People living with HIV

Chinese version of award-winning book is launched at the Opening Ceremony.

BEIJING/GENEVA, 29 July 2016—The China-Africa Children Summer Camp opened today under the theme of “Love in the Sunshine”, bringing together 60 young people living with or affected by HIV from China, Ghana, South Africa and Zimbabwe.

Held on the grounds of the Forbidden City, in attendance at the event were the First Lady of China, Peng Liyuan and the First Lady of South Africa, Tobeka Madiba Zuma as well as the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé and the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Margaret Chan.    

As dragonflies, a symbol of change and self-reliance, flew into the open square, the First Lady of China welcomed the participants saying it was a dream to bring together children affected by HIV she has long championed in China with young people from Africa.

“I am very happy that we can be here together,” said Mrs Peng.

This is the first time that young people from outside China have participated in the summer camp happening on the side lines of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation.

“We want all children to grow to their full potential and realize their dreams, said Mrs Zuma. “This summer camp offers our children a rare opportunity to visit this beautiful country and to share experiences to inspire and strengthen one another.”

Mr Sidibé brought 16-year-old Julia from Ghana with him up to the stage.

“This is an opportunity to say thank you to all of you for your bravery and let you know that we love you and believe in you,” said Mr Sidibé.

At the ceremony and in partnership with the Chinese media organization, Xinhua News Agency, UNAIDS released a Chinese language version of an award-winning book on HIV for children. The Chinese version of The Bravest Boy I Know was given to participants attending the China-Africa Children Summer Camp in Beijing. The book will become an important teaching aid in schools across China to help children understand the issues surrounding HIV and reduce stigma and discrimination faced by children affected by the virus.

The book is the touching story of two friends, Xiao Ming and Xiao Li and their adventures together. Xiao Ming is living with HIV. The story is illustrated by the renowned artist Sujean Rim. It is the heart-warming tale of facing HIV in a positive way. The original version of the book takes place in Africa and has been distributed widely through the Thank You Small Library system in Africa. 

“This book is a valuable tool to help parents, teachers and carers explain the complex and emotional issues surrounding HIV to children in their care,” added Mr Sidibé. “Every child deserves to feel protected and loved and to experience a childhood free of stigma and discrimination and every child living with HIV must have access to treatment.”    

In 2015, of the 1.8 million children under 15 years of age estimated to be living with HIV worldwide, only half had access to antiretroviral medicines to keep them alive and well. There were 150 000 new HIV infections among children aged 15 and under in 2015.          

The Bravest Boy I Know is also available in English, French and Portuguese and is released together with a factsheet on children and HIV and a discussion guide for teachers and carers.  In September 2015, the book won first prize in the Popular Medicine category of the British Medical Association.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Quilts of various sizes, colours and shapes ripple like waves by the various entrances to the Durban International Conference Centre, hosting the 21st International AIDS Conference. Laid out or hung up, inscriptions vary from “Empower together we shall win” to “Positive link.” The AIDS Quilt Project is back in South Africa telling the story of the journey from Durban 2000—the last time the AIDS conference took place in the city—to Durban 2016.

In 2000, fewer than one million people had access to life-saving treatment and South Africa had the greatest number of people living with HIV.

“In 2016, we wanted to tell this journey and how we came from a time of loss and death and stigma and discrimination to where we are now, where we can talk about treatment and HIV, and we are much more open,” explained Kanya Ndaki, from the South African National AIDS Council. She added, “The quilts visually tell the story.”

Communities, schools, nongovernmental organizations, the health department and civil society partners submitted their decorated cloth panels from across the country. More than 450 in total were collected. Many grace the grounds of the conference, with a few quilts dating back to 2000.

“Blesser”

One quilt told the story of the sugar daddy phenomenon, known in South Africa as “blessers,” depicted schoolgirls in pigtails with an iPhone in hand and big purses next to a grey-haired man in a fancy car.

Young women and adolescent girls make more than 70% of new HIV infections in Sub-saharan Africa. A rate two and a half times greater than boys of the same age. Many point the finger at the fact that young women are having sex with much older partners unlike their male peers.

Prison story full of optimism

Ms Ndaki proudly showed off a quilt hanging prominently outside the entrance to the Global Village—a space open to the general public. “This quilt came from the Department of Correctional Services, a prison in Pretoria,” she said pointing to the long orange-hued panel. “Care for me, I care for you,” “Take courage,” “Love life” and “Condomize” grace the panel. Initially, prisoners were to sew different panels together, but in the end they designed their very own creation.

