Campaigns

On 1 December 2006, UNAIDS joined with a broad range of UN and Thai partners to organize a World AIDS Day event with a difference.

As well as hosting a packed celebration event, Thailand captured international attention with an attempt to create the world’s longest chain of condoms.

And at the end of March, confirmation arrived—at 2,715 metres long, the condom chain sets a new Guinness World Record™.

The tying of the world’s longest chain of condoms was one of the events of the “Condom Chain of Life Festival”, a unique celebration of World AIDS Day, held at Lumpini Park in Bangkok. The festival was organized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Bangkok in collaboration with the Thai Red Cross, PLAN Thailand, UNAIDS and local NGOs as part of efforts to promote the acceptance of condoms, emphasize the need for safe sex, and encourage strengthening of national policies for comprehensive treatment, care and support for people living with and affected by HIV.

UNAIDS Special Representative Senator Mechai Viravaidya, well known for his groundbreaking HIV prevention efforts in Thailand, led the tying of the chain.

Here, UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Thailand, Patrick Brenny, tells (click on link below to listen to the interview) www.unaids.org about how the World Record attempt came about and its importance to the Thai AIDS response.

Ireland is pledging to “Stamp out” AIDS-related stigma and discrimination in Ireland as part of a national campaign launched by Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern on December 1 2006.

The goal of this public awareness campaign is to improve the understanding of HIV and the issues that HIV positive people have to deal with, it also aims at reducing AIDS-related in the workplace and in promoting safer environments for people to disclose their status and access necessary services. The one-year campaign is a joint initiative of the Irish Department of Health and Children and the Department of Foreign Affairs

“Each year on 1 December, the world comes together in solidarity with the millions of men, women and children who are living with HIV and we remember our obligation to act now and to live up to the ambitious international commitments we have made,” said Prime Minister Ahern when launching the campaign on World AIDS Day.

The campaign will feature a number of activities in 2007 such as the development an anti-stigma advertisement to be screened on national television, through national cinemas and on the internet. “Stamp out Stigma” will involve a wide variety of partners in the AIDS response including the media sector, with the aim of encouraging responsible, non-stigmatizing reporting on AIDS in both print and broadcast media throughout Ireland. Activities and lobbying will also take place to promote the Employment Equality Act 1998 and the Equal Status Acts 2000 and 2004 which prohibit all forms of discrimination in the workplace on the basis of HIV status.

“We must all work together to make our societies more open and caring, more inclusive and less judgmental,” said Prime Minister Ahern.

A couple kiss on the stairs – the caption “to embrace” slides across the TV screen. An expectant mother tenderly touches her stomach – the text “to love” appears over the image. Women, men, boys, girls, friends, lovers, families – all depicted in a 30-second TV spot to underline messages on AIDS to encourage viewers to “always protect yourself and those you love”.

This awareness-raising public service announcement from Argentina produced in 2004 is just one of nearly 200 television spots that have been brought together in a special 10-year anthology DVD of televised public service announcements about HIV from the Americas region produced by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

The two-disc set, entitled “VIHdeo America”, presents spots produced from 1995-2005 and intends to share information, history and experiences about the use of TV for HIV campaigns to help encourage new approaches to AIDS communications.

From Argentina to Venezuela, Chile to Uruguay, the compilation contains examples from 24 countries, and is directed primarily at people involved in communicating about AIDS. In the special fact sheet accompanying the DVDs, the producers underline their hopes that the compilation will help communicators working across the region analyze and evaluate the work that has been produced over the last ten years, to better inform future campaigns using television media.

“In our region, countries develop mass media campaigns against HIV almost every year. Posters and brochures sometimes circulate, but TV spots seldom cross the national boundaries, as TV tends to broadcast only within the national territory. Neighbouring countries often have no idea of what other countries have developed for TV. “VIHdeo America” helps to break this silence,” said Paulo Lyra from PAHO who was involved in the production of the DVD. “TV is a particularly expensive media, particularly in countries that pay for air time. This makes it imperative to learn about how to best use this media for future communications on AIDS,” he added.

VIHdeo America’s producers underline that the anthology is not intended as a ‘showcase’ of best practices, moreover, they stress that critical analysis of the slots, particularly some of those produced in the early years of the anthology, is absolutely necessary to ensure televised public service announcements on HIV are doing good, not harm.

