The work of two Christian Aid partner organisations will be honoured at the XVIIth International AIDS conference which opens in in Mexico this weekend.
Prestigious Red Ribbon award
Our Haitian partner POZ (Objective Zero Aids Promoters) is one of only 25 organisations worldwide to be honoured with the UN’s prestigious Red Ribbon Award.
The award recognises POZ’s outstanding contribution to HIV awareness, prevention and care in Haiti, especially its groundbreaking work with voodoo leaders.
For many people in Haiti, their voodoo priest is the first person they turn to when illness strikes, so it’s vital that these respected community leaders have a good understanding of HIV.
Opening the conference
Twelve-year-old Keren Dunaway-González, from our Honduran partner Fundación Llaves, is helping to open the conference alongside the president of Mexico.
Honduras has the highest HIV rate in Central America, and Keren edits a magazine for children infected and affected by the virus.
Keren’s parents, Rosa and Allan Dunaway, the founders of Fundación Llaves, were the first couple in Honduras to acknowledge publicly that they were living with HIV.
Keren is giving the youth welcome at the opening ceremony of the conference, on Sunday, 3 August.
‘For me, it’s important for children to learn about HIV so they don’t discriminate against others, because it doesn’t feel nice,’ she explains.
Partners in the fight against HIV
Given our extensive experience involving faith leaders in the fight against HIV, Christian Aid has been asked to coordinate the conference’s interfaith exhibit.
Throughout the conference, Christian Aid staff and partners will also run workshops to share HIV learning from eight different countries: Burkina Faso, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe.
The conference theme, Universal Action Now, emphasises the need for continued urgency and action in the worldwide response to HIV and AIDS. Today 33 million people around the world are living with HIV.
The conference, which takes place once every two years, is expected to draw around 25,000 participants from across the globe, including many world renowned leaders and experts in their field – and around 3,000 journalists.
Help us win the fight against AIDS
You can help us and our partners work with those affected by HIV and AIDS by donating to our HIV fund at the top of this page.