Military

DATE=5/7/2003

TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT

TITLE=AIDS / RED CROSS (L O)

NUMBER=2-302955

BYLINE=DALE GAVLAK

DATELINE=GENEVA

INTERNET=YES

/// ATTENTION: EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 UTC THURSDAY -- WORLD RED CROSS RED CRESCENT DAY ///

INTRO: The International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is launching a global campaign to dispel the myths and stigma surrounding H-I-V / AIDS. It says stigma and misinformation help spread the disease and, consequently, cause more deaths. V-O-A's Dale Gavlak has details from the Red Cross headquarters in Geneva.

TEXT: Where H-I-V / AIDS is concerned, the message of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is that stigma kills, while the truth can save lives. The federation says the truth can be learned and it is mobilizing people through a global campaign to tell the truth about AIDS.

Red Cross H-I-V / AIDS coordinator Bernard Gardiner says that the disease is spreading because people put themselves at risk from infection and, to avoid being stigmatized, refuse treatment.

/// GARDINER ACT ///

We see the results of H-I-V graphically everyday. We see H-I-V-positive mothers who could stop breastfeeding to avoid transmitting the virus to their infant. But they do not do it because they cannot face the stigma from the village knowing that they are H-I-V-positive. We see people avoiding being tested or not telling anybody after their diagnosis.

/// END ACT ///

Mr. Gardiner argues that misconceptions still persist about how H-I-V / AIDS spreads. Some think, he says, that they can become infected by mosquito bites, by sharing the same toilet or even working in the same office with people who have H-I-V / AIDS.

In the vast majority of cases, AIDS is transmitted through unprotected sex with someone who is H-I-V positive or by sharing needles that have been used by people who have the disease.

According to Mr. Gardiner, the Red Cross advocates the use of condoms to limit the spread of sexually transmitted diseases like H-I-V / AIDS and also seeks ways to stop the use of dirty needles by drug users.

Mr. Gardiner says the Red Cross campaign is modeled on one used by Uganda, which, by encouraging discussion about H-I-V / AIDS, helped limit the spread of the disease in the country.

/// 2ND GARDINER ACT ///

With the success story of the way Uganda has brought H-I-V under control there, that it was the face to face communication between people that really made the difference. Red Cross Red Crescent has a tradition of mobilizing communities, household to household, door to door and it is at that level that we believe that we can turn the tide on stigma.

///END ACT///

Mr. Gardiner says the massive threat posed by H-I-V / AIDS means it will not be easily pushed off the global health agenda by SARS or other concerns.

More than 40-million people worldwide are infected with H-I-V and, over the past two decades, 25-million people have died of the disease. (SIGNED)

/// EMBARGOED UNTIL 00:01 UTC THURSDAY -- WORLD RED CROSS RED CRESCENT DAY ///

NEB/DG/KL/KBK/rae