(from left) Allyson Leacock, Chair of the Steering Committee of World AIDS Campaign; Michel Sidibé, Exective Director of UNAIDS; Marcel van Soest, Executive Director of The World AIDS Campaign.
Credit: UNAIDS/O. O'Hanlon
AIDS presents a political opportunity to spark changes in society and talk about issues like human rights, homophobia and sex education according to UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé.
"You will never make a difference if you look at AIDS in isolation," Mr Sidibé said during his first meeting with the head of the World AIDS Campaign in Geneva.
Executive Director of The World AIDS Campaign Marcel van Soest said, “AIDS is a disaster beyond a health issue, it’s a human rights issue too.”
AIDS is a disaster beyond a health issue, it’s a human rights issue too.
Marcel van Soest, Executive Director of the World AIDS Campaign
International representatives from a wide range of communities including The Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and The Global Unions AIDS Programme attended the meeting.
UNAIDS and the World AIDS Campaign reaffirmed their intention to put human rights and universal access to treatment, prevention, care and support at the centre of their campaigning agendas.
In addition to talks on how to help guarantee continuation of treatment, and to stop discrimination against people living with HIV participants looked at ways to invigorate campaigning at local and national levels.
The 2009 World AIDS Day Campaign will be unveiled in Nairobi, Kenya early in June.
