UNESCAP Hosts "People's Forum" on HIV/AIDS

Forum aims to break down religious and social barriers on treatment and caring for persons with HIV/AIDS

BANGKOK - (United Nations Information Services) - HIV/AIDS is still a taboo subject in many parts of Asia and the Pacific, yet this region has one of the highest numbers of persons living with HIV/AIDS in the world.

In an attempt to break down the religious and social barriers that hinder proper caring and treatment of persons living with HIV/AIDS, UNESCAP is organizing a "People's Forum on Partnerships to fight HIV/AIDS," at the United Nations Conference Centre in Bangkok from the 15th to 17 October, 2002.

This Forum will bring together a wide mix of civil society organizations from across Asia-Pacific to discuss ways to better understand and help those affected by HIV/AIDS.

The organizers hope that providing a forum for dialogue with and between these various groups will result in a better understanding of the need for all segments of society to play a role in preventing the spread of the virus and provide better care and comfort for those already infected.

Among the groups expected to attend the People's Forum representatives from the Asia-Pacific Network of Sex Workers, the Asia-Pacific Network of People Living With HIV/AIDS, and regional representatives from the Buddhist, Christian and Muslim communities.

Because religion plays such an important part in the lives of millions of people in Asia and the Pacific, the leaders of these faiths can play a major role in breaking the taboo surrounding the epidemic, supporting prevention strategies, and ending the stigmatization of those persons living with HIV/AIDS.

There already exists an AIDS Hospice in Chiang Mai run by a group of Buddhist monks.

The three-day People's Forum will include four workshops: 1: Stigma and Discrimination, 2: HIV Prevention Strategies, 3: Community-based Responses to HIV/AIDS, and 4: Advocacy on HIV/AIDS Issues.

You or your representatives are invited to attend the People Forum on Partnerships to Fight HIV/AIDS, at the United Nations Conference Centre, Conference Room 4, from the 15th to 17th October 2002. The Forum opens on the 15th at 9 AM.

For more information please contact:

Mr. David Lazarus
Chief, United Nations Information Services
UN Building
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok, 10200
Thailand
Tel: 02 288 1864-9
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org

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