Campaigns

May 17 marks the International Day Against Homophobia which is an initiative to end discrimination and demand respect for the rights of homosexuals, transsexuals and lesbians.

Many countries in Latin America have planned activities to celebrate the Day such as marches, festivals, awareness raising workshops and campaigns to promote respect for sexual diversity.

UNAIDS Regional Director Dr Cesar Antonio Nuñez highlighted the need for all Latin American countries to observe the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia as an opportunity to strengthen the work being done around human rights to create a more effective response to AIDS in the region.

One of the new initiatives of this year’s celebration is an on-line campaign displaying messages against homophobia and transphobia. The campaign, which runs under the theme “For sexual rights and sexual diversity” was produced by the regional offices of UNAIDS and UNDP in collaboration with the Latin American Network of Transsexual People (REDLACTRANS), the Association for integral health and citizenship in Latin America (ASICAL) and the Latin American and Caribbean Council of AIDS Services Organizations for LAC (LACCASO).

“Let’s put an end to violence, let’s overcome the indifference” or “Homophobia accelerates the spread of HIV” are some of the campaign messages being displayed on web sites and played on YouTube. UNAIDS Brazil has adapted these spots into Portuguese.

Sex between men is the main mode of HIV transmission in Latin America and homophobia and stigma remain significant stumbling blocks to an effective response to the epidemic. Stigma and homophobia increase the isolation of gays, bisexuals and transgender people making them more reluctant to come forward, be identified and get advice and HIV services.

Many Latin American countries have laws that defend sexual freedom and orientation. For example with law reform in Nicaragua and Panama over the past 12 months, there are now no states in Latin America which criminalize homosexual relations.

Yet Latin America is widely regarded as having a long way to go to successfully counter homophobia, or “fear or hatred of homosexuals.” According to the UN, homosexual and trans people are frequently insulted, fired from jobs, and barred from community activities. .

Today, on 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day, the UNAIDS competition featuring superstar football player and UNAIDS Special Representative Michael Ballack has come to a close.

Contestants sent in answers from all corners of the globe, from countries including Russia, Botswana, China, and Brazil, just to name a few. The draw has taken place and lucky winners will soon be receiving t-shirts, courtesy of Ballack clothing. Stay tuned for more competitions and prizes in the future!

The correct answers:

Question 1:
Name any two cosponsors of UNAIDS

Answer 1.
Any two of the following were acceptable:

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
United Nations Childrens Fund (UNICEF)
World Food Programme (WFP)
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA)
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)
International Labour Organization
United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)
World Health Organization (WHO)
 World Bank

Question 2:
 What is UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Michael Ballack saying about prevention?

Answer 2:
“Be Smart, Protect yourself!!”

The aim of the campaign, also known as
the “faces” campaign, was to remove the
stigma associated with HIV by showing
pictures together with testimonies of
Ugandans who live positively with HIV.
Credits: UNAIDS/J.Ewen

HIV has often been associated with behaviours that may be considered socially or morally unacceptable by many people such as sex work, sex outside marriage or with multiple partners, sex between men and injecting drugs. This single fact, fueled by high levels of ignorance, denial, fear and intolerance, has widely stigmatized HIV infection.

In order to reverse the preconceptions about people living with HIV and at the same time raise awareness around different AIDS-related issues, UNAIDS in partnership with the Uganda Red Cross, developed a campaign entitled “The Truth is Not Written on Your Face”.

The aim of the campaign, also known as the “faces” campaign, was to remove the stigma associated with HIV by showing pictures together with testimonies of Ugandans who live positively with HIV. At the same time, the campaign highlighted that the HIV status of a person it is not shown on their face. As a result, it reinforced the need for effective and efficient prevention tools and behaviours, such as limiting the number of sexual partners and the consistent use of condoms, to prevent the transmission of HIV.

“Despite a long history with the epidemic, there is often still an assumption in Uganda that it is ‘someone else’ who has HIV, or there are strong moral undertones which suggest it must be sex workers, etc. who are affected by it”, said Malayah Harper, UNAIDS Country Coordinator. This has lead to complacency and much of the positive behaviour change from the 1990s is being eroded. “The ‘faces’ campaign proved these assumptions wrong while at the same time highlighting the importance of preventing HIV”, she added.

Experience teaches that a strong movement
of people living with HIV that affords mutual
support and a voice at local and national
levels is particularly effective in tackling
stigma. Credits: UNAIDS/J.Ewen

Stigma and discrimination are violations of human rights and undermine public health efforts to tackle the HIV epidemic. People living with HIV are frequently subject to discrimination. Many have been thrown out of jobs and homes, rejected by family and friends, and some have been killed because of their HIV status.

