Nelson Mandela leads the fight

Did you know that worldwide, there are 33 million people living with HIV and out of this number 22.5 million are adults, about 15 million are women and children under 15.

Did you also know that there were 2.9 million HIV - AIDS related deaths in the world each year?

And did you also know more than 70,000 people are living with HIV in the UK and one in three people with HIV are undiagnosed, as well as one in every 450 pregnant women in the UK is HIV positive.

Shocking as these statistics may be, that is the reality and the disease is spreading very quickly worldwide so LEAD in the fight against HIV-AIDS.

For the ninth year running December 1, 2007 will be commemorated as World Aids Day.

A day set aside by UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS which brings together the efforts and resources of ten UN system organizations with a vision of responding to HIV- AIDS pandemic.

The HIV AIDS pandemic hit record levels in 2006 with 4.3 million people becoming infected with HIV, more than in any previous year. Despite efforts to hold leaders accountable, progress in halting HIV is still falling far short of targets. All our efforts are simply not delivering at the speed and scale required.

Many political promises, including those made in the United Nations General Assembly Special Session on AIDS in 2001, are not being kept. Alack of leadership at all levels is the main reason these promises are not being kept. In the past, significant advances in the response to HIV have been achieved through strong and committed leadership.

Leaders are distinguished by their innovation, vision and action. In order to get ahead of the AIDS pandemic, leadership must be demonstrated at every level - by individuals, in schools, within families, in places of work and worship, in countries and internationally.

Under the global theme of LEADERSHIP, the attention of everyone is being drawn to the fact that we are all at risk and HIV-AIDS is real.

In a related development, a report published by the African HIV Policy Network, Panos and Thomson Foundation has urged the media to raise awareness about stigma and tackle the discrimination experienced by African communities and people living with HIV in the UK.

The report Start the press- challenges African communities in the UK and the media to combat stigma around HIV and AIDS.

They argue that, by supporting better engagement with media, people living with HIV and leaders among African communities can raise awareness about stigma and tackle the discrimination experienced by African communities and people living with HIV in the UK. The report draws on a content analysis of select national and ethnic print media.