2004 - A Year of Healing
 HIVAN's community newsletter, Sondela, features in its latest edition (December 2003) a calendar proclaiming 2004 as "A Year of Healing". (All issues of Sondela can be accessed here). It is with this vision that we approach the coming months with hope and determination in the struggle against HIV/AIDS.
Globally, greater attention is being paid to the pandemic across all sectors. In Scotland, the University of Stirling will host a Poetry and Sexuality Conference in July 2004, with one of the main themes being HIV/AIDS. Media leaders from around the world recently signed an participation agreement in a United Nations campaign to heighten public awareness of the need to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. UN Secretary General Kofi Annan launched the initiative to use the power of the media in mustering support for this cause, saying: "HIV/AIDS is the worst epidemic humanity has ever faced. You [the media] can bring the disease out of the shadows and get people talking about it in an open, informed way." With the XV International AIDS Conference to be hosted in Bangkok mid-year, mobilisation around the disease is gaining momentum as never before.
2004 is an election year for South Africa, and the roll-out of anti-retroviral therapy for those needing treatment is set to begin in earnest. The heaviest impact of HIV/AIDS is being experienced in Sub-Saharan Africa, and yet, there are many positive activities and projects being implemented to help those infected and affected by HIV. An intense focus will be trained on HIV prevention through Voluntary Counselling and testing (VCT) in tandem with a continuum of treatment, care and support, while increased access to social grants will serve to uplift those decimated by the effects of poverty, hunger and the disease syndrome.
The African Conference on Sexual Health and Rights, to be held in Johannesburg from 25-28 February, (for more information on this conference, please click here) aims to highlight crucial factors underlying the rising number of HIV infections, especially in Africa. While the main focus will be on individual sexual rights, there will also be an emphasis on child and adolescent rights.
Prevention efforts in South Africa, including loveLife's refreshed and repositioned billboard campaign, seek to inspire, motivate and engage more directly with youth and parents to stimulate behaviour change. The new "Love to be there" images depict attainable personal dreams and ambitions in order to instill, in all of us, a sense of our need and capacity for the creation of an HIV-free future.
Healing the wounds inflicted by stigma and discrimination should also be a goal for 2004. The past two World AIDS Day campaigns have profiled these issues as paramount in steering global energy towards a unified response to the pandemic. The theme for 2004 centres on Women and HIV/AIDS. Women are the hardest-hit by the effects of HIV/AIDS and are more vulnerable, physiologically, economically and socially, to infection and its repercussions.
By recognising our essential interconnectedness as human beings, each of us can help curb the devastation caused by the epidemic. American author William Arthur Ward once wrote: "Do more than belong, participate. Do more than care, help. Do more than believe, practice. Do more than be fair, be kind. Do more than forgive, forget. Do more than dream, work".
Light your candle of hope and join us in making 2004 a year of healing.
Catherine Jenkin/Judith King
HIVAN Media Office
?
?
?
|
