Chiapas, Mexico - December 11, 2009
About 2,000 people joined in a colorful march, organized by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) and other partners, through the streets of Tuxtla Gutierrez, in Mexico’s state of Chiapas on Dec. 1 to commemorate World AIDS Day 2009.
The city, which simultaneously hosted Mexico’s 2009 National Conference on AIDS, was chosen by AHF as the location of the premier event for its Testing Millions campaign in Latin America. So far 639 people have been tested for HIV with 8 preliminary positive results. Those individuals who tested positive have each been referred for follow up care and treatment.
In addition to the parade, World AIDS Day activities included free
rapid HIV testing, the distribution of testing incentives including
T-shirts and dog tags as well as free AHF-branded LOVE Condoms from
the “CONDOMOVIL”, a prevention and condom
distribution van which ordinarily travels throughout Mexico and other
Latin American countries handing out condoms and HIV prevention information.
At the National Conference, AHF organized a workshop on “Pricing, Patents and Policy, for Universal Access to HIV treatment and prevention in Mexico.” On Nov. 30, Dr. Jorge Saavedra, Chief of Global Affairs for AHF debated the advantage of rapid testing with Dr. Luis Soto, who represents a group opposed to the rapid testing model. AHF staff also setup a booth at the conference and participated in a poster and oral presentation on AHF’s successful Rapid Testing Model.
On Dec. 1 at Mexico City’s commemoration of World AIDS Day,
Dr. Saavedra unveiled a new free mobile testing van adorned with
an image of the popular six-time Grammy singer Paulina
Rubio. The van was donated to AHF by our local partner, Clinica
Condesa, of the Mexico City government. Next year,
the Paulina Rubio testing van will canvas the streets of the
capital to focus on testing among high-risk groups such as sex workers,
drug users, and the MSM community.
Kampala, Uganda – December 3, 2009
World AIDS Day activities at Nakivubo Stadium, in Kampala, Uganda
Amid a jubilant concert, speeches by dignitaries and other festivities to commemorate World AIDS Day in Uganda, a record 3,518 people got tested for HIV at Kampala’s Nakivubo Stadium on Tuesday, Dec. 1.
The staggering day-long event, which by some accounts attracted a crowd of over 6,000, was organized by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) Uganda Cares and Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), with financial support from UNAIDS.
Of the 2,218 people tested by AHF Uganda Cares, 136 were identified as HIV-positive
and referred to care. The testing partners also tested 1,300 people, and identified
and referred to care 55 people with HIV-positive results.
The day commenced with an optimistic march. By the time the procession arrived at the stadium, people were already lining up outside the testing tents to take a free, rapid HIV test.
The tents were set up as a part of AHF’s Testing Millions Global Campaign, which aims to test millions of people around the world in commemoration of World AIDS Day 2009. The day’s events were hosted by AHF Uganda Cares in conjunction with Mulago Mbarara Teaching Hospitals' Joint AIDS Program, The AIDS Support Organization, AIDS Information Center and other campaign partners.
As the event got underway, AHF’s Terri Ford, Senior Director of Global Policy/Advocacy and Dr. Penninah Iutung, Bureau Chief for East-West Africa, both addressed the large crowd on behalf of AHF President, Michael Weinstein, with a message about the need for a new sense of urgency in the fight to stop AIDS.
In her speech, Elizabeth Mataka, UNAIDS Envoy to Uganda, strongly emphasized
the importance of human rights and access to services for all in Uganda. While
speaking to the people gathered at the stadium, Dr. David Apuuli, Director
General for the Uganda AIDS Commission, acknowledged AHF Uganda Cares and Terri
Ford for the leadership AHF has shown in organizing the event and in carrying
on the fight against HIV/AIDS.
Many prominent Ugandan musicians participated in the concert and rallied the fans to get tested, use condoms and stay HIV-negative. At one point an emcee waved a strip of AHF-branded LOVE Condoms while performing on the stage and the crowd roared back with cheers, waving the condom strips at the performer.
Delhi, India – December 3, 2009
In an unprecedented event organized to commemorate World AIDS Day, AHF India
Cares and its partners tested 3,624 people for HIV across India on Dec. 1.
Delhi’s Health Minister, Prof. Kiran Walia and members of the parliament were among the hundreds of people who gathered at the National Heritage of India Memorial to take a free HIV test in the AHF mobile testing van on Tuesday.
