At this year's Health for All Film Festival (HAFF), organised by WHO, two films from the South-East Asian region have won awards. The film from Bangladesh named "One in 36 Million: Story of Childhood Lead Poisoning in Bangladesh" received the Grand Prix award under the Better Health and Well-being category. The film was directed by Arifur Rahma and Mitali Das and produced by Pure Earth Bangladesh.
Another film from India named "When Climate Change Turns Violent" by Vandita Sariya won the Special prize under the Climate Change and Health category.
As a way to include audio-visual language as a crucial part of its "communicating for health impact" strategy, the WHO launched HAFF in 2019.
Short films that are well-made and well-targeted can help some populations' health conditions by promoting behavior change or by giving viewers the information, inspiration, or skills they need to take action.
This year, more than 780 entries were received and from them, 93 films were shortlisted. The films covered issues ranging from anxiety and depression to the effects of climate change on health, as well as the health challenges of people with disabilities.
The awards were announced at a ceremony that took place on 6 June.
Since 2020, more than 4300 submissions from 110 different countries have been received by the Health for All Film Festival. The World Health Organization (WHO) has 300 titles in its catalogue as of April 2023 in an effort to promote the health of people everywhere.
