World AIDS Day 2015 in Basel – Fighting the Stigma
Dear aidsfocus readers
Like every year since 1988, World AIDS Day is taking place on 1 December to remember all HIV positive people and to commemorate all victims of AIDS, as well as drawing attention to a disease which is still a long way from being contained. Even today, more than 35 million people are living with HIV and only 15 million of them have access to treatment and medication.
The focus of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Getting to Zero” – zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero deaths from AIDS.
Even today, stigmatisation and discrimination are amongst the main obstacles to ensuring access to HIV treatment, care and prevention for everyone. People with HIV have to stand up for their rights in order to fight stigmatisation and discrimination in their societies. Because, without their commitment to educating their fellow human beings about HIV, it will be difficult to allay the fears and anxieties in their social environments.
This is precisely what Melania Mrema Kyando, an HIV positive pastor from Tanzania, has done in her community. With great courage and warm-heartedness, she set about educating her society about HIV and founding a self-help group to fight stigmatisation and discrimination of HIV positive people. And she has succeeded: an increasing number of people are now undergoing the test and are willing to take medication.
On 1 December at 6.30 pm, Mission 21 invites you to the film premiere of “JUST LIKE YOU – WIE DU UND ICH“ at the Stadtkino Basel. The film documents the story of Melania Mrema Kyando and her self-help group in Tanzania. Following the screening, Pastor Melania Mrema Kyando (Rungwe/ Tanzania) and director Nicholas Calvin (Dar es Salaam/Tanzania) will talk about their work and film project. The evening’s screening is being presented by Mission 21.
We are looking forward to welcoming you to the Stadtkino Basel on World AIDS Day!
Carine Weiss
Coordinator, aidsfocus.ch
Project Leader, Medicus Mundi Switzerland
cweiss@medicusmundi.ch
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World AIDS Day in Basel – Fighting the Stigma
1 December 2015 - Even now, in 2015, being diagnosed with HIV brings a stigma for those who are affected and there is a great fear of discrimination. That it does not always have to be this way is demonstrated in a film from Tanzania premiering in Basel on World AIDS Day on 1 December 2015: “JUST LIKE YOU – WIE DU UND ICH”. The film portrays an HIV-positive female pastor who, together with a large self-help group, has successfully broken her society’s silence concerning HIV/AIDS.
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Partner organisations: AIDS & Child, CO-OPERAID, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, IAMANEH Switzerland, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, mediCuba-Suisse, mission 21, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss Catholic Womens League, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.
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