World AIDS Day Action Kit available online now

[Guest guest]

summary: World AIDS Day Action Kit available at

www.globaltreatmentaccess.org/wad.pdf

November 26, 2001

Dear friends and colleagues,

Each year, on December 1, the world is asked to focus on HIV/AIDS.

The theme for World AIDS Day 2001 is " I careŠ Do you? "

To us, to care is to take action.

For those of us living with or standing alongside people living with HIV,

every day is World AIDS Day. We thank you for your efforts to combat

this global epidemic, and join you in mourning those we have lost in the

past year while committing to sustaining our fight for those living.

We have seen that it is through activist efforts and political advocacy that

we can best fight HIV, stop the spread of new infections, and bring treatment

to those in need. We hope this kit can further these efforts.

Please join us in the week before and after World AIDS Day to take action.

We hope this kit will allow people with HIV, students, and others in

the United States

to continue to further our resolve to fight for the lives of people

with HIV and

those at risk of infection -- no matter who they are or where they live.

Today, in South Africa, people with HIV are mobilizing to fight for

access to antiviral

therapies that can prolong life and drastically reduce the rates of

transmission of

HIV from mother to infant. November 26 is the first day of Treatment Action

Campaign's court hearings to challenge the refusal of the South

African government

to provide these treatments to pregnant women living with HIV.

As you will read in TAC's letter in this kit, the decision to file

this lawsuit was not

easy. But, after meetings and negotiations and protests and more,

they felt they

had no choice but to turn to the courts. And now they are asking for our

solidarity in their efforts.

----> This 11-page kit is designed for easy download and printing to

enable people around the country to

distribute relevant materials at local World AIDS Day events. <----

----> It includes two action items -- one on the TAC lawsuit

and another on U.S. funding for the Global AIDS fund --

that can help local people fight the global epidemic, as well as

background materials <----

----> For information on current advocacy campaigns on U.S. AIDS

treatment issues, we recommend joining the Treatment Action Network

of Project Inform: http://www.projectinform.org/tan/tanlist.php3 <----

This kit is available at: www.globaltreatmentaccess.org/WAD.html

It is formatted as a PDF document. The software to read and print these

documents is available as a free download at

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

The World AIDS Day Action Kit contains:

-- Request for solidarity from the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC)

of South Africa

-- Questions and answers on TAC's lawsuit for maternal-to-child

transmission treatment access

-- A sample letter from ACT UP Philadelphia for showing support with

TAC's campaign for access to medication

-- An action alert with background to increase the United States

contribution to the Global Fund for HIV

-- Update on the World Trade Organization and the TRIPS agreement

that affects access to medication

-- Information on how to join the Student Global AIDS Campaign

-- Enrollment form for the Health GAP Action Network to receive

updates on these issues

We hope you find this information useful and compelling.

And thank you for taking action - on World AIDS Day and every day.

Sincerely,

s

for Health GAP and ACT UP Philadelphia

jdavids@...

Wikler

for Student Global AIDS Campaign

wikler@...

p.s. One immediate action that you can take to support the Treatment Action

Campaign's court case is to post a

new link to your web site: www.actionnetwork.org/campaign/aids-sa.

This link, which is also available for use at www.stopglobalaids.org,

will allow users to instantly send e-mails supporting the lawsuit to

South Africa's U.S. Ambassador and other decision-makers. As with

the struggle against apartheid, this type of political pressure will be

crucial in the fight against AIDS in South Africa.

--

" an eye for an eye will only blind the world "

Mahatma Gandhi

s

ACT UP Philadelphia

Health GAP Coalition

c/o Critical Path AIDS Project

1233 Locust Street

Philadelphia, PA 19107

215-474-9329