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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service's global mental health series, Mental Health: A Global Challenge, scooped an award in the current affairs category at the charity Mind's Mental Health Media Awards in London on 22 November.

First broadcast in September 2009, Mental Health: A Global Challenge explored the impact, extent and outlook for mental health problems across the globe, direct from the first ever Global Mental Health Summit in Athens.

The Mind Mental Health Media Awards, now in its seventeenth year, were established to celebrate the best portrayal of mental distress and reporting of mental health in the broadcast media.

Thomas Dahlhaus, editor for World Today, said: "We are delighted to have received this award, recognising our reporting on mental health issues from around the world.

"Mental health continues to be a subject surrounded by stigmas and taboos and our coverage from the world's first international health summit gave unusual prominence in the news to disorders which affect literally millions around the world. To go by the reactions we received from our audiences, this was hugely appreciated."

Note to Editors

The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ attracts a global audience of 241 million people to its international news services including ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service and the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World News television channel. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service is an international multimedia broadcaster delivering 32 language and regional services, including: Albanian, Arabic, Azeri, Bengali, Burmese, Cantonese, English, English for Africa, English for the Caribbean, French for Africa, Hausa, Hindi, Indonesian, Kinyarwanda/Kirundi, Kyrgyz, Macedonian, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashto, Persian, Portuguese for Africa, Portuguese for Brazil, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Somali, Spanish for Latin America, Swahili, Tamil, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, and Vietnamese. It uses multiple platforms to reach its weekly audience of 180 million globally, including shortwave, AM, FM, digital satellite and cable channels. Its news sites, which received 7.1 million weekly visitors in September 2010, include audio and video content and offer opportunities to join the global debate. It has around 2,000 partner radio stations which take ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ content, and numerous partnerships supplying content to mobile phones and other wireless handheld devices. For more information, visit bbcworldservice.com. For a weekly alert about ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service programmes, sign up for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Agenda e-guide at bbcworldservice.com/eguide. 

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service International Publicity