Stop AIDS Campaign Calls on United Kingdom to Take International Lead in Fight Against HIV/AIDS at Organization’s Launch
The Stop AIDS Campaign, a new initiative backed by 15 U.K. charities, is calling on the British government to "show ever-stronger political commitment and take an international lead in fighting the [HIV/AIDS] epidemic," according to a group press release. The campaign, which is supported by ACORD, Action Aid, the African HIV Policy Forum, the Catholic Agency for Overseas Development, Christian Aid, the Diana Princess of Wales Memorial Fund, the Elton John AIDS Foundation, HelpAge International, the International HIV/AIDS Alliance, the National AIDS Trust, Oxfam, Save the Children U.K., Tearfund, UNICEF U.K. and VSO, will be formally launched today in London in preparation for World AIDS Day on Dec. 1. The group will ask British leaders to make a "five-fold increase" in the amount of resources dedicated to HIV/AIDS efforts and will also work to reduce developing nations' debt burden, which "continues to divert vital resources away from health care, health systems and education," and improve access to affordable medications for HIV/AIDS and opportunistic infections associated with the disease (Stop AIDS Campaign release, 11/27). The Stop AIDS Campaign says in its launch statement, "Recent events have shown that political leaders can rapidly mobilize when they see fit. The same level of political will must be brought to bear to fight the millions of lives lost as a result of global indifference to the AIDS emergency ... Together we will work to increase public awareness and demand ever-stronger political support and resources to urgently meet the challenges of this epidemic which threatens the lives and future well-being of millions around the world" (Stop AIDS Campaign launch statement, 11/28).
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