UNAIDS Executive Director was in Dublin, Ireland on Tuesday 30th January to sign with Conor Lenihan TD, Minister of State for Irish Aid, a new €30 million, five year partnership between Ireland and UNAIDS. The agreement strengthens Ireland's commitment to the response to AIDS and confirms its leading position in the global response. The Minister of State for Irish Aid, Conor Lenihan TD, and UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot, also met with fourteen Irish Aid sponsored UN Volunteer (UNV) Interns who will travel overseas next week to work in the developing world for a period of one year.

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All photo credit : Maxwells Photography

Links:

Read Press Release
Read more on Ireland's 'Stamp Out Stigma' campaign

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.

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Some 2,400 people have made their way to Davos in Switzerland for the opening of the World Economic Forum Annual meeting 2007. Global leaders this year come from the top-most levels, with more than 800 CEOs, Chairmen and Chairwomen taking part and 24 heads of state and government. The overarching theme of this year’s meeting is “Shaping the Global Agenda, The Shifting Power Equation,” focusing in particular on political and socio-economic issues.

The programme will follow four main themes that figure prominently on the global agenda in 2007. These range from “Economics: New Drivers” and “Geopolitics: The Need for Fresh Mandates” to “Business: Leading in Connected World” and “Technology and Society: Identity, Community and Networks”.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot will be in Davos for the meeting where he will meet with numerous representatives from business, foundations and civil society and will participate in various events including a panel session on AIDS 2025. The session will explore different scenarios of how the AIDS epidemic could develop. Key themes will include the impact of large-scale efforts aimed at HIV prevention, the effectiveness of current approaches to AIDS treatment and the centralization of the provision of AIDS-related information.

In previous years the World Economic Forum in Davos has been instrumental in putting AIDS on high on the political and business agenda. In 2006 rock star Bono launched a new corporate initiative to create a sustainable and profitable brand – Product RED –designed to raise funds for AIDS in Africa.

AIDS and poverty topped the agenda of the meeting in 2005 where French President Jacques Chirac called for an international tax to raise money to fight AIDS and British Prime Minister Tony Blair urged participants to put poverty and AIDS in Africa at the top of their agendas.

In 2001, computer software billionaire Bill Gates pledged to donate US$ 100 million to the International Aids Vaccine Initiative and challenged global business leaders to follow his lead and donate money for research into an AIDS vaccine.

In Nelson Mandela’s poignant speech at the 1997 World Economic Forum he said that the challenge of AIDS could be overcome and called for the global community to ‘ join hands in a caring partnership for health and prosperity as we enter the new millennium’.

This year, most of the 223 sessions, workshops, panel discussions, lunches and dinners will be interactive to foster collaborative approaches to resolving issues. This approach also aims to encourage top leaders from business, politics, religious groups and non-governmental organizations to engage in shaping global, regional and industry agendas.

The World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2007 will provide the opportunity for influential leaders from diverse fields and areas of the world to address concerns and build the effective, innovative communities needed to create new approaches.

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Links:

Visit the World Economic Forum Website
Read 'BUSINESS and AIDS: Winning some fights but loosing the battle' by UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr. Peter Piot

In celebration of the Millennium Development Goals, the Media Communications Association International, the United Nations Department of Public Information and the New School are calling for entries for the Third Annual United Nations Documentary Film Festival. The Festival, entitled ‘Stories from the Field’ will take place on Friday, April 20 through Sunday, April 22, 2007, and feature film screenings, panel discussions, and award presentations.

‘Stories from the Field’ was founded in 2005 as the United Nations entered its 60 th year. Its mission is to screen films that reflect the United Nations Millennium Development Goals, which pledge to:

• Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
• Achieve universal primary education
• Promote gender equality and empower women
• Reduce child mortality
• Improve maternal health
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
• Ensure environmental sustainability
• Develop a global partnership for development

Filmmakers are invited to submit works that spotlight some of the people and cultures in areas with a United Nations presence throughout the world and discover what these groups are doing to overcome challenges such as poverty, AIDS, hunger, disease, civil unrest, trafficking, and injustice; show how a particular United Nations programme or service is helping a developing community to develop a civil society, self-determination, and a better quality of life for its people; and / or provide a platform for United Nations workers, community leaders, and the people they serve to share their stories of adversity and triumph.

