Yemen celebrates World AIDS Day [Archives:2007/1108/Health]
SANA'A, Dec 1 ) Yemen joins the world in celebrating World AIDS Day to draw attention of the leaders, civil society, media and above all the young people to the dangers of HIV and AIDS, the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) said.
The Day was celebrated across the world on December 1 and focused on a special theme to help enhance the efforts for fighting the denial, stigma and discrimination that surrounds the most devastating epidemic the world has seen.
With its focus on leadership, the theme set by the World AIDS Campaign makes a clarion call to “Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise” A range of activities are planned with the assistance of UNICEF to mobilize the young people to help create awareness and national debate on the issues that need to be addressed.
UNICEF Representative in Yemen Aboudou Karimou Adjibade in his message on the day said “the only vaccination against HIV and AIDS is education and we are determined to bring young people in the fore front of the mobilization activities.
UNICEF is already supporting a number of innovative initiatives for Peers Education in the country and during the observance of the day, young people will participate in activities at schools, shopping malls and playgrounds to get the message through.
Aden Governorate is taking the lead in these observance activities along with a series of discussions on radio and television.
More notable among the events to commemorate World AIDS Day are: endorsement by the Governor, other officials and NGOs representatives. 20 peer educators, community focal points representing schools, community and street kids, will actively disseminate HIV messages to shoppers in Aden Mall.
Each peer educator will be wearing a distinctive T-shirt. They will distribute coffee mugs with HIV messages to shoppers. In addition to this, 60 street children will perform/participate a drama play on HIV and AIDS for the customers in Al-Hammra restaurant.
Finally, there will be a volleyball competition harbouring messages on HIV prevention where three teams from the girls' schools will play against three female teams from the community.
World AIDS Day is a day when people from around the world come together within a single effort to raise awareness about HIV and to express global solidarity with people living with HIV and AIDS. More importantly the World AIDS day is not just about raising awareness; it also provides a global opportunity to urge governments and leaders to hold on their promises for combating AIDS.
New 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.
The latest figure for infected people is 33.2 million. The young and children are facing the brunt with 2.5 million out of them being children- a fifth of the total infections. Already 2.1 million people- a sixth of them children- have died of opportunistic infections following prey to AIDS.
The observance of the Day in which leaders, celebrities, development partners, young people and people living with HIV and AIDS reiterate their resolve to combine their efforts for building strong momentum and disseminate education.
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