The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is “Communities make the difference”.
The commemoration of World AIDS Day, which will take place on 1 December 2019, is an important opportunity to recognize the essential role that communities have played and continue to play in the AIDS response at the international, national and local levels.
Red Cross Red Crescent Societies as community -based organizations contribute to the AIDS response in many different ways. 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 organizations 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.
It is became good tradition that Red Cross Red Crescent Societies in Europe and Central Asia organise cycle of advocacy and public campaigns, local actions with direct support to people living with HIV and advocate interests of the most vulnerable for their better access to prevention, detection, diagnosis and treatment.
These events will be organized in close partnership with HIV community networks.