in ethnic advertising, has been appointed by the Department of Health to raise awareness of tuberculosis (TB) among Asians.

The agency has been appointed because the Asian community is particularly unaware of the symptoms of the disease.

Media Moguls beat competition from two other undisclosed agencies. The business includes PR and media buying.

A six-figure campaign, running across ethnic press, radio and satellite channels, will break on March 25. It will assure people that the disease is curable if caught early.

The launch has been timed to link up with World TB Day on March 24.

Two leading Bollywood stars – Akshay Kumar and Sonali Bendre – will feature in the TV ad, which was filmed in India.

Last year, 7,000 people were diagnosed with tuberculosis in the UK. Some 400 of these people died as a result of late diagnosis.

The World Health Organisation wants to detect 70 per cent of tuberculosis cases globally and achieve 85 per cent treatment success by 2005. There are 148 countries working with the World Health Organisation to achieve its targets.