Skip Nav | Home | Mobile | Editorial Guidelines | Mission Statement | About Us | Contact | Help | Security | Support Us

World

OutRage!- HIV : Rich 'North ' must help South to deal with it.

pirate | 22.08.2006 15:45 | Education | Health | Social Struggles | World

lgbt rights group OutRage! calls for much greater co-operation between the rich 'North' to help the South defeat HIV.

OutRage! News Service Aug 22.


HIV: Call to twin rich north with poor south

Western HIV agencies should support Third World counterparts

Assist with funding, equipment, training and travel, urges Peter
Tatchell

Toronto, Canada – 10 August 2006

“Western HIV organisations should twin with their counterparts in
developing countries to help overcome the huge global disparities in
the resources available for the fight against HIV,” according to
British gay human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, who was the
keynote speaker at a satellite event linked to the International AIDS
Conference in Toronto, Canada, today (10 August 2006).

“We need to respond to requests for help from HIV organisations in the
global south. Instead of waiting for action from governments, every
HIV agency in the West should link up with a counterpart organisation
in the Third World – empowering them with funding, equipment, training
and travel costs, so they can attend international AIDS conferences.

“Well financed western HIV organisations can easily afford to buy
computers and phones for badly under-funded HIV groups in Africa,
Asia, Latin America and the Middle East.

“We should heed their calls for help and proactively offer our
support. Training local activists in HIV counselling, political
lobbying and media communications are simple, practical ways to
empower these groups,” he said.

Mr Tatchell was speaking at the satellite conference: “MSM & HIV:
Advancing a global agenda for gay men and other men who have sex with
men,” held at the Toronto Marriott Eaton Centre.

Mr Tatchell’s speech also highlighted:

• “HIV and LGBT human rights are global issues that transcend national
boundaries. We are all in this pandemic together. But not all of us
are on a level playing field. HIV is happening in a world divided by
massive inequalities. The world is split into rich countries and poor
countries. There is no parity of opportunities and resources to combat
HIV. The world is also divided into countries where HIV and LGBT
organisations operate in conditions of relative freedom, where they
have access to elected and accountable governments. But there are many
countries – a majority of countries – where similar organisations face
severe restrictions and even overt repression. It is an urgent
priority for free and better off western HIV and LGBT organisations to
twin with sister organisations in developing nations. What is needed,
above all else, is global solidarity in the fight against HIV.

• “It is not only homophobia that is undermining the fight against
HIV, but also sexphobia. We need to challenge sexual hang-ups and
phobias through education that is sex-positive and sex-affirmative.
People who feel ashamed about sex, and guilty about their own bodies
and sexuality, are the least likely to practise safer sex, get tested
for HIV and other STIs, seek prompt treatment for HIV infection and
take care of their general health.

• “The global struggle for LGBT human rights, including the struggle
to end the criminalisation of same-sex behaviour, is crucial to the
fight against HIV. Illegality fosters secrecy, furtiveness and shame.
Open and empowered LGBT communities are best able to offer effective
peer education in HIV prevention.

• “The closet is an incubation lab for HIV. Hiding one’s sexuality and
leading a secret double life feeds stress and self-loathing, which is
not conducive to safer sex. Giving people the security and confidence
to be open about their sexuality is an important aspect of the HIV
prevention equation.

• “HIV is a political pandemic. We need to reclaim HIV as a political
and human rights issue, as well as a health concern. This means
campaigning against the continuing under-funding of safer sex projects
targeted at gay and bisexual men; the marginalisation of men who have
sex with men by many governments and AIDS organisations; prejudice and
discrimination against people with HIV in housing and employment; and
the often homophobic bias of the education curriculum, of health-care
services and of the insurance industry,” said Mr Tatchell.

Further information: Peter Tatchell 020 7403 1790

Ends

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

pirate

Comments

Display the following comment

  1. the role of multinationals pharmaceutical companies? — marc

Publish

Publish your news

Do you need help with publishing?

/regional publish include --> /regional search include -->

World Topics

Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista

Kollektives

Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World

Other UK IMCs
Bristol/South West
London
Northern Indymedia
Scotland

Server Appeal Radio Page Video Page Indymedia Cinema Offline Newsheet

secure Encrypted Page

You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.

If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

IMCs


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech