Unite for children, unite against AIDS!

UNICEF launches global campaign in Davao AIDS confab

DAVAO CITY, 06 October 2006 – Every minute of every day, one child dies of AIDS-related illness. Every 15 seconds, one child contracts HIV. Millions more are suffering because their loved ones contracted the disease. But where is the face of the child in the fight against HIV and AIDS?

Citing the need to put the missing face of children in the HIV and AIDS pandemic, UNICEF formally launched here a global campaign dubbed Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS that calls for urgent action from governments and civil society to ensure that the next generation of children is AIDS-free.

UNICEF Country Representative Dr. Nick Alipui and UNDP Country Representative Nileema Noble led the launching rites. They were joined by officials of the Davao City AIDS Council.

The launching, held at the Royal Mandaya Hotel here, was part of the 8th Philippine National Convention on AIDS organized by the AIDS Society of the Philippines in partnership with UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNFPA, WHO and the Philippine National AIDS Council (PNAC). It was attended by over 600 participants from the government, health sector and civil society.

In his speech, Alipui said that while world leaders from both industrialized and developing countries have made commitments to step up efforts to fight the spread of HIV and AIDS, children are still missing out.

“Millions of children, adolescents and young people are at risk and in need of protection. AIDS deprive many children of their human rights – of the care, love and affection of their parents, of their teachers and other role models; of education and options for the future; of protection against exploitation and abuse,” he pointed out.

Alipui called on national and local governments to take a lead in assessing the situation of children, setting targets and developing action plans to ensure that the children benefit from HIV and AIDS prevention programs.

He also challenged the private sector to foster corporate social responsibility and take on the role of protecting children against the impact of AIDS by putting in place HIV prevention policies in the workplace.

In the same launch, UNDP‘s Nileema Noble said that children are missing from the HIV and AIDS picture in many different ways – from missing their childhood, the chance to start life free of HIV, health services, education, information and even from poverty reduction strategies.

“Children should not have to watch their parents or loved ones suffer and die…” she lamented. Noble said an estimated 15 million children have been orphaned by HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa alone.

In the Philippines, no estimated numbers of children affected by HIV and AIDS have been released. As of June this year, more than 2,500 HIV cases have been recorded. UNAIDS estimates at least 12,000 people are living with HIV in the Philippines. This is relatively low as compared with other Asian countries.

But this low prevalence, Noble said, gives the country the extraordinary opportunity “to act at once to prevent the spread of the disease, and to support those who are already affected.”

“We must act now to keep the next generation free of infection as they pass from childhood to adolescence to adulthood. Let us unite for children, against AIDS,” she said. ###