“It is a very powerful quilt and it was one of the ones displayed when government officials handed over the quilts to the South African National AIDS Council for the Durban AIDS Conference,” she said as two women posed for selfies with the quilt in the background.

Photographs line the walls of the rotunda in Durban’s City Hall. The light streams in from the windows of the cupola and recorded voices of the “artivists,” as they are known, speak to all who enter. The exhibition is called Through Positive Eyes: 10 Years. 9 Cities. My Photo. My Story.

Storytelling is revealed in several forms as visitors immerse themselves in the exhibition. Over the course of 10 years, co-directors of the Through Positive Eyes project David Gere and Gideon Mendel have brought together from around the world people living with HIV.

In each of the nine cities, the process began the same way—a group of people, strangers to each other, were given a camera. What started as a foreign object quickly became an extension of themselves.

Mr Mendel, an award-winning photographer, leads photo education workshops alongside his associate, Crispin Hughes. Mr Gere, a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, conducts the story interviews.

“It was therapeutic to hear other people’s stories,” said artivist Simiso Msoni of Durban. “Overall, it was just fun to tell your story and what it means to live with HIV through pictures.”

The Durban exhibition brings many of the past participants together, as well as their art. An innovative feature is the live dialogue sessions, in which two of the participants speak to each other about their experiences and visitors can listen as their stories unfold.

Edwin Cameron, a Judge of the Constitutional Court of South Africa, called the exhibition extraordinary. “This exhibition is important for what it does for visibility, for what it does for voices,” he said. He underlined the need to listen and learn from people living with and affected by HIV and the need to break down barriers caused by stigma and discrimination. 

The exhibition includes works by Adriana Bertini, Mandisa Dlamini, Daniel Goldstein, Ross Levinson, Gordon Mundie and Parthiv Shah and is co-curated by Stan Pressner, Carol Brown and Mr Gere. 

People living with HIV have been at the forefront of the AIDS response from the beginning, as equal partners providing solutions on how to provide services and demanding the respect and rights of everyone affected by HIV.

“LIVING 2016: positive leadership summit” saw 300 people living with HIV from all around the world gather together on 16 and 17 July in Durban, South Africa, ahead of the 21st International AIDS Conference.

The participants discussed the needs of people living with HIV and the community-led response to access to quality and rights-based services, stigma and discrimination, criminalization and violence, access to treatment and sexual and reproductive health and rights

The meeting reviewed the successes since AIDS 2000, held in Durban, but highlighted the remaining challenges: only half of people living with HIV have access to treatment, more than 1 million people living with HIV die every year, resources for the AIDS response are declining, stigma and discrimination remain barriers to access to services and inequities in access are costing lives.

The greater and meaningful involvement of people living with HIV was a cross-cutting theme throughout the two-day meeting.

The participants reaffirmed the diversity of people living with HIV and asserted the need to work together with networks of key populations as advocates to mobilize the resources for an effective AIDS response, to demand and support legal and policy reform that respect everyone’s rights and to hold governments, donors, the United Nations and networks of people living with HIV accountable.

Concerted global efforts have led to a 60% drop in new infections among children, which has averted 1.2 million new HIV infections among children in 21 priority countries since 2009

NEW YORK/GENEVA, 8 June 2016—UNAIDS and the United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) announced today that there has been a 60% decline in new HIV infections among children since 2009 in the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa that have been most affected by the epidemic.

New HIV infections among children in the 21 countries dropped from 270 000 [230 000–330 000] in 2009 to 110 000 [78 000–150 000] in 2015. Equally impressive are gains made in bridging the treatment gap among children. In 2005, fewer than one in 10 children had access to antiretroviral treatment—this gap has now been reduced to one in two. In the past five years alone, treatment scale-up for children grew twofold. The impact is that AIDS-related deaths among children were reduced by 44%.

“These astounding results show that the world is on the Fast-Track to eliminating new HIV infections among children and ensuring that their mothers are alive and healthy,” said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. “It’s beautiful to know that we could soon have a new generation free from HIV.”

The results were published in a new report, On the Fast-Track to an AIDS-free generation, which was launched at an event hosted by UNAIDS and PEPFAR on the opening day of the United Nations General Assembly High-Level Meeting on Ending AIDS, taking place in New York, United States of America, from 8 to 10 June.

“This shows what is possible through the combined power of science, communities and focused action,” said Deborah Birx, United States Global AIDS Coordinator and Special Representative for Global Health Diplomacy. “PEPFAR is building on this success, driving harder and smarter to prevent HIV infections and end AIDS among children, adolescents and young women through our DREAMS Partnership, Accelerating Children’s HIV/AIDS Treatment initiative and other efforts.”

