By MARIA CHENG
AP Medical Writer
LONDON (AP) - As World AIDS Day is marked on Monday, some experts are
growing more outspoken in complaining that AIDS is eating up funding
at the expense of more pressing health needs.

They argue that the world has entered a post-AIDS era in which the
disease's spread has largely been curbed in much of the world, Africa
excepted.

"AIDS is a terrible humanitarian tragedy, but it's just one of many
terrible humanitarian tragedies," said Jeremy Shiffman, who studies
health spending at Syracuse University.

Roger England of Health Systems Workshop, a think tank based in the
Caribbean island of Grenada, goes further. He argues that UNAIDS, the
U.N. agency leading the fight against the disease, has outlived its
purpose and should be disbanded.

"The global HIV industry is too big and out of control. We have
created a monster with too many vested interests and reputations at
stake, ... too many relatively well paid HIV staff in affected
countries, and too many rock stars with AIDS support as a fashion
accessory," he wrote in the British Medical Journal in May.

Paul de Lay, a director at UNAIDS, disagrees. It's valid to question
AIDS' place in the world's priorities, he says, but insists the
turnaround is very recent and it would be wrong to think the epidemic
is under control.

"We have an epidemic that has caused between 55 million and 60 million
infections," de Lay said. "To suddenly pull the rug out from
underneath that would be disastrous."

U.N. officials roughly estimate that about 33 million people worldwide
have HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Scientists say infections peaked
in the late 1990s and are unlikely to spark big epidemics beyond
Africa.

In developed countries, AIDS drugs have turned the once-fatal disease
into a manageable illness.

England argues that closing UNAIDS would free up its $200 million
annual budget for other health problems such as pneumonia, which kills
more children every year than AIDS, malaria and measles combined.

"By putting more money into AIDS, we are implicitly saying it's OK for
more kids to die of pneumonia," England said.

His comments touch on the bigger complaint: that AIDS hogs money and
may damage other health programs.

By 2006, AIDS funding accounted for 80 percent of all American aid for
health and population issues, according to the Global Health Council.

In Ethiopia, Rwanda, Uganda and elsewhere, donations for HIV projects
routinely outstrip the entire national health budgets.

In a 2006 report, Rwandan officials noted a "gross misallocation of
resources" in health: $47 million went to HIV, $18 million went to
malaria, the country's biggest killer, and $1 million went to
childhood illnesses.

"There needs to be a rational system for how to apportion scarce
funds," said Helen Epstein, an AIDS expert who has consulted for
UNICEF, the World Bank, and others.

AIDS advocates say their projects do more than curb the virus; their
efforts strengthen other health programs by providing basic health
services.

But across Africa, about 1.5 million doctors and nurses are still
needed, and hospitals regularly run out of basic medicines.

Experts working on other health problems struggle to attract money and
attention when competing with AIDS.

"Diarrhea kills five times as many kids as AIDS," said John Oldfield,
executive vice president of Water Advocates, a Washington, D.C.-based
organization that promotes clean water and sanitation.

"Everybody talks about AIDS at cocktail parties," Oldfield said. "But
nobody wants to hear about diarrhea," he said.

These competing claims on public money are likely to grow louder as
the world financial meltdown threatens to deplete health dollars.

"We cannot afford, in this time of crisis, to squander our
investments," Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO's director-general, said in a
recent statement.

Some experts ask whether it makes sense to have UNAIDS, WHO, UNICEF,
the World Bank, the Global Fund plus countless other AIDS
organizations, all serving the same cause.

"I do not want to see the cause of AIDS harmed," said Shiffman of
Syracuse University. But "For AIDS to crowd out other issues is
ethically unjust."

De Lay argues that the solution is not to reshuffle resources but to boost them.

"To take money away from AIDS and give it to diarrheal diseases or
onchocerciasis (river blindness) or leishmaniasis (disfiguring
parasites) doesn't make any sense," he said. "We'd just be doing a
worse job in everything else."

Monday, 01 December, 2008
Women's eNews

On Dec. 1, the 20th annual World AIDS Day, health advocates are raising the
alarm about the quadrupling of HIV-AIDS among American women and the failure
of the U.S. heath care system to address this growing pandemic.

(WOMENSENEWS)--Heidi Nass was prepared to die.