Finalists will be selected by a screening committee of United Nations officials, MCAI representatives, New School faculty, and Mount Sinai global health experts, based on the topical relevance, artistic merit, and production values of their work.

All filmmakers from or contracted by United Nations offices, funds, programmes, and agencies around the world are invited to submit entries for consideration by 31 January 2007. The selected films will be announced on March 12, 2007.

Panel discussions at the Festival will feature the filmmakers, and invited representatives from the United Nations, The New School, MCAI NY, and, for the first time, The Mount Sinai Hospital and School of Medicine , which will lend its expertise to those discussions that center on global health.

The competition is also open to filmmakers from the general public.

Find out more about the Film Festival and how to enter on the special Festival Web site, www.mcainy.org/unfilm or on www.un.org/millenniumgoals

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Bill Roedy, President of MTV Networks International and UNAIDS Special Representative talks to the Executive Director of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria John Tedstrom about media's involvement in the AIDS response.  

 

Q. Bill, you’ve had an amazingly diverse professional life-you were a career officer in the U.S. Army for almost seven years before you transitioned to television and joined MTV in 1989. When did AIDS first emerge on your radar screen and what made you passionate about the issue?

A. It’s always been important to me. More importantly, it’s always been important for MTV too. We’ve been involved in this issue for 25 years, and the reason that we continue to strive to find news ways of getting our message out is because 40 % of new HIV infections are amongst those under 25, which is our core audience.

Q. From the beginning of the epidemic, I’ve always admired how MTV has pushed the envelope, producing public service announcements on HIV, introducing viewers to positive people, and encouraging young people to protect themselves and get tested. Did you ever worry that the company would receive backlash for being so bold?

A. No, in fact I have always viewed doing nothing as not being an option. Using our global network to communicate HIV prevention messages is one of the most important things we can do to contribute to this cause. I would like to encourage other companies to play to their strengths and look at how they can contribute too. We all have a role to play.

Q. Does MTV’s strong position on AIDS serve as a recruitment and retention tool for employees, or help the company bring the right people on board?

A. There have been many studies done which show staff appreciation when their company and senior management are involved in social causes. I would hope that our involvement in the AIDS response as well as other issues, such as children’s rights and the environment, serves as an attraction for existing and future staff members.

Q. This past World AIDS Day, after completing an enormously successful eighteen months as the Chair of the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) Leadership Committee, you turned the position over to Dali Mpofu. Kofi Annan sang your praises: "Bill Roedy has mobilized media companies around the world to make unprecedented commitments to HIV prevention through innovative campaigns and programming." Can you explain why prevention efforts are still so important?

A. Prevention efforts are still important because the worldwide response to HIV and AIDS has not matched the scale of the disease. 40 million people are infected. Prevention is important because no one needs to contract HIV. Education can prevent infection. The UN believes that effective education programmes can significantly cut infection rates.

I want the media and business to show global leadership by educating the world to prevent the spread of HIV. Education can also lessen the stigma associated with the illness. Only with significant and widespread education campaigns can you hope to counter stigma. Education destroys prejudice and ignorance. Education encourages tolerance.

Q. At the June 2006 U.N. High Level Meeting on AIDS, you made a great comment, noting that over the course of the week, 43,000 people were infected with HIV but that this fact does not garner the media attention that results when the same number of chickens are infected with Bird Flu. Do you worry that a false sense of complacency is affecting media coverage and making our disease response suffer?

A. Yes. There is complacency in the media. There has been a great deal of suffering reported in the media: earthquakes, tsunamis & hurricanes, not to mention the Iraq war and Afghanistan. But it’s worth remembering that the numbers killed by AIDS last year would have equaled a dozen Asian tsunamis, or dozens of earthquakes.

The reality is that infection levels have not reduced. While treatment is prolonging life in some parts of the world, the reality is that in many parts of the developing world, HIV infection rates are rising and AIDS still leads to premature death.

Q. Since its January 2004 launch, GMAI has expanded rapidly. Is there room for additional growth and if so, how do you propose generating it?

A. Yes, there is always room for growth and improvement. We want every media company to be involved. There is endless scope for input from everyone, great and small. We want HIV education and prevention information to be part of the DNA of every media company.

