HIV AIDS

Trócaire staff blog from the International AIDS conference in Vienna

'If the underlying causes of the HIV epidemic aren’t addressed long term progress will never be made' according to Finola Finnan.

Trócaire’s HIV programme manager Finola Finnan  was speaking ahead of the 18th International Aids Conference in Vienna where the agency is showcasing an innovative approach to HIV education in Africa.

Sisay Demense gave birth to her first child when she was fifteen. She had two children by the time she was 18. In her twenties she discovered she was HIV positive. She has experienced unimaginable trauma in her life. But thanks to the support of the Medical Missionaries of Mary, Sisay, to use her own words, has been ‘resurrected’.

Nebyat is a very hyperactive child. If you take your eye off her for a minute she disappears to some unknown corner in a flash.  While some mothers might lose patience with Nebyat’s mischievous antics, Frehiwot takes great pleasure in seeing her animated daughter laugh and play because she knows the struggles she has gone through in her five years of life.

Mr Micheál Martin, the Irish Minister for Foreign affairs accompanied by Ms Síle Maguire, the Irish Ambassador to Ethiopia paid a visit to the Counseling and Social Services Centre on 01 July 2010. The center has been run by the Medical Missionaries of Mary (MMM), one of the long term partners of the Joint Office of Trôcaire, CAFOD and SCIAF in Ethiopia.

Stop AIDS.

Church leaders of all denominations have a positive role to play in tackling the devastating stigma experienced by people living with HIV/AIDS" according to Bishop John Kirby, chairman of Trócaire.

Trócaire is marking World AIDS Day, with an exhibition entitled ‘the one who dries our tears' with our partner organisation the Ethiopian Interfaith Forum. The Exhibition is on view in the Irish Aid Volunteering Centre, O' Connell Street, Dublin until Dec 6th.

World AIDS Day provides an opportunity to take a look at the HIV response to date and to understand what must be done to ensure that nations and the international community are on course to meet the HIV commitments that they have made and to ‘Keep their Promise’.

As the Ethiopian food crisis intensifies, people living with HIV are finding themselves particularly vulnerable to unprecedented increases in the price of food.

An estimated 25,000 participants, among them eight Trócaire partners and staff, are attending AIDS 2008 in Mexico City, 3-8 August.