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.
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 