Campaigners call for the UK to take decisive action on the AIDS crisis
Two days before World AIDS Day, campaigners and MPs gathered in Parliament Square to call on the UK government to meet its promise of access to AIDS treatment and services for all.
The ribbon was made from 5,700 carnations —- one for every person who dies of AIDS-related illnesses each day
On 29 November, Parliament Square was transformed by a giant AIDS awareness ribbon made of 5700 carnations — one for every person who dies of AIDS-related illnesses each day — and used as a visually striking centre-piece to lobby MPs.
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development and one of our main campaign targets, spoke at the event. The Minister’s announcement of £19 million for a television campaign in Southern Africa to change behaviour and encourage condom use, and a further £40 million to support anti-HIV efforts in Kenya was welcome. Unfortunately he remained silent on the bigger commitments campaigners were calling for.
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for International Development
P&P/SLW
Siphiwe Hlophe, renowned HIV/AIDS activist from Swaziland and Director of Swaziland Positive Living called on the government to do more for the millions of women living with HIV and AIDS, and disproportionately affected by the virus, and to listen the voices and expertise of communities affected by HIV. Daleep Mukarjee from Christian Aid, spoke on behalf of the Stop AIDS Campaign, to outline the action we are calling on the government to take.
Roehampton P&P handed in more than 720 student petitions to their local MP, Justine Greening, who agreed to support the campaign
Anne-Marie Briscombe
Everyone who attended the Unite to fight AIDS Speaker Tour in 2007 tied a knot in red fabric to remind the government of its promises. It was handed over at the Parliament Square lobby
Student campaigners from across the country attended to lobby their MPs.
Roehampton People & Planet handed in over 700 petitions to their local MP, Justine Greening, who agreed to support the campaign. In addition to all their campaigning, Roehampton have already raised over £100 for P&P’s AIDS campaign.
Royal Holloway’s stencilled t-shirt gave a clear message that AIDS is POLITICAL, and after a hard day’s lobbying they were planning to spend World AIDS Day collecting video messages in support of the campaign.
Nottingham students showed their commitment with a 4am train journey!
Kings College Student Stop AIDS Society lobbied local MP Kate Hoey, and Liberal Democrat Simon Hughes.
Members of the P&P support office and former student Stop AIDS campaigner Will Horowitz lobbied their local MP, Andrew Smith. While he refuses to sign EDMs, he promised to continue to raise the issue in parliament.
In total 64 MPs turned up to support the campaign. Some even left video messages calling on the government for more action. See what they and campaigners on the day had to say about the need for the government to act.
What were campaigners calling for?
The Department for International Development is currently writing the UK’s AIDS strategy for the next three years. This will decide what action they take up to 2010 and so today’s campaigning is vital for making the government keep its promise of providing access to HIV treatment and services for all by 2010.
Without further progress, this promise will be broken by many years - at the cost of millions of lives. The UK’s leadership is crucial to get us back on track.
What the UK needs to do
The UK needs to provide its fair share of funding for universal access: £2.5 billion over the next three years.
BUT The UK continues to focus only on how well it is doing in comparison to other donors. As all donors are falling short of their responsibilities, this is not good enough. The government must focus on its fair share of the funding needed to keep the promise it led.
The UK must take action to reduce the price of essential medicines by promoting generic production, tackling trade barriers and developing a patent pool for essential medicines.
BUT Douglas Alexander did not address these issues in his speech. The government needs to take bold action on the price of drugs if universal access is to be achieved and sustained.
Take action to address the health worker shortage and provide long-term financing to strengthen services and infrastructure.
BUT strengthening health systems must be accompanied by a continued commitment to deliver promises on AIDS. Strengthening health systems and tackling AIDS are both vital - and one cannot be tackled without the other. Functioning health systems are vital to deliver AIDS treatment and services, and AIDS must be tackled to reduce the burden on stretched health systems. Responses to HIV/AIDS can also have other positive impacts on health systems - for example in improving child and maternal health services, integrating sexual and reproductive health services, and improving drug procurement. AIDS campaigners are calling for a big increase in support for health systems - but the government must also adequately support important AIDS funding initiatives such as the Global Fund.
Siphiwe Hlophe and Douglas Alexander
Simon Hughes, and Kings College Student Stop AIDS members call for the government to provide its fair share of funding for AIDS
Anne-Marie Briscombe
Andrew Smith MP poses with constituents
Anne-Marie Briscombe
Martin Salter MP supports the campaign
Anne-Marie Briscombe
Jeremy Hunt MP
Anne-Marie Briscombe