The Italian Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS thanks the mayor of Rome and once again denounces the government's failure to act.
Rome, July 19, 2011. The Italian Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS thanks the Mayor of Rome, Giovanni Alemanno, for his decision to write a letter to Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and Foreign Minister Franco Frattini, urging them to promptly settle the repeatedly promised but never paid contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.
The Forum also thanks Alemanno for recognizing the role and importance of associations and people living with HIV in decisions about the future of the fight against AIDS. As Stefano Vella, organizer of the IAS2011 Conference, aptly noted, "when people with open hearts and minds experience and see firsthand the consequences of inequalities in access to healthcare on our planet, they take action.".
What happened only underscores the importance our government's presence would have had for the Conference, for people living with HIV, for those who fight the spread of the virus every day, and for themselves. Instead, we unfortunately had to accept, and denounce, the absence of the Prime Minister and the Ministers of Health, Foreign Affairs, and Economy, without any explanation.
For many years now, it has been clear that, to be effective, the fight against AIDS must involve activists and people living with HIV, clinical research, and political action on equal footing. Rome was missing a piece, the gravity of which the Forum had already denounced before the opening of its proceedings. It had also already written an open letter to the Prime Minister urging him to pay the promised amount to the Global Fund and to proceed with its refinancing. Within a few days, the letter attracted the support of 125 organizations from 40 countries across five continents.
Our government still has one day to review its position and announce a change of direction, thus saving the entire country's face before the world.
The Italian Civil Society Forum on HIV/AIDS is promoted by: Actionaid, ANLAIDS, Arcigay, Mario Mieli Homosexual Culture Circle, Committee for the Civil Rights of Prostitutes, National Coordination of Reception Communities, Gruppo Abele, LILA, Nadir, NPS Italia Onlus, Italian Observatory on Global Action against AIDS, Transsexual Identity Movement, Villa Maraini