During the event, UNAIDS also released global data for children that showed that new HIV infections among children have declined globally by 50% since 2010—down from 290 000 in 2010 to 150 000 in 2015. It also showed that 49% of children living with HIV around the world now have access to life-saving treatment. On the eve of the event, UNAIDS and partners announced that Armenia, Belarus and Thailand have joined Cuba in receiving official certificates of validation from the World Health Organization for eliminating new HIV infections among children. Thailand is the first country with a major HIV epidemic (450 000 people living with HIV in 2014) to receive such a validation.

It was during the High-Level Meeting on HIV and AIDS in 2011 that UNAIDS and PEPFAR joined with partners to launch the Global Plan towards the elimination new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive (Global Plan). The focus of the Global Plan was to increase efforts to prevent new HIV infections in all countries, but particularly in the 22 countries that, in 2009, accounted for 90% of pregnant women living with HIV.

The new report released today shows the progress made since the Global Plan was launched. It outlines that seven countries have reduced new HIV infections among children by more than 70% since 2009 (the baseline for the Global Plan), including: Uganda, by 86%; South Africa and Burundi, by 84%; Swaziland, by 80%; Namibia, by 79%; Mozambique, by 75%; and Malawi, by 71%. In Nigeria, however, the decline was much smaller, at just 21%. In India, the only Global Plan country outside of sub-Saharan Africa, new HIV infections in children dropped by 44% and coverage of services to pregnant women increased from less than 4% in 2010 to 31% in 2015. 

The new report demonstrates that treatment or prophylaxis (excluding the less-effective single-dose nevirapine) coverage for pregnant women living with HIV in the countries most affected by the epidemic increased dramatically from 2009. By 2015, more than 80% of pregnant women living with HIV in the 21 countries in sub-Saharan Africa had access to medicines to prevent transmission of the virus to their child—up from just 36% (excluding the less-effective single-dose nevirapine) in 2009.

The World Health Organization recommends that all pregnant women living with HIV should be offered lifelong HIV treatment, extending beyond Option B+ to include all women diagnosed with HIV regardless of pregnancy. By 2015, all of the Global Plan countries, with the exception of Nigeria, were routinely offering lifelong HIV treatment to all pregnant women living with HIV. The massive scale-up of treatment has helped to reduce AIDS-related deaths among women of reproductive age, which declined by 43% between 2009 and 2015.  

Incredible journey

Six countries—Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland and Uganda—met the Global Plan goal of ensuring that 90% or more of pregnant women living with HIV had access to life-saving antiretroviral medicines. Six additional countries provided antiretroviral medicines to more than 80% of pregnant women living with HIV—Burundi, Cameroon, Malawi, the United Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe.

Major successes have also been seen in increasing access to treatment for children living with HIV in the 21 countries: access has increased more than threefold since 2009—from 15% in 2009 to 51% in 2015. However, this is still only half of all children in need of treatment. Major efforts are required to ensure that all children born to HIV-positive mothers are tested for HIV within the first two months of life. Without immediate access to treatment, around 30% of children living with HIV will die within the first year of life and more than 50% will die before they reach their fifth birthday.

The Global Plan also aspired to reduce new HIV infections among women of reproductive age by 50%. The actual decline was just 5%—well below the target. This suggests that women, including young women, continue to be left behind and are not being reached with HIV prevention services. Between 2009 and 2015, around 4.5 million [3.8 million–5.4 million] women became newly infected with HIV in the 21 priority countries in sub-Saharan Africa, and AIDS-related illnesses remain the leading cause of death among adolescents on the continent.

At the launch of the report, UNAIDS, PEPFAR and partners also launched a Super Fast-Track framework for ending AIDS among children, adolescents and young women—Start Free, Stay Free, AIDS-Free. The initiative will build on the progress already made to Fast-Track action to end the AIDS epidemic and sets ambitious targets to eliminate new infections among children, find and ensure access to treatment for all children living with HIV and prevent new HIV infections among adolescents and young women. Together, these steps will put the world on a path to ending AIDS among children.

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

PEPFAR

The United States President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) is the United States Government initiative to save the lives of those affected by HIV/AIDS around the world. This historic commitment is the largest by any nation to combat a single disease internationally, and PEPFAR investments also help alleviate suffering from other diseases across the global health spectrum. PEPFAR is driven by a shared responsibility among donor and partner nations and others to make smart investments to save lives. Learn more at pepfar.gov and connect with us on Facebook and Twitter.

