Five Organizations Awarded Red Ribbons for HIV/AIDS Efforts

The United Nations Development Programme on Thursday at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City awarded five organizations from Ghana, India, Iran, Malawi and Mexico with Red Ribbon Awards, recognizing their efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS, Xinhua/People's Daily reports (Xinhua/People's Daily, 8/8).

The five organizations are the Center for Popular Education and Human Rights (Ghana); Sanghamitra, a women's collective (India); Hamyaran Mosbat: The Mashhad Positive Club (Iran); Consol Homes (Malawi); and Fortaleciendo la Diversidad (Mexico).

The five groups each received $20,000 and recognition in the following categories: providing access to treatment, support and care; supporting children orphaned by AIDS; promoting human rights; empowering women and girls; and providing HIV prevention programs and services.

Out of the more than 550 organizations from 147 countries that were nominated for the award, 25 organizations each received $5,000 and were invited to participate in the XVII International AIDS Conference (U.N. release, 8/7).

"These are extraordinary organizations helping to meet the needs of their own communities in often very difficult circumstances," Rebecca Grynspan, director of UNDP's Latin America and Caribbean Bureau, said, adding that the selected organizations "have shown extraordinary creativity, courage and leadership in responding to the epidemic and achieving tangible results with limited resources." As Sy, UNAIDS director of partnerships and external relations, said that he hoped the knowledge and experience the winning groups gained from the conference would inspire them to "tak[e] [their] work to the next level," adding that "[t]his knowledge is truly what the Red Ribbon Awards are about."

The Red Ribbon Awards were first granted in 2006 at the XVI International AIDS Conference in Toronto. This year, the jury for the awards included Princess Mette-Marit of Norway; Edwin Cameron, an HIV-positive South African Supreme Court of Appeals Judge; Elizabeth Mataka, the U.N. secretary general's special envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa; and Mary Robinson, former Irish president and former U.N. high commissioner for human rights (Thaindian News, 8/8).

Kaisernetwork.org was the official webcaster of the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City.