A press conference was held on 12 May to launch the large-scale anti-AIDS television project, entitled ‘Time to Live’. Regional telethons will take place between May and December 2005 in 11 Russian cities: St. Petersburg, Ulan Ude, Ulyanovsk, Krasnoyarsk, Nizhny Novgorod, Tver, Volgograd, Kazan, Tomsk, Irkutsk and Barnaul. The programmes will be hosted by Vladimir Pozner, Elena Khanga and other famous presenters.The project was set up by major Russian and international non-profit organisations working in the field of HIV/AIDS, including UNAIDS, UNDP, the European Commission, Internews, FOCUS-MEDIA, AIDS Foundation East-West (AFEW), Population Services International (PSI), and the Community of People Living with HIV/AIDS.The ‘Time to Live’ project is a continuation of the HIV/AIDS telethon which was broadcast on Channel 1 on 1 December 2004. Tutta Larsen and Vladimir Pozner hosted a talk show which was transmitted live from the Ostankino studio with support from popular musical artists, including Mumii Troll, Moralnii Kodeks, Aria, Voskresenye, Chaif, Linda and Valery Syutkin. The telethon was seen by more than 25 million people in Russia alone, and television critics called Time for Life the best programme of the month.Building on the success of that programme, its organisers decided to continue the Time to Live project and hold a series of talk shows on regional channels in 11 regions of Russia. Representatives of local government and NGOs working in the sphere of HIV/AIDS will take part in the programmes, as well as doctors, teachers, journalists and people living with HIV/AIDS. The first regional telethon will take place in St. Petersburg on 15 May.The official statistics alone show that today in Russia there are around 311 000 people living with HIV/AIDS, with around 100 new cases being registered every single day. The epidemic is reaching into ever wider sections of the population, and presents a serious social and economic threat for the whole of Russian society.The goal of the ‘Time to Live’ project is to get people involved in thinking about the issues of HIV/AIDS, provide reliable information on the epidemic’s development, and also cover problems specific to particular regions or participants. Open discussion, and live debate involving the presenters, studio audience and viewers at home will mean that people will gain full and balanced information on HIV/AIDS. The fact that Vladimir Pozner, one of the best Russian television presenters, is taking part ensures that even the most difficult and controversial topics will be covered.