World Aids Day 2004.

The World Health Organization declared the first World AIDS Day in 1988. The day, 1 December, quickly became established as one of the world’s most successful commemorative days and is now recognized and celebrated by a diverse range of constituents every year around the globe.

Then, in 1997, recognizing the need for year-round campaign activity for HIV and AIDS, UNAIDS launched the first year-long World AIDS Campaign.

Since then UNAIDS has coordinated the World AIDS Campaign as a loose partnership of UN agencies, governments and all sections of civil society campaigning around particular themes. For example, in 2002-2003, under the slogan Live and Let Live the
Campaign focussed on highlighting the damage associated with HIV and AIDS-related
stigma and discrimination.

Over the years feedback has suggested the World AIDS Campaign has helped influence the international agenda around HIV and AIDS but due to its global nature and, to some degree, its close association with UN agencies, the Campaign has sometimes failed to achieve its full potential at a national and local level.

UNAIDS now seeks to change that through an increased emphasis on the role of civil society – in particular through the stronger leadership and involvement of HIV and AIDSrelated NGOs at national level.

To date civil society has not yet organized itself at a global level around any comprehensive blueprint to fight AIDS. The World AIDS Campaign is positioned to become the key mechanism to help civil society realise its potential globally through supporting a network of complementary national campaigns.

In June 2001 the United Nations General Assembly held a Special Session on HIV/AIDS
where governments agreed to a set of targets and goals to fight AIDS in a Declaration of Commitment. Following the session, UN agencies and governments started to organize themselves around the promises outlined in the Declaration. Now, civil society is also seeking to ensure its campaigning and advocacy efforts are similarly coordinated through a strengthened World AIDS Campaign.

The year 2004 sees the Campaign entering an exciting transition phase. At the same time as delivering a thematic focus on Women, Girls, HIV and AIDS it is moving to bolster the role of civil society by shifting the governance of the Campaign from UNAIDS to NGOs.

The strengthening of the Campaign’s civil society element is manifested in the Campaign’s management through a new Global Steering Committee of representatives
from NGOs from each continental region.

UNAIDS is also supporting the creation of a Secretariat to coordinate campaign activity. This Secretariat seeks to encourage national campaigns, where appropriate, to focus on mobilizing resources for the response in accordance with targets within the UNGASS Declaration of Commitment. Where resource mobilization is neither appropriate nor a priority, national campaigns are encouraged to pursue political and awareness-raising objectives that move their national agendas towards the goals contained in the Declaration of Commitment.

The 2004 transition period seeks to be less prescriptive and more flexible to allow ownership by civil society at national level where campaigns can be more responsive, relevant and effective.

The World AIDS Campaign aims to be the Campaign of nationally-driven HIV and AIDS campaigns – bringing them all together under a global umbrella united by the UNGASS Declaration.

For more information at http://www.unaids.org