February 04, 2016
HIV / AIDS still a real issue
A Maori woman at the forefront of the battle against HIV and AIDs says if people lose their focus on the disease, infection rates will rise again.
Marama Pala has just fended off tough competition to be elected co-chair of a Civil Society Task Force that will coordinate a High Level Meeting on HIV during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in June.
She says her selection on to major international roles is because organisations are realising that reaching marginal groups including indigenous peoples is vital if HIV is to be contained.
Ms Pala says campaigners must deal with three epidemics HIV, AIDs, and also the epidemic of stigma and discrimination that makes the first two harder to tackle.
"Those living with HIV are so quiet about it and secretive that coming out is very hard. It's very hard to be public and do exactly what i'm doing because of the ramifications of that. The complacency would be that we don't realise that it's here and that we have become distant from the epidemic," she says.
Marama Pala says while viruses like Ebola and Zika grab media attention, there’s a danger people think the threat of AIDs has gone and become unjustifiably complacent.
Copyright © 2016, UMA Broadcasting Ltd: www.waateanews.com