World AIDS Day 2007: Stop AIDS Leadership Pledge
Photo: A. Bird, USAID/Angola
World AIDS Day was observed worldwide on December 1st, 2007. The theme of the World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “leadership.” To celebrate the theme of leadership, the Stop AIDS Leadership Pledge was launched. It asks people from all over the world to show leadership, and to make a pledge to take the lead to stop AIDS.
In Angola, the central event for World AIDS Day took place in Luena, capital of the eastern province of Moxico. Under the World AIDS Day theme of leadership -- as individuals and in families, communities and the workplace -- government officials, representatives of international organizations, and civil society gathered to show their solidarity. Many publicly took an HIV test to encourage the population to know their status and show leadership in this way.
In Luanda, U.S. Embassy and USAID staff participated in the HIV/AIDS solidarity march, alongside staff from companies that make up the Angolan Business Alliance against HIV/AIDS (or CEC, Comité Empresarial de Combate ao VIH/SIDA in Portuguese), on December 1st. A joint effort of the public and private sector, the Angolan Business Alliance against HIV/AIDS was formed to help mobilize the business community in Angola to curb the spread of HIV/AIDS. It is giving businesses the opportunity to develop similar programs, aligned with the National HIV/AIDS Institute, and allowing these to share experiences among themselves to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS in the country.