When the train pulled into the Beijing railway station, Mei Zi’s heart was pounding. She had travelled from a small village near Shenzhen in south-eastern China to the capital. It was the winter of 2009 and Mei Zi was about to have her first glimpse of the man she was planning to marry.

“I will always remember the exciting and emotional moment when we first met,” said Mei Zi. “He picked me up at the railway station. He had bought me a red down jacket.”

Mei Zi met her husband through an online chat group for people living with HIV.

“After I found out I was HIV-positive in 2007, I thought that I would never be happy again,” said Mei Zi, who preferred not to use her real name for this story. Soon after getting married, she became pregnant. “At that time, I had been diagnosed with both HIV and hepatitis C and my husband was also living with HIV,” she said. “So I decided to have an abortion and not to have any children in the future.”

But in March 2014, she became pregnant again. This time she was receiving care from the Beijing You’an Hospital STD/AIDS Clinical Centre and Director Sun Lijun put her fears to rest. The doctor said that by taking antiretroviral medicine, Mei Zi could prevent the transmission of HIV to her baby and that there was also effective treatment for hepatitis C.

“The doctor’s guidance and encouragement spurred me on,” said Mei Zi.

Six months into her pregnancy, her bile acid level became dangerously high and she was hospitalized.

“Throughout the entire process, the doctors and nurses at You’an hospital did not discriminate or treat me as different,” said Mei Zi. “I was deeply moved.”

In her 34th week, the doctor told her that she would have a caesarean section the next day. Mei Zi gave birth to a baby boy in November 2014. He was free of HIV and weighed 2.2 kilograms.

“He doesn’t talk much, so everyone calls him Calm Angel,” said Mei Zi. “I think my Calm Angel is a gift from God. Now, when he is cheeky, I ignore him just to tease him a little and then he runs to hide in my arms.”

Mei Zi is one of 15 mothers living with HIV in China who have shared their stories after they successfully gave birth to healthy children. Their voices and photographs are featured in two books, My child and I and Women’s power, which were launched on 6 May at an event held in Ditan Hospital, Beijing, organized by the Women’s Network against AIDS in China and the Beijing Home of Red Ribbon.

Women living with HIV in China are often caught between an immense social pressure to become mothers and the reverse pressure to remain childless because of the possibility of passing on the virus to their babies. With antiretroviral treatment that risk has been significantly reduced.

The first pilot programme to prevent mother-to-child transmission of HIV in China began in 2001 in Shangcai County, Henan Province, and was scaled up across the country. According to government estimates, 82.6% of mothers living with HIV were receiving antiretroviral medicine by 2014 and mother-to-child transmission had fallen to 6.1% from 34.8% a decade earlier. In 2010, the government expanded its prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programme to include the prevention of syphilis and hepatitis B, which can also be transmitted from mother to child during pregnancy and delivery.

The women featured in the book come from many different parts of China and most were telling their stories publicly for the first time. There is Tang Juan (also not her real name), who is the mother of an eight-year-old girl. She was the first person to receive treatment to prevent HIV transmission to her baby in Xiangfang in Hu Bei Province.

She had a message for other women living with HIV, “I want you to know that there is hope. You only need to hold on to it bravely.”

UNAIDS, UN Women and the embassy of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland supported the production of the books, and their representatives participated in the launch.

Catherine Sozi, UNAIDS Country Director for China, said, “These stories show that women living with HIV can have healthy babies born free from HIV as long as they have access to friendly health services geared to ensuring that they get treatment early and are supported throughout their pregnancy and after delivery.”

While some women featured in the books reported experiencing discrimination from health-care workers, many shared Mei Zi’s positive experience.

Chen Hang, Secretary of the Beijing Home of Red Ribbon, said, “The Beijing Home of Red Ribbon is committed to supporting people living with HIV and making sure all people are treated with dignity.”

GENEVA, 8 March 2016—UNAIDS and telecommunications operator Orange have signed a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on a new project to strengthen links between health-care providers and people living with and affected by HIV through the use of mobile technology.

Mobile technology will be used to improve HIV services to ensure patient retention in care and treatment adherence and to help break down stigma and discrimination. Data will be collected and analyzed, gaps in services identified and action taken to improve the quality of health care for people living with and affected by HIV. The information collected will be anonymous and full confidentiality will be maintained.

“To achieve UNAIDS’ ambitious Fast-Track Targets by 2020, countries need to innovate,” said Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS. “This partnership with Orange will allow countries to benefit from state-of-the-art technology that is cost-effective and simple to use, to ensure they can provide the highest quality of services for people living with and affected by HIV.”  