And those roles extend to advertising and PR, not just creative producers. MTVN’s Staying Alive HIV and AIDS education campaign has just collaborated with the world’s leading advertising agencies to produce HIV prevention messages. They are not only being aired across MTV’s web and mobile platforms, but are also being picked up by 35 other broadcasters and content distributors globally.

We offer Staying Alive material rights free to all broadcasters, so that our Staying Alive programming regularly reaches over 90 percent of the top 50 heavily AIDS impacted countries.

Q. What can non-media companies do to ameliorate disease misperceptions and stigma surrounding those infected with and affected by the disease?

A. There is a role for everyone: workplace programmes, community outreach programmes, local partnerships. The key is not to reinvent the wheel but to seek advice about what you can do. There are people that companies can reach out to, such as the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, who can advise and suggest roles in any country or market around the world.

Q. You’ve been an important part of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria family since its earliest days. As someone who fully understands why AIDS is a business issue, how would you make this pitch to businesses that are not yet convinced the disease impacts them?

A. I’d say that getting involved is good for business and good for employee morale. It helps communities and it shows leadership. Companies working in high-impact countries note improvements in productivity, morale and staff turnover. The more infection is prevented, the better for all. We’re all in this together.

Bill Roedy
Mr. Bill Roedy is the Vice Chairman for MTV Networks, and President of MTV Networks International (MTVNI).

Through his extensive travels and advocacy, Mr. Roedy was invited to become a Special Representative for UNAIDS in 1998. He leads MTVNI’s global efforts to promote HIV education, fight complacency and lessen the stigma attached to the disease, through the Staying Alive  campaign. Under his leadership, MTVNI has produced award-winning AIDS-related documentaries, concerts, discussion programmes and public service announcements.

In April 2005, then UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Mr. Roedy as Chair of the Global Media AIDS Initiative (GMAI) Leadership Committee. The GMAI was launched in 2004 to galvanise media organisations to play a stronger role in the fight against HIV and AIDS. The Leadership Committee develops the overall vision and priorities of the GMAI and supports the creation of local, regional and global media campaigns and partnerships.

Mr. Roedy has also served as Chair of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) on HIV and AIDS from 2000-2002. In 2002 US President Bill Clinton, on behalf of the GBC and the International AIDS Trust, honoured him with the Award for Business Excellence for his outstanding contributions. In November 2004 Mr. Roedy accepted the International Emmy Founders Award at the 32 nd International Emmy Awards, for revolutionising music on television and supporting the fight against AIDS around the world.

The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC) mobilizes international business against HIV/AIDS and recently added tuberculosis and malaria to its mandate. The rapidly expanding alliance of 220 international companies is dedicated to combating these epidemics through the business sector’s unique skills and expertise. The official focal point of the private sector delegation to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, GBC maintains offices in New York, Paris, Geneva, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Moscow, Kiev and Beijing. In August 2006, the organization began a merger process with Transatlantic Partners Against AIDS (TPAA) to strengthen business engagement in Eastern Europe and the former CIS.

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Links:

More information on UNAIDS Private Partnerships

There are literally thousands of AIDS-related programmes around the world. With such a wide variety of approaches and methodologies, sharing information about initiatives that have been successful is crucial to the ongoing development and improvement of AIDS programming.

To help drive the knowledge-sharing process, in 1997 UNAIDS began the production of its ‘Best Practice Collection’— a series of publications ranging from guidelines, updates and policy papers to case studies, handbooks, and examinations of particular challenges and responses, all designed to promote learning, share experience and empower people and partners engaged in the AIDS response.

“Knowing what works and what doesn’t, under what circumstances or cultural constraints, can help shape current and future programmes for AIDS,” said Alistair Craik, manager of the Collection. “The Best Practice Collection provides a wealth of ‘hands on’ experience that is useful and may be replicated.”

The UNAIDS Collection provides examples of successful programmes from around the world which have been identified to inspire policy makers, programme managers and other stakeholders in their response to AIDS.

The Collection currently offers nearly 140 titles in English, 100 of which are also available in French, 75 in Spanish and 50 in Russian language editions. External evaluations conducted in 1999 and again in 2003 showed that the UNAIDS Best Practice Collection is a widely respected source of information for people working in the field of AIDS including non-governmental organizations, Ministries of Health and communities.

“The Collection includes some unconventional approaches such as collaborating with traditional healers in the AIDS repsonse.These examples of ‘best practice’ can help people to find new and effective ways to tackle the epidemic which they may not have been aware of before,” he added.

