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Petition Tag - hiv
1. Table the HIV/AIDS Bill in the Indian Parliament 
As members of civil society and representatives of People Living with HIV (PLHIV), Men who have Sex with Men, Sex Workers and Injecting Drug Users -
We note that the HIV/AIDS Bill, which was finalized by National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) in July 2006, continues to be pending with the government and has not been tabled in the Parliament till date.
Constant delay in bringing the Bill to Parliament is a cause of great concern.
2. Stop the sale of tattoo equipment via online auction sites!
I am a professional tattooist, calling for a ban on sales of all tattoo equipment via online auction sites. I am also calling for the sale of tattoo equipment to be limited to professionals only.
Since sites like eBay sellers started selling cheap tattooing kits, back yard tattooing has flourished, bringing a rise in substandard tattoos, scarring of individuals and the higher potential to spread diseases such as Hepatitis C, HIV, and other blood borne diseases and infections.
There is no limit to the age of the individual buying such equipment, and therefore teenagers are getting hold of this equipment and tattooing themselves and their friends, with no idea how to properly prepare skin for a tattoo nor how to actually operate the machines correctly in order to apply the tattoo.
3. For Philippine Government to Increase Funding on HIV and AIDS
A international funding has meant that by 2016, epidemiologists expect that 30,000 to 50,000 Filipinos would get infected with HIV. This means that the government would need to spend P900M to P1.5B in treatment alone.
Preventing the spread of the virus would not only mean averting the economic cost of an HIV epidemic, it would likewise forestall the human cost of the disease.
4. Free Iranian HIV Treatment Pioneer Dr. Arash Alaei
Kamiar and Arash Alaei, brothers bound by their dedication as doctors, made it their mission to educate Iranians about HIV and provide treatment for patients shunned by society.
They pushed for a nation-wide needle exchange program, reached out to the most marginalized, vulnerable communities, and traveled abroad to study and share their work at international health conferences. That all came to an abrupt end when in June of 2008 the brothers were arrested, and eventually convicted of “communicating with an enemy government” and “seeking to overthrow the Iranian government.”
The Alaeis were apparently targeted because of their travels abroad and speaking about their HIV work in Iran, according to Physicians for Human Rights.
Kamiar was sentenced to three years in prison, Arash to six years. Speaking for the first time publicly since his release in October of 2010, Kamiar paid tribute to his still-imprisoned brother as he accepted the 2011 Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights Thursday night in a ceremony hosted by NewsHour senior correspondent Ray Suarez.
“No prison walls can break the spirit of a human being with a cause,’’ Kamiar said with tears in his eyes."My brother and I are the evidence of that spirit. I believe our strength comes from each other."
He described the brothers' close bond and his profound loneliness in being away from Arash.
They were united by the drive to be “the voice of the voiceless, and the face of the faceless,” he said, and found ways to spread their message while in prison. They educated prisoners on HIV, and tried to improve general health by helping inmates quit smoking and teaching them how to avoid tuberculosis and other preventable diseases.
Speaking with the NewsHour Friday, Kamiar said he feels it is the right time to speak because the full time frame of his sentence has expired, and he wanted to thank the many international organizations that lobbied for their release.
In the early days of the Alaeis' sentence, the two were unaware that Physicians for Human Rights, and professors at Harvard’s School of Public Health, among others, had begun a campaign on their behalf.
During a short visit from their mother several months later, she hugged them and whispered in their ears, “The world supports you.”
“We were crying and very emotional,” Kamiar said. “We thought we were forgotten.”
Arash, who is half way through his prison sentence, was informed of the award through family, Kamiar said, and relayed that he was honored by the recognition.
The family is hopeful that Arash may be released early. Kamiar is currently working on his second doctorate in health policy at the State University of New York, but said it has been a struggle to remain focused with his brother's future still uncertain.
“It's difficult for me because the majority of the time I am just thinking about him, what is he doing now, is he sleeping,” Kamiar said. “But I know if I was in prison and he was out, I'd want him to continue our work.”
5. Stop the censorship of the AIDS Committee of Durham Region Youth Awareness Campaign
The AIDS Committee of Durham Region (ACDR) launched a new awareness campaign directed and designed by youth. The Cover your C**%K, Protect your P*&%$Y campaign was launched in January 2010. The safer sex campaign contained valuable information surrounding youth and HIV/AIDS.
In November 2010, The Durham District School Board (DDSB) banned any material containing the image of a Cat and Rooster which appeared on the campaign from entering their schools.
This has resulted in Durham Region youth being unable to receive this proven effective safer sex messaging and education on behalf of the ACDR at DDSB locations and events.
6. Support L.I.V.E. - Living In Vulnerable Environments
People living with H.I.V. that are sick enough get funding. L.I.V.E. is to provide people that are living with H.I.V. that are still healthy can be afforded the same opportunities. There's programs like HASA who give people that are sick enough opportunities to still live their life and be comfortable. People with H.I.V. that are still healthy, have to work struggle a little bit harder.
Yes everyone one struggles and We aren't saying that just because you are living with H.I.V. and aren't as healthy as others, you don't struggle. It's just that from experience it seems that way. Aside from this helping people living with H.I.V. that are healthy, its going to create jobs for the general population. Hopefully there can be an office in every borough.
Once the program proves to be a success, it can then be passed on to other states, so people in other states can be afforded the same opportunity.
7. Human Rights of the People Living with HIV/AIDS
We, the people living with HIV& AIDS, our families and friends and the civil society actively involved with the treatment, care & support of the hapless socially marginalized community in Pakistan, strongly criticize the indifferent attitude of international donors including World Bank, DFID, USAID as well as the government of Pakistan towards the pathetic condition of People Living with HIV/AIDS in Pakistan who have been denied their right of treatment, care & support.