In 1995, when Nass was diagnosed with the human immunodeficiency virus that
leads to acquired immunodeficiency syndrome, most women with HIV-AIDS
succumbed to the disease in less than five years.

"Doctors had me taking 13 pills a day, including new drugs called protease
inhibitors," says Nass. "My medications gave me constant diarrhea, terrible
vomiting and drug-related pancreatitis. Physically miserable and emotionally
devastated, I didn't see how I could go on living like that."

Since protease inhibitors have been improved--and since they've proven
effective at treating HIV-AIDS--Nass' prognosis has turned around. Today,
she takes three pills daily with no noticeable side effects. She's healthy
in her body, happy in her life and productive in her work as a treatment
educator at the HIV Care Program at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

For 280,000 HIV-positive women in the United States, new treatments have
revolutionized care, making it possible to live on for decades and to bear
children without transmitting the disease.

That's the kind of victory that HIV-AIDS activists will be celebrating today
at a World AIDS Day meeting at the Women's Resource Center at the University
of Oregon in Eugene; at a benefit featuring jazz singer Loretta Holloway in
Greenville, S.C.; at a "Girls Night Out" discussion forum in Augusta, Ga.;
and at a Black AIDS Institute gala featuring actress Sheryl Lee Ralph--and
honoring five female HIV-AIDS activists--in New York City.

But at the same time, women's health advocates are marking the 20th annual
World AIDS Day with more than a hint of frustration.

"Key scientific questions aren't even being asked," says Dazon Dixon Diallo,
president of SisterLove, an Atlanta-based HIV-AIDS advocacy organization for
women. "The disease's impact on female fertility and reproduction is barely
being addressed."

'Still Falling Through the Cracks'

"HIV-AIDS has become a chronic disease instead of a death sentence," says
Dawn Averitt Bridge, founder of the Well Project, an Atlanta-based HIV-AIDS
advocacy group for women. "Twenty years after the first World AIDS Day, this
disease still remains a crisis because women are still falling through the
cracks."

Since 1988, the incidence of HIV-AIDS has quadrupled among women, who are
the fastest-growing group of new patients. Women account for a quarter of
new infections, and inadequate prevention, screening and treatment are to
blame.

"HIV-AIDS has become a woman's disease before our eyes." says Nass. "And
poverty, racism and institutionalized sexism are making certain groups of
women especially vulnerable."

Though women account for only about a third of HIV patients in the United
States, they are in many ways more endangered by the disease than men. Due
to microtears sustained in the vagina during sex, HIV is transmitted from
men to women much more readily than it is from women to men, making women
especially vulnerable during heterosexual contact that accounts for 80
percent of their infections (with injection drug use accounting for the
remaining 20 percent).

In both sexes, HIV compromises the immune system that normally protects the
body from disease. But in women, it carries a higher risk of liver problems,
pneumonia, rashes, yeast infections and susceptibility to sexually
transmitted infections.

Women of Color at Higher Risk

For women of color--at heightened risk due to the fact that they often have
lower incomes and inadequate health care--the disease's spread is of special
concern to advocates.

Hispanic women are five times more likely to contract HIV than white women,
and African American women are 21 times more likely to do so, according to
the Atlanta-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Among black women, the disease has become so rampant that it is this group's
leading cause of death in the 25-to-34 age bracket.

Health advocates say the rapid-fire spread of HIV-AIDS among women is fueled
by the health care system's failure to address it.

Though women account for 27 percent of HIV infections, they account for just
17 percent of HIV-AIDS research subjects.

In the 1990s, studies showed diaphragms and the spermicide nonoxynol-9 did
not protect women against HIV, as previously hoped. Researchers started
developing microbicides, topical products that prevent HIV from infecting a
woman's cells and give her more control over prevention than condoms do
because she doesn't have to negotiate their use with a partner.

But under the Bush administration, the Bethesda-based National Institutes of
Health devoted only 2 percent of its AIDS budget to microbicide research,
and trials of two major microbicides failed.

'A Decade Away From a Vaccine'

"Testing the other 55 microbicides in development will take several more
years, and we're at least a decade away from the creation of an HIV vaccine
that could help women as well as men," says Anna Forbes, deputy director of
the Washington-based Global Campaign for Microbicides.

