World AIDS Day - an Alliance overview

22 December 2004

As usual, the Alliance worldwide was busy on 1 December hosting and participating in World AIDS Day events. The theme for the World AIDS Campaign 2004 was Women, Girls and HIV and AIDS.

Launching the Code of Good Practice

A number of Alliance country offices and linking organisations took the opportunity of World AIDS Day to launch Renewing Our Voice: Code of Good Practice for NGOs Responding to HIV/AIDS. One such organisation was LEPRA Society, one of the Alliance’s lead partners in India, who, in addition to the launch had arranged drawing and essay competitions for high school students and women on the theme of 'Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS'. NGO representatives, including Alliance India Andhra Pradesh and government officials from the Department of Health attended the function, hosted by HYLEP, LEPRA Society's direct project. Speakers emphasised not only promoting sex education among girls and women but also encouraging key population groups and people living with HIV/AIDS to participate in the fight against the growing epidemic. One of the founder leaders of NPP+, Network of Positive People, commended LEPRA for its constant support in promoting NPP+ and care offered.

Over 160 organisations have signed up to the code.

European Parliament

The Stop AIDS Alliance and Alliance Policy team participated in a joint event at the European Parliament along with the Global Campaign for Microbicides, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative, International Partnership for Microbicides, and the International Community of Women Living with HIV and AIDS. As well as launching the code of good practice, the event introduced new Members of the European Parliament to some of the issues faced by women living with and affected by HIV and AIDS. Cheryl Overs from the Alliance prevention team spoke about the issues facing people involved in commercial and transactional sex.

Events in Ukraine

The political situation in Ukraine caused a number of World AIDS Day events to be cancelled, although several events still happened in Kyiv. The All-Ukrainian Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS, a grantee of Alliance Ukraine, has been running an information campaign 'Look up, there are people around you', which included public events in 27 Ukrainian cities, the 6th National Conference of HIV-positive People and HIV-service Organisations of Ukraine, and '168 Hours', a photo exhibition which encourages the discussion of HIV/AIDS and its social impact. This project was supported technically and financially by the Alliance, within the framework of the Global Fund programme.

Just before World AIDS Day, on 26 November there was an opening ceremony for the regional resource centre on HIV/AIDS, highlighted by a press conference. The Alliance in Ukraine is supporting this new project – Donestsk Regional Resource Centre on HIV/AIDS Issues MIST – as part of the 'Overcoming HIV/AIDS Epidemics in Ukraine' programme, supported by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The main aim of the project is to support HIV/AIDS prevention work, and increase the level of tolerance towards people living with HIV/AIDS with information, education work and advocacy interventions in Donetsk, Kharkiv, and Luhansk regions.

Alliance India and Lead Partners: Women and AIDS

Alliance India and its Lead Partners (Vasavya Mahila Mandali, Palmyrah Workers Development Society, MAMTA Health Institute for Mother and Child, and LEPRA Society), in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women, took the opportunity of World AIDS Day 2004 to develop and share a paper outlining their analysis and views of the key issues affecting women in relation to HIV/AIDS. Women and AIDS: The Changing Face of the Epidemic in India draws on key findings from programmes and research on the gendered impact of HIV/AIDS.

World AIDS Day in Brighton

The Alliance in Brighton collaborated with a number of local AIDS service organisations to participate in an event, open to the public, charting the 'History of HIV in Brighton and Hove'. The exhibition included a timeline of HIV from the earliest stages of AIDS scare stories up to the present day, illustrating the continuing number of infections alongside 20 years of personal recollections and media coverage. The Alliance displayed photographs and publications at the exhibition, which ended with a moving candlelit vigil.

Mamisoa Rangers, of the Alliance’s East and Southern Africa team gave a presentation ‘Women, girls and HIV/AIDS: What does it mean for us here in Brighton?’ at an event organised by Ogochukwu Chime, a trustee of Body Positive Brighton, with funding from Brighton and Hove City Primary Care NHS Trust. The speech made the link between developing countries and the West, looking at the vulnerability of women of African and Caribbean origin to HIV/AIDS. The audience, well represented by members of the Black and Ethnic community living in Brighton, received the speech well.