About Us
World Against AIDS was formed by the coming together of families that lost their loved ones to HIV/AIDS. These families have seen, observed, and witnessed helplessly the passing away of their family members, close friends, and loved ones to HIV/AIDS. They knew many people who died of HIV/AIDS and they still know many that have HIV/AIDS today. Seeing them suffer in the hands of this deadly disease without insurance, no financial security, no means of helping themselves and simply put, without any help, is very devastating.
A lot of these people are confused, demoralized, and disheartened. Most of them are looking for help, aid, and assistance from anyway possible--just to be able to live long enough to see another day. This is the reason why we took it upon ourselves to start this organization--to collect donations and send them to the people that need it most. We were unable to help our loved ones, who passed away while we were in Africa, but now, collectively, we can afford to help millions of HIV/AIDS victims, made possible by the American People and millions of kind-hearted people all over the world.
World Against Aids Organization works hand in hand with other organizations to help people that are affected by HIV/ Aids in the United States. The organization helps by talking to our youths about the importance of abstinence, about the use of condoms, if they cannot abstain from having sex. We also help by giving monetary help to victims of HIV/Aids in the United States and around the world. The organization and many other non-profit organizations help in shaping the United State’s policies on HIV/Aids. We do this, by encouraging our members to get involved in the political discourse. The organization encourages our members to vote, write or make calls to their congress men and women, their senators , their local representatives and all their political leaders; in making sure that these political leaders push for policies that will help people with HIV/Aids positively.
Once a year, the organization and its members take a trip to these African nations where they meet with HIV/AIDS victims that they have been helping with their various contributions. People they gave hope of seeing another day. Any member or person that wants to attend such a trip will take care of the traveling expenses. This trip is made possible so that people could see first hand what the organization is doing with their money and also for people to be able to get a first hand thank you or appreciation from someone you've helped.
World Against AIDS has branches in the United States and Africa. We are still looking for people who want to be part of this organization--in the United States, Europe, and Africa; or in any other part of the World. Every contribution can make a big difference in someone's life
Tell Us Your HIV Story
People living with HIV understand each other's situation better than anyone and are often best placed to counsel one another and to represent their needs in decision- and policy-making forums.
The idea that the personal experiences of people living with HIV could and should be translated into helping to shape a response to the AIDS epidemic was first voiced in 1983 at a national AIDS conference in the USA. It was formally adopted as a principle at the Paris AIDS Summit in 1994, where 42 countries declared the Greater Involvement of People Living with HIV and AIDS (GIPA) to be critical to ethical and effective national responses to the epidemic.
Today the GIPA principle is the backbone of many interventions worldwide. People living with, or affected by HIV are involved in a wide variety of activities at all levels of the fight against AIDS; from appearing on posters, bearing personal testimony, and supporting and counseling others with HIV, to participating in major decision- and policy-making activities.
The engagement of people living with HIV is all the more urgent as countries scale up their national AIDS responses to achieve the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support services.
More Information
HIV/AIDS has been killing a lot of people around the World. A lot has been done in finding a cure to this ugly disease. But, so far, there is no cure for HIV/AIDS. There are drugs that can help HIV/AIDS victims live longer, drugs like: AZT, Protease inhibitors, and fusion inhibitors are commonly used. But in Africa, these drugs are so expensive to afford that many HIV/AIDS victims are just left to die without any help. The pain of seeing loved ones, friends, mothers, fathers; uncles, aunts, brothers and sisters die of AIDS, have made it possible for the formation of this organization, to bring hope to the hopeless; a source of encouragement to millions of people out there who believe that all hope is lost. We want you to join us in giving hope to these people that have lost faith in life.
SUPPORTING AND CARING FOR PEOPLE WITH HIV/AIDS:
People living with HIV have a wide range of care and support needs. These include psychosocial support as well as treatment for 'opportunistic infections' (the illnesses to which they become vulnerable as the immune system is destroyed by the virus). When their HIV infection reaches the stage that it becomes life-threatening, they require treatment with antiretroviral drugs.
However, the vast majority of people around the world do not yet have access to such services. Reaching out to them is a global priority.
AIDS-related care and support are key elements in the response to the epidemic: not only do they directly benefit people living with HIV, but they help also to reduce the social and economic impact of the epidemic and to boost HIV prevention.
PSYCHOLOGICAL CARE/SUPPORT:
The nature of AIDS, an incurable and highly stigmatised disease, means that the need for psychological support for people infected and affected by the virus is great. Infected people need support in coming to terms with their diagnosis and coping with the range of emotions - anger, fear, self-stigmatization - that it evokes, and with issues of disclosure.
Those affected - notably carers, children who may be orphaned, and other close relatives - need support in understanding and coping with their own complex feelings, including bereavement. Wise relatives, friends, traditional healers and a religious faith can all be sources of comfort and strength to very many people. But more formal psychological support is also needed.
This requires specialist training, patience, dedication and time, and those who provide it need support, in their turn, to ensure they do not burn out.
Psychological needs vary enormously from one person to the next, with different stages of disease, and with differing prognoses.
Today, as access to life-saving antiretroviral drugs expands, the need for family counselling is increasing as people struggle to understand the implications for family relationships of a commitment for life to the treatment of perhaps one member of the household
NEW YORK BASED COMMUNITY CARE:
Community care and support groups have sprung up almost everywhere in the world where the AIDS epidemic has appeared, and have shown amazing creativity and steadfastness in providing comfort and hope to people living with, or affected by, HIV.
The great majority of people with AIDS in low and middle-income countries are cared for at home, since health services are beyond the reach of large proportions of the population or are struggling to cope with the burden of the virus.
Home- and community-based care takes many forms, but typically it is provided by relatives, friends, or community volunteers working for non-governmental organizations and supported to a greater or lesser extent by health professionals, mainly nurses.
It is generally holistic care that offers treatment and psychosocial support to patients, as well as support to careers and relatives, including orphaned children. Community-based programs also do important work in raising awareness, challenging stigma and teaching HIV prevention.
They are expected to be the foundation on which national antiretroviral treatment programs are built.
However, they will require tremendous support to enable them to carry the extra burden: most such programs work in isolation from one another and from the health services, and their funding is precarious