Just as in scientific research, screening measures for women are falling
short. HIV tests are not a routine part of women's health care even though
surveys by the Washington-based American Foundation for AIDS Research
indicate 67 percent of women assume they're tested for HIV when they are
screened for other sexually transmitted infections. Due to a lack of
adequate testing, the foundation reports, 25 percent of HIV-positive U.S.
women don't realize they're infected.

Gender inequities in treatment persist. Studies published in the New England
Journal of Medicine and the Journal of the American Medical Association
indicate female HIV-AIDS patients are more likely than male counterparts to
live in poverty and face barriers to health care, making them less likely to
receive protease inhibitors and antiretroviral drugs, the most effective
medications.

Along with these practical problems come the shame and stigma that seem to
hit female patients especially hard. Surveys by the American Foundation for
AIDS Research show most HIV-positive women feel isolated and conceal their
status from co-workers, friends or family members for fear of being judged.

But advocates do see some rays of hope.

New "rapid" screening tests using blood or saliva take 20 minutes, compared
to the two weeks required by older tests. Most pregnant women in the United
States are now screened for HIV during prenatal exams. Antiretroviral drugs
have helped lower mother-to-child HIV transmissions from 25 percent in the
early 1990s to less than 2 percent today.

Health advocates commend Congress for its continued funding of the Women's
Interagency HIV Study, which was launched in 1993, enrolls 3,800 women and
is co-sponsored by seven health agencies. It is the largest continuing study
of its kind in the United States to date.

They also cheer the Food and Drug Administration for putting "fast-track"
HIV-AIDS drugs on the market quickly if their makers agree to study the
drugs' effects on women.

As they look ahead, women's advocates say they would like to revise the
federal Violence Against Women Act so it funds more HIV screening and
treatment for domestic violence survivors. They also hope to pass the
Microbicide Development Act, which was introduced in the Senate in 2007 by
President-elect Barack Obama and which would establish a permanent
microbicide branch at the National Institute of Health.

Molly M. Ginty is a freelance writer based in New York City.

Women's eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
--
Rachel M Jacobson
Program Director
Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS
www.iAIDS.org | www.youthaidscoalition.org

==========
West Africa
===========


Benin
Burkina Faso
Cote d’Ivoire
Gambia
Ghana
Guinea
Liberia
Mali
Mauritania
Niger
Nigeria
Saint Helena
Senegal
Sierra Leone
Togo

Akinbo A. A. Cornerstone
Nigeria
+2348064464545

We're excited to announce that the election for the next round of regional focal points is now open and will stay open until December 12! To vote for the RFP of your region, please go here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=O9HvclSdFE9_2fcdN_2bKQDLMA_3d_3d. You are only allowed one vote and that vote is for the RFP for your region.

Before you vote, please visit GYCA's countries by region page (http://www.youthaidscoalition.org/pages.html?page=regions) because GYCA has
specific criteria for placing a country in a region. These might be different from what you would expect, so it is best to double check before you vote.

This is the first time that GYCA members will vote for their RFPs and we look forward to your participation in this process!

Thanks!

=============================
West Africa Candidate: Akinbo A. A. Cornerstone (Nigeria).....VOTE NOW !

Art of Public Speaking

Teams and Team Development

Seven Communication Tips an Effective Leader Must Have 1

Attitude is everything

The just concluded IDRC funded Wireless Africa Project facilitated by Meraka
Institute, CSIR introduced simple technological solutions Africa as
continent needs at this time and age. Voice over IP and Wireless Internet
Service Provider (VOIP in a box, and WISP in a box, mesh potato, Village
Telco, Internet and Phone billing) Through WISP internet link can be shared
amongst neighbors such as schools, organizations and institutions and have a
billing system which enables the host to monitor, control and bill users.
This was a technical and business workshop; to build technical capacity to
extend existing networks through introduction of new technologies and use
the business model skills acquired sustain it. The workshop brought
together over 13 African countries (refer to website), with two
representatives each. Most technological solution use the open hardware and
software to create robust equipment affordable to Africa and built with
Africa in Mind. The technologies are simplified and often referred to as
being in a 'BOX'. The amazing part, the equipments are low power too.