The UNAIDS Collection covers a wide range of topics from HIV workplace programmes to HIV prevention among injecting drug users and from programmes focusing on men who have sex with men to the faith-based response to AIDS.

Ideas for new Best Practice publications come from various sources including people engaged in the response, local, national, and international policy and programme decision makers. UNAIDS also works in close collaboration with its ten cosponsoring UN organizations to further develop HIV-related information within their area of concern. UNAIDS has collaborated with UNHCR and ILO to produce two publications focusing on HIV programmes in refugee camps and in the workplace.

To be considered as a ‘best practice’ for the UNAIDS Collection, a programme must fulfill a number of fundamental criteria. First, the programme must be ethically sound. It must also be relevant, cost effective, sustainable and replicable. Best Practice publications are reviewed by experts within UNAIDS and from other UN system organizations.

“We distribute copies of new titles free of charge to people engaged in the AIDS response in low- and middle-income countries. Full text versions are also available on the UNAIDS website,” Craik said.

Over the next months, UNAIDS will be featuring a selection of programmes from the Best Practice Collection on the Web.

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Links:

View Best Practice Collection

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.

 

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All photo credits: vihdeoamericas/PAHO

Just over a year ago, UNIC EF, UNAIDS and other partners launched Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS initiative to highlight the missing face of the child in the AIDS response.

 

On Tuesday, 16 th January 2007 UNICEF released the “Children and AIDS: A Stocktaking” report summarizing progress on children and AIDS since the initiative was launched in October 2005 and highlighting important breakthroughs and progress noted in the global response to Children and AIDS since the campaign launch. Such achievements include real progress noted in some countries in preventing HIV transmission from mothers to children and providing treatment for children living with AIDS.

“There is an urgent need to help children impacted by AIDS,” UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman said. “Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS is focused on ensuring treatment for HIV-positive children, prevention of mother-to-child transmission and assisting children who have been orphaned by AIDS. We must build momentum to achieve positive results for children.”

Within the UNICEF report, findings are presented on four key areas: preventing mother-to-child transmission, access to AIDS treatment, preventing new HIV infections and support to orphans and vulnerable children.

Preventing mother-to-child transmission

The stocktaking report finds that there are signs of considerable progress in the area of preventing transmission of HIV from mother to child (PMTCT). Some high-prevalence countries in Eastern and Southern Africa have shown particularly encouraging results. In Namibia for example, the percentage of HIV-infected pregnant women who received treatment for preventing HIV transmission to their infants increased from six per cent in 2004 to 29 per cent in 2005. In South Africa the percentage increased from 22 per cent in 2004 to 30 per cent in 2005.

However, despite these gains, the report details how the overall percentage of pregnant women receiving treatment for preventing transmission remains extremely low. In 2005, it was estimated that only nine per cent of pregnant women with HIV in low- and middle-income countries were receiving treatment for preventing HIV transmission to their children.

Access to AIDS treatment

The report also notes particular momentum in the provision of treatment to children living with AIDS, a result of improved testing, better health worker skills, lower drug prices and simpler formulations. Several countries – including Botswana, India, Rwanda, South Africa and Thailand – have been able to scale up HIV treatment for children by integrating it into treatment sites for adults.

Globally, still only one in ten children needing antiretroviral treatment receives it. However, prices of antiretroviral drugs for children have come down dramatically over the past 12-18 months. The report notes that in 2006, the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative negotiated a reduction in the cost of paediatric AIDS treatment to less than $0.16 per day, or $60 per year, helping to spur competition in the development of paediatric formulations.

Preventing new HIV infections

HIV Prevention responses are displaying renewed attention on the need to focus strategies on adolescents and young people most at risk, according to the report. The report notes that young women should be specially targeted since globally, a higher number of young women are being infected than men.

New evidence suggests that declining HIV prevalence in Kenya, urban areas of Cote d’Ivoire, Malawi and Zimbabwe, and in rural areas of Botswana, has resulted from the adoption of safer sexual behaviour by young people. In more than 70 countries surveyed, testing and use of counselling services increased from roughly 4 million people in 2001 to 16.5 million in 2005.

Supporting orphans and vulnerable children

The disparity between orphans and non-orphans in access to education is being significantly reduced in several countries, partly due to the abolition of school fees, according to the report.

