Solidarity march on Praslin tomorrow to mark World Aids Day |30 November 2019
The HIV/Aids Support Organisation (Haso), in collaboration with Unique Foundation and other hotels in the precinct of Grand Anse Praslin and the general public will be participating in a solidarity march tomorrow, Sunday December 1, 2019 to commemorate World Aids Day.
The march will start at 3pm at the ‘Brizz Garden’ and will end at the Grand Anse Praslin football field where there will be several animations by some of the participants. Some of the participants will also visit the nearby hotel to sensitise workers and tourists on HIV prevention.
In addition, Haso personnel will be conducting an outreach HIV rapid testing activity in partnership with the Grand Anse Praslin health professionals on Saturday November 30, 2019, from 10am to 2pm.
The theme for this year's World Aids Day is ‘Communities make the difference’.
The commemoration of World Aids Day is an important opportunity to recognise the essential role that communities have played and continue to play in the Aids response at the international, national and local levels.
Communities contribute to the Aids response in many different ways. Their leadership and advocacy ensure that the response remains relevant and grounded, keeping people at the centre and leaving no one behind. Communities include peer educators, networks of people living with or affected by HIV, such as gay men and other men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and sex workers, women and young people, counsellors, community health workers, door-to-door service providers, civil society organisations and grass-roots activists.
World Aids Day offers an important platform to highlight the role of communities at a time when reduced funding and a shrinking space for civil society are putting the sustainability of services and advocacy efforts in jeopardy. Greater mobilisation of communities is urgently required to address the barriers that stop communities delivering services, including restrictions on registration and an absence of social contracting modalities. The strong advocacy role played by communities is needed more than ever to ensure that Aids remains on the political agenda, that human rights are respected and that decision-makers and implementers are held accountable.
Contributed