The future according to the facilitators Alberto Escudero-Pascual and Louise
Berthilson founders of IT46, a Swedish consultancy company with focus on
information technology in developing regions is that the solutions should be
a plug and play piece of equipment that any one can plug into an existing
network (LAN or WAN) to give it more functionality. The team wouldn't be
complete without Sebastian Büttrich is a generalist in technology with a
background in scientific programming and physics. Originally from Berlin,
Germany, he worked with IconMedialab in Copenhagen from 1997 until 2002. He
holds a Ph.D. in quantum physics from the Technical University of Berlin.
His physics background includes fields like RF and microwave spectroscopy,
photovoltaic systems, and advanced maths. He held a session. He is also a
performing and recording musician. What a talent. He held a captivating
session on Mesh Networking and internet Billing. Did you know that mesh
networking through use of the very simple networking devices can extend your
wide area network over 200km? It is possible.

The Wireless Africa consortia was present and was part of the very able
facilitators.

The underpinning philosophy of the Wireless Africa initiative is to develop
business models that support community owned networks whereby the
infrastructure is owned and/or operated locally; local networking costs
contained within the community and traffic is aggregated at the community
level to save through bulk purchase of bandwidth.

Methods and Materials for Conversation and Writing Tutors

Eric H. Roth writes...

How do you effectively teach English to a struggling private student? What will you actually do for 60-120 minutes together? How will you make the lessons meaningful enough that your client feels satisfied and wants to retain you for future lessons?

First, you must be very clear about what the client wants and expects. Some tutors even present a written contract outlining their rates, the location and times of meetings, and payment policies. I've never been that formal, but I have also never been burned the way some tutors have been. In fact, I've had only very positive experiences with clients. Why? Perhaps luck; perhaps because I screen potential clients. I only work with professionals, graduate students, and/or friends and spouses of friends with a solid foundation in English. Be explicit about what you want and don't want to teach a client. Be prepared to provide options for potential clients that you reject.

For students who want to improve their conversation, I strongly suggest that you select the topic and materials in advance. You can use newspapers and/or magazines to find appropriate articles to begin the conversation. (I usually assign the articles a week ahead and give them my conversation worksheets.) My favorite book - because I wrote it and it provides 45 self-contained thematic chapters - is Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics. The combination of poignant questions, vocabulary lists, proverbs, and witty quotations makes your job much easier.

If you have a weaker student looking to improve their speaking skills, then I would advise using a picture dictionary. There are several fine ones. You might use the Oxford Picture Dictionary to open conversations, and I would be tempted to ask the client to bring in photographs and ads each week. You will need patience and be prepared to repeat words. Many students will want to work on their pronunciation. You can also ask/assign them listening activities on the web. I like Voice of America's Special English programs for intermediate and advanced students. You will have to direct lower levels to websites to practice their listening and speaking skills with drills. They will love the work; you might go mad repeating vowel sounds.

You can also make a good income helping ESL students write college admission essays, practice TOEFL and GRE essays, and proofreading papers. There are many fine books you can use. I recommend Keith Folse's Great Essays and picking any of the standard test preparation guides published by Barrons or Kaplans. For worse or for better, the focus is on structure and not content. Spelling, somehow, often doesn't even officially matter. You might also use the excellent Cambridge Vocabulary in Use series and Grammar in Use series. You can also recommend Grammar Troublespots for international students.

Finally, I have had great success sharing insights on adapting to American culture. My favorite book for this challenging task remains Checklists for Life: 104 Lists to Help You. Each chapter focuses on a practical life skill from buying a computer and finding a good mechanic to organizing your workplace and writing letters of condolence. Inevitably the readings lend themselves to engaging conversations and a satisfying exchange of information and insights. I have also assigned readings from Don't Sweat the Small Stuff, but the advice offered often seems very idealistic and naive to immigrant professionals. Still, clients love the idioms and find that the perspective illuminates unknown aspects of American culture - or at least a segment of American culture.

Finally, the key to tutoring ESL students - or anyone else - remains respecting the student, meeting their needs, and providing a solid structure for your lessons. I have found that using a set text, developing a known routine, and combining conversation, vocabulary and writing skills makes for a successful and satisfying experience.

As William Shakespeare noted four centuries ago, "All's well that ends well". Therefore, you should also have the grace to know when to end your lessons. Some clients will want to keep working with you. Set a clear goal for your lessons, and conclude when the students have reached that goal. You can then become genuine friends and leave money out of the equation.

Or not. You choose. What are your goals for tutoring students?

