Just two weeks ago at UN Headquarters in New York, UNICEF officially launched the UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS campaign-a new global initiative whose goal is to put children's issues at the center of the global fight against HIV/AIDS.
Attendees at the launch included UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, UNICEF Executive Director Ann M. Veneman and UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot. And five young people from around the world took the stage to tell their stories of how HIV/AIDS has affected them.
Among them was twenty-year-old Livey Van Wyk of Namibia, who learned she was HIV-positive on the same day she learned she was pregnant.
Because she is HIV-positive, Livey has been shunned by friends and family.
"The biggest challenge I face is stigma and discrimination," she said. "The way I fight it is to speak out to young people.
"I think that our leaders should know that young people are the leaders of tomorrow and that we feel we have been very much neglected," she said. "It's going to take. a while to give HIV a human face."
Since the New York event on 25 October, the campaign has launched in more than a dozen countries worldwide. And thousands of people like you have joined the effort by logging on to the new UNITE FOR CHILDREN UNITE AGAINST AIDS website.
And now, people from all walks of life are joining with young leaders like Livey Van Wyk and others to change the way the world is responding to HIV/AIDS.
The campaign is about everyone taking action to ensure that this is the last generation of children and young people that will bear the burden of HIV/AIDS. Please take the first step.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
UNICEF
For every child
Health, Education, Equality, Protection
ADVANCE HUMANITY