The event is a part of AHF’s Testing Millions Campaign, which aims to test millions of people around the world in an effort to promote HIV awareness and access to treatment and prevention for all. The international theme for this year’s World AIDS Day is, “Keep the Promise: Universal Access and Human Rights”.
Other events of the day included HIV testing at two AHF kiosk on the campus
of Jesus and Mary Girls’ College, and one kiosk at the Central University
Jamia Millia Islamia.
Posters of Ronit Roy, an actor and a national celebrity who has in the past promoted AHF’s Stay Negative Campaign, could be seen around all of the testing locations in Delhi, calling upon the fans to stay healthy and get tested on this year’s World AIDS Day.
Siteki, Swaziland – December 1, 2009
Thousands Gather to Commemorate World
AIDS Day and
Get Tested
Event follows successful march and testing day in Manzini on November 27th
Damp weather and cloudy skies on the morning of Dec. 1 could not deter 5,000 people from converging on the town of Siteki in Eastern Swaziland to commemorate World AIDS Day.
The day of activities, which included participation by the AIDS Healthcare Foundation and other NGOs, kicked off with a procession across the town led by a military marching band. At the head of the march, members of Swaziland’s uniformed forces carried a banner adorned with a red ribbon and a slogan calling for universal access to treatment, prevention and human rights in the fight against HIV/AIDS.
The highlights of the event included speeches by a number of government
officials, including some cabinet ministers.
The Minister of Health, Benedict Xaba and the Deputy Prime Minister, Themba Masuku toured the information booths setup by the NGOs and other partners under the tents at the venue and paused at AHF’s table to chat with the staff.
Items on display at the table included AHF-branded LOVE Condoms, testing incentives, and informational brochures on the Testing Millions Campaign. AHF also contributed to the event by sponsoring HIV testing counselors.
The national World AIDS Day celebration comes in the wake of a smaller
commemoration that took place in Manzini on Nov. 27. About
450 participants braved the equally bad weather conditions to participate
in the enthusiastic AHF-sponsored march that brought the center of
the city to a standstill as passersby stopped to see what all the
noise was about.
The march concluded at the Mavuso Trade Center, where the Mayor and his deputy were the first in line to take a free HIV test as a way to encourage the crowd to get tested. Dr. Fred Muwanga, AHF’s Southern Africa Bureau Chief addressed the crowd with a speech on importance of knowing one’s HIV status.
Of the 222 people tested, 47 were identified as HIV-positive and referred for treatment. In a country where the HIV prevalence rate is 26.1 percent, testing remains an essential strategy for halting the spread of HIV.
Los Angeles, California - November 30, 2009
Marathon Free HIV Testing Event at Hollywood’s 'Out of the Closet’ Store
In observation of World AIDS Day this year, AHF hosted an extended day—and evening—of free rapid HIV testing this past Saturday, November 28th starting at 10 a.m. and going until 2 a.m. Sunday at its ‘Out of the Closet’ Hollywood thrift store and testing location (6210 Sunset). The HIV testing marathon was part of AHF’s ‘Testing Millions’ campaign, a worldwide initiative to test more than three million people in conjunction with the observance of this year’s World AIDS Day, Tuesday, December 1st. LA’s popular KIIS radio station (102.7FM) promoted the event on its broadcast throughout the week leading up to the event. The KIIS mobile van also came out to the event from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday to keep the crowd entertained with dance music and free giveaways.
“There are currently as many as 15,000 HIV positive individuals
in Los Angeles County who do not know their HIV status because
they have never been tested for the virus,” said Whitney
Engeran-Cordova, Director of AHF’s Public Health Division. “Through
this marathon World AIDS Day testing event at Hollywood’s
Out of the Closet site, we are trying to normalize and de-stigmatize
the entire process of HIV testing so that people look at testing
as a routine part of health care. We know that knowledge of one’s
HIV status really helps us break the chain of new infections, as
people take steps to reduce the risk of passing on their infection
to others once they know their own status. With this testing event,
we are proud to be a part of AHF’s larger worldwide ‘Testing
Millions’ campaign. I strongly urge people with any questions
about their own HIV status to come out and join us and get tested
this weekend.”
Mombasa, Kenya - November 30, 2009
Testing Millions Campaign Kicks Off in Mombasa
Thousands rally for accessible HIV testing and treatment.
About 2,000 volunteers, advocates and residents wielding banners with red ribbons and slogans trekked through the busy streets of Mombasa to the tune of a marching band on Nov. 28 to mark the start of the Testing Millions Campaign in Kenya.
