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MUSC-SCETV production in line for regional Emmy Award  A television program co-produced by MUSC and South Carolina Educational Television (SCETV) is one of three finalists for a Southern Regional Emmy Award, the National Association of Television Arts and Sciences (NATAS) Atlanta Chapter announced last week.    “Our Health: The HIV/AIDS Crisis” is a one-hour dialogue on the disproportionate impact of HIV/AIDS on South Carolina’s minority and low-income residents. The program originally aired statewide on SCETV in September 2001. It will air again, 6 p.m., Sunday, June 16, as part of SCETV’s quarterly package of Our Health Series programming.    An NATAS panel selected the program as a finalist for Outstanding Achievement in Interview/Discussion Programs.  The NATAS Southern Region covers South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and western North Carolina. Category winners will be announced June 8 in Atlanta.         The program’s seven-member panel includes MUSC physician Preston Church, M.D., and Charleston resident Diane Valentine. Its producers are Richard Jablonski, a research associate in MUSC’s Department of Library Science and Informatics, and Don Godish and Craig Ness of SCETV.    Jablonski said widely disproportionate HIV/AIDS rates in South Carolina prompted selection of the topic.  According to the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, the state’s African Americans were approximately nine times as likely as their white counterparts to be diagnosed with HIV/AIDS in the year 2000. Addressing such disparities requires broad-based commitment and action, Jablonski said.    “Although the Our Health Series of programs focuses on health-status disparities affecting our state’s minority residents, our purpose is to inform all South Carolinians of the role they can play in improving our collective health and well-being,” Jablonski said. “The combination of important topics, informed and passionate panelists, a skilled moderator, and SCETV’s extraordinary production capabilities makes for compelling television.”    To date, the Our Health Series has examined health-status disparities in general, HIV/AIDS, Youth Violence and the Metabolic Syndrome.  All four programs will air statewide on SCETV in the 6 p.m. Sunday timeslot in June.  Dates and times are: Bridging the Disparity Divide, June 9; HIV/AIDS, June 16; Youth Violence, June 23; and the Metabolic Syndrome, June 30.     The next Our Health production will assess the oral/dental health of our state’s underserved populations. The scheduled production date is Sept. 16, with the program airing at 9 p.m. Friday, Sept. 20.    VHS copies of Our Health programs are available by contacting Jablonski at jablonsr@musc.edu.