TEFL.NET ESL Reviews & Articles© Eric H. Roth 2007
Eric Roth currently teaches writing and verbal skills to international graduate students at the University of Southern California. Eric has helped university students discover the pleasures and perils of the English language from dozens of countries over the last 15 years. He recently co-authored an EFL book titled "Compelling Conversations: Questions and Quotations on Timeless Topics" from materials he developed as a tutor and teacher. Eric can be reached through http://www.compellingconversations.com.

it is always refreshing when you meet work mates who share the same passion with u. i recently had a talk with a fellow youth who is based in Zambia and is trying his best to contribute however little to the development of his community. he is one of a couple of youths with no money or experience to implement any expensive project. what they do is to go every weekend to their surrounding orphan centers and play with the children!!!! he says he believes most street children ran away from the centers because they are bored. and if they ran away they miss education, socialization and result into uneducated, unempolyed citizens. and they believe if they are to enjoy their life at the center they can be retained and in the long run benefit everybody. and this colleague talked about this project with such passion that i was encouraged. working with the youth or in development is a job that requires such passion and the rewards are usually that obvious that sometimes u question yourself whether you are making progress at all. u look at your work and look at how great we want to achieve and you sometimes question whether we will get there at all. whether you are doing enough and whether you are doing it right at all???? but when you finally meet people with the same passion as you, with as little resources as you and trying as much as they can just like you, its something to appreciate. i was encouraged that there are some youths out there who are trying their best to work in various development projects to eradicate poverty in their communities. i believe that when this micro-projects eventually meet, MDGs will be achieved!

i have been using theater for development in my work for the past six years and i have always been overwhelmed by the response we achieve in mobilizing communities to start development work. however during a recent workshop i attended i was able to refresh my knowledge on tfd and explore ways we can improve it. TFD was discussed in context with culture, and other methods of theater like play back and story telling. to me it was a very good exploration because sometimes in development we begin to lose the people. we start to look at them in a uniform way. for instance a project that was successful in the southern part of Malawi is Transferred wholesale to the northern part of Malawi. in this case disregarding the differences in pace of progress, stage of development, culture, literacy and economic levels. and though TFD might be the best approach in development i came to appreciate that it can work even more better if issues of culture and literacy levels are taken into consideration when working with the communities. i got interested in communication studies. i have come to realize that most development issues or misunderstandings can be sorted out if there is use of proper communication channels. for instance, most development messages are brought to the people through a channel that they have no say, or idea. it is mostly chosen with the developers away from the community. and mostly these channels are unpopular and strange to the people. yet they are expected to embrace the message as gospel truth. i suppose if the people has a say in how, when and why development agendas are presented to them there is no way they can resist development. the projects will be successful and the people will happily participate, and development will be manifested. still, i think communication is an integral part in development

By Sara Speicher



For Eric Sawyer, the late 1980s was a "war time situation". "People with
AIDS were fighting for their lives and for their friends", says Sawyer, an
AIDS activist and co-founder of ACT UP New York. By 1988, seven years after
the first case of AIDS was reported, AIDS was causing more deaths in the US
then there were in the Vietnam War, and between 5 and 10 million people were
estimated to be infected with HIV around the world. Yet governments, media
and society in general were not giving AIDS adequate attention. So, "people
with AIDS had to literally take to the streets and block traffic and take
over government buildings", Sawyer recalls.



Sawyer had been on the front lines of the AIDS epidemic since developing his
first HIV-related symptoms in 1981, before AIDS was officially identified.
For him and for thousands of other activists around the world, the formation
of World AIDS Day in 1988 was one of the few moments in the year where the
growing tragedy of AIDS would finally get attention around the globe.



Now at its 20th anniversary, World AIDS Day continues to be the focus of
global solidarity for a pandemic that has led to over 25 million deaths with
an estimated 33 million people currently living with HIV worldwide.



World AIDS Day was reportedly the brainchild of the late Jonathan Mann, at
the time the director of the Global Programme on AIDS (GPA) at the World
Health Organization. After positive reactions to the idea of World AIDS Day
by over 100 health ministers at the January 1988 London gathering focused on
AIDS and at the 1988 International AIDS Conference in Stockholm, the World
Health Organization declared 1 December 1988 as the first World AIDS Day,
which was recognised and supported by the UN General Assembly in October
1988.



