IDDC

Film on HIV&AIDS and Disability Launched by VSO Netherlands

IDDC member VSO’s documentary ‘The voice of 650 million times one’ has been warmly received after its premiere on June 15 in the Netherlands. About 150 people attended the event among whom the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, press, international development organizations and business partners.

‘The voice of 650 million times one’ is a moving documentary about people living with disabilities in developing countries and their exclusion from healthcare, reproductive health and their vulnerability towards HIV and AIDS. VSO wants these issues to get attention from policymakers and the wider audience.

The film takes you through Africa and Asia and tells the story of powerful people who stand up for their rights and keep fighting for a dignified life despite all difficulties they need to conquer. They proclaim the voice of the 650 million disabled worldwide who are all facing the same cultural and social stigmas.

Kenyan Mary Muthoni Rop is one of the main characters of the documentary. For the first time in her life she flew from Kenya to the Netherlands to attend the premiere and tell her life story. Mary: “What I face is a triple stigma. I’m disabled, and many people in Africa see that as being a burden to society. I’m a woman, and I’m seen as the weaker sex, which doesn’t often have a voice here. And I’m HIV positive, with all the issues that brings.”

The second keynote speaker at the event was the Dutch AIDS ambassador, from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Marijke Wijnroks: “I’m happy that VSO explicitly asks for more attention for the relation between HIV and people with a disability. For a long time this relation has not been acknowledged.”

After the premiere Mary Muthoni Rop, together with VSO, showed the documentary to UNAIDS and STOP AIDS NOW!, two leading organizations working towards a world without AIDS. UNAIDS: “The documentary is a real eye-opener. After watching the film we realized that people with a disability should explicitly be mentioned as one of the vulnerable groups for HIV.” At STOP AIDS NOW! one of the staff members called the documentary “ground breaking work”.

The documentary will further be shown at the International AIDS conference in Vienna in July 2010. PHOS, the Platform Handicap and Development Cooperation in Belgium, will organize a movie premiere during the Month of Solidarity in October 2010. The documentary will also be sent to several film festivals.

For more information and the trailer: www.thevoiceof650million.com

Contact Jessica de Ruijter of VSO at j.deruijter@vso.nl if you would like to order a copy of the DVD

‘The voice of 650 million times one’ has been made by documentary maker Marijn Poels and funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.