Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2001. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 21 December 2001
Rohan Kay in Chiang Mai, Thailand
The Federation has identified HIV/AIDS as a priority issue and is planning to use some $22 million in 2002 to fight the spread of the disease world-wide and the related widespread prejudice that serves to spread the virus. There are 40 million persons living with HIV/AIDS including 28.1 million in Africa and 7.1 million in the Asia and Pacific region.
"There will never be enough heroes to mount a response that is large enough to contain the AIDS epidemic," said Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, Head of the Federation's Health and Care department, stressing the need to work with otzher organisations. "It is important to link with other organisations that are different from us and that can complement our work," he continued.
The International Federation has committed itself to scale up its worldwide activities to support HIV positive people and to fight stigma and discrimination of infected people. Through working on issues of stigma and denial, as well as linking HIV/AIDS with mainstream programmes, the Federation has moved AIDS to the top of its priorities list as an unprecedented humanitarian disaster for which it has a clear and immediate responsibility to respond to in all 178 countries where the Federation has members.
The delegates are urged to return to their homes to make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS. "If the world's largest humanitarian organisation cannot make a difference, then who can?" asked Dr. Bermejo.
The Federation has also committed itself to do more to support its own HIV positive members, some 200,000 worldwide. Many of the thousands of Red Cross volunteers who care for people living with HIV are HIV positive themselves, but only a small fraction of them feel comfortable enough to declare their status in the Red Cross/Red Crescent.
Dr. Bermejo said everyone in the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement had to raise the issue of discrimination against HIV positive people to change this situation. "If we don't talk about prejudice, and begin to change attitudes within the Red Cross towards people living with HIV/AIDS, how can we expect others to do the same?" asked Dr. Bermejo.
At a side meeting of Secretaries-General of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Southeast Asia today, the leaders committed themselves to start the fight against stigma and discrimination in their own National Societies and to show positive results in the next few months.
Said Dr. Peter Walker, head of the Federation's Regional Office for Southeast Asia in Bangkok: "If we are going to make a significant increase in our programming to counter-act stigma and increase education and care in the community at large, then we have to make a start within our own organizations - within our headquarters, within our local branches and within our own Federation delegations."
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