The top priority at a conference on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific was the battle against stigma and discrimination - a topic that consumed some three-quarters of a four-day AIDS conference which ended Thursday.
"This is a critical time for national human rights institutions to engage in AIDS response," said UNAIDS executive director Peter Piot at the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
"We have learned that we will not succeed against HIV unless we address discrimination, gender inequality and other human rights abuses that drive the epidemic," he told some 2,500 conference delegates from 70 countries, according to World Vision.
"National Human Rights institutions need to be full partners in the day-to-day AIDS response."
Issues such as the obstacles in enrolling HIV-positive children in schools and the lack of medical and moral support in countries such as Pakistan, Thailand and India were raised at the Community Forum.
An Indian student advocate shared her experience working in Andar Pradesh - the state in India with the highest number of HIV-positive children. She recalled visiting some villages in the state to address the issue of the stigma faced by positive children in school.
"They had in fact dropped out of school and faced immense hardships from the community," said Sana Tabasum, according to WV.
The group of student advocates, including Tabasum, played with the HIV-positive children and shared meals with them to convince the community that HIV is not spread by casual contact, thus there was no reason for prejudice against these children.
