Ford Foundation Observes World AIDS Day
Grantees Working Across Five Continents Continue to Effect Change and Improve Lives
30 November 2007—The Ford Foundation is joining millions around the globe observing World AIDS Day on December 1. For more than 20 years the foundation has funded HIV/AIDS programming. We support grantees working across five continents to combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and offer local communities the care and treatment they need.
Revealing the continued urgency for worldwide support, recent reports from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), both Ford grantees, have detailed the current reach of the disease. In the past year, 2.5 million people became infected with HIV and 2.1 million died of AIDS-related illnesses. The number of people living with HIV/AIDS globally has increased from 20 million to 33.2 million people in the last six years.
"World AIDS Day gives us an opportunity to reflect upon how we use each day of the year to make a difference," said Ford Foundation Deputy Vice President Jacob Gayle, who directs the foundation's Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS. "Ford's initiative supports grantees whose rich experience and knowledge have an impact on the global response. We think it is critical that the effort to fight AIDS at a global level is shaped and strengthened by the experiences of people confronting the disease on the ground."
A History of Support
The Ford Foundation supports grantees in the United States, Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Latin America and Russia making a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS. For more than two decades, funding has focused on the social consequences of the disease.
Our long-term commitment includes efforts to strengthen education and treatment programs; increase public awareness and reach people outside mainstream channels; dismantle the stigma associated with the disease; further examine the relationship between HIV/AIDS and reproductive health; and support local organizations working on behalf of victims, such as the Brazilian-based counseling group Grupo Pela Vidda (Group for Life) and the Society for Women and AIDS in Africa, which has offices in 40 countries.
A Global Response
In 2006, the Ford Foundation launched a $45-million initiative that extends our support. The Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS brings together grantees to share in their experiences and serve as a voice for local communities in the global dialogue. The initiative aims to ensure that substantial new global investments in medical and technological breakthroughs are matched by an equally significant focus on the social, political and cultural factors of the disease.
While the Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS seeks to impact policies, attitudes, priorities and resources that directly impact local action, our overall HIV/AIDS grant making is one of the major cross-program efforts of the foundation, spanning the scope of Ford's mission and reflecting the local needs and nuances of the epidemic.
Grantees we have recently supported include:
Dance4Life
Founded in 2003, Dance4Life is an expanding international movement for youth, inspiring young people to become leaders instead of targets of HIV/AIDS. A recent Ford Foundation grant supports the international roll-out and coordination of Dance4Life's project to establish one million young agents of change worldwide by 2014.
GESTOS - Soropositividade, Comunicação e Gênero
Based in Recife, Brazil, GESTOS works to increase HIV/AIDS prevention and care for marginalized communities most affected and challenged by the disease. The 14-year old organization is using a recent Ford Foundation grant to support civil society organizations in 15 countries that are monitoring whether HIV/AIDS programs are addressing gender and sexual and reproductive rights issues.
International HIV/AIDS Alliance
A global partnership of nationally based organizations, the alliance promotes community action to combat HIV/AIDS in developing countries. Focusing on human rights, public health and economic development, the alliance works with marginalized groups in more than 30 countries to emphasize the importance of reaching people who are most likely to affect or be affected by the spread of HIV/AIDS. A Ford Foundation grant supports further development and expansion of this effort.
National AIDS Fund
The National AIDS Fund established Southern REACH (Regional Expansion of Access and Capacity to Address HIV/AIDS) with Ford funding and additional support from the Elton John AIDS Foundation. Southern REACH supports community-based organizations in the U.S. South that are securing and developing HIV/AIDS treatment, prevention and care programs as well as encouraging local philanthropy and leadership to devote greater resources and attention to communities affected by the disease.
St Johns #5 Faith Church
Established in 1996, the Louisiana-based church provides educational, social, health and cultural services to people regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and economic status. The state has the sixth-highest AIDS case rate in the nation.
With Ford support, St. John's 10-year-old HIV/AIDS program will expand its services and activities in post-Katrina New Orleans.
World AIDS Day
"Millions of people around the globe are marking the 20th World AIDS Day. For some, this may be the only day in the year they think about AIDS. For many, however, AIDS is part of daily life," said Dr. Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director.
World AIDS Day originated with the 1988 World Summit of Ministers of Health on Programmes for AIDS Prevention in London. Since, the annual observance has been incorporated and developed internationally by governments and organizations.
From 1988 to 2004, World AIDS Day was overseen by UNAIDS. The following year, the World AIDS Campaign (WAC) assumed responsibility and established the slogan "Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise." for its World AIDS Day observances through 2010. A Ford Foundation grantee, WAC supports strong social movements on AIDS, ensuring governments and policy makers meet the targets on which they have agreed and mobilize necessary resources.
The focus for this year's World AIDS Day is "Leadership," building on previous themes of "Accountability," "Stigma and Discrimination," "Children Living in a World with AIDS," "One World, One Hope," and "Women and AIDS."
Photo:
AP Images/EyePress
The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has been a resource for innovative people and institutions worldwide, guided by its goals of strengthening democratic values, reducing poverty and injustice, promoting international cooperation and advancing human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America, and Russia.