What should OUR response to HIV be?

On May 10th we are inviting Friends of Cecily's Fund (those who donate 12 pounds a month or more) to the Houses of Parliament to take part in a panel discussion on the topic: "The economic downturn threatens the HIV downturn. How should we respond?" We're inviting a panel representing the religious, political, media and business sectors to answer this question.

One of my tasks on this trip has been to ask Zambians the same question for a short video to be shown before the discussion. The responses I've had have been interesting and varied.

The Head Teacher of Chamboli High School, Mrs Charity Chavula, said that the education sector should put their Heads together - literally - so that schools can share ideas about how to respond to the growing waves of orphans turning up on their doorsteps without uniforms, fees or food in their stomachs. As many schools have been telling me this week, several aid organisations have pulled out - leaving Hodi/Cecily's Fund as the only organisation supporting vulnerable children in school. She has waived the fees of over 100 of these children until other sponsorship can be found - but it is a struggle as the school needs its resources to keep running.

Ackim, the former peer health educator, who helped a teenager end his heroin addiction, said that he felt the youth of Zambia had a responsibility to behave in a way that reduced the risk of HIV, and to follow the advice of their peer health educators to abstain or “condomise”.

One young person assiduously living up to this responsibility is Misozi, whom we have supported through school, peer health education and teacher training college and who is now teaching at a small private school. After talking about her role as a matron in the school’s Anti-AIDS club she looked candidly into the camera and said “I abstain from sex and I would advise all other young people to do so.”

Mrs Grace Banda (no relation to the President), the contact teacher of Kamitondo school – where we caught up with Katy - also felt that her role as an individual was to abstain or use a condom, while another of our teacher training graduates – Robbie – who is also working in a private school while waiting for his results, said that as teachers they were like parents to their pupils, spending all day five days a week with them – so their role is to ensure that all their pupils understand how to stay safe from HIV.

Miriam and Hendrix, the peer health education team who ran yesterday’s session about sexual offences, said that they had a role to educate young people about how certain behavior leads to HIV infection, and about how to stay healthy if they are infected. They also said that they had a responsibility to be role models to the pupils and practice what they preached.

HIV is, as Ackim said, "all around us like the air we breathe" - only a sustained effort from every angle - individual, local, national and international - can slow down and eventually stop the pandemic. The slowing down has begun - but the global economic crisis has led to many vital HIV and AIDS services being cut. There's a real threat that the recent reduction in global HIV infections could be reversed. Faced with this threat, Zambians at individual, community and national are doing their utmost, in the face of chronic hunger, poverty and unemployment to respond.

It would be easy to think that because we live far away from Zambia, we have no role to play, but I think that on an international level the question "What should OUR response to HIV be?" is not only a legitimate one, but a vitally urgent one.