World AIDS Day Audio Press Conference

Thursday, November 29, 2007

10:00 a.m. (EST)

A World AIDS Day Call for Changes to PEPFAR's HIV Prevention Strategies

Leading U.S. and African Women's, Faith-based and Youth Rights Organizations Call on Congress to Start Taking Effective Prevention Seriously in Reauthorization of Global AIDS Plan

WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The following was released by the Center for Health & Gender Equity:

When: Thursday, November 29, 2007, at 10:00 a.m. EST

    Who:    Rev. William G. Sinkford, President, Unitarian Universalist
            Association
            Serra Sippel, Acting Executive Director, Center for Health
            Gender Equity, moderator
            Brian Ackerman, International Youth Leadership Council,
            Advocates for Youth
            Bernice Heloo, President, Society for Women and AIDS in Africa,
            Ghana
            Promise Mthembu, International Community of Women Living with
            HIV and AIDS (ICW), invited
            Rev. J.P. Heath, ANERELA, South Africa, invited

What: A World AIDS Day teleconference for international and national news media focusing on how U.S. international HIV prevention policy falls short of meeting the needs of women and youth, and on the steps Congress needs to take during the upcoming reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to address the prevention needs of women and youth.

The next day, on November 30, activists will participate in a march and rally in Washington, D.C. calling on Congress and the Administration to Start Taking Effective Prevention Seriously by taking the necessary steps to address the HIV prevention needs of women and youth worldwide. For more information on this event, visit http://www.pepfarwatch.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=106&Itemid=106 or http://www.pepfarwatch.org/dcevent.

Why: World AIDS Day (December 1, 2007) marks the final World AIDS Day prior to the planned Congressional reauthorization of the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief in 2008. It offers an opportunity to reflect on progress made under PEPFAR, as well as PEPFAR's shortcomings -- particularly the rising number of new HIV infections among women and youth. Current prevention policies under PEPFAR fail to address the needs of women and youth. As Congress prepares to reauthorize PEPFAR early in 2008, it is essential that they make critical reforms to PEPFAR's prevention programs.

RSVP: To join this call, RSVP to change@genderhealth.org, or call 1.301.270.1182, by 4:00 p.m. on November 28, 2007.

Co-sponsors: Advocates for Youth, Center for Health and Gender Equity, Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations

http://www.pepfarwatch.org/press

    Contact:  Serra Sippel, CHANGE, 301-270-1182 (o), 301-768-7162 (m)
              Marcela Howell, AFY, 202-419-3420 (o), 202-841-3292 (m)
              Rob Keithan, UUA, 202-296-4672 x 15 (o), 202-494-6969 (m)