The report notes that collecting and disaggregating data by age group and gender is one of the most vital, simple and effective ways of putting children on the AIDS agenda. This report uses for the first time a baseline against which new and existing data can be measured in order to identify discernible trends regarding children and AIDS.

 

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Links:

Read Stocktaking report (2 MB, pdf)
Read 'Preventing mother to child transmission (PMTCT)' Fact Sheet (37 kb, pdf)
Read 'Providing pediatric treatment' Fact Sheet (37 kb, pdf)
Read 'Prevent infection among adolescents and young people' Fact Sheet (37 kb, pdf)
Read 'Protecting and supporting children affected by AIDS' Fact Sheet (39 kb, pdf)

Know more about "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" campaign (1,4 MB, pdf)
Visit "Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS" Web Site

“AIDS is not a passing storm but a long-run threat to development and national security in Asia,” UNAIDS reported at the ‘Special Session on HIV/AIDS’, held as part of the 12 th Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Summit on Saturday 13 January.

The special report from UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot on the state of AIDS epidemics globally, in the ASEAN region, and the challenges faced by countries was considered by the Heads of State from 10 ASEAN countries at their extraordinary session on AIDS. This is the first time an external body has been invited to brief the Heads of State Summit on AIDS.

Asia has the second largest number of people living with HIV in the world and its share of the global epidemic is increasing. According to latest estimates, the ASEAN region – which includes Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Viet Nam -shows the most severe epidemics within Asia. In 2006, there were an estimated 1.6 million people living with HIV in the ASEAN region and in some countries up to 1.5% of all adults are living with HIV.

“We are still in the early phases of the epidemic in Asia and must redouble and sustain efforts, not let our guard down,” the UNAIDS report said. “The most worrying fact for the ASEAN countries is that AIDS affects the most productive sections of ASEAN populations, i.e. the workforce which is the powerhouse of economic development of the region,” the report noted.

Underlining AIDS as ‘one of the make-or-break challenges of our time’, the UNAIDS report outlined the threat AIDS poses in the region to the achievement nearly all the Millennium Development Goals. However UNAIDS stressed there are opportunities to put in place a long term response to the epidemic.

The meaningful involvement of community based and civil society organizations – especially people living with HIV – into national AIDS responses must also be a priority. The importance of personal leadership from the Heads of State on AIDS was underlined. “The threat of AIDS will not pass in a year or five years. [UNAIDS] and the world look to you for your continued leadership on AIDS,” the report stated.

The report outlined how a number of countries in the region have made significant progress in ensuring that the most vulnerable communities, including young people, sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users, are getting priority in national AIDS responses. In the short-term, increase in scale and size of such programmes focused to reach people most at risk in the region is urgently needed. At the same time programmes need to take into consideration the drivers of epidemics within countries such as gender inequality, homophobia and HIV-related stigma.

The 2007 ASEAN Special Session on AIDS was held in response to the resolution passed at the 7th ASEAN Summit held in Brunei Darussalam in November 2001 where the ASEAN Heads of State and Government agreed to convene the “Special Session on HIV and AIDS” in conjunction with the 12th ASEAN Summit in 2007, to signal ASEAN’s commitment in combating AIDS and to give impetus to regional responses in taking urgent action.

Representing UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Deborah Landey attended the ASEAN Summit and observed the Special Session.

Following the Special Session, the ASEAN Heads of State are due to adopt a Declaration on AIDS, affirming their commitment to prioritize, lead and strengthen national AIDS programmes ensuring policies and programmes respond to the people most at risk and most in need within the region. “[This Declaration] will form part of the permanent history and lexicon of ASEAN,” said ASEAN Spokesperson, Philippine Ambassador to Malaysia Victoriano Lecaros.

As part of the Special Session, the Secretary-General of ASEAN, Mr Ong Keng Yong delivered his own report to the Heads of State in Cebu. In his report, the ASEAN Secretary-General observed that “commitment of the leadership and political will are key in addressing challenges posed by the spread of HIV and AIDS”. Secretary-General Ong reported to the ASEAN Leaders on progress made since 2001. Mr Ong also outlined key points of action over 2006-10 through an operational work plan for ASEAN’s third regional programme on HIV and AIDS.

