RAISING THE VOICE OF THE AFRICAN DECADE OF DISABLED PERSONS:
A PROJECT OF REHABILITATION INTERNATIONAL TO PROMOTE HIV/AIDS AWARENESS AND DISABILITY RIGHTS AMONG YOUNG PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES IN TANZANIA AND MOZAMBIQUE
To promote the African Decade of Disabled Persons, Rehabilitation International (RI) has been working together actively with our member organization in Tanzania as well as international disability rights experts to raise awareness and empower members of the disability community in Africa. The first phase of the project, which was carried out from January 2003 – June 2004, provided forums for networking and information sharing and promoted new and existing public education materials on disability rights and equality. In addition, local representatives conducted public education campaigns and developed proposals for ongoing disability advocacy efforts. Phase Two of this project, which was made possible thanks to the generous support of the Swedish International Development Agency, began in October 2005 and will continue until March 2007, builds upon these empowerment strategies to raise awareness among young people with disabilities of disability rights, advocacy strategies and general education on HIV/AIDS. For individuals already stigmatized by disability and poverty, the HIV/AIDS pandemic continues to further segregate and suppress personal and social development. Individuals with disabilities are often excluded from HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention education because of the broad assumption that they are at little risk for HIV infection. However, as noted in the Global Survey on HIV/AIDS and Disability conducted by Yale University and the World Bank, people with disabilities have equal or greater exposure to all known risk factors for HIV infection. Currently, there is little or no information on HIV/AIDS prevention in accessible and appropriate formats for adolescents and young adults with disabilities. This blatant discrimination not only excludes individuals with disabilities from accessing this vital information, but also impedes the G8 goal of obtaining universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention by 2010 as well as the UN Millennium Development Goals to improve health and reduce poverty worldwide. RI’s project to develop a targeted training manual on HIV/AIDS awareness for young people with disabilities addresses the multifaceted goals of the African Decade of Disabled Persons and programs set forth by the international community to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. RI has partnered with Tanzanian-based organization DOLASED (Disabled Organization for Legal Affairs and Social Economic Development) to facilitate trainings for emerging leaders both within the disability community and amongst HIV/AIDS outreach workers, focusing on disability-specific human rights issues and HIV/AIDS education. This project is being conducted in Tanzania and Mozambique, with the goal of creating a model for training emerging leaders in the disability field and to raise HIV/AIDS awareness that can be sustained and replicated throughout Africa. Mozambique has been selected because of its high HIV/AIDS incidence and because it has received less attention and resources than the English-speaking countries within the region. Both phases of this project have been made possible due to the generous support of the Swedish International Development Agency (Sida). For more information on this project, contact Shantha Rau at RI (shantha@riglobal.org)