HIV and AIDS

HIV and AIDS is now the worst pandemic in human history, causing around three million deaths every year, with a further 16 thousand people being infected daily. In the developing world HIV and AIDS threatens to wipe out entire generations and decades of development.

Unlike other epidemics, HIV and AIDS affects the most productive section of society: those who grow the food, work the machinery and teach and care for children. The virus is devastating entire communities, leaving old people and children to fend for themselves and decimating families.

The highest rates of infection are in sub-Saharan Africa. In South Africa alone, around one in five adults live with the HIV and AIDS virus. The spread of the virus is of increasing concern in Asia and the Pacific. In all of our work we seek to promote education and awareness about HIV and AIDS.

We also have projects which focus solely on HIV and AIDS in South Africa, Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Papua New Guinea. These projects often combine education, health care and support for volunteer carers. For example, in Durban, South Africa, we have been working in partnership with the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust. With Hillcrest we have been working against the devastating effects of the HIV and AIDS pandemic through income-generation projects.

Not everyone responds to formal lectures or information sessions from outsiders, so when trying to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS prevention Oxfam Australia employs a fresh approach. We are supporting peer educators to go out and spread the HIV and AIDS message - young people from the community who use music, sport and leisure activities to capture the attention and interest of their peers and explore sensitive issues such as HIV and AIDS transmission, safer sex, and stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV and AIDS.

Peer education programs are now also being supported by Oxfam Australia in other countries, including Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Vanuatu and Timore Leste, as a means of raising HIV and AIDS awareness among young people.

Some of the items which will help fund these types of projects include:

• HIV and AIDS Awareness Books
• Support and Train Volunteer care givers
• Bicycles