Together, stigma and discrimination constitute one of the greatest barriers to dealing effectively with the epidemic. They can discourage governments from acknowledging or taking timely action against AIDS. They can deter individuals from finding out about their HIV status and they inhibit those who know they are infected from sharing their diagnosis and from seeking treatment and care for themselves.

Experience teaches that a strong movement of people living with HIV that affords mutual support and a voice at local and national levels is particularly effective in tackling stigma.

The Global Campaign for the Health MDGs: First year report 2008.

A group of global leaders met in New York on 26 September 2007 to launch the Global Campaign for the Health Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The Campaign aims to give renewed impetus to Goals 4, 5 and 6 which focus on the urgent need to improve maternal, newborn and child health and to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases.

To mark the first year of the Campaign, a progress report was released on 25 September. It provides an update of major activities during the last year, and highlights concrete actions that are required to accelerate the necessary progress if we are to reach the health related MDGs by 2015.

Read the contribution by Dr Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS:

Scaling up towards Universal Access: AIDS, Malaria, Tuberculosis and Immunization

AIDS is inextricably linked to the other MDGs: education, gender equality and poverty eradication are all vital for fighting it. And in many countries reducing HIV infections and deaths from AIDS is essential for making progress on other MDGs.

By the end of 2007, the global number of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths had begun to decline – largely the result of action on political commitments. At the G8 summits in 2005 and 2008, and at the UN High-Level Meeting on HIV/AIDS in 2006, leaders agreed to scale up to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.

There are now 105 countries with national targets for universal access, and 147 countries submitted progress reports this year. In 2007, investment in HIV programmes reached US$10 billion, up from US$8.3 billion in 2005. Extraordinary efforts resulted in three million people in low- and middle-income countries receiving anti-retroviral treatment in 2007 – a million more than in 2006.

Several heavily affected countries are making progress on HIV prevention. There are falls in the number of people having more than one partner in the last year, increases in condom use among promiscuous young people, and, in sub-Saharan Africa, signs that people are beginning to have sex at a later age.

Access has improved to antiretroviral drugs that prevent mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) of HIV. In low- and middle-income countries, a third of women who need the drugs can get them – up from 14% in 2005. Some countries, including Argentina, Botswana, Georgia and the Russian Federation, have achieved close to universal access, with PMTCT services at more than 75% coverage. In Botswana, just 4% of children born to HIV-positive mothers are infected.

Other prevention efforts are also improving. Of 39 countries reporting on it, coverage of HIV-prevention services for sex workers is 60%. For people who inject drugs coverage is nearly 50% in 15 countries, and for men who have sex with other men it is 40% in 27 countries.

In many countries AIDS programmes are supporting fragile health systems, improving service delivery, staff, information systems, governance and the procurement and management of drugs. We recommend using a third of HIV/AIDS resources to strengthen health systems.

There is more to do. In low- and middle-income countries, two-thirds of people requiring antiretroviral drugs cannot get them. For every two people starting HIV treatment, five become infected. AIDS remains the biggest killer of African adults (25-49) and is among the top ten killers worldwide. Like climate change, AIDS will require a long-term response. We need to build on progress and strengthen links with other health programmes, notably tuberculosis, sexual and reproductive health, and maternal and child health.

This will require more money: over 50% more by 2010 to maintain the current pace of growth in prevention and treatment. The price is worth paying.

Peter Piot
Executive Director
UNAIDS

The MTV Staying Alive Foundation invites grant applications from youth-led organizations and young people who are working on HIV prevention and AIDS education campaigns within their communities

The MTV Staying Alive Foundation invites grant applications from youth-led organizations and young people (aged between 15-27 years) who are working on HIV prevention and AIDS education campaigns within their communities.

The deadline for December 2008 proposals is the 15th September 2008, and successful applicants will be announced on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2008. Young people, 15–24 years of age, accounted for around 45% of all new HIV infections in 2007 and many young people lack accurate, complete information on how to avoid exposure to the virus. The Staying Alive Foundation (SAF) believes that the information geared towards young people is one of the keys to helping prevent HIV infection and that young people can bring about positive social change around HIV prevention, if given the opportunity.

A Staying Alive Award comes with a financial grant up to US$ 12,000, Staying Alive materials (including MTV Staying Alive programming and teaching kits), a small fund to buy technical media equipment, a local mentor and a personal grant manager.

