National Association of Social Workers

Campaign to End AIDS Is Endorsed

The campaign will culminate with a march on Oct. 10.

By Lyn Stoesen, News Staff

NASW has signed on as an endorsing organization for the Campaign to End AIDS, a national coalition of people and groups uniting to demand an effective government response to end the AIDS pandemic.

The Campaign to End AIDS (C2EA) will culminate with a March to End AIDS in Washington, D.C., this fall. Caravans traveling through all 50 states will leave from state capitals and cities on Sept. 17 to arrive in Washington on Oct. 8 for a series of actions, lobbying visits, demonstrations and the march on Columbus Day, Oct. 10.

"As an endorsing organization, NASW's role will be to inform members about C2EA and encourage them to both participate in and share information about the caravans and the March to End AIDS with clients and consumers," explained NASW Senior Policy Associate Evelyn Tomaszewski.

Randy Russell, an NASW member from Alabama, is the director of the Southern AIDS Coalition, which encompasses 14 states and the District of Columbia. Russell said the campaign is "a way to regenerate focus on the right goal. Advocacy is what got us here — there was a very successful [advocacy] campaign in the late 1980s and early 1990s. But a lot of those leaders have passed away."

Russell said the C2EA will help get a new wave of advocates involved in fighting AIDS.

The C2EA kicked off in May with a demonstration in Washington, D.C., that drew more than 3,000 people. At the May 5 event, participants carried 8,000 pairs of shoes to symbolize the 8,000 people who die of AIDS-related illnesses around the world each day.

Endorsing organizations such as NASW support the four key goals promoted by the campaign:

• Fully fund high-quality treatment and support services for all people living with HIV everywhere in the world.
• Ramp up HIV prevention at home and abroad, guided by science rather than ideology.
• Increase research to find a cure, more effective treatments and better prevention tools.
• Fight AIDS stigma and protect the civil rights of all people with HIV and AIDS everywhere.

Russell noted that the campaign's mission is broad. "It's really easy to agree on a campaign to end AIDS. We're not trying to agree on the details of [AIDS funding] reauthorization, but to re-galvanize the advocacy community to put pressure on the federal government."

Russell said that because of the lack of resources for fighting and treating AIDS, "this has become a process of picking who gets treatment and who doesn't — it's completely unethical. It's totally appropriate for NASW to endorse this campaign — it is a civil right to have equal health care for everybody."

For details: www.endaidsnow.org

From July 2005 NASW News. © 2005 National Association of Social Workers. All Rights Reserved. NASW News articles may be copied for personal use, but proper notice of copyright and credit to the NASW News must appear on all copies made. This permission does not apply to reproduction for advertising, promotion, resale, or other commercial purposes.