“As much as it can have a positive effect, we know that communication can also fuel stigma and discrimination. For instance, some of the older spots contain “fear appeals” or appear to blame “vulnerable groups”. What we need to do is to ask ourselves critically if the newer spots have broken with that tradition and building on these experiences, how can we ensure future spots are breaking down discrimination and reaching the people who need them most,” Lyra said.

With titles such as ‘Love Safely’, ‘Welcome to Condom County’ and ‘Know AIDS-NO AIDS’ the clips included in the anthology portray an extremely wide variety of scenarios and situations. All clips have subtitles in English and Spanish. Some are serious in tone, some use humour to get the message across. “ Brazil, for instance, produced a series, “Braulio” about a man speaking to his penis which is hilarious. This happened in 1995 and was quite revolutionary at the time. But they did it and it’s an example of how AIDS communicators can expand their horizons,” said Lyra.

“Communications can be a powerful tool in the AIDS response. Analysis of what has and hasn’t worked over the last years can help communicators find bigger and better ways to get the right messages across,” said UNAIDS’ Head of Public Affairs and Communication, Annemarie Hou.

“VIHdeo America” is available for order through the Pan American Health Organization. For more information, visit www.paho.org/vihdeoamerica.

All photo credits: vihdeoamericas/PAHO

In an attempt to step up the pace of HIV prevention in Africa, the African Union and United Nations launched a new initiative last week to scale up HIV prevention programmes in Africa.

The campaign, which was kicked off in Addis Ababa, Johannesburg, Khartoum, and Ouagadougou, is a follow up to the Declaration adopted by African Ministers of Health in 2005, declaring 2006 as the “Year for Accelerating HIV Prevention in the African Region”.

HIV prevention deserves more serious attention if the goal of coming as close as possible to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care by 2010 is to be met. Without effective prevention activities, the impact of AIDS will become even more severe as more people becoming newly infected.

“AIDS responses must be exceptional, but not isolated, requiring balancing of political momentum on AIDS and putting countries in the lead” said UNAIDS Director for Country and Regional Support, Michel Sidibe. He also stressed the need for an appropriate balance between emergency action and long term commitment.

According to UNAIDS, AIDS poses the greatest threat to security and development in Africa. As a result, HIV prevention and treatment should be scaled up urgently. The number of new HIV infections in Africa must be dramatically reduced in the next few years to ensure that treatment, care and support remain economically and socially sustainable.

Despite efforts to fight AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, 3.2 million people were infected with HIV last year. HIV infections are rising most rapidly among young people under the age of 25 and women. 

The African prevention campaign is expected to build a powerful political and social movement that can finally reverse and stop the spread of HIV, which claimed 2.4 million African lives in 2005 alone. Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region worst-affected by the epidemic with close to 26 million people living with HIV.

Every year, people around the world designate 1 December, World AIDS Day, as a time of reflection – to remember the friends and loved ones lost to AIDS, to heed the lessons learned over the year, and to take stock of the progress made to provide a comprehensive response to the epidemic.

The Declaration of Commitment is, in effect, a blueprint for action. It includes not hypothetical goals but concrete benchmarks to measure progress on prevention, reducing stigma, building health infrastructure, ensuring treatment, and providing much-needed leadership and resources. While many countries have made their own commitments to fight AIDS, the Declaration was the first recognition of AIDS as a global crisis requiring a global and collective solution.

The Declaration will only be as powerful as its fulfilment. By sustaining a single theme over five years, the Campaign hopes it will attract others and create a movement that gives those working on the response a forum to be heard – and a platform to act.

This year's theme also asks every individual to make a personal promise to fight AIDS. Since the beginning of the epidemic, individual people have played heroic roles in helping and caring for people living with HIV and AIDS. In the early days, as governments and organizations dithered, individuals acted. The World AIDS Campaign's call to "Stop AIDS. Make the Promise" encourages everyone - everywhere - to be a part of the solution. Added together, these individual commitments will tell governments that all people care about AIDS, that they want to be part of an effective response to it, and that they are willing to make their own commitments to ending the epidemic. Individuals from all over the world are already meeting the individual commitment challenge: to prevent HIV, treat every person living with HIV/AIDS with respect and dignity, to support local programmes that provide care and treatment. World AIDS Day is the perfect time for each individual and group to recommit themselves to those ideals.

After two decades of living in a world with HIV, 1 December is a reminder that with sufficient will and resources, we have the power to stop the epidemic. What is needed – for each of the 40 million people living with the disease – is the involvement of people from every walk of life. Everyone can contribute, whether by making a promise to take action or by promoting the campaign with friends and colleagues. To make your promise and to learn more about the World AIDS Campaign and how people around the world are renewing their commitment to the fight on World AIDS Day, visit http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/. 