“Future ASEAN responses would involve multi-sector initiatives, and closer partnerships with the private sector, civil society, and people living with HIV,” he said. He highlighted the main elements in the Declaration on AIDS, drawing attention to the “commitment on integration of HIV with development priorities to reduce both the impact of development on HIV transmission, and the impact of the HIV epidemic on development, consistent with ASEAN’s commitments to the Millennium Development Goals and the 2006 UN General Assembly decision”.

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Links:

Read ASEAN Commitments on AIDS
Read UNAIDS press release ‘Decisive leadership urged for long-term response to AIDS in Southeast Asia’ ( en | fr | es | ru )
Read UNAIDS Executive Director’s report to the ASEAN Heads of State
Visit the web site of the 12th ASEAN Summit
Visit the ASEAN Secretariat web site
Facts and figures on AIDS in the ASEAN region

Words such as ‘HIV positive’ and ‘People living with HIV’ are gradually replacing other terms, such as ‘AIDS sufferers’ and ‘victims of the disease’, which used to flourish in the literature about HIV. Why are we witnessing such a transformation? How does it come about? And most important, what does it mean?

HIV is no longer a purely medical issue: the risk of HIV infection and the impact of HIV feed on social issues, including discrimination against women and groups of people who are marginalized such as sex workers, people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men.  It is a regrettable fact that people living with HIV are also often subjected to stigma and violence related to their HIV status. Over the past decade the critical need to strengthen human rights as part of an effective response to AIDS and its effects has become evermore clear.

It is well established that language, in the context of HIV, is not neutral. The words we choose and the way we put sentences together to share ideas and information have a profound effect on the way messages are understood and acted upon, or not. Careful choice of language therefore plays an important part in sustaining and strengthening the response to HIV.

At the UNAIDS Secretariat in Geneva, a small team reflects upon and puts into perspective the issues and dynamics that continually emerge in the field of HIV. Their objective is to make recommendations about language usages that are scientifically accurate, that promote universal human rights and the dignity of the individual, that are easily understood and respect how individuals and groups of people choose to refer to themselves.

For example, choosing terms that focus on specific behaviours rather than on people’s membership of groups is a sound approach to avoid increasing stigma and discrimination. It is preferable to refer to ‘higher risk of HIV exposure’, ‘sex without condoms’, ‘using non-sterile injection equipment’ rather than to generalize by saying ‘high risk groups’. Being a member of a group does not in itself place an individual at risk, but his or her behaviour may.

Respecting and empowering the individual is another principle which is the basis of UNAIDS recommendation to avoid terms such as ‘AIDS victim’ or ‘AIDS sufferer’. “These terms imply that the individual is powerless, with no control over his or her life,” said Alistair Craik, who coordinates the UNAIDS Terminology guidelines. “It is preferable to use ‘people living with HIV’,” he added.

Referring to people living with HIV as innocent victims (which has often been used to describe HIV-positive children or people who have acquired HIV medically) wrongly implies that people infected in other ways are somehow deserving a punishment. It is preferable to consistently use ‘people living with HIV’, or ‘children living with HIV’.

UNAIDS Terminology guidelines also provides advice to writers to avoid making some common errors. For example ‘AIDS virus’ should not be written because it is scientifically wrong. “There is no ‘AIDS virus’,” said Craik, “AIDS, the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, is a syndrome of opportunistic infections and diseases which is ultimately caused by HIV. This is also why, he adds, people are not infected with AIDS but with the virus called HIV.” Because the letters ‘HIV’ stand for Human Immunodeficiency Virus, “it is incorrect to write the ‘HIV virus’,” notes Craik. Similarly it is tautological to write about ‘commercial sex work’ – ‘commercial sex’ and the ‘sale of sex service’ are more concise and precise expressions.

The examples above are illustrations of what writers can find in UNAIDS’ Terminology guidelines. This brief set of recommendations aims to promote  language that is gender-sensitive, non-discriminatory, culturally appropriate and which promotes universal human rights. “We ask readers to understand that UNAIDS’ Terminology guidelines are recommendations: different writers have different ‘voices’; different organizations have different areas of expertise and they may choose to define their own preferences and styles; this is both good and appropriate,” said Craik.

UNAIDS emphasises that its terminology recommendations must be considered a work in progress as new issues and dynamics emerge continually.

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Links:

Download UNAIDS Terminology guidelines (March 2007) - En | Fr | Sp | Ru
Guidelines summary (March 2007) - En