World Aids Day 2017

World AIDS Day is commemorated each year on the 1st of December and is an opportunity for every community to unite in the fight against HIV, show support for people living with HIV and remember those who have passed away.

Global Theme for World AIDS Day 2017

The global theme of this year’s World AIDS Day will be “The Right to Health”. The universal and inalienable right to health provides everyone with the right to realize the highest attainable standard of health without discrimination or stigma. Only by placing human rights at the centre of global health can we ensure that health care is accessible, acceptable, available and of good quality for everyone, leaving no one behind. The AIDS epidemic brought the power of the right to health to the world’s attention. The AIDS response is built upon the fundamental right to health and well-being and provides the best example of the global expansion of health services. The AIDS response leveraged rights, expanded access to life-saving medicines, expanded health systems and increased access to acceptable and quality health

and social protection services, without discrimination or coercion. The rights-based approach has also benefited the wider health movement, including improving services for tuberculosis, hepatitis C, sexual and reproductive health and non-communicable diseases.

South Africa’s Theme for World AIDS Day Commemorations: past and present

In 2011, the focus was on universal access to treatment – ‘zero AIDS-related deaths’. In 2012, the attention shifted to HIV prevention and ‘zero new infections’, while World AIDS Day 2014 emphasised the role of stigma and discrimination with ‘zero discrimination’ as the theme. In 2015, World AIDS Day celebrated the role of communities in the response to HIV with the theme ‘Rise. Act. Protect’; while last year’s theme was “It is in our hands to end HIV and TB”.

THEME: ‘I have the right to know, Prevention is my responsibility’.

SLOGAN: ‘Let Our Actions Count’.

HASH TAG: #WAD2017

Rationale

On 31 March 2017, SANAC Chairperson Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa launched South Africa’s National Strategic Plan for HIV, TB and STIs 2017 – 2022 (NSP), which serves as a roadmap for the next stage of the country’s journey towards a future where these three diseases are no longer public health challenges. This plan sets out the destinations – or goals – of our shared journey and establishes landmarks in the form of specific measurable objectives. The NSP is a key pillar in the country’s progress towards achieving universal health care, as it is driven by South Africa’s long term vision reflected in the National Development Plan of a healthier, stronger and more equitable nation. The core concept for World AIDS Day 2017 is to focus on Goal 1 “Accelerate prevention to reduce new HIV and TB infections and STIS” and Goal 6 “Promote leadership and shared accountability for a sustainable response to HIV, TB and STIs” of the NSP, while acknowledging the right to health, in line with the global theme.

Courtesy of https://sanac.org.za/2017/10/27/world-aids-day-2017/