Binyam Tamene
20 December 2007
Addis Ababa — More than 30000 people throughout the country have made a personal pledge to support children infected or affected by HIV/AIDS, it was revealed in a Briefing on post World AIDS Day on Tuesday The signed pledge primarily calls on the local, regional and national government to ensure that resources and policies are in place to address the needs of children and people living with HIV/AIDS Sent in five languages to local partner and communities working to fight HIV/AIDS, the pledge aims to call for each person to make a personal commitment to help children and their caregivers impacted by HIV/AIDS; educate five people on how to prevent and inform them to get tested; fight stigma and discrimination for those living with HIV/AIDS.
Briefing reporters on the national outcome of the campaign to collect signatures Save the Children USA Country Director Margaret Schuler said the number of persons who positively responded by making the pledges was beyond expectation She said the number was much greater than the 10,000 pledges "we originally had a goal of getting," and thanked partners for the success." "This goal is easily surpassed with the help and support of our partners and this shows the commitment of so many across the country to improve the lives of people impacted by HIV/AIDS," she said.
Margaret Schuler said these signed pledges would help to pave a way in working with the policy makers.
"We look forward to working with policy makers at all levels to ensure that the resource and policies are in place to support the needs of orphans and vulnerable children," she said The Country Director noted that plans are underway to deliver these pledges to the Prime Minister and national policy makers responsible for implementing policies about HIV/AIDS in Ethiopia Positive Change Chief of Party Samson Radeny on his part said, on the occasion more than 35 local Ethiopian NGOs and 540 community level organization like Ider were involved in the signing the pledges He urged the pledges to go further into practice and keep the promise especially for children who needed the service the most.
CARE, Family Health International, Save the Children Norway, Save the Children UK, Save the Children USA, World Learning and World Division together with local NGOs partners coordinated in nation wide campaigns of soliciting signatories.
Read comments. Write your own.
Copyright © 2007 The Daily Monitor. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
I am editor of a magazine called "Mereb" quarterly published in amharic and distributed abroad. i want to translate this article in to amaharic and publish it on the current issue and want your permission. with best regards Yohannes Teffera