aids seminar

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With an estimated 8,000 people lost each day to the illness, AIDS represents an international crisis of staggering proportions. Today, HIV/AIDS is the fourth largest killer in the world and it is the greatest cause of death in sub-Saharan Africa. HIV/AIDS reaches into every corner of society, affecting parents, children and youth, teachers and health workers, rich and poor. Globally, the number of those infected is now more than 42 million, and by the end of the decade it will have grown by another 45 million. Half of the people living with HIV/AIDS are women, and more than half are under the age of 24. There are 14 million children around the world who have lost one or both of their parents to AIDS.

Sub-Saharan Africa is the hardest hit region in the world, but recent UN reports have shown that HIV is spreading fastest in Central Asia and Eastern Europe, where the number of people infected almost tripled between 1999 and 2002. Russia, Ukraine and Estonia are the worst affected. Many of those who carry the virus are between the ages of 15 and 40 years old - the bulk of the labor force. The total number of people living with HIV-AIDS in the region could be as high as 1.8 million. Should this data be correct, it would constitute 0.9% of the region's adult population - a devastating figure. Experience throughout the world shows that a 1% infection rate is a threshold; beyond 1%, efforts to turn back the epidemic have failed in many other countries.

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Having all this in mind, One World has decided to dedicate a special thematic section to the AIDS related issues. Selected films "Pandemic: Facing AIDS," "Dr. Nagesh" and "Orphans of Nkandla" are aimed at providing a clear understanding of the HIV as a global challenge, which asks for global responsibility. Many more AIDS-related films will be available at the festival videoteque.

From May 2nd to May 3rd One World will host a meeting of HIV / AIDS related campaigners from EU countries, South Africa and Eastern Europe. Participants of the meeting will spend two days together to share experiences and to discuss various successful strategies and the best practices they have applied so far. The purpose of the meeting will be to bring together EU-based non-governmental organizations (the Alliance 2015 members) that are committed to launching broader European awareness building campaigns on AIDS (Act Now or Pay Later campaign). The meeting will also help colleagues in Eastern Europe implement the same innovative awareness building strategies that have been developed by their EU and South African counterparts.

The meeting will be accompanied by a multimedia exhibition on AIDS that will take place from April 28th to May 8th at Gallery Langhans, 50 meters from festival venues, cinema Svetozor and Lucerna. The main part of the exhibition, two photo collections, one by acclaimed Czech photographer Jan Šíbik from Reflex magazine, an the other by a prominent Dutch photographer Geert van Kesteren, will show the devastating effect of the AIDS epidemic on the lives of people in Sub-Saharan Africa and Ukraine. The meeting and exhibition are organized in cooperation with Hivos from the Netherlands and Steps for the Future from the South Africa, with the support of the Dutch and Swiss embassies in Prague.

List of the participants and schedule of the meeting of HIV / AIDS related campaigners.