Upcoming Events-World AIDS Day and PopDev Week

World AIDS Day: 01 December: Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise

To end the pandemic means keeping our promises and commitments in the fight against HIV and AIDS. That is why the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) has chosen the following as its theme from 2005 - 2010: Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.

The Theme for World AIDS Day 2006 is accountability.

The theme of accountability was developed by the World AIDS Campaign support team based on their ongoing work around World AIDS Day, and based on the outcomes of the London HIV and AIDS Campaigning and Advocacy meeting in February 2005. A number of lessons have been learnt from previous work on World AIDS Day, and far more energy is being invested early in the year to make World AIDS Day 2006 a success. The most significant aspect of this World AIDS Day is the degree to which it has been based around the inputs of a wide range of civil society partners.

Background on the Theme

After two decades of AIDS, we know that with sufficient will and resources we can turn this epidemic around. In June 2001 Heads of State and government representatives gathered for the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS (UNGASS). This was the first time a meeting such as this one recognized that AIDS was a global crisis requiring global action.

Since the adoption by 189 countries of the UN Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS, additional promises have been made to strengthen the response to AIDS. The "3 by 5" global target to provide three million people living with HIV and AIDS in resource limited settings with life-prolonging antiretroviral treatment (ART) by the end of 2005 was another important commitment on which the WAC campaigned. This initiative was launched by the World Health Organization and UNAIDS in December 2003 and it was a milestone on the road to universal ART access for all who need it, and a powerful way to complement and accelerate prevention efforts but it was not achieved. Now we have a new one for Universal Access by 2010 agreed by the G8 in July 2005. On top of this are commitments like the Abuja Declaration made by members of the African Union and many more.

Everyone has a role to play in fighting HIV and AIDS and as Kofi Annan, UN Secretary General, said at the UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, "All of us must recognize AIDS as our problem. All of us must make it our priority."

-----------------------------------------------

The Last Week of November is the POPULATION DEVELOPMENT WEEK