2008 Woodie Awards
Harambee promotes AIDS awareness through educational events
Cassie Seward '07
Issue date: 12/8/06 Section: News
- Page 1 of 2 next >
A new student group, Harambee: African Awareness, joined the campaign to fight HIV and AIDS last week with a series of educational events that attempted to sensitize members of the St. Joe's community to the AIDS epidemic.
According to Harambee's president, Michael Mungai Nyambura, the purpose of the week was to "Bring students to the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS." Mungai, an AIDS activist and founder of an orphanage for street boys in his home town of Dagoretti, Kenya, said he was very pleased and encouraged by the support shown by St. Joe's. Although he thinks the AIDS Awareness Week "was a good beginning for a new group on campus," he is hopeful for more involvement and support from students and faculty in the future.
According to the 2006 reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) more than "65 million people have been infected with HIV and well over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981." The report stated that in 2006 alone, 2.9 million died of AIDS.
"At this rate," the report states, "the WHO predicts that in the next 25 years another 117 million people will die, making AIDS the third leading cause of death worldwide."
Harambee's efforts were part of a global accountability campaign to hold world leaders to the commitments made in 2000 to halting and reversing HIV and AIDS by 2015, one of the eight UN Millennium Goals.
Last Friday was the officially recognized World Aids Day, but the Harambee group thought it would benefit the SJU community to have a whole week of AIDS Awareness.
On Tuesday the group showed a documentary Zimbabwe: Fight for Life, which highlighted the stigma surrounding the HIV/AIDS virus that causes many infected persons to hide their disease or live in isolation from their community. Wednesday's speaker, SJU librarian Evelyn Minick, shared her personal story of how her family was affected by the HIV/AIDS virus with the death of her eldest son, David.
According to Harambee's president, Michael Mungai Nyambura, the purpose of the week was to "Bring students to the forefront of the fight against HIV/AIDS." Mungai, an AIDS activist and founder of an orphanage for street boys in his home town of Dagoretti, Kenya, said he was very pleased and encouraged by the support shown by St. Joe's. Although he thinks the AIDS Awareness Week "was a good beginning for a new group on campus," he is hopeful for more involvement and support from students and faculty in the future.
According to the 2006 reports by UNAIDS and the World Health Organization (WHO) more than "65 million people have been infected with HIV and well over 25 million people have died of AIDS since 1981." The report stated that in 2006 alone, 2.9 million died of AIDS.
"At this rate," the report states, "the WHO predicts that in the next 25 years another 117 million people will die, making AIDS the third leading cause of death worldwide."
Harambee's efforts were part of a global accountability campaign to hold world leaders to the commitments made in 2000 to halting and reversing HIV and AIDS by 2015, one of the eight UN Millennium Goals.
Last Friday was the officially recognized World Aids Day, but the Harambee group thought it would benefit the SJU community to have a whole week of AIDS Awareness.
On Tuesday the group showed a documentary Zimbabwe: Fight for Life, which highlighted the stigma surrounding the HIV/AIDS virus that causes many infected persons to hide their disease or live in isolation from their community. Wednesday's speaker, SJU librarian Evelyn Minick, shared her personal story of how her family was affected by the HIV/AIDS virus with the death of her eldest son, David.
Be the first to comment on this story