In the last line of this article one UN staff member says "if everyone has sex, everyone is at risk". Are people who have condom-protected sex at risk? Nope.
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UN raises AIDS awareness among its own workers
Becky Palmstrom
“WHATEVER our role in life, wherever we may live, in some way or another, we all live with HIV. We are all affected by it. We all need to take responsibility for the response,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon said in May of this year.
With this statement Mr Ban launched a UN-wide attempt to illustrate how workplaces throughout the world can become HIV/AIDS aware and can support those living with the illness.
These sentiments echoed on the top floor of Panda Hotel in Yangon last week, as about 30 people learnt how to become HIV awareness trainers for some of the 2200 people working for the UN in 40 different locations throughout Myanmar.
Participants included people living with HIV/AIDS, doctors who work with patients with HIV/AIDS, and ordinary UN staff members.
“There is still no cure or a proper vaccine [for HIV/AIDS] and so prevention is really the only way,” Mr Ramesh Shrestha, head of UNICEF Myanmar and current chair of the UN theme group on AIDS, said at the opening ceremony of the workshop, which was held from December 15 to 19.
“The good news is that because infection comes about because of people’s behaviour, this is not like a mosquito bite over which we have little control,” he said. “It is up to us to decide how we want to live or lead our life. It is our moral obligation to take on the role of educating people to make informed decisions.”
With as many as 5 percent of UN employees estimated to be living with HIV/AIDS, the multinational organisation has decided to set an example of how workplaces should respond to the epidemic.
“Overcoming the discrimination and stigma surrounding the disease is essential – the UN system is showing an example to other sectors of life,” Mr Shrestha said. Workshops such as the one held last week in Yangon are aimed at expanding knowledge and breaking down discrimination among UN staff, their families and the communities they are working with.
The workshop was opened by the UN resident coordinator in Myanmar, Bishow Parajuli, who told The Myanmar Times: “This is an illness which is a concern for everyone. It is not one individual. But this is a case where an individual good can be a public good. Strong awareness and support to those who have been affected is needed.”
Mr Parajuli pointed to a press release issued earlier this month by the UN calling for an increase in the amount of funding for agencies working on health issues such as HIV/AIDS in Myanmar. “We need to get much more funding to support this. Myanmar gets relatively little foreign overseas development aid.”
About 240,000 people suffer from HIV/AIDS in Myanmar, and 24,000 people throughout the country die every year from the disease, according to UNAIDS. The disease is also estimated to have reached epidemic proportions among sex workers and injecting drug users in the country.
But organisations like UNAIDS, the government-initiated National AIDS Program and the Myanmar Business Coalition Against AIDS are all working to prevent the expansion of the disease. Participants at last week’s workshop were asked to set aside their assumptions about the type of people who are victimised by HIV/AIDS. For example, in Myanmar as elsewhere in the world, high numbers of young, married, monogamous women are vulnerable to the illness due to the risky behaviour of their husbands.
“We start from the basis that if everyone has sex, everyone is at risk,” explained one UNAIDS staff member. “It could happen to anyone.”
http://mmtimes.com/no450/n008.htm