UNAIDS and partners will use Orange Mobile Training EveryWhere (M-Tew), a web-based platform that has been designed to be fully integrated into health systems and implemented on a large scale. The M-Tew platform will enable health workers to communicate with people enrolled in care through text messages or by phone and voice messages. Health professionals will be able to send messages, conduct text or voice surveys to evaluate user perceptions on quality of services and answer questions through a virtual call centre.

The technology is simple to use and people enrolled in the project will only need a basic mobile phone and a 2G connection to send and receive messages, with no application to download and no Internet connection needed.

A four-month pilot phase will begin at the end of March 2016 in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, which will involve 1000 people living with HIV who are enrolled in HIV treatment programmes. Participants in the pilot study will include people most affected by HIV, including 300 sex workers and men who have sex with men.

“President Alassane Ouattara has called for a reduction in HIV prevalence in Côte d’Ivoire to below 1% by 2020,” said Raymonde Goudou-Coffie, Minister of Health and Public Hygiene, Côte d’Ivoire. “We are committed to achieving this target and the new platform will help us Fast-Track our efforts to ensure we reach this ambitious goal.”

UNAIDS will collaborate on the project with the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Côte d’Ivoire, the Autonomous District of Abidjan, Orange Côte d’Ivoire and civil society partners, including organizations of people living with HIV. After the pilot phase, the project will be rolled out more widely in health facilities across Abidjan, with plans to expand to other priority countries in the region. 

The partnership will advance efforts to Fast-Track the response to HIV towards ending the AIDS epidemic as a public health threat by 2030. To do this will require new innovations, front-loading investments over the next five years, reaching the UNAIDS 90–90–90 treatment target, expanding access to HIV prevention services and ensuring zero discrimination. 

UNAIDS

The Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) leads and inspires the world to achieve its shared vision of zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths. UNAIDS unites the efforts of 11 UN organizations—UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, UN Women, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank—and works closely with global and national partners towards ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030 as part of the Sustainable Development Goals. Learn more at unaids.org and connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.

Isah Mohammed Takuma is married and has a one-year-old daughter. At 32, he is a university graduate and currently serves as the National Coordinator of the Association of Positive Youths Living with HIV/AIDS in Nigeria.

He says he draws daily inspiration from his personal experience to support HIV prevention efforts in Nigeria. “I was 19 when I first had sex. I thought one time was not enough to get infected with HIV,” he said.

Even when he started to fall sick, he simply could not believe that HIV was the cause of his health troubles. He was 23 when he tested HIV-positive and his life changed forever.

“It was a nightmare and I had to go through hurdles to recover. My CD4 count was low; my viral load was high. I was like a walking corpse,” Mr Takuma recalled.

Antiretroviral treatment soon put him back in good health. He returned to university and completed his studies much later than planned, but he was happy to be alive and healthy again.

At university, he started a support group for young people living with HIV. He told his story to peers as a way to prevent new HIV infections. “Many other people in my class got to know their HIV status because of my efforts, and I am really proud about that,” Mr Takuma said.

The Nigerian Government reports that more than 6.7 million people were tested for HIV in 2014 and that it continues its efforts to expand treatment, with coverage at 22% in 2014. The global treatment target set for 2020 is that 90% of people living with HIV are on life-saving antiretroviral therapy.

Despite the challenges that people living with HIV face in the country, Mr Takuma said the fact that he and his wife have an HIV-free child “tells the story of what Nigeria’s HIV response has done in the lives of many young people like me.”

Nigeria has the second largest HIV epidemic in the world. In 2014, 3.4 million people were living with HIV in the country, of which 380 000 were children below the age of 14. HIV prevalence among young women between the ages of 15 and 24 was 1.3% in 2014, almost twice as high as it was for their male counterparts.

Like Mr Takuma, Faith, 16, is passionate about advocating for HIV prevention among young people.

The soft-spoken and cheerful student was born with HIV but only got to know her status at the age of 10. However, she started on antiretroviral treatment when she fell ill two years ago.

She is now healthy and advocates for treatment for all. “I have even been on radio to speak about HIV,” she said. “We want adolescents and youth to understand that it is possible to have a normal life without any stress.”

“We also want to take part in international engagements to share our stories and be an inspiration to other girls and young people,” she said.

Faith views her involvement with the Association of Positive Youths Living with HIV in Nigeria as vital to ensuring that women and girls enjoy healthy and productive lives.

She aspires to graduate as a nurse to help save lives in Nigeria.