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Participants
at the Leadership and Advocacy for
Persons Living with HIV/AIDS workshop
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Under the auspices
of the Sudan AIDS Network and HIV/AIDS Regional
Program in Arab States (HARPAS), UNDP and
UNAIDS Sudan organized a two day workshop
on leadership and advocacy for Persons Living
with HIV/AIDS held on 13-15 December, 2011
to celebrate the lives of thousands of individuals
who continue to fight HIV/AIDS each day.
Representatives from different countries:
Yemen, Djibouti and Somalia participated
in this workshop each bringing their respective
experiences in dealing with People Living
with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in their communities.
The opening session of
the workshop was attended by Khartoum state
Minister of Higher Council for Youth and
Sport, UN agencies and national organizations
working in the field of HIV/AIDS in Sudan.
Speakers at the workshop emphasized the
importance of granting full rights to PLHWA,
and reiterated their commitment to the draft
and issuance of laws and legislations that
combat stigma and discrimination directed
towards these individuals. Speakers further
stressed the need for active engagement
by PLWHA associations across the country
to further mobilize the Sudanese community
to provide support for individuals and families
undergoing stigma.
UNDP Sudan has led a
series of efforts to combat stigma against
PLWHA through sensitizing different sectors
of the society: religious leaders, policy
makers and civil society organizations in
response to the spread of stigma amongst
community members. To that effect, UNDP
in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor
has recently organized a ‘Workplace
policy sensitization’ training to
help mobilize support for the fight against
HIV/AIDS in Sudan through encouraging a
more positive attitude toward HIV affected
individuals to end stigma and discrimination
directed against them in work places. Participants
further encouraged the promotion of spiritual
values of care and compassion toward people
living with HIV/AIDS amongst work , and
have agreed on the need for drafting and
ratifying of laws that preserves the rights
of PLWHA in workplaces.
The Sudan National AIDS Programme (SNAP)
is spearheading the countrywide HIV/AIDS
response with the assistance of national
and international NGOs, UN agencies, and
with the UNDP-managed Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria providing
financial support. UN agencies and non-governmental
organizations provide a wide array of harmonized
support to the national HIV/AIDS response
such as awareness raising, care and treatment,
and prevention of mother to child transmission.
Through its extensive network, UNDP supports
the PLWHA associations in 15 northern states
by providing diverse training to their Executive
Committees to improve their capacity and
increase their leadership role in the national
response to combat HIV/AIDS. UNDP is also
implementing a capacity development programme
for 35 NGOs working in HIV/AIDS including
four SLWHA associations.
According to the 2011 UNAIDS World AIDS
Day report, people living with HIV are living
longer and AIDS-related deaths are declining
due to the lifesaving effects of antiretroviral
therapy. Globally there were an estimated
34 million people living with HIV in 2010,
and since 2005, AIDS-related deaths decreased
from 2.2 million to 1.8 million in 2010.
Around 2.5 million deaths are estimated
to have been averted in low- and middle-income
countries due to increased access to HIV
treatment since 1995.
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