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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2005
New Entertainment-Education Drama to Premiere in Pakistan
with Launch of Newlywed Counseling Services in Clinics
 KARACHI, Pakistan — A new television drama, Kaisay Kahoon (How Shall I Say It?), will premiere next weekend in Pakistan to coincide with the kickoff a new clinic-based program that counsels newlyweds on a wide range of health topics, including reproductive health, family planning, and maternal health.
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Communication Programs (CCP) and Greenstar Social Marketing (GSM) of Pakistan are behind the innovative program that is supported by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Kaisay Kahoon's debut October 16, 2005 , will mark the start of an eight-episode entertainment-education serial on the importance of communication in families and positive life planning for young adults, as well as the beginning of Newlywed Counseling services at Greenstar clinics.
Greenstar doctors have been trained in counseling skills and will now offer young men and women professional advice at the outset of their married lives on reproductive and maternal health, family planning, infertility, and the importance of spousal communication.
A premiere event to be held October 1 st at the Regent Plaza in Karachi will feature Kaisay Kahoon's scriptwriter, well-known actor and playwright Rahat Kazmi, along with Producer/Director Sahira Kazmi and cast members. The event will host more than 500 people, including the newly trained Greenstar doctors, media personalities, members of the public and private health sectors, and representatives of CCP and the Packard Foundation.
TV and radio spots promoting the Newlywed Counseling services will air alongside the drama. Two music videos based on the drama's theme songs will also be released during the eight-week period to promote the drama and attract youth. AWS , an up-and-coming singer/songwriter, produced the songs for the drama and will also perform live at the launch.
The goal of Kaisay Kahoon is to empower young people to make positive, well-informed life choices on such issues as family planning, marriage, and education and to give young people hope for the future. The drama shows young adults tackling challenges in work and in their personal lives as they learn to find their voices and place in society.
Kaisay Kahoon tells the story of a middle-class family confronting contemporary social issues and learning to resolve them by communicating more openly with one another. The family's two siblings, Zain and Natasha, struggle to find their identities and self-confidence as they, their parents, and grandparents learn to talk openly across generations about tough issues.
Kaisay Kahoon and the Newlywed Counseling are part of the Youth First Project, which aims to empower Pakistan 's young adults to make constructive choices for positive life planning. The program also includes three youth telephone hotlines for reproductive health, family planning, and adolescent health issues (available in Karachi , Lahore , and Islamabad ), and the media campaign promoting the Newlywed Counseling Services and the importance of spousal communication.
With an overall mission to improve the quality of life of low-income people, Greenstar Social Marketing is a non-governmental organization that works with the Government of Pakistan to help provide high quality access to health care to low income people. For more information, visit www.greenstar.org.pk .
With representatives in more than 30 countries, Johns Hopkins' CCP partners with organizations worldwide to design and implement strategic communication programs that influence political dialogue, collective action, and individual behavior change; enhance access to information and the exchange of knowledge to improve health and health care; and conduct research to guide program design, evaluate impact, and advance knowledge and practice in health communication. For more information, visit www.jhuccp.org .
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