Overview: HIV & AIDS
AIDS causes the deaths of approximately 8,200 people every single day, the majority of them in poor countries. International trade rules mean that drugs to treat the disease are too expensive for most poor people; the scope of the disease means that parents die and children are left both orphaned and head of the family; badly maintained infrastructures mean there are no doctors or health clinics for over 20 miles.
ActionAid has been working on HIV & AIDS since 1987, providing practical support to people living with the disease in 23 countries, as well as campaigning and lobbying rich governments and international institutions to make access to drugs, care and treatment fair and unbiased.
In Africa a shocking 60 million people have been directly affected by the epidemic. We are working with the governments of Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi and Ghana to establish National AIDS Commissions and community support groups that act as lifelines in hard-hit regions.
In Asia, the virus is now spreading even faster than in Africa, with 7.2 million people infected. We have expanded our work across the region to help vulnerable people, such as trafficked women and girls forced into prostitution, to fight for affordable treatment and access to AIDS prevention information.
We also helped develop Stepping Stones, a training program that helps people explore their own sexual health needs, discuss the changes that they want, and find ways of making those changes. Stepping stones programs are currently used by 2,000 organizations in 100 countries worldwide.
What work is ActionAid doing on HIV?
ActionAid advocates that people should have a life of dignity in the face of HIV & AIDS and has developed innovative models of working at community levels to empower communities to change circumstances that make them vulnerable.
As women’s lack of power has been identified as one of the key drivers of HIV transmission and women’s rights are a strategic priority for ActionAid, our HIV& AIDS work is closely linked with working to ensure women can realize their rights. We are strengthening the case and research around the intersection of Violence Against Women (VAW) and HIV & AIDS.
People living with HIV & AIDS are denied many of their basic rights such as employment, safety, a sexual and family life and to living free from violence.
ActionAid supports organizations of people living with HIV to reclaim their rights and be involved in decisions and policies that affect their lives.
Abstinence Only Education
ActionAid is opposed to health promotion which focuses only on abstinence. The ABC program, “Abstain, Be faithful or Use a Condom” is a strategy based on values rather than empirical evidence about how to stop the spread of the virus. ABC offers no protection at all to women and girls exposed to HIV & AIDS through rape, coercion or abuse.