Related links:

World AIDS Campaign

NEW YORK, 7 June 2011—As the world marks 30 years of AIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) unveils OUTLOOK 30, a book with a compilation of 30 milestones, images, tributes, breakthroughs, art and inspirations in the epidemic’s 30-year history.

“AIDS has united the world, broken the conspiracy of silence, connected the north and the south to find solutions, and forged a social movement,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Michel Sidibé. “AIDS has mobilized the world to deliver an unprecedented response which has saved millions of lives.”

The book was released ahead of the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS taking place in New York from 8-10 June. More than 3000 people are expected to assemble at the meeting, which will be instrumental in moving the AIDS response forward. More than 30 Heads of State and Government will join Ministers, private sector partners, civil society and people living with HIV from 8-10 June, to shape the future of the response to HIV.

AIDS timelines

The special edition of OUTLOOK illustrates timelines on three issues that have shaped the AIDS response—the evolution of access to antiretroviral treatment; HIV/Tuberculosis (TB) and the use of condoms.

The treatment timeline traces the path that has led to a record number of people living with HIV receiving life-saving antiretroviral therapy —6.6 million in 2010, a nearly 22-fold increase since 2001—thanks to the combined efforts of government, civil society and the international community.

The HIV-TB timeline presents major developments in the joint response to HIV and TB. These include the first reports in 1983 of an association between TB and HIV among people living with AIDS in Haiti; a finding 20 years later, in 2003, that only about 3% of people with TB are tested for HIV; and the release of 2009 estimates showing that TB continues to be a leading cause of death among people living with HIV, accounting for about 380 000 deaths.

The condom timeline traces the history of the condom—from ancient Egypt through modern times. “Many people made their own condoms at home before the 20th century,” says historian Aine Collier. “In fact, it was very much a cottage industry, as most condom ‘manufacturers’ worked from their own kitchens.”

Art and AIDS

The book presents a range of posters from around the world that show the diverse visual strategies used over the years to communicate messages on AIDS awareness and safer sex.

It also features a selection of paintings by celebrated New York artist Keith Haring, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1990, as well as Canadian graphic designer Morgan McConnell and New Delhi-based artists Jiten Thukral and Sumir Tagra. The publication also includes a reproduction of the Keiskamma Altarpiece, an extraordinary message of peace through art which was created by a group of 130 women from Hamburg and neighbouring villages in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa, an area deeply affected by the AIDS epidemic.

Faces of AIDS

Two chapters in the book bring out the human face of the epidemic. Six activists who have lost their lives to AIDS are remembered through their writings, speeches and recollections by their friends. The book also profiles people living with HIV. These include Olympian Greg Louganis, Miss Positive from Russian Federation Svetlana Izambaeva, a student form Brazil, Micaela Syrina, a Constitutional Judge from South Africa, Edwin Cameron and Member of the House of Lords of the United Kingdom Chris Smith.

“I wanted my story to motivate the people living with HIV to be responsible and to understand that life isn’t over yet,” said Mr Louganis. “Some people don’t think that AIDS has touched their lives. A lot of people saw me at the Olympics and they were cheering for me. All those people cannot say that they have not been affected by AIDS.”

Looking into the future

The book also presents an analysis of current HIV prevention approaches, human rights and AIDS, gender disparities, HIV data, resources available for the AIDS response and recent advancements in the field of science.

“OUTLOOK 30 will inspire a new generation to learn from the lessons of the last three decades and take the AIDS response forward,” said Mr Sidibé. “The book is both a reminder of the past and I hope an inspiration for the future.”

Unprecedented numbers Heads of State and Government and Vice Presidents to attend UN meeting on AIDS in New York

New York/Geneva, 31 May 2011—As the AIDS response reaches a critical turning point, world leaders are showing renewed commitment to AIDS as more than 30 Heads of State and Government and Vice Presidents are expected to convene at next week’s UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. The top level support is coming at a decisive moment in the AIDS response as more people than ever before are living with HIV but international funding for AIDS is seen to be declining.

The top level leaders will join ministers and other UN Member State representatives to commit to new ways forward in responding to AIDS. There will also be strong participation from civil society and other actors from the AIDS movement who will join discussions on how to take the AIDS response to the next level.

