1 December: World AIDS Day

December 1^st is World AIDS Day – and this year international organizations are highlighting that prejudice against people living with HIV still poses a major obstacle in the fight against the epidemic, especially for women and children.

In response, Caritas Internationalis is urging governments and pharmaceutical companies to invest more in HIV prevention and care for children and reducing mother-to-child transmission.

Caritas launched the “HAART for Children” campaign in 2009, which says cheaper and more sophisticated HIV and TB testing tools and “child-friendly” medicines are required in poor countries.

“While we’ve made a great deal of progress in getting more medicines available for adults living with HIV – and therefore helping them to live longer – there still are many children who do not have access to the medicines,” says Msgr Robert Vitillo, Special Advisor on HIV/AIDS for Caritas Internationalis.

“Also we need many more medicines developed for use with children because the disease has a different kind of progression in children than it does for adults.”

Although medicines are available at low-cost in many parts of the world, mothers often avoid testing because they fear stigma and discrimination.

Msgr Vitillo is shocked to see that prejudice is still widespread.

“It’s very important that Caritas and other Catholic organizations that are responding to HIV to help local communities understand the situation of HIV and especially to encourage our parishes and our church communities not to reject people with HIV, but rather to welcome them, care for them and to make sure they’re getting medical treatment.”

Listen to Msgr Robert Vitillo’s full interview with Kelsea Brennan-Wessels: