Sections:
World AIDS Day 2007
30 November 2007
Related pages: Millennium
Development Goal 6: HIV & AIDS |
HIV and AIDS
factsheet
(378
kb)
Saturday 01 December is
World AIDS Day, a day on which we are reminded that the
HIV/AIDS epidemic remains a huge threat to global health and prosperity.
Halting the spread of the disease in developing countries, and providing
life-saving care to the millions in those countries living with HIV and AIDS, is
one of DFID's fundamental goals. Without decisive and sustained action against
the disease in the developing world, the scale of the human tragedy
will increase, and economic and social progress will be held back.
Speaking to Stop AIDS Campaigners in London on Thursday 29 November, Douglas Alexander reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to achieving universal access to AIDS treatment, prevention and care by 2010. He announced £19 million for a television campaign in Southern Africa to change behaviour and encourage condom use, and a further £40 million to support anti-HIV efforts by the World Bank and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Kenya.
- Read the press release: £59 million in new funding for African HIV/AIDS awareness drive
DFID: Focused on prevention and treatment
Image
courtesy of Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos Pictures
As was made clear in last week's report from the United Nations Programme on AIDS (UNAIDS) and the World Health Organization (WHO), tackling HIV and AIDS in the developing world is an immense challenge.
In 2007, 33.2 million people globally are estimated to be living with HIV, with
2.5 million people contracting the virus and 2.1 million dying as a result of it. The disease
remains the primary cause of death in Africa.
Read
the UNAIDS/WHO report.
DFID is the second largest donor in the world on HIV and AIDS. For the three
years leading up to 2008, we have pledged £1.5 billion on AIDS programmes. This
year has seen a further long term commitment, with up to $1 billion
committed up to 2015 to the
Global Fund for AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.
Yet we must do more if, by 2010, everyone around the globe is to have access to
treatment, prevention and care. We must go beyond merely treating the disease,
and focus on prevention - because for every one person who is already getting
treatment, another three people will be newly infected. For this reason, DFID
recently announced £100 million to support the sexual and reproductive rights
programmes of the
United
Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).
This funding will help to increase the availability of condoms, preventing the spread of
HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.
- Find out in our case study how we're getting condoms to more people in Indonesia.
- And read about how we're controlling the spread of AIDS in Vietnam.
Providing education and combating stigma
DFID also works on other fronts to tackle the epidemic. Since 1999, £38 million has gone towards the development of an AIDS vaccine, and £50 million towards microbicides, which can put control over safe sex back into the hands of women.
Image courtesy of Giacomo Pirozzi/Panos Pictures
Young women and girls are three times more vulnerable to HIV infection than men. Education can play a vital role in addressing this - in
Swaziland two-thirds of girls in school are free of HIV, while two-thirds of those
out of school are HIV positive. DFID is supporting education programmes in
countries such as Nigeria, Bangladesh and Afghanistan to ensure that girls are
less likely to contract the disease. Read our
case
study about promoting healthy life choices for Zambian girls.
DFID's response to AIDS is designed to be long-term and comprehensive. As well as providing education, promoting gender equality and improving awareness of rights, DFID is working to defeat the stigma and discrimination that surround the disease. Negative and fearful attitudes towards those living with HIV prevent people from getting tested and making use of essential HIV services. Changing attitudes is a key component of DFID's strategy on HIV/AIDS.
Read our case studies to find out more about DFID's work on stigma and discrimination:
Although tackling AIDS is not just about health, strengthened health systems will mean a more effective response to the disease in developing countries. In September 2007, the Prime Minister launched the International Health Partnership (IHP) as part of a renewed global push to meet the Millennium Development Goals on health (cutting child deaths, improving maternal care and fighting HIV and AIDS and other killer diseases). The IHP aims to make health aid work better for poor people by improving coordination among donors, supporting countries' own health plans and getting individual governments to invest more in health services.
Fighting the epidemic in India
|
DFID is committed to tackling HIV and AIDS around the developing world. In India, 5.2 million people are living with HIV, which is two-thirds of all infected people in Asia. Watch the film, right, to find out about ten years of DFID work against HIV and AIDS in the country. Between 2005 and 2007, DFID gave £95 million towards the
National Aids Control Programme, and has committed £102 million towards the next
phase of the programme. The recent publication
Our Story
|
Committed to action in Africa
This year's UNAIDS/WHO report estimated that 22.5 million people in sub-Saharan Africa are HIV-positive. DFID continues to work throughout the region to fight the epidemic. Below are a selection of case studies providing an insight into DFID programmes in Zambia, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Uganda.
Also, click on the picture, left, to watch a movie about Maria Tavambirwa, a hairdresser in Zimbabwe who distributes condoms to her customers through a DFID-funded programme. Read more about Maria and the project.
Links: