MEXICO CITY, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- As millions of people across the globe begin accessing treatment and care for HIV/AIDS, the Ford Foundation today said that creating a world where people with HIV/AIDS can lead full lives with dignity, purpose and access to opportunity is a critical priority in the global response to the disease.
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The foundation invited donors, government agencies, NGOs and others to come together around initiatives that advance human rights, elevate leaders from marginalized groups to the highest levels of the AIDS movement, promote government accountability on both medical and social progress, and ensure equitable distribution of AIDS programs and services.
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"Discrimination against people who are HIV positive runs rampant. As the population living with HIV grows, we need to ensure they live lives with the full array of rights and dignities all individuals deserve," said Ford Foundation President Luis A. Ubinas.
The call comes on the second anniversary of the launch of the Ford Foundation Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS, which has worked to ensure that massive global investments in medical and technological breakthroughs are matched by an equally significant focus on the social dimensions of the disease.
"With millions gaining access to life-saving drugs and treatment, the battle against AIDS enters a critical phase. We must address the long-term, deeply entrenched social challenges that stand in the way of people living full and productive lives with the disease," said Jacob A. Gayle, the foundation's deputy vice president, who leads its Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS. "This means confronting head on the discrimination and lack of opportunity that made so many vulnerable to the disease in the first place."
For more than 20 years, the Ford Foundation has supported grassroots efforts to fight the spread of HIV/AIDS on five continents. It launched the Global Initiative on HIV/AIDS in 2006 to extend the impact of this work by bringing the knowledge and experience of its grantees to global HIV/AIDS forums.
The foundation invests in a wide array of grantees -- many of whom will be attending next week's International AIDS Conference in Mexico City -- to advance innovative approaches that confront the impact of AIDS in local communities and at the global level.
Examples of recent grantee initiatives include:
India
A foundation-supported group known as the Lawyers Collective HIV/AIDS Unit is engaging with key government HIV/AIDS agencies to ensure equitable access to treatment programs. By closely monitoring the distribution of antiretroviral treatment, for example, they have helped ensure that drug shortages are quickly addressed.
The Lawyers Collective has also pursued litigation to hold government agencies accountable for employment discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS and to curb a growing trend of false advertisements promising cures for AIDS, which lead to wide-spread confusion and misinformation, especially in marginalized communities.
It is also leading the way in addressing HIV/AIDS through a human rights perspective, enabling vulnerable populations to develop a voice in political processes that shape local HIV laws and regulations.
China
In 2001, the foundation supported the launch of China's first-ever grassroots group for people living with HIV/AIDS. This year, with continued funding from Ford, Mangrove Support Group has provided technical training to boost the capacity of 15 other grassroots groups across the region. It has also launched a women's program to train grassroots femal
