MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Billson
HIV/AIDS Awareness Week will be marked in Canberra with the opening of A Positive View, Oxfam Australia's photographic exhibition on the fight against HIV/AIDS in South Africa, the Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs Bruce Billson, announced today.
'The Canberra community is strongly encouraged to see this compelling exhibition that portrays the devastation caused by the disease and pays to tribute to the tireless efforts of HIV/AIDS workers to save lives,' Mr Billson said.
A Positive View is free to the public and open from November 29 until December 4 in the public display areas of Parliament House.
'The display features photographs taken by renowned South African photographers Matthew Willman and Paul Weinberg and provides a unique insight into the work of the Australian Government's aid agency, AusAID, and Oxfam Australia in South Africa,' Mr Billson said.
'More than 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV/AIDS, 8 million of those in our region. Tragically, the disease strikes most at youth, with one young person infected every 14 seconds.
'During the past decade, the numbers of people living with HIV/AIDS in South Africa has increased to almost 6 million, growing from an estimated 7 per cent of the adult population in 1994 to over 21 per cent in the past decade,' Mr Billson said.
Oxfam Australia's HIV/AIDS coordinator in South Africa, Thabisile Khoza, is HIV positive and in Canberra for the exhibition.
'An epidemic of this scale requires innovative means of tackling HIV/AIDS and Oxfam, supported by AusAID, is having great success in working creatively with affected communities. This work includes establishing support groups for grandmothers looking after AIDS orphans and visiting local pubs to spread safe-sex messages to youth,' Ms Khoza said.
'Australians can be proud that their Government is taking a leading international role in tackling HIV/AIDS and that we have doubled our funding to $600 million by 2010 to combat the virus and care, for those living with this terrible disease,' Mr Billson said.
Oxfam Australia manages the Joint Oxfam HIV/AIDS Program in South Africa that aims to strengthen the response to the disease by supporting integrated, community services for prevention and care, which include a focus on gender, sexuality and the rights of people living with the disease.
More information is available at http://www.ausaid.gov.au and http://www.oxfam.org.au/hiv.
Media inquiries:
Shane Fairlie (Mr Billson's office) 0408 680 442
AusAID Public Affairs 0417 680 590