8. Say NO to Anti-Human Rights Bill in Uganda
Updates: http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/africa/Obama-Condemns-Anti-Gay-Bill-in-Uganda-83594912.html
Do the right thing. Sign this petition and pass it on.
Uganda wants to introduce a new anti-gay bill. This bill allows for anyone who's been found HIV positive to be charged with the death penalty. I find this shocking coming from a country who's people have already suffered and have been tortured, enslaved, and persecuted in a 23 year long war with rebels.
This bill is being encouraged - pressured - to move forward by evangelical groups that are providing "aid":
http://www.defendthefamily.com/
'Human-rights groups, including Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, have condemned the bill. They say it is a product of a campaign by evangelical churches and anti-gay groups that has led to death threats and physical assaults against Ugandans suspected of being gay.'
Caleb's Hope, along with countless other grassroots NGOs, works in Northern Uganda with women and children living with HIV/AIDS. This new bill could greatly impact the lives of those we are trying to assist.
Not only that, it's a fundamental human right to live free from persecution, violence and discrimination based on your sexual orientation.
To read more about the proposed bill: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gNOsUTPIL6zoTWAGRTzPqmx3__IgD9CFBHJ00
The bill is hateful, shocking, disgusting and appalling. Stephen Lewis, former UN Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa & head of the Stephen Lewis Foundation, puts it best: http://www.stephenlewisfoundation.org/news_item.cfm?news=3212
In case anyone needs a refresher, here's the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (courtesy of the outstanding Human Rights Action Center). To read the declaration: http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/
9. Declaração dos estudantes de Medicina do Brasil sobre HIV e AIDS relacionada ao Dia Mundial da AIDS
Uma ação da IFMSA-Brazil(International Federation of Medical Students Associations´) para o Dia Mundial da Aids, congregando estudantes de medicina do Brasil na luta contra HIV/Aids.
10. Destination Unknown - continued access to lifesaving HIV treatment
On 5 May 2005 the House of Lords delivered a judgment on the matter of ‘N’ ([2005] UKHL31). It ruled that deportation of a person living with HIV to a country where s/he was unlikely to receive adequate HIV treatment was not incompatible with their right to be free of inhumane treatment under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In concluding their written judgment, the Lords made it clear that the Home Office can exercise discretion in deciding not to return such individuals to their home countries, but that if it decides on deportation, it will not be operating in breach of human rights legislation. The European Courts for Human Rights reinforced this position in May 2008.
In the view of a number of HIV advocates, this decision essentially authorises many HIV-positive people living in the UK to be removed to their countries of origin without access to lifesaving treatment.
The African HIV Policy Network (AHPN) believes that there is a clear contradiction between the UK's policy aim of universal access to HIV treatment for all those who need it by 2010 and the removal of people living with HIV who are on treatment to countries where treatment is not readily available or affordable.
The withdrawal of treatment increases the body's vulnerability to opportunistic infection and will result in drastically shortened life expectancy.
There are strong public health arguments for allowing a concession. Those awaiting removal may go underground and fail to keep appointments resulting in an increased risk of opportunistic infection with the need for emergency treatment and an increased risk of onward transmission.
The UK is a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 12(1) requires states to ‘recognise the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health’.
AIDS is a disease which attacks your Immune system. You get the virus either from using the same needles with an infected person, being passed on through birth, or STD's (sexually transmitted diseases).
The virus destroys the body's T-cells, and when you only have a few number of T-cells left you are diagnosed with AIDS.
Pres. Bush's Center for Disease Control is gutting HIV-prevention and condom education in the United States.
The new CDC guildlines which willl be in effect soon, denounce condom use, calling condom education "obscene" and "ineffective" while teaching abstinence as the only way to prevent the spread of AIDS.
The fact is that condom and "safer sex" practices and education thereof save lives and help prevent AIDS, STDs, and unwanted pregnancies.
Pulished only on June 16, the deadline for public comments to try to get the new CDC censorship rules changed is August 16.
Sign here if you want to help try to save condom education programs.
Besides signing this petition, you may also contact the CDC by e-mail to HIVComments@cdc.gov or fax to 404-639-3125
Please visit http://www.laweekly.com/ink/04/31/news-ireland.php
for news article regarding.
USA voters ages 18 and older only please.
13. Yale providers against Ryan White cuts
The White House has sent memos to key service agencies, including those funding Ryan White Care Act programs, indicating dramatic cuts to 2006 budget appropriations (see, e.g.: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58762-2004May26.html ).
The Yale AIDS Network is asking Yale providers to sign the following letter, indicating opposition to cuts in the Ryan White Care Act, which will be sent to Connecticut legislators in Washington D.C. on July 4, 2004.
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Dear Connecticut Legislator:
As people working directly with those living with HIV/AIDS in Connecticut, we are writing to tell you of the importance of programs that are funded by the Ryan White Care Act.
Each day, patients come to our offices in need of help with housing, medical bills, medication access problems, mental health issues, and food and nutritional needs. Without the RWCA, these people would have little or no resources to survive. Each dollar of the RWCA makes an important impact on the lives of those with HIV/AIDS here in Connecticut.
We are concerned by recent news stories indicating that White House memos have already instructed RWCA administrators to expect drastic cuts in next year's budget (Weisman, J. 2006 Cuts In Domestic Spending On Table. The Washington Post, 27 May 2004, Page A1). This would produce a devastating reduction in services for those with HIV/AIDS, directly resulting in immense suffering and mortality among our patients. A cut in RWCA funds would work to reverse so much of the progress we have made in reducing death tolls from HIV in our state.