Fight against AIDS gets Charlize Theron's Big Push at WEF

Awards were given by Hilde Schwab, wife of WEF Founder and Executive Chairman Klaus Schwab, who declared open the meeting with a call for 'soul, heart, brains and good nerves'.

Seeking to establish the Davos meeting as an event that actually does something meaningful for the society and the world, rather than just being a jamboree of rich and powerful of the world, the WEF has been trying hard to present this meeting as a socio-economic conscious congregation of people from different walks of life.

With an aim to take forward the cause of gender equality, it had earlier made it mandatory for all the participating organisations to nominate one woman for every four men sent for the event. However, the step does not seem to have been of much help, as the female participation in this year's meeting is also very low at less than 20 per cent. This is despite some top women leaders, such as IMF Chief Christine Lagarde and German Chancellor Angela Merkel attending the event repeatedly, while Yahoo's Marissa Mayer and Facebook's Sandy Shelberg and a host of other top women executives have also joined numerous economic and political leaders to discuss the state of affairs for the world economy.

The awards were presented to three "cultural leaders" – artist Vik Muniz, the documentary filmmaker Sharmeen Obaid Chinoy, and Oscar winning actress Charlize Theron some of whose noted films include Prometheus, Hancock, The Italian Job and Monster.

Hilde Schwab, Chairperson and Co-Founder of the Schwab Foundation for Social Entrepreneurship who presented the awards said the award is "to celebrate artists who not only excel in their art but also help to improve the world".

The actress Charlize Theron, founder of the Charlize Theron Africa Outreach Project, said she seeks to use the spotlight she attracts as an entertainer to draw attention to one of the world's greatest problems, the HIV epidemic.

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