Families should be first defence against Aids Wednesday, 02 November 2011 04:07

From left: Dr Faleh Mohammed Hussain Ali, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Affairs at Supreme Council of Health; Richard G Wilkins, Director Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development; Hind Khatib, Regional Director UNAids; Shahida Azfar, Regional Director of Unicef and Sima Bahous, Assistant Secretary-General of Arab League during the conference yesterday. (Abdul Basit)

DOHA: Thought leaders from Qatar, United Nations organisations, and regional and international NGOs have agreed that in times of regional and international crisis, governments must empower the family to be the first line of defence against the stigma and destructive effects of HIV/Aids.

“Countries in the Mena need to help families mobilise against Aids through education, outreach and helping rise up against the stigma associated with Aids,” said Dr Faleh Mohammed Hussain Ali, Assistant Secretary-General for Policy Affairs at the Supreme Council of Health.

According to Dr Faleh, research had shown that girls and women in developing countries carry three times the burden of HIV as anywhere else because they are forced to drop out of school or leave work and take care of infected family members. The burden becomes heavier when the girls are orphaned and become the responsible for younger siblings.

Dr Faleh and his counterparts spoke yesterday at the Qatar Symposium on Family, the Millennium Goals and Aids in the Middle East region. Hosted by the Doha International Institute for Family Studies and Development (DIIFSD), the Qatar Symposium is organized in cooperation with the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (Unicef).

“Only 14 percent of people who require treatment for Aids in the Mena region receive it,” said Hind Khatib, Regional Director for UNAids as she addressed the important role family can play in decreasing stigma, discrimination and new HIV infections in Mena countries.

Khatib lauded the region on progress achieved and challenged them to reach the UNAids vision of “zeros” referring zero discrimination, zero new HIV infections and zero Aids-related deaths are achievable in the Mena region.

Arising from the UN Millennium Summit, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) are a series of targets addressing some of the world’s human development challenges, including the combat of HIV/Aids, malaria and other diseases, achieving set targets by 2015.

“Qatar was among the first countries to endorse the political declaration and I would like to acknowledge the honourable work and commitment of Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser to achieving the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction,” said Khatib.

DIIFSD’s involvement in this event is in keeping with its mandate to mainstream family approach into policies and programmes, and upholding the commitments of the Doha Declaration, and is in-line with Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) goals of fostering a progressive society and addressing immediate societal needs.

“HIV is not a problem for small and isolated communities…the family must play a central role in dealing with the consequences of this virus which has destroyed economies around the world” Dr Richard G Wilkins, Director of DIIFSD.

According to Unicef Regional Director Shahida Azfar, despite the gains made during the past decade, significant numbers of women, young people and children are suffering from HIV/Aids in the Mena region.

In 2009, more than 6,400 children aged 0-14 years old in Mena countries became infected with HIV; the number of children living with HIV (aged 0-14 years old) rose to 21,000; and in the same year, young people (aged 15-24) living with HIV were around 94,000.

The Peninsula

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