World AIDS Day was on Wednesday, December 1, so there’s been a flurry of media coverage about the impact of HIV/AIDS and the work being done to end the epidemic. Here’s what we’ve been reading:
- A guest post on Feministing by Planned Parenthood Federation of America about local programs to empower youth against HIV/AIDS. Despite recent news from UNAIDS [link is to a PDF] reporting that new infections have declined, young people still account for half of all new infections.
- At the University of Oregon, students held a condom fashion show as part of the University’s weeklong HIV/AIDS awareness campaign. Creative approaches such as these not only teach young people how to use condoms correctly, but also promote prevention as a fun part of healthy sexual relationships.
- The NY Times focused on youth leaders in the fight against HIV, though the piece didn’t include any mention of young women advocating for women and girl-focused HIV programs and funding.
- The BBC reported on a politician in Botswana who is speaking publicly about legalizing sex work both to reduce the spread of HIV and to protect sex worker’s rights. Although no formal proposals have been made, the fact that a mainstream media outlet is covering the rights of sex workers likely exposed many readers to these issues for the first time.
- The ONE Campaign has been getting a lot of attention for their efforts to eliminate mother to child transmission of HIV by the year 2015. Check out their latest advocacy video here.
- In New York, activists dressed as bagels were arrested outside of Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s annual World AIDS Day Bagel Breakfast at the Brooklyn Public Library. The protesters voiced frustration with Bloomberg’s annual breakfast, which for the last several years has been followed by major cuts to AIDS services.
For more information and statistics from around the world, read our publication Women and Risk of HIV Infection.
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