"We wanted to provide a platform so that people who were working on the
issue at any level could get involved", says Tom Netter, who worked with
Mann as the head of the GPA's public information office. Fostering a sense
of solidarity was paramount, says Netter, "so that people could do things at
the grassroots level and feel part of the global response at that time."



Netter recalls that in 1988, despite the short planning time, an event was
held in every member state. "That was eye opening", he said, "It showed that
people wanted to have something that they could grab on to, to feel part of
the overall response." In the World Health Organization itself, panels from
the AIDS quilt were displayed. "People found that very moving . . . it
showed the individuals affected."



Within three years, the activities around the day "became something that was
going to happen spontaneously.People on the ground took off with it", says
Netter.



Unique momentum



The energy behind World AIDS Day, and the activism that has characterised
the response to AIDS among civil society, is unique.



Prior to AIDS, Netter states, "there wasn't really so much of an advocacy
movement regarding diseases or people who were ill. AIDS really was the
first that mobilised people."



It was the people most affected who brought the urgency, passion and
accountability to the movement. Sawyer recalls, "Early on the most
significant leadership was actually done by people with AIDS themselves".



Whilst early activists targeted authorities' slow response to AIDS, that
didn't mean that scientists and activists were on opposite sides, says
Professor Lars Kallings, the first president of the International AIDS
Society, also founded in 1988. "If you think from the beginning, before
there was any treatment, the doctors felt very helpless. They suffered by
not being able to help their patients. Therefore, even scientists have been
on the front lines, on the barricades, very often against the authorities,
the government."



World AIDS Day has been a symbolic focus for this activism. It "gave people
a sense that they were part of a larger movement than what they were
involved in individually and locally", Netter states.



But this doesn't mean that one day is enough. "For me", says Frika Chia
Iskandar, a young woman from Indonesia working with the Asia Pacific Network
of People Living with HIV/AIDS (APN+), "it doesn't seem like 'World' enough,
it is not public enough". For activists now, she reflects, the day itself
doesn't make a difference when "our days are filled with AIDS". Yet, she
emphasises, "For the public, though, it is at least one day where we think
about AIDS, and it is still needed."



Greg Gray, an APN+ advisor who also carries a supporting role for the NGO
delegation to the UNAIDS governing board agrees, "World AIDS Day has real
value for raising awareness with the broader public. But when you are
working with the grassroots community affected by HIV it doesn't connect as
much. When you do it day in and day out, it becomes the norm. World AIDS Day
is trying to get a bit of that message home to a much broader community."



Placing a spotlight on leadership



For Kallings, that broader community from the beginning included leaders. At
times, the absence of leadership has been most apparent. "We had to push
Ronald Reagan to get his tongue around AIDS", Kallings recalls. "That didn't
happen until 1987 when tens of thousands of his countrymen had already
died."



But Kallings also recalls early World AIDS Day events where presidents and
royalty participated, such as in Tanzania and Thailand. "That puts the
limelight on AIDS", he says, "and showed solidarity in the country."



The danger, as Matilda Moyo, a steering group member of the Pan Africa
Treatment Action Movement, points out, is that World AIDS Day becomes a
"cheap opportunity for governments to make promises that they fail to
deliver on". Sometimes media only focus on covering government's statements
on the day, she says, and fail to lift up what challenges there are
according to civil society working with HIV and AIDS on a daily basis.



Kallings, who is currently the United Nations' Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in
Eastern Europe and Central Asia, acknowledges that it "is a constant fight
to get the leaders to leave the denial and indifference. One of my roles is
to persuade leaders to use their power to influence the public concept
because discrimination is very deep in the population and it will not change
unless there is leadership."



The leadership required to address AIDS must come from all aspects of the
community. "Leadership in HIV is nothing without political leadership", says
Eunice Kapandura, a 25-year old positive youth activist from Zimbabwe, yet
adding, "when we talk of leadership we mean meaningful representation of the
community." Archbishop Njongo Ndungane, founder and president of African
Monitor, emphasises the role of religious leaders, who "should shout at the
rooftops that AIDS is not a punishment from God but a medical condition
which is preventable, manageable and treatable although not curable."



