Keep promise. Stop AIDS: Acountabiliy
The AIDS epidemic is a global emergency that affects people in every country on earth. UNAIDS estimates that, by the end of 2005, a total of 25 million people had died of AIDS since it was first recognised in 1981. In 2005 alone, some 38.6 million people were living with HIV, 4.1 million people were newly infected and 2.8 million people lost their lives.
The fight against AIDS is over twenty five years old. Throughout this struggle, campaigners have galvanized action and protested against inaction. In the current era, national leadership on AIDS is being supported as never before. AIDS organisations are proliferating. Campaigners still speak out on a multitude of issues ? yet one overarching campaign, the World AIDS Campaign, links their concerns at the global level.
The World AIDS Campaign fights to ensure that campaigning voices, north and south, continue to be heard. The World AIDS Campaign works to create solidarity and collaboration between campaigners, ensuring impact at the local and international level. The AIDS sector is now huge, spending billions of dollars a year. Yet this effort can not afford to lose the energy, innovation or public awareness campaigners bring. The World AIDS Campaign will protect and support the voices of campaigners worldwide.
The most visible aspect of the work undertaken by the World AIDS Campaign is World AIDS Day, a day of global shared action and awareness on AIDS. However, our work does not stop here. Throughout the year the World AIDS Campaign works to connect and strengthen campaigning voices across the globe.
In all our work, we start with the premise that civil society is central in meeting the challenges of the AIDS epidemic. We recognize that professional non-government agencies represent only one small part of civil society. Faith communities, labour and youth organizations and other large scale, grass-roots movements are integral to our efforts. We work through a range of partnerships to ensure our campaigning voice captures the aspirations of these different constituencies.
The primary campaigning objective of the World AIDS Campaign, from 2005 to 2010 is to make sure policymakers keep their promises on AIDS. Accountability is also the specific theme we are promoting for World AIDS Day 2006. The theme for World AIDS Day next year may change. It will once again be selected through consultations with partners. Yet for the World AIDS Campaign our underlying objective will remain centered on accountability, and the slogan, Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise. will continue to guide our work.
Acquired Immuno Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), a pattern of devastating infections caused by a virus, which attacks and destroys certain white blood cells that are essential to the body?s immune (defense) system. As the virus attacks and causes destruction and weakening of the body?s immune (defense) system it is known as Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV). AIDS represents the late clinical stage of HIV infection.
In fact when HIV infects a cell, it may lie inactive for years and most of the people infected with HIV does not show any symptoms or may show only minor illness for 7-10 years. These people are infected with HIV, they can spread the infection to others but still they do not have AIDS.
Gradually the virus becomes activated and breaks down the human body?s natural defense mechanisms leaving it a prey to other opportunistic infections (among which TB is the most common) and other conditions including cancers that characterize AIDS.
Till now there is neither any vaccine to prevent the AIDS nor any treatment to cure AIDS, presently available treatment can only extend life. So for the moment prevention of transmission of infection remains the only method of control.
|