About Staying Alive

In 1998, MTV launched the Staying Alive campaign, a multimedia global HIV prevention campaign to challenge AIDS-related stigma. UNAIDS has partnered with MTV, providing funding and technical assistance on key AIDS issues.

Following the success of the campaign, the Staying Alive Foundation (SAF) was set up in 2005 to support young people around the world who are working in AIDS awareness, education and prevention campaigns among their peers. To date they have given 100 grants to 81 projects across the globe.

If you have any further questions then email at foundation@staying-alive.org  

With support from UNAIDS, 2 public service
announcements broadcast in English,
French and Chinese are being shown in
waiting area in Olympic Polyclinic. These
feature German soccer player and UNAIDS
Special Representative Michael Ballack,
and Chinese Basketball player Yao Ming.
Credit: UNAIDS

As part of a joint HIV prevention campaign, some 100,000 high-quality condoms are being made available to athletes free of charge in health clinics in the Olympic Villages of Beijing, Qingdao and Hong Kong. Athletes are also able to find useful information on HIV from thousands of posters and leaflets in English, French and Chinese.

In the waiting room of the polyclinics, HIV prevention videos with UNAIDS Special Representative and German footballer Michael Ballack and Chinese basketball star Yao Ming are being shown in three languages. In addition, all athletes competing in the 2008 Olympic Games have received flash sticks that include fact sheets on HIV.

These HIV prevention and anti-discrimination efforts are part of the 2008 Olympics HIV campaign “Play safe – Help stop HIV” launched by UNAIDS, International Olympic Committee (IOC), and the Beijing Organizing committee of the Olympic Games (BOCOG). The objective of the campaign is to educate athletes participating in the Beijing Games about HIV and encourage them to be ambassadors of AIDS response.

IOC President, Dr. Jacques Rogge (left)
greets Dr. Bernhard Schwartländer, UNAIDS
Country Coordinator (centre) during the
launch of the Beijing Olympics HIV and
AIDS Campaign "Play safe – Help stop HIV".
Credit: UNAIDS 

“Athletes should know about how HIV can be transmitted, how it does not transmit and how HIV can be prevented. This will help them educate their peers and fight discrimination against people with HIV. It really is a topic relevant to sport,” said Campaign Ambassador and Egyptian swimmer Rania Elwani.

The campaign not only aims to benefit the many athletes taking part but also members of the national delegations and the more than 100,000 volunteers.

Today about 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Young people, 15–24 years of age, account for around 45% of all new HIV infections in 2007. However, many young people still lack accurate, complete information on how to avoid exposure to the virus.

Many young people are involved in sport, either as spectators or participants. Through this global sport gala of the Beijing Olympics, messages about AIDS can reach out to communities, especially to youth, to promote safer sexual behavior and to stop stigma and discrimination.

The objective of the 2008 Olympics HIV
campaign “Play safe – Help stop HIV” is to
educate athletes participating in the
Beijing Games about HIV and encourage
them to be ambassadors of AIDS response.
Credit: UNAIDS

“Famous athletes can play an important role to bring across messages about HIV prevention, care and support as they are regarded as role models by young people," said IOC President Jacques Rogge. UNAIDS Country Coordinator Dr Bernhard Schwartländer said, “We know that sport and the Olympic Games are universal languages that can play a very important and positive role in raising AIDS awareness and reducing stigma and discrimination of people living with HIV.”

In 2004, UNAIDS signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the IOC, combining efforts to enhance the role of sports organization in the AIDS response at community and national levels, and to organize AIDS awareness activities with coaches, athletes and sport personalities.

More than 200 workers gather at an
awareness activity on an Olympic c
onstruction site in Beijing. AIDS-related
pamphlets, posters, playing cards and
condoms were distributed and workers were
able to find out information about HIV and
how to protect themselves and others,
September 2006. Credit: UNAIDS

A range of initiatives by UNAIDS in China in partnership with the Chinese Government and the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in the run-up to the 2008 Games illustrate how sport can break down barriers, fight discrimination and make a difference in the AIDS response.

China’s Olympic effort to raise AIDS awareness

Long before the athletes from all over the world gathered to share dreams at the Olympic Games, tens of thousands of builders have been working hard on construction sites around Beijing to prepare for the event. Many of the people working on sites such as the famous Olympic Stadium, the Bird’s Nest are migrant workers.

Migrant workers are particularly vulnerable to HIV as they are often far away from their families for prolonged periods of time.

