December 1st is World AIDS Day: a global day of awareness and a call to people to unite to fight against HIV & AIDS. Wear the red ribbon on World AIDS Day to commemorate those who have passed on, and to show your support for the campaign for universal access to healthcare.

HIV and AIDS prevention and care continue to be a major focus for Oxfam Ireland.

To mark World AIDS Day on December 1st, Oxfam’s Fair Trade shops are giving customers who spend €10 / £10 or more a free badge made by Masai women in Tanzania. Wear yours with pride!

World Aids Day is December 1.

The HIV & AIDS epidemic is a still a major issue, especially in developing countries. 60 million people around the world have been infected with the virus since the epidemic began; over 25 million have already died. Young people are 40% of new infections world-wide.

The epidemic is slowing down, but is still at unacceptable levels. New infections are outpacing current treatment efforts; for every 2 people put on treatment, there are 5 new infections.

Prevention is better than cure – yet prevention is underfunded compared to treatment; we are a long way from universal access to HIV prevention. It is possible to stop HIV infections and achieve universal access for all. The world has the money and the know-how. All that’s needed is the willingness and leadership.

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Oxfam today welcomed an agreement between the UNITAID-backed Medicine Patent Pool Foundation (MPPF) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) to license the antiretroviral drug darunavir to the patent pool. The pool was set up to reduce the cost of HIV medicines.

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rice harvesting in Tanzania. Our partner MVIWATA carries on vital advocacy work in Tanzania, empowering smallscale farmers to work their way out of poverty.

Oxfam Ireland participated in the MVIWATA’s (a network of small-scale farmers’ groups in Tanzania) Partners Meeting held in Morogoro, Tanzania at the end of July.

The objective of the meeting was to provide inputs in the new MVIWATA’s Strategic Plan 2010 – 2014 that has the following five objectives:

• Farmers are well organised and able to advocate for their interests
• Small scale farmers are able to influence local, national, regional and international policies and
  effectively participate in decision making on issues of their welfare
• Small – scale farmers are economically empowered to address income poverty
• HIV and AIDS, gender and climate change are mainstreamed in the work of MVIWATA and members, leaders and staff of MVIWATA are aware and fully engaged
• MVIWATA has sufficient organisational, functional and financial capacity at national and middle levels

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Oxam launched its latest publication “Break Another Silence: Understanding Sexual Minorities and Taking Action for Sexual Rights in Africa” at the AIDS Conference in Vienna, July 2010.

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The booklet was produced by Oxfam’s HECA programme.  Photos by Lynnette Simon.  Click photographs for more information.

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World leaders allow continued violation of rights

World leaders made no real commitments to ensure universal access to prevention, treatment and care for AIDS at this week’s International AIDS conference in Vienna said international agency Oxfam.

It was a disappointing conference. The tone was set by the host nation, Austria, when it indicated it would not contribute a single cent toward the replenishment of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB and malaria. “This conference gives us little confidence that the $20bn replenishment of the Fund will be fully achieved in October,” said chief executive of Oxfam Ireland, Jim Clarken who is heading the Oxfam delegation. “This is an echo of last month’s G8, where leaders admitted that this year they will break their promise to provide universal access”.

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Yvonne Chaka Chaka demonstrates use of a female condom to Lucie van Mens and Jim Clarken of Oxfam

Renowned singer Yvonne Chaka Chaka is attending the 18^th International Aids Conference this week. As the “Princess of Africa” she is putting issues affecting African women and girls firmly on the agenda at the conference. Oxfam’s Nicole Johnston caught up with her in Vienna.

Q: Why did a singer choose to get involved in human rights work around gender and HIV?

A: I grew up in Soweto and I saw a whole range of atrocities, from the behaviour of the apartheid police to widespread domestic violence and the rape of girls. I also work around malaria, because it is integrally linked to health issues like TB and HIV. I started doing this after one of my band members died of malaria, even though it is a preventable disease. We must all do what we can – for me the, way to do it was through my music.

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Oxfam Ireland’s Chief Executive Jim Clarken is the author of an opinion piece in today’s Irish Independent.  He is reporting from the 18th International AIDS Conference in Vienna, where he is leading the delegation from Oxfam, and argues in the piece that despite great advances in HIV prevention and AIDS treatment, there is no room for complacency in the fight against AIDS.

As preparations for the world AIDS conference in Vienna get underway, international agency Oxfam has called on world leaders to take steps to provide immediate access to HIV and AIDS treatment care and prevention for the millions of poor people who need it.

Despite world leaders promising in 2001 to make HIV and AIDS treatment, care and prevention available to all by 2010, we are still a long way from reaching that goal.

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