World Aids Day
The global impact of AIDS has already been so devastating that the United Nations Human Development Report, 2005, concluded that the HIV and AIDS pandemic has inflicted the single greatest reversal in human development.
AIDS devastates individuals, communities and nations and remains incurable. Today there are 33 million people living with HIV and despite a welcome reduction in the infection rates in some countries, we cannot afford to become complacent about 2.5 million adults and children newly infected in 2007. HIV is the single biggest cause of declining health and development progress in the worst affected countries where, in some cases, life expectancy has fallen by up to 20 years and the effects on society have been devastating.
Irish Aid’s programme has prioritised HIV and AIDS as central to poverty reduction in developing countries. The government’s White Paper on Irish Aid (2006) strongly endorses this focus on HIV and AIDS and confirms Irish Aid’s focus on HIV and AIDS within its overall development cooperation programme. It commits Ireland to work with a range of partners including developing country governments, civil society organisations, international agencies and other donors to ensure a sustained and widespread global response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic.
At the Irish launch of UNICEF’s global campaign in 2005, the Taoiseach committed Ireland to investing 20% of its increased resources for HIV and other communicable diseases to interventions that benefit children affected by these diseases. The Taoiseach’s commitment has served to reinforce Ireland’s response to children, which is rooted in measures that will contribute to the alleviation of child poverty and vulnerability. Ireland’s response to children affected by HIV and AIDS is informed by the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Ireland will continue to work with UNICEF and other global partners to realise the rights of the most vulnerable children, while advocating for increased commitment in this regard.
*AIDS: From crisis management to sustained strategic response, Peter Piot, Lancet, Vol 368, August 2006
Biographies
Prof. Michael Kelly
Michael Kelly was born in Tullamore in 1929. He was one of
seven children. He and two of his siblings became Jesuit priests.
He studied at University College Dublin and was awarded a B.A in
Maths and Mathematical Physics in 1952, both with first class honours.
He went on to receive a licentiate in philosophy in 1955. He moved to
Zambia and has lived and worked there for 50 years, becoming a Zambian citizen.
Read full Prof. Michael Kelly biography »
Dr. Sheila Tlou
Dr. Sheila D. Tlou is the Minister of Health of the Republic
of Botswana. She is a Professor of Nursing at the University of
Botswana and former Director of the WHO Collaborating Centre for
Nursing and Midwifery Development in Primary Health Care for
Anglophone Africa. She conducted research and taught courses
to nurses, pre-medical and social science students on Gender
issues in HIV / AIDS, Reproductive Health and Rights and Ageing
and Older Persons. She has played a key role in the development
of numerous national nursing and pre-medical education curricula,
working to broaden the scope of Health Sciences education in her
home country of Botswana.
Read full Dr. Sheila D. Tlou biography »
