Email

Print

Representatives of the Central American Network of Persons with HIV also spoke about the important role of the media as an advocate for HIV Awareness.:..

Eric Castellanos - Executive Director, C-Net +
"Since I our involvement in Central America with the regional level of persons living with HIV we have notice the great difference with the involvement of the media in Central America. It's not the fault of the media, in fact it's our fault as civil society and persons interested because we lack to send invitations to the media to cover our stories. We usually seek the media when we have big problems and we forget to share the positive news also with the media. Today wad that approach - this new beginning of collaboration with the media win which we will share the responsibility of working together and contributing to the national response since the media has so much to contribute in the national response to achieve the 2015 goals."

"We don't want only to be talking about HIV on World Aids Day. We want to talk about HIV all year round because HIV is not only an illness that affects persons and should talk about only on World Aids Day - its something that affects us in all different levels - in the family level, in the social, economic and political levels. We should be talking about this constantly if we want to eradicate HIV in our country. We already know that HIV rate in Belize is the highest in Central America and this is the first place that we do not want it. In order for us to reach to a point where we have new HIV infections and less people dying due to Aids and less discrimination due to HIV we need to involve all partners and the very important partner to involve is the media to showcase the positive stories; to showcase also the problems; to advocate for better services. There is no tool that can be more useful than the media in the national response to HIV for all of us to make a difference because HIV does not only affect me as a person living with HIV - it affects our country in general. We already see the statistics where the most affected group are the group that is the employed group. That affects our economy and so it affects the families - the income that goes to the families. Therefore when we work together in collaboration and the media being such a responsible partner in the response we can make the difference to make sure we take away this first place."

There was also a launching at this morning's event of an informational kit for persons living with HIV. Five thousand of these books have been printed and will be distributed countrywide.

The Kit includes information about support groups, nutrition and the rights of persons living with HIV.