Over 15 Million to Learn 'Lesson for Life' on World AIDS Day
Prevention, care and advocacy are what organizations and communities have set their foot on as they come upon the internationally observed World AIDS Day on Thursday.
Prevention, care and advocacy are what organizations and communities have set their foot on as they come upon the internationally observed World AIDS Day on Thursday.
The Global Movement for Children reported over 15 million children in 60 countries around the world are estimated to take part in the “Lesson for Life” on World AIDS Day. Activities and educational lessons have been planned in such countries as Ghana, Zambia, Kosovo, Ecuador and the UK to teach the public about HIV/AIDS and the effect of the crisis on children.
The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC), a group of 600 treatment activists from more than 100 countries, released a report on Monday titled Missing the Target - A Report on HIV/AIDS Treatment Access from the Frontlines that looks at the status of anti-retroviral treatment provision in low income countries around the world.
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Compiled by treatment advocates serving on the frontlines in countries hardest hit by AIDS – Dominican Republic, India, Kenya, Nigeria, Russia, and South Africa – the report lists barriers to AIDS treatment including inadequate leadership at the national level in several countries, a severe shortage of health care workers, a lack of necessary funding and pervasive stigma against people living with HIV/AIDS.
"In South Africa and countless other countries, we have been working for more than a decade to ensure HIV treatment access for people living with HIV/AIDS," said Zackie Achmat, the chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa. "In that time millions of people have died because of lack of access to drugs, and millions more will die if we do not achieve universal access by 2010."
According to The Global Movement for Children, an estimated 25 million children will have lost one or both parents to AIDS by 2010.
The World Health Organization missed its "3 by 5" target of treating 3 million people by the end of 2005 in part because of the barriers that many countries face.
"ITPC's report calls for courageous new leadership from all parties at every level to confront this monumental task," said Achmat.
Spreading awareness to act on prevention, compassionate care and advocacy has led organizations, civic communities, the government as well as churches to integrate their efforts into a growing global mobilization in fighting the AIDS pandemic.
Last year, 4.3 million people from 67 countries took part in the Lesson for Life.
The Lesson for Life is organized by the Global Movement for Children and supported by the World AIDS Campaign and the Global Call to Action against Poverty.