In a bid to address the needs of migrant workers in the run up to the Olympics, the Chinese AIDS/STD Prevention and Control Foundation and the Beijing Health Bureau, in conjunction with UNAIDS, rolled out an AIDS awareness campaign at more than 20 Olympic sites over a six month period prior to the games.

Planting trees for AIDS in China

UNAIDS Special Representative Her Royal
Highness Princess Mathilde of Belgium
joined the symbolic tree planting event led
by organizations of people living with HIV
in China, 27 June 2007 Credit: UNAIDS

Many people living with HIV actively participated in Beijing’s preparation to host the Olympics Games. They have put a human face to the AIDS epidemic and helped reduce discrimination and stigma.

The Beijing Health Bureau in collaboration with local HIV advocacy groups ran a year long project where trees were planted and watered and small plates with names were tied to the trees. This initiative can trace its history back to 2006 when a group of people living with HIV decided to get more involved in public events and reduce AIDS-related stigma and discrimination.

UNAIDS and UNICEF Special Representative Her Royal Highness Princess Mathilde of Belgium joined one such tree planting event in 2007. Her Highness said: “You are showing us the way, working together to make Beijing greener for the well-being of all.”

Carrying the Olympic flame for people living with HIV in Tanzania

Beyond China, Dhamiri Mustapha, a young Tanzanian woman living with HIV was one of the 80 dignitaries who carried the Olympic flame during the five-kilometre torch relay in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, in April this year.

The twenty-three-year old woman showed extraordinary courage by taking part in this high-profile event in her own country. She spoke openly about the importance of condom use and urged young people to protect themselves.

In a joint message, IOC President Jacques Rogge and Dr Peter Piot Executive Director of UNAIDS, underlined how sport can break down barriers, fight discrimination and make a difference in the AIDS response. "Sport offers a perfect platform to make young people aware of the issue, to promote preventive messages, and to ensure that people living with HIV are not discriminated against. Discrimination towards a country, or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender, or otherwise, is incompatible with the principles of the Olympic Movement.”

Olympics 2008: AIDS awareness training for young volunteers in China

Fun and games during HIV training at
Beijing Modern Vocational and Technical
College, June 2008. Credit: UNAIDS

Games have begun and as Ambassadors of the host city, young Olympic volunteers are welcoming international guests to Beijing.

As part of their preparation for the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games, around 7,500 volunteers at 13 universities have learned knowledge and skills on HIV prevention and how to counter discrimination through games, presentations, quizzes and interactive question and answer sessions. In parallel, 100, 000 volunteers received a basic information package on HIV before the Games.

People living with HIV participated in the training session as trainers. Their presence helped to eliminate false ideas and preconceptions about people living with HIV.

The Olympic volunteer training programme was convened by UNAIDS and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system in China, Beijing Youth League, Red Cross Society of China and Marie Stopes International (MSI) China.

The role of sport

UNAIDS and the International Olympic Committee have been working closely together since 2004 when they signed a Memorandum of Understanding in which both organizations agreed to combine their efforts to raise awareness about HIV.

UNAIDS Special Representative Michael
Ballack participated in the “Goal4Africa”
all-star benefit football match Munich on
12 July to raise funds for education in Africa
Credit: Goal4Africa

UNAIDS Special Representative Michael Ballack participated in the Goal4Africa all-star benefit football match held at Allianz Arena in Munich, Germany on 12 July in honour of Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday. The event was lead by Goal4Africa Ambassador and international football star Clarence Seedorf and broadcast live in many countries worldwide.

Speaking at a press conference before the match, Ballack highlighted how educating young people about HIV prevention is crucial in the AIDS response.

Spectators, fans and television viewers
made donations for each goal scored by
their favourite player via SMS text message
and online on the Goal4Africa web site.
Credit: Goal4Africa

Ballack was team captain of the winning side in an all-star international game which included some of the world’s best football players including Zé Roberto, Gennaro Gattuso and Andriy Shevchenko and Formula1 legend Michael Schumacher.

Spectators, fans and television viewers made donations for each goal scored by their favourite player via SMS text message and online on the Goal4Africa web site. Funds raised will go to education projects in Africa

Michael Ballack, as UNAIDS Special Representative, reaches out to young people by educating on HIV and urging young people to make smart prevention choices.

Ambassador Marie-Louise Overvad,
Permanent Representative of Denmark to
the United Nations Office and other
International Organizations in Geneva
presented the MDG3 torch to UNAIDS
Executive Director Dr Peter Piot.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot received one of the MDG3 Torches on Thursday 26 June in Geneva as part of a campaign organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark intended to ensure commitment from participants to the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG3): Promote gender equality and empower women.

