The grassroots leadership with regard to combating AIDS is being honored by the United Nations which has created a new award. The award will be presented to five people in 2006 for the first time at the 16th international AIDS conference in Toronto August 13-18.
The five will be chosen for their outstanding leadership towards providing access to care, treatment and support for AIDS patients, work on stigma and discrimination, gender inequality, promotion of AIDS prevention and support for AIDS orphans.Twenty others will also receive cash award for community work in combating the epidemic.
'Communities lie at the forefront of addressing the challenges of the AIDS epidemic,' said Gracia Violeta Ross Quiroga, of the AIDS 2006 program.
'In all corners of the world, communities working in the building of hospitals are already reversing the threats of AIDS,' she said.
The AIDS 2006 program is supported by the UN Development Program and UNAIDS.
--DPA
