MTV Staying Alive was recently honoured by for our contributions to a healthy society through EcoHealth Alliance is a global nonprofit dedicated to safety in people, wildlife, and the environment from infectious disease.

Our very own Stephanie Sandows, MTV Staying Alive board member and star of  accepted the award on our behalf. Speaking to the creation of MTV Alone Together, Sandows said, “At the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we realised that we could use MTV Shuga to address COVID-19 among our audience”. Audience members relate to the characters, are drawn in by the television drama, and learn from the characters’ experiences. The combination of science and communication in this way has successfully educated global audiences about sex and reproductive health; we’re pleased to share that applying this to COVID-19 has been shown to be just as effective in distributing health information to young people.

Sandows also shared the success of MTV Alone Together, totalling in over 9 million views, coupled with a recent survey showed that 90% of our viewers found out new information about COVID-19 via the campaign. Using our tried and tested methods, MTV Staying Alive has driven an increase in knowledge and positive behaviors associated with COVID-19 through the application of our “edutainment” format.

Our thanks from everyone at the MTV Staying Alive to EcoHealth Alliance for this honor. We hope to create more content to promote positive health behavior change globally. To watch the recorded livestream of this event click