World AIDS Day: Eliminating the stigma

“Live and let live” is the theme of World AIDS Day 2003, a campaign coordinated by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS. The annual event, which this year takes place on Dec. 1, strengthens global efforts to curtail the spreading AIDS pandemic.

This year’s focus is on eliminating the stigma and discrimination that so often surround the disease. These two factors continue to block prevention and treatment. Fear of discrimination may prevent people from seeking treatment for AIDS, and the stigma of the illness often causes them to delay getting tested. This year’s World AIDS Day will encourage people to break the silence and tear down barriers to effective HIV/AIDS prevention and care.

Further, the Coalition of Labor Union Women (CLUW) has launched HIV/AIDS: Labor Speaks Out, an initiative that calls on union members and labor organizations to observe World AIDS Day. CLUW chapters, AFL-CIO unions and constituency groups, and others across the United States are asking their fellow unionists to support efforts to protect the rights of workers living with the illness.

Many Americans don’t feel the need to push HIV/AIDS education anymore, but ignorance about the disease persists, as well as stigma and discrimination, says Karen McMillan, director of CLUW’s HIV/AIDS Education and Prevention Initiative. The rate of the disease is on the rise in the United States, particularly for people of color and women, which means there’s still a lot of education to do, says McMillan.

The spread of AIDS in Africa poses a grave threat. The numbers are staggering: In South Africa, as many as 60,000 teachers are expected to die this decade. In Kenya, officials estimate that 70 teachers die each month of complications from AIDS. On Dec. 1, peer educators in Kenya and Zimbabwe will lead their study circles in a discussion about the stigma people with the illness face.

The AFT-Africa AIDS Campaign, the AFT’s partnership with teacher unions in Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Zimbabwe and other African countries, has resources available to assist locals and schools in planning World AIDS Day activities. A 15-minute videotape examining the impact of HIV/AIDS on the education systems in Africa is available free of charge from the campaign.

An order form for the video and other materials can be found at www.aft.org/Africa_aids, or you can call Gregory King in the office of the AFT president at 202/393-6387.

“Many of our locals have helped to raise funds for African teacher unions and their AIDS prevention and care programs,” notes AFT executive vice president Nat LaCour. “World AIDS Day gives us another opportunity to raise awareness and provide resources for our brothers and sisters in Africa.”

CLUW has assembled a tool kit to assist its chapters and union members in preparing for Dec. 1. For a free kit, contact Karen McMillan, director, CLUW HIV/AIDS Program at 202/223-8360 or e-mail kmcmillan@cluw.org.

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