World AIDS Day 2011
So much has been accomplished over the past 30 years fighting this disease that an AIDS-free generation is no longer a utopian dream. With this good news on the one hand and the economic crisis jeopardising funding to fight AIDS on the other, it is more than ever time to rally.
UNAIDS published its latest report on the epidemic around the world 10 days ago. This report homes in on two trends – the number of new infections is dropping and the number of people on antiretroviral treatment is rising – and a vital piece of news: a person taking treatment may see his or her viral load drop to levels where it is no longer transmissible. Wider access to antiretroviral drugs has saved millions of lives over the past few years. Investments in low- and medium-income countries are saving 4,400 lives every day thanks to the Global Fund’s programmes. The critical economic situation must not wipe out a struggle that goes back so many years or deflate momentum.
This morning on the French radio Europe 1 and in an interview in The Independent, Carla Bruni-Sarkozy calls for mobilization. She gives her vision of a generation free of Aids and explains the way we could make it happen.
Carla Bruni-Sarkozy : "Banaliser le dépistage du… par Europe1fr
The Global Fund
The Global Fund rallies to the cause with all the partner organisations fighting HIV and AIDS around the world to achieve its “Zero” objective. That is its World AIDS Day theme for 2011 and the thread that will tie its efforts together until 2015. This UNAIDS initiative is aiming for “Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination, Zero AIDS-related deaths”. The Global Fund is also supporting the (RED) initiative, which involves putting up lit signs on a series of architectural landmarks in New York, London, Hong Kong and Rio de Janeiro. (RED) is also asking celebrities and other AIDS-Free Generation supporters to sign up on its site to build a digital quilt and take a stand on the campaign’s pledge. In Sydney, the Pacific Friends of the Global Fund bathed the Sydney Opera House and Harbour Bridge in red light (symbolising AIDS). It has also circulated a video about the Born HIV Free movement to remind viewers of the problems associated with mother-to-child HIV transmission.
UNAIDS
UNAIDS kicks off the “Be an activist – Make it happen!” campaign to rally the general public around the “beginning of the end” of AIDS with a variety of action options: signing the petition, having their say on their blogs, making a financial contribution or nominating a grassroots organisation for the Red Ribbon Award .This campaign looks back on the 30-year-long struggle against AIDS, the more than 30 million lives this disease has taken, and the collective progress to stem the epidemic – and looks ahead in light of recent scientific breakthroughs to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, the prospects of medical male circumcision and the benefits of treatment as a preventive measure, which it discusses in the report it published 10 days ago.
UNICEF
UNICEF is organising an international conversation to discuss measures to protect financing funnelled to children and AIDS, chaired by Dr Geeta Rao Gupta. During the conversation filmed and live broadcasted in the Internet, the Docteur and HIV and AIDS Section Chief Craig McClure stressed the importance of maintaining investments despite the global economic crisi. In France, following the conference organized on November 16th and 17th, UNICEF published a webdoc dedicated to the protection of mothers and children against AIDS.
The Elton John AIDS Foundation
The Elton John AIDS Foundation gathered 1,000 HIV-positive Kenyan women whose children were born HIV-free (1.5 million people are living with AIDS, and young women are four times more exposed to HIV/AIDS than men their age, in Kenya). This get-together organised by Kenya’s public-health authorities is a statement about the significant progress that local medical organisations have made towards eliminating mother-to-child HIV/AIDS transmission.