The event organized by AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the Municipal Council of Mombasa and a number of partners as part of a global HIV testing campaign comes at the run-up to the 2009 World AIDS Day. The guiding principal of the Testing Millions Campaign, which aims to test millions of people in Africa, Asia, Eastern Europe and the Americas, is that without free and accessible HIV testing, there can be no universal access to HIV treatment and prevention.
A full day of free HIV testing and entertainment was preceded by a tour of the testing facilities and a speech by the Mayor of Mombasa, remarks by AHF’s Senior Director of Global Policy/Advocacy, Terri Ford, AHF’s Kenya Board Chair, Dr. Stephen Karau, and AHF Global Vice Board Chair Diana Hoorzuk, among other guests.
AHF Kenya and a group of partners tested 1,006 people at Tononoka Grounds in Mombasa. Of these, 166 people were identified as HIV-positive and were referred to care.
In addition to free HIV testing, AHF advocates and volunteers distributed free AHF-branded LOVE Condoms to hundreds of people waiting in lines outside the tents to get tested despite the hot weather.
World AIDS Day is celebrated annually on Dec. 1 by millions of people around the world as a call for action on the part of the international community, governments, NGOs, and individuals in a fight against HIV/AIDS.
Uganda
An article for mass testing launch in Pallisa:
New Vision article of the Pallissa event with Ministry of Health:
Cambodia - October 30, 2009
Cambodia: World AIDS Day HIV Campaign, ‘Testing Millions,’ Launches during Cambodia’s National Water Festival
During Last Year’s ‘One Million Tests’ World AIDS Day 2008 Campaign, AHF/Cambodia CARES and Cambodian Partners Surpassed Country’s 30,000 Testing Goal by Testing 35,034
As part of an ambitious global effort to test several million people
for HIV in observance of the Testing Millions World AIDS Day 2009
campaign, AHF/Cambodia CARES will launch its inaugural testing effort
during the annual Water Festival, which marks the end of the rainy
season and is the largest festival in the Cambodian calendar. The
Water Festival commences Sunday, November 1st. AIDS Healthcare Foundation
(AHF), the largest AIDS group in the US which currently provides
AIDS medical care and services to more than 120,000 individuals in
22 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean,
the Asia Pacific Region and Eastern Europe, is spearheading the worldwide
initiative to test millions. Last year, AHF led the successful ‘One
Million Tests/World AIDS Day 2008’ campaign during which AHF/Cambodia
CARES and its Cambodian partners surpassed their country goal of
performing 30,000 tests by testing 35,034 individuals, identifying
1,112 HIV positive individuals in the process. The 2008 campaign
far exceeded its goal of performing one million tests by testing
1,603,272 people and identifying 61,399 HIV positive people.
AHF/Cambodia CARES, which partners with NCHADS in operating 12 free
AIDS treatment clinics throughout the country, has also taken a leadership
role to coordinate and partner with other stakeholders to reach as
many people as possible for the HIV testing and the Love Condom campaign.
As its part of the in-country component of the global testing campaign,
AHF/Cambodia CARES has committed to testing 12,000 people for HIV
throughout the month of November in Cambodia, one of the countries
in the Asia Pacific region that has been hardest-hit by the HIV/AIDS
epidemic.
“With the beginning of the Water Festival, AHF/Cambodia CARES will get an early start and launch our country’s participation in the ‘Testing Millions’ World AIDS Day 2009 campaign. We will be testing in Phnom Penh and other provinces and link those found to be positive to a clinic for follow up care and access to lifesaving antiretroviral treatment as well as the positive prevention to stop the spreading of the virus, and those who found as negative will learn about HIV prevention to keep them stay negative” said Chhim Sarath, M.D., AHF Country Director for Cambodia.
Cambodia is one of the poorest nations in Asia and also has one
of the most rapidly growing HIV/AIDS epidemics in the region. The
HIV epidemic has spread beyond high-risk groups such as sex workers,
male police officers, factory workers, mobile populations, injection
drug users and men who have sex with men, to the general population.
The number of Voluntary Counseling and Testing (VCT) centers in Cambodia has increased dramatically over the last 5 years (only 12 sites in 2000 to 216 sites by the end of first quarter 2009). Of the current 216 VCT centers, 194 are supported directly by the government, while 22 are supported by non-governmental organizations.