Important note: Information in this article was accurate in 2003. The state of the art may have changed since the publication date.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Cresent Societies - 26 September 2003
The International Federation is among the few to have established global and regional partnerships with the Global Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (GNP+) and the Network of African People Living with HIV and AIDS (NAP+). It now endeavours to extend these relations at national level between Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and PLWHA associations.
"At the heart of our approach stands the principle of Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV/AIDS, with the aim of reducing stigma and discrimination and providing health and care to those living with the virus," says Dorothy Odhiambo, responsible for HIV/AIDS partnerships with the Federation in East Africa.
Odhiambo embodies the policies and commitments of her organization. The 40-year-old Kenyan teacher was recruited both because of her technical skills and her HIV-positive status. Odhiambo helped shape the Federation's workplace HIV/AIDS programme and, as an Ambassador of Hope, actively develops partnerships between PLWHA associations and Red Cross Red Crescent Societies.
During the current 13th ICASA conference in Nairobi, she is sharing the experience of her latest mission to Sudan, where she helped create a partnership between the Sudan Red Crescent and the local association of PLWHA. "The levels of discrimination I saw against people living with the virus were unimaginable. It is only through such partnerships that stigma will be reversed and the place of PLWHA in society strengthened," says Odhiambo.
To date, partnerships have been established between NAP+ and Red Cross societies in Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Similar partnerships are about to be formalized in Djibouti, Eritrea, Madagascar and Sudan.
For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:
In Nairobi: Pekka Reinikainen, Information delegate Tel +254 733 807 729 Andrei Neacsu, Regional information delegate Tel +254 2271 5426 / +254 2 715 087
In Geneva: Roy Probert, Press Officer Tel: +41 22 730 4428 / +41 79 217 3357 Duty Phone Tel: + 41 79 416 3881
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