OFID commemorates World AIDS Day

World AIDS Day represents an opportunity for people worldwide to show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate people who have died from AIDS-related illnesses. World AIDS Day was the first ever global health day – held for the first time in 1988.

HIV is one of the most destructive pandemics of our time, having claimed more than 25 million lives over the past three decades. Globally, there were around 35.3 million people living with HIV in 2012. The most affected region, with nearly 1 in every 20 adults living with the virus, is sub-Saharan Africa.

OFID joined the battle against the pandemic in the mid-1990s, as soon as it became evident that HIV/AIDS had evolved from being a straightforward health issue into a serious threat to socioeconomic development. Since 2001, OFID has been part of the global coalition fighting the spread of HIV/AIDS on the ground.

Through its HIV/AIDS program - and primarily in collaboration with the specialized agencies of the United Nations – OFID has channeled substantial resources for a wide range of initiatives. These have targeted education and awareness, prevention and testing treatment, care and support to people living with HIV/AIDS, reduction of vulnerability, vaccine development and mother-to-child transmission. OFID’s actions have benefited more than 90 countries across Africa, Asia, the Pacific, Latin America, the Caribbean and the Arab World. As of the end of October 2013, OFID's approvals under the program totaled US$84 million.

Read articles published in the 2010 and 2012 special AIDS issues of the OFID Quarterly

Since 2004, OFID has participated in the International AIDS Conferences, which are organized by the IAS and held every other year. OFID's participation is on three levels, as a sponsor, as an exhibitor and as a delegation to the conference itself. As a committed player in the global alliance fighting the pandemic, OFID uses these opportunities of the conferences to keep up-to-date with all the latest developments, to network with partners and to explore ways and means of optimizing its contribution.  Read OFID Quarterly article OFID at AIDS 2012

Through its grants to the IAS, OFID has made it possible for hundreds of delegates from developing countries to attend the conference.

Despite the remarkable progress of the last decade, significant challenges remain. The aging AIDS population has added a new dimension to the pandemic – heightened susceptibility to, and a surge in, non-communicable disease such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease. As always, OFID stands ready to adapt and respond accordingly, for as long as it takes to win the battle against HIV/AIDS.