“The commitment we are seeing for this meeting from world leaders is an extremely positive signal and is coming at a critical time,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “This meeting will provide a real opportunity for countries to take ownership of the response and produce a strong and visionary declaration to guide global efforts in reaching universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2015.”

Negotiations have already begun around the text for the final declaration which is expected to be adopted on the last day of the meeting.

Since the first Special Session on AIDS was held at the United Nations in 2001 significant progress has been made in reducing numbers of new HIV infections, in accessing treatment, in reducing the number of AIDS-related deaths and in addressing stigma and discrimination. However, if efforts in responding to the epidemic are not sustained and scaled-up, the important results which have been accomplished risk being reversed.

“The AIDS response is a shared responsibility,” said Mr Sidibé. “There are more people in need than resources available. To address this need, both donor and low- and middle- income countries need to contribute their fair share.”

The meeting is being held at the United Nations in New York from 8-10 June. For more information including the official programme and details of media accreditation, see the following link: http://www.un.org/en/ga/aidsmeeting2011/

GENEVA, 13 May 2011—UNAIDS today launched a television and social media campaign to create a groundswell of support for the AIDS response in the lead-up to the United Nations (UN) General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS. This key meeting of UN Member States and civil society, from 8-10 June 2011, is an important opportunity for global leaders to move the AIDS agenda forward.

“The aim of this campaign is to reenergize the global AIDS movement and encourage leaders around the world to recommit to the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support,” said Tim Martineau, UNAIDS Director of Programme Effectiveness and Country Support, at a campaign launch event in Geneva.

The campaign, called Move It!, uses the bicycle as a vehicle to raise awareness around HIV— the spinning wheels symbolizing the movement and force of the AIDS response. Designed by the Geneva-based branch of advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, simple animations on spinning bicycle wheels communicate the message: Zero new HIV infections, Zero discrimination, Zero AIDS-related deaths. As part of the campaign, a public service announcement will be broadcast across Africa.

“Through this campaign, people can decorate their own bikes with animations and share photos of their creations on the UNAIDS page of Facebook to support this great cause,” said Leon Jacobs, a creative director at Saatchi & Saatchi. “We are pleased to support UNAIDS in their efforts to roll out this campaign across Africa and the world,” he added.

UNAIDS fans on Facebook can vote for the “best bike” and winners be announced at the High Level Meeting in June.

President of the Republic of Gabon to contribute to efforts in finding effective solutions to HIV and announces support to refocusing efforts on AIDS as a priority issue during UN High Level Meeting on AIDS

Geneva, 4 April 2011— The Gabonese President, Mr Ali Bongo Ondimba, has announced his commitment to play a key role in efforts to scale-up the AIDS response at the High Level Meeting on AIDS, taking place at the UN in New York from 8-10 June.

“It is a critical time in the AIDS response and more important than ever that we put the focus back onto HIV,” said President Ali Bongo Ondimba. “It is irresponsible to think that AIDS is under control when 10 million people are in need of treatment and more than 7000 people are becoming infected with HIV every day.”   

In recent years, Gabon has made real progress in its HIV response, new HIV infections have reduced by more than 25% since 2001 and access to antiretroviral therapy has increased.

During a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, President Ali Bongo Ondima expressed his support to the AIDS response and his willingness to bring discussions on HIV to the forefront of the June 2011 UN Security Council meeting, the month that Gabon takes over as President.     

“HIV remains one of the major concerns of our time, and must stay at the very top of political agendas,” said Mr Sidibé. “President Ali Bongo Ondimba’s commitment and leadership on HIV are commendable and his engagement in the June meeting will play a major role in securing the future of the response.”

President Ali Bongo Ondimba also expressed his interest in engaging in a special Heads of State session, hosted by the President of Rwanda, which will take place during the High Level Meeting on AIDS. The session will unite leaders in shaping the future of AIDS, health and development.

GENEVA, 22 March 2011—UNAIDS expresses concern over reported disruptions in access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support in Côte d’Ivoire. Amid the escalating hostilities across the country, many health care facilities have closed down and essential drugs, including antiretroviral medicines, are in short supply.

“Even in times of political instability, countries and the international community must ensure the continuity of essential health services for all people in need,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “We know, for example, that interruptions in antiretroviral treatment can have serious health consequences.”

Côte d’Ivoire has the highest HIV prevalence in West Africa, estimated at 3.4% of the adult population. At the end of 2009, more than 72 000 people in the country were receiving antiretroviral treatment.

UNAIDS calls on the international community for solidarity in ensuring the continuity of basic health and AIDS services.