The campaign, entitled The MDG3 Champion Torch: “To Do Something Extra”, was launched on 7 March 2008 in Copenhagen. In the run-up to the United Nations High-level MDG meeting, which will take place on 25 September 2008, more than 100 Torches in support of the MDG3 are to travel around the world.

Recipients of the MDG3 Torch are representatives from government, private sector, civil society, media, individuals from North and South, and international organizations. Each MDG3 Torch Bearer will commit “To Do Something Extra” in support of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

At the UN High-level MDG meeting the collected commitments will be presented to the United Nations Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-Moon, who will be invited to light the last MDG3 Torch.

Dr Piot accepted the torch on behalf of UNAIDS and committed the organization to make the money work for women and girls by making sure that global financial commitments make a difference at country level.

Dr Piot accepted the torch on
behalf of UNAIDS and
committed the organization
to make the money work for
women and girls.

“Achieving MDG6 to halt and reverse AIDS depends on significant progress on MDG3,” said Dr Piot. “While at country level we see significant progress on policy development for gender equity in HIV service provision, it is a major concern that specific budget allocations to back these policies up are generally not there” he added.

Other recipients of the MDG3 torch at the Geneva event were Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland; Graca Machel, Daisy Mafubelu, Assistant Director-General - Family and Community Health, World Health Organization; and Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, Executive Secretary, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

On September 25th, the President of the General Assembly Srgjan Kerim and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will co-host and chair a high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals in New York. This event will bring together governments, leaders from the private sector, civil society and faith based organizations to review progress made in the preceding 12 months and accelerate action on the MDGs taking stock of progress so far, showcase successes the world could build on, set a path for the future to 2015, and allow each group to make practical commitments.

Powerful film brings AIDS issues to
communities in Democratic
Republic of Congo

When we talk about AIDS we often look at the sobering statistics such as the estimated number of 22.5 million people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007.

But behind each number is a human face and an actual person whose life is affected in a very direct way by the disease. A pioneering film series made in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aims to bring the issue of AIDS directly to communities in a way that people can easily relate to.

Echoing the culture of oral story-telling which is deeply rooted in African tradition, the first episode of the series “Mon histoire” is named after the narrator and central character Papy. Based on a true story, the actors speak in Lingala, one of the official languages of DRC, and the cast are all Congolese. In this way, the film’s young director Djo Tunda Wa Munga hopes the film would touch people directly rather than be a passive viewing experience.

“Papy” is hard-hitting and aims to make an impact on audiences to cut through complacency towards AIDS send a strong prevention message while empowering people living with HIV to stand up and speak out in their own voices. With familiar and realistic images of how life can be if you are diagnosed with HIV, the film could encourage more people to have voluntary counseling and testing.

Djo Munga collaborated closely with Congolese non-governmental organizations and networks of people living with HIV during the planning and making of the film. Believing these films have the power to transform, German agency for technical cooperation (GTZ), Belgian agency for technical cooperation (BTC) and the King Baudouin Foundation have supported the project financially and with marketing support.

Films are a good way to answer the questions
people have about AIDS and help to
communicate prevention messages.

"Stories – such as “Papy” – that are told through local languages speak to audiences in a very direct way. Films are a good way to answer the questions people have about AIDS and help to communicate prevention messages. By doing this they have a strong role in changing individual behaviour,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot.

In the presence of the Congolese Health Minister, the film was premiered in Kinshasa 22 September 2007, followed by a European premier in Brussels four days later attended by local and international media. Since then, it has been screened at International Film Festivals in Namur, Paris, Montreal, Abidjan and Cannes and in provinces across Congo as well as broadcast on national and regional television channels.

The public viewings in DRC have been a huge success, taking place in town centres in front of audiences of up to 1200 people which were followed by a public discussion with provincial authorities, civil society and community members.

To enable the film and its message to reach an even wider audience, BTC has funded its distribution to organizations across Congo in DVD format with sub-titles in Swahili, Tshiluba, French and Kikongo, commonly-spoken languages in the region. And in partnership with GTZ, an evaluation by questionnaire will be conducted among the local organizations with they work. CTB has also supported a radio version of Papy in Lingala, Tshiluba, Kikongo, Swahili and French which will be broadcast by among others Radio Okapi.

Future plans include more mobile screenings across DRC to reach more remote parts of the country, with the support of the World Bank.

For more information about this project contact Denis Haveaux, UNAIDS Liaison Office to the European Union
Tel. +32 2 502 9825 | haveauxd@unaids.org