IDDC

IDDC event on HIV and Disability at Commission's Info Point

IDDC's HIV&AIDS and Disability Task Group organised an info session on 4 December 2009 entitled Universal Access for nearly all? How to make AIDS responses more inclusive to people with disabilities. About 30 people attended this event at the Commission's Info Point, which marked World AIDS Day on 1 December and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities on 3 December.

The first speaker, George Kasera from the Kenya Disabled Action Network (KEDAN), spoke as a person with a disability and as a person working for an organisation trying to bring HIV and Disability together.

The second speaker, Dr Wanjiru Mukoma from Liverpool VCT. Care & Treatment (LVCT) in Nairobi explained how LVCT works on mainstreaming disability in their services. She highlighted that we cannot succeed to tackle the Millennium Development Goal about HIV & AIDS [MDG 6] if we do not include people with disabilities, who are 10% of the world population. Dr Wanjiru also launched a new publication that was researched and written by LVCT and supported by VSO Netherlands: A Handbook on Best Practices regarding HIV and AIDS for People with Disabilities.

KEDAN and LVCT are partners of IDDC Task Group member VSO Netherlands, and they were very pleased with the opportunity to also come and share their experiences in Brussels, while visiting their Dutch colleagues.

In his closing speech, Henning Mikkelson - European Commission HIV & AIDS expert - stated that the presentations of the two speakers were a real eye opener for him. He promised that he will be including disability in the next meetings on the UN Millennium Development Goals. If this happens we will have made another big step in the right direction.