SCIAF backs World AIDS Day

Deaths from AIDS in 2007 were equal to almost half of Scotland’s population.

The scourge of HIV/AIDS is still killing millions of people and the highest concentration of deaths is in developing countries, said Scotland’s leading international aid agency on World AIDS Day (1/12/08).

Between 1.8 and 2.3 people died of AIDS in 2007 – almost half of the population of Scotland - and more than 33 million people world-wide are infected with the virus. Two thirds of those with HIV and AIDS live in Sub-Saharan Africa where 1.5 million people died from AIDS-related conditions last year alone – more than the entire populations of Glasgow and Edinburgh combined.

Marking World Aids Day SCIAF’s Africa Manager Deborah Livingstone said:

“We should not forget that HIV/AIDS continues to cause the unnecessary deaths of millions of people around the world every year. The virus has a devastating impact on developing countries; destroying families, crippling communities and impoverishing those with the illness. The families of those with the illness and the children left behind are massively affected. Health, education and social services struggle to cope with the scale of the problem and there is a growing number of widows, orphans and households headed by children or grandparents. The efforts of the world’s governments should be redoubled to halt the tide of unnecessary deaths.”

SCIAF works with organisations across Africa, Asia and Latin America providing support for thousands of people affected by HIV and AIDS. Its work includes providing medical care including Antiretroviral (ARV) medicines, counselling, support for widows, orphans and child-headed households, loans and income generation training for those with HIV, counselling, and preventative education covering the causes of HIV/AIDS and how it is spread.

In Kampala, Uganda, SCIAF works with the Kamwoyka Christian Caring Community (KCCC) which runs health centres helping individuals and families affected by HIV and AIDS. Their work includes providing ARVs, counselling, micro-finance loans and support for people affected by the virus, and schooling for AIDS orphans.

Taking about the work of SCIAF and his organisation, Peter Byansi of KCCC said:

“Some people who maybe wanted to give up have regained hope, and once people have hope, they dream. They start having big dreams, they start setting goals, they start living normal lives. SCIAF enables organisations such as mine to create streams of hope.”

Fourteen-year-old Kafeero Hasan shares a tiny mud shack with his mother and seven brothers and sisters in the Bukoto district of Kampala. When he was young his father, the family’s sole bread winner, contracted HIV/AIDS and died. His mother tried to make ends meet selling maize at Kamowokya Market but the little she earned could only provide her family with one meal a day. Hasan had to drop out of school because they could not afford the fees. The family got in touch with KCCC and Hassan was able to get back into education and is now looking forward to a brighter future.

He said: “I want to work hard and become a doctor so that I can give something back to the project which has done so much for me. I am so grateful to KCCC for helping me to realise my potential and continuing to support me. This is a new beginning for me and my family.”

His mother added: “I want to thank KCCC and SCIAF for restoring hope in my family. I could not have provided Hasan with an education without their help. I pray that the Lord blesses them and allows them to continue spreading this kindness.”

Together, SCIAF’s partners support over 5,400 children who have lost one or both parents and help with the education to more than 1,600 AIDS orphans. They also provide vocational training for over 1,600 people living with HIV so that they can start up businesses and provide for their families. Through its partners, SCIAF is also changing attitudes towards the illness through community education so that people who have been infected with the virus can live their lives free from stigma and fear.