Within the AIDS advocacy movement, leadership has changed over these past 20
years, especially after the breakthrough in combination therapy, Sawyer
says. Of the early activists who had been leading the fight, "a lot of them
died, a lot of them went on to work full-time for AIDS organizations and
after working 8-10 hours a day to provide care and support they no longer
had time or energy for activism. And others who received treatment, they
returned to their careers. That shifted leadership in both AIDS
organisations on the frontline and government officials and researchers."

Even though the pandemic still affects every country in the world and rages
in Sub-Saharan Africa, AIDS fatigue seems to have hit particularly Western
media and society. "The passion that people brought to the epidemic has
pretty much been lost",

Sawyer reflects.



Chia Iskandar wants to see young leaders in the response, but it's not just
about their age. "It's not about youth, but about new ideas. We need to be
able to keep the idealism alive - the mutual energy, mutual knowledge
transfers, knowing that we are fighting the challenges, fighting the virus,
not fighting each other." She adds that one of the critical aspects of
leadership is "'passing on the knowledge' from the leaders who have
'developed' themselves in the response to the new 'young' leaders and
working together."



With young people now the population most affected, Moyo affirms, "We need
leadership that is creative, young and vibrant and brings fresh ideas on how
to tackle the global challenge."



What remains key is that those most affected lead the way. "For myself being
a person living with AIDS", Sawyer states, "it would be important to
strengthen leadership of people living with HIV and AIDS and the affected
community."



>From one day to a campaign



In 1996 when the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) became
operational, it took over the planning and promotion of World AIDS Day.
However, according to Anne Winter, head of advocacy and communication at the
time, organisers soon felt that rather than only emphasise one day they
wanted to encourage an extended effort over a long period.



Thus in 1997, the World AIDS Campaign was born, charged with focusing on
longer-term messages and strategy. World AIDS Day became the highlight of a
year-long emphasis.



With the campaign, Winter says, "we always tried to use issues that were
innovative and would really move the agenda forward".



The themes chosen for the first two years - on children and young people -
were in fact roundly criticised at the time. "People said this was just a
way to get attention about the epidemic, that the epidemic is not about
children", Winter recalls. But the theme highlighted that the extent and
severity of the epidemic in the developing world was not widely known. "It
was important to change the face of the epidemic and that people recognise
it was a family disease and that children were very much affected by it in
different ways."



In late 2004, the World AIDS Campaign became independent to broaden civil
society ownership and participation. Based in South Africa and The
Netherlands, the World AIDS Day theme is now chosen by its Global Steering
Committee after a broad consultation with people involved in the response
from all over the world. The themes often are repeated for two years to help
get key messages home to the public and to leaders, and all of the themes
are under the 2005-2010 campaign slogan, "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise."
targeting political leaders' commitment to reach universal access to
prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010.



Leadership needed now



Kallings acknowledges that the response to AIDS today is much better than it
was 20 years ago, but far more action needs to be taken. "Last year it was
three million on treatment. That is a remarkable success. But it is still
only one-third of people needing urgent treatment. The current financial
crisis is a threat to that successful trend. It very much calls for
continued lobbying and pressure to continue to get enough financial support
not only to maintain the current level but to increase it to three times
more and include more preventative measures."



Sawyer notes that World AIDS Day "remains one of the few days where the
world pays a lot of attention to AIDS". Yet, with people living longer
because of anti-retroviral medicines and the many other global issues
needing attention, it seems the news value has faded. Despite the Western
media fatigue, Sawyer notes, "we still have over 8000 deaths a day, 2-3
million dying and millions of new infections each year". As part of a think
tank called aids2031, Sawyer is thinking of another anniversary - the 50th
anniversary of the identification of AIDS - and hoping that leadership at
this 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day will mean those numbers are
tragedies of the past.



The World AIDS Campaign supports, strengthens and connects campaigns that
hold leaders accountable for their promises on HIV and AIDS. "Stop AIDS.
Keep the Promise" is the slogan for the World AIDS Campaign from 2005-2010.
www.worldaidscampaign.org



For more information or for interviews with experts, national campaigners
and people directly affected by HIV and AIDS, contact the World AIDS
Campaign at
media@worldaidscampaign.org, +31 20 616 9045 (Netherlands) or +44 1524 727
651 (UK).





The article is availble on:
http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/en/Media/WAC-News/World-AIDS-Day-marks-20th
-anniversary-of-solidarity

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