UNDP recognizes community-based AIDS response in China

UNDP recognizes community-based AIDS response in China

December 01, 2006

AIDS Care China honoured by the inaugural UN Red Ribbon Award

 

    BEIJING, China, Dec. 1 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Against
the backdrop of World AIDS Day, the United Nations in China
presented today AIDS Care China with the inaugural Red
Ribbon Award for the organization's community-based
approach in combating HIV/AIDS.  This marks the first time
that a Chinese organization has received such high-profile
recognition for its work in the area of HIV/AIDS.
 
    (Logo:
http://www.xprn.com.cn:9080/xprn/sa/20061107113358-34.jpg
)

    "The Red Ribbon Award not only recognizes this
outstanding group, but it also recognizes the crucial role
communities can play, and are playing, in partnership with
local authorities at a crucial time for the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in China," said Khalid Malik, UN Resident
Coordinator and UN Development Programme Representative in
China, at the award ceremony in Beijing.
 
    AIDS Care China, founded by Thomas Cai in Guangzhou
five years ago as a modest counseling service for people
living with HIV/AIDS, now serves communities through its
care centres located in hospitals and clinics in Guangdong,
Yunnan, Guangxi and Hubei.  Its platform has expanded from
counseling and support to helping patients throughout the
AIDS treatment process, working together with local health
care providers.
 
    "When we began our programme at the Number 8
Hospital in Guangzhou, we never dreamed that we would one
day reach so many people in so many places, and that too
within just a few years," Thomas remarked.  "We
owe this to our staff and volunteers ¨C people living with
and without HIV/AIDS -- who are truly committed to fighting
AIDS together."
 
    Launched this year, the Red Ribbon Award is led by the
UN Development Programme in partnership with the Joint
United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and
recognizes grassroots leadership in this global campaign. 
AIDS Care China is one of 25 communities around the world
that were finalists for the prize.  The winners were
previously announced in August at the 2006 International
AIDS Conference in Toronto, Canada.  
 
    In a World AIDS Day statement from UN headquarters,
Secretary-General Kofi Annan reiterated the themes
symbolized by the Red Ribbon Award: shared accountability
and community involvement.  "Accountability applies
not only to those who hold positions of power," said
Annan, "but it also applies to all of us¡­ it requires
every one of us to help bring AIDS out of the shadows, and
spread the message that silence is death."
 
    Malik echoed that sentiment. "The campaign against
HIV/AIDS is too formidable to be fought alone. Governments
have recognized this.  Non-government organizations have
recognized this.  Medical professionals have recognized
this.  The innovative work of AIDS Care China demonstrates
the potential offered by true partnership and
collaboration."
 
    In accepting the award, Thomas urged community-based
HIV/AIDS organizations ¨C including AIDS Care China -- to
work together and constantly expand their horizons.  
 
    "AIDS Care China promotes the concept that people
living with HIV/AIDS should not isolate themselves in a
small circle of fear to be pitied," Thomas said. 
"Rather, we should face the wider realities and
embrace society as a whole, and mobilize more resources to
fight the war against AIDS. Therefore, we have re-defined
ourselves as an organization working with the meaningful
participation of all people -- including those living with
HIV/AIDS. The scope of our work will be expanded from
treatment and care to also incorporate HIV/AIDS prevention
approaches, including raising awareness and reducing stigma
among the general public."
 
    As AIDS Care China steps up its efforts even more, the
UN Joint Country Programme on HIV/AIDS in China is offering
its support.  Together with UNDP, AIDS Care China is
supporting the socio-economic empowerment of women living
with HIV/AIDS through a micro-enterprise scheme in Yunnan
and Guangdong. The aim of this project is to encourage and
support established women living with HIV/AIDS groups to
set up and run their own small businesses.  In addition to
providing direct employment for these women, the profits
from these small businesses are channeled back into the
group to fund their PLWHA support activities, thus reducing
donor dependency while increasing sustainability and local
ownership.
 
    "Helping people help themselves lays a strong
foundation for China's efforts to stem the spread of this
scourge" said Malik.  "The work of AIDS Care
China ¨C and indeed of so many community-based
organizations in this vast land ¨C is proof of that.  When
the history of HIV/AIDS in China is chronicled in the years
to come, we may look back at this moment as a crucial
milestone ¨C a time when community-based HIV/AIDS
organizations and local health authorities formed key
partnerships to jointly help turn the tide of the epidemic
in the world's most populous nation."
 
    UNDP fosters human development to empower women and men
to build better lives in China. As the UN's development
network, UNDP draws on a world of experience to assist
China in developing its own solutions to the country's
development challenges. Through partnerships and
innovation, UNDP works to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals and an equitable Xiao Kang society by
reducing poverty, strengthening the rule of law, promoting
environmental sustainability, and fighting HIV/AIDS.   

    http://www.undp.org.cn
 
    For more information, please contact: 

     Mr. Edmund Settle
     HIV/AIDS Programme Manager, 
     UNDP China
     Tel:   [phone]
     Email: [e-mail]

SOURCE  United Nations Development Programme