HIV and AIDS: Thank you for action on World AIDS Day
On 1 December, CAFOD joined with other organisations who work on HIV and AIDS to mark World AIDS Day by calling on the UK government to renew its leadership on HIV and AIDS globally and the UK.
Over 1,300 people sent messages to the Prime Minister and to International Development Secretary of State Justine Greening as part of the Why Stop Now? campaign. In addition, 53 MPs met campaigners at Westminster to pledge their support for the campaign.
At a panel discussion including charities, companies and people living with HIV, Justine Greening restated the government’s position, and committed to refreshing her department’s position paper on HIV and AIDS.
She said, “We are committed to the 'zero' approach. Zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero deaths. That's what we want to aim towards - with all of you - as a government".
Georgia Burford, CAFOD’s HIV strategy manager commented, “Although this wasn’t the commitment to a new blueprint on HIV and AIDS which we were hoping for, it does offer a real opportunity for collaboration between government and voluntary organisations on refreshing the current paper.
“Keeping this issue high on the agenda is crucial because, for the first time, if we invest in the right combination of proven interventions we can reach a tipping point in the epidemic.
"This could protect an additional 7.4 million people from AIDS-related deaths by 2020 and prevent an additional 12.2 million new people from acquiring HIV. Thank you for taking action this World AIDS Day”
