Inter Press Service - November 30, 2007
Diego Cevallos

"Communities are at the forefront of addressing the core challenges of HIV," said Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). "Honouring their work and encouraging the replication of community initiatives is essential for a successful global response."

The UNAIDS award, granted every two years, honours 25 outstanding community organisations that demonstrate leadership and action in curtailing the spread and impact of HIV/AIDS in five different categories.

The 25 awardees will each receive a monetary prize of 5,000 dollars, and five of them will receive special recognition and an additional 15,000 dollars.

The call for nominations was launched simultaneously in Mexico City, Colombo, Sri Lanka, and Geneva, Switzerland on the eve of World AIDS Day, which is commemorated Dec. 1.

The winners will be presented at the 17th International AIDS Conference, to be held in August 2008 in the Mexican capital.

Nominations will be accepted from Dec. 1, 2007 through Feb. 28, 2008, and organisations can apply themselves or can be nominated by a third party.

Feliciano Reina, spokesman for the Venezuelan non-governmental organisation Acci<=n Solidaria, one of last year's 25 winners, said "the prize, besides being a great incentive, boosts donor support. And it also, at least in our case, has shielded us from criticism from the government, which at times believes we are part of the opposition because of the observations and demands that we voice."

In 2006, 550 organisations from more than 100 countries were nominated for the Red Ribbon Award.

"The prize has given us confidence, strengthened donor support, and certainly opened up new doors," Reina told IPS.

"When we began our work 12 years ago, our budget was no bigger than 100,000 dollars, and now we handle between 350,000 and 500,000 dollars a year, which makes us proud, but above all enables us to work better and reach more people," he said.

"The action of local groups like ours provides effective responses to the most vulnerable groups, and that is strengthened when you work in partnership with the state," he added.

Piot said community organisations are on the front-line and their leadership is essential in fighting the AIDS epidemic.

If it were not for community initiatives, said the head of UNAIDS, there would be no way to curtail the spread of the disease.

The five categories of the award are: providing access to care, treatment and support for people living with HIV; promoting human rights and addressing social injustice such as homophobia, sexism and any other form of stigma and discrimination; empowering women and girls and addressing gender inequalities that fuel the spread of HIV; providing support to children orphaned by AIDS and other vulnerable children; and promoting HIV prevention programmes and services.

UNAIDS reported that "Last year's winners have found that the award has helped them to gain recognition and attract additional funding, which in turn has increased their reach and efficacy in responding to the AIDS epidemic."

In Malaysia, for example, PT Foundation Mak Nyah was given large office space free of charge by the government, which it turned into a hub for a number of civil society organisations.

In Tanzania, the Tanga AIDS working group used the strengthened relationship with their partners and donors to offer extended training to the community. In Bangladesh, Durjoy Nari Shongo "noticed a significant decrease in the discrimination they had to previously endure as advocates for sex workers," and in Zambia, Mboole Rural Development received a long-term grant from the World Bank.

"From the very day the Red Ribbon Award is announced, an organisation moves out of its little shell and emerges as a major partner in HIV and AIDS locally, regionally and internationally," said Betty Makoni, speaking on behalf of the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe, another of the 2006 winners.

Delegates from next year's 25 Red Ribbon Award winners will be invited to the AIDS Conference in the Mexican capital, "where they will anchor a community dialogue space. This innovative concept provides these small community organisations with an opportunity to discuss their priorities, highlight their challenges, and engage with global leaders," said UNAIDS.

Next year's AIDS Conference in Mexico, which will be the first ever held in Latin America, is being organised by the non-governmental International AIDS Society (IAS) with the backing of UNAIDS, the Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS and other organisations.

The conference will provide an opportunity for the presentation of the latest scientific research on HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention, and participants will take part in scientific debates, workshops on the sociocultural conditions associated with the epidemic, and a variety of cultural activities.

Some 25,000 scientific researchers, health workers, representatives of civil society, authorities and people living with HIV are expected to take part in the conference.

The AIDS conferences are held every two years. The 2006 meet was held in Toronto, Canada.

"The conference in Mexico will be a great opportunity for groups like ours, which have already received the Red Ribbon, because we will have an opportunity to reach new agreements with partners and friends, in order to move forward together towards our goal of curbing the epidemic," said Reina.

According to the latest UNAIDS report, released on Nov. 20, so far this year 2.5 million people have contracted HIV and 2.1 million have died of AIDS. An estimated 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide.

This "data show global HIV prevalence -- the percentage of people living with HIV-- has levelled off and that the number of new infections has fallen, in part as a result of the impact of HIV programmes," says the report.

It adds that around the world, 5,700 people a day die of AIDS, while another 6,800 a day are infected with HIV, "mostly because of inadequate access to HIV prevention and treatment services."

The pandemic, despite the reported drop in the number of people newly infected with HIV -- which was partly the result of new modelling used to produce estimates -- remains the world's biggest public health challenge in terms of infectious diseases, the report warns.

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+ Red Ribbon Award (http://www.redribbonaward.org/index.php?lg=en)

+ UNAIDS (http://www.unaids.org/en)

+ WORLD AIDS DAY-EL SALVADOR: More People Testing Positive (http://www.aegis.org/news/ips/2007/IP071117.html)

+ WORLD AIDS DAY-CUBA: Volunteers on the Front Line of Prevention (http://www.aegis.org/news/ips/2007/IP071109.html)

+ WORLD AIDS DAY: Catholics Snub Vatican's Condom Ban (http://www.aegis.org/news/ips/2007/IP071113.html)

+ More IPS News on HIV/AIDS (http://ipsnews.net/hivaids.asp)

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