‘There is no them and us’ - year of action on HIV and AIDS

15 October 2006

Attendees at YMCA England’s National Assembly in March 2006 will have heard Toni Cowans, a young person from Stoke on Trent YMCA, make a moving speech calling on YMCAs across the country to follow the example of YMCAs in the Midlands by committing to a year of action on HIV/AIDS. This is what Toni said:

Letting off ballons World AIDS day

“Welcome to Britain in the 21st century. We are at the pinnacle of medical technology and social care and are one of the richest nations on earth. But Britain is just a small part of a larger world, a world where 600,000 children died from AIDS in 2005 alone. There are currently 40.3 million people living with either HIV or AIDS worldwide, and at the end of 2005 it was recorded that just over 3.1 million people died from AIDS related illnesses.

Now I’m not sure about you, but we, as part of the youth of today, find these statistics shocking. That is why we are here today in support of resolution three on HIV/AIDS.

We are part of the largest youth movement in the world and we, as an organisation, have the opportunity to make a positive difference in educating people about HIV/AIDS. For this reason we call upon the National Assembly to help raise awareness of HIV/AIDS. In effect, HIV/AIDS is a global problem with no global cure.

The stigma associated with HIV and AIDS holds no bias or boundaries. The discrimination attributed to this virus can be felt on many levels – the infected individual, family members, friends, employers, employees and the community in which they live to name a few. Most people through ignorance see individuals who are HIV positive as being promiscuous individuals who have brought the illness on themselves.

In reality the disease can affect many people, regardless of age, race, gender and sexual orientation.

HIV and AIDS does not discriminate. It can infect you regardless of age, race, nationality, creed or sexual preference. We believe that the discrimination against people who live with the virus would stop if the population at large were educated in how HIV is transmitted from person to person.

Discrimination can also be seen on a political level. We are the only European country that will possibly refuse life insurance to someone who has previously tested positive for HIV, whereas all other European countries see taking a HIV test as the responsible thing to do and encourage you to do this by still giving you the life insurance regardless of the results of the test.

Ignoring the existence of HIV and AIDS, neglecting to respond to the needs of those living with the virus, and failing to recognise growing epidemics in the belief that HIV can never happen to us are some of the most common forms of denial. This denial fuels the stigma that’s associated with the HIV and AIDS by making those individuals infected with the virus appear abnormal and exceptional.

The scary and daunting prospect is that many people living with HIV have not yet been tested for the virus so don’t know that they have HIV. Although all areas of life carry a risk, the informed and educated person can reduce the risks of HIV through taking the necessary precautions to protect themselves from catching the virus. The uneducated are living their lives in the belief that HIV will never happen to them, but they are the ones most at risk of catching the virus.

We feel that the YMCA movement is in a unique position to influence the thoughts and actions of the youth of the world regardless of race or religion, and this assembly calls upon the YMCA movement to use this influence to positively affect the course of our futures by:

  1. committing to a year of action on HIV/AIDS
  2. engaging locally, regionally, and globally in issues regarding HIV and AIDS
  3. committing to undertake at least one action that will:
  • raise awareness about HIV and AIDS;
  • challenge misconceptions;
  • improve understanding;
  • bring about change towards greater equality and justice for all
There is no them and us. As the largest youth movement in the world we should be addressing this issue in our work.”

We therefore ask all members of this assembly to back this resolution.

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