As published in Kibris (December 1, p.13) and Politis (December 5, p.56 ) Newspaper...

(English text)

President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

Op-Ed by Ambassador Michael Klosson

World AIDS Day is December 1.  The people of the United States, through President George W. Bush’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, are working hard with the people of Cyprus and other countries to build a future free from AIDS.

This year’s observance focuses on women and girls.  In sub-Saharan Africa, 57 percent of HIV-positive people are women. In some communities, as many as 20 percent of girls aged 15-19 are infected, compared to just 5 percent of boys. 

Practices such as cross-generational sex, male infidelity, prostitution, and sex trafficking fuel the spread of the virus. Rape and sexual violence also put women in grave danger.

Even when not infected themselves, women end up caring for the sick and orphans, putting their livelihoods at risk.  Many girls become heads of households while still children. Women pass HIV to their children through pregnancy and childbirth.

Under President Bush’s US $15 billion Emergency Plan, the American people are helping the world meet these challenges.

The U.S. plan focuses on preventing new infections, developing lifesaving therapy, and caring for those infected and affected by the disease, including orphans and vulnerable children. The American people have invested $2.4 billion in the fight this year – more than all other donor governments combined. 

The plan has a special focus on 15 nations in Africa, the Caribbean, and Southeast Asia that collectively have half the world’s infections.

Because women are disproportionately affected, making prevention, treatment, and care broadly available is the most important thing we can offer women.  We develop programs with women in mind – and ensure that they are included.

In Cyprus, the U.S. has funded a number of AIDS-related programs since 2000.  Through the Bicommunal Development Program (BDP), a partnership with the United Nations Development Program that is executed on island through the United Nations Office for Project Services, the U.S. has supported the project ‘AIDS-FREE Cyprus –educational program on HIV/AIDS/STDs’ of the Girl Guides Association.  This project aimed at raising awareness and increasing knowledge about AIDS and sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), and developing skills that will help young people abandon high-risk sexual behavior. Educational kits, including games and handbooks for children and youth provided by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization, were adapted to Cyprus realities and translated into Greek and Turkish.  Training sessions using educational kits and peer education methods have reached over 3,500 people on the island.

The Cyprus Family Planning Association, as another leading NGO in this field, has trained 175 professionals (psychologists, teachers and officers from social services) in providing sex education, as well as HIV/AIDS and gender education in public primary and high schools. Training materials will also be developed under this project.

Since 2000, the BDP has also funded a number of initiatives to celebrate World AIDS Day annually in Cyprus.  Last year, the Cyprus Family Planning Association with a Turkish Cypriot partner -- the Cultural and Scientific Research Society -- organized a common campaign using brochures, advertisements and cards in English, Greek and Turkish to mark World AIDS Day. 

This year, the BDP is supporting a consortium of NGOs in both communities as they undertake a series of public awareness activities including the reproduction and distribution of information materials, holding of seminars, distribution of ribbons, and organization of youth camps across the island.

Worldwide, one focus is preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. So far, the U.S. has trained 14,700 health workers and built capacity at over 900 different health care sites to help prevent this tragedy.  

America also partners with communities to end sexual coercion and exploitation of women and girls, including sex trafficking and prostitution, while still caring for victims of these crimes.

In addition, the U.S. supports behavior change strategies, including education for girls that build self–esteem, allows for informed choices, and fosters the communication skills to say “no” to sex.

We welcome this opportunity to work together with the people of Cyprus to turn the tide against HIV/AIDS. We have a common stake in stopping this disease which kills so many across the globe.  At current death rates, eleven people will have died of AIDS in the short time it took you to read this article.