The news brand announces a powerful programme of editorial, film, events and advocacy in the run up to this year’s World AIDS Day on 1 December
The aim is to ensure the UK and other governments protect the remaining funding for HIV/AIDS response programmes, while raising public awareness with a message of hope and action.
Leading The Independent’s coverage is an eight-month investigation and documentary, including powerful reporting from across Uganda, Zimbabwe and Senegal which reveals first-hand the deadly consequences of the abrupt collapse of USAID and anticipated UK and other foreign funding cuts.
The film, ‘Death Sentence’, by chief international correspondent Bel Trew, paints a searing picture of the human cost. With no safety nets, and no time to secure alternative support, HIV patients are dying after losing access to medication, mothers are unable to prevent transmission to their unborn babies, and medics are forced to work for free with shrinking supplies.
This hard-hitting reportage, combined with exclusive data modelling, runs alongside a special project led by global health correspondent Rachel Schraer, entitled ‘Rethinking Global Aid’, investigating the wider impact of sudden foreign aid spending cuts on Africa and other parts of the developing world.
The world was on track to end the global HIV/AIDS pandemic by 2030. Now, exclusive data modelling shows that in the same time frame, if current funding programmes are dismantled, millions could die worldwide, infections are set to reach levels not seen since the height of the crisis 25 years ago. What’s more, medication-resistant strains could more than double, with devastating consequences.
Ahead of World AIDS Day, The Independent is calling on people to sign a petition urging the government to protect the UK’s remaining funding for HIV treatment, prevention and care.
On 30 November, The Independent is hosting a special screening of ‘Death Sentence’ with the Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA). Following the screening, Christine Stegling, deputy director of UNAIDS, and Lord Chris Smith, chancellor of the University of Cambridge and former Secretary of State and Patrick Kinemo, country director of MSI Tanzania, will join a panel conversation hosted by Bel Trew to discuss the impact of global aid cuts.
As part of their ongoing coverage of the global HIV/AIDS response, The Independent recently published a heartfelt piece from Elton John, founder, and David Furnish, chair of the Elton John AIDS Foundation, on why support for LGBT organisations is critical to helping end AIDS.
The Independent’s editor-in-chief Geordie Greig will host a roundtable briefing in partnership with the APPG on HIV/AIDS in parliament. The event will bring together senior parliamentarians with civil society experts to explore the UK’s continuing role in the fight to eradicate the disease, and discuss how to ensure international aid remains high on the government’s agenda in the coming months and years.
Greig says: “This series of events is designed to do what The Independent does best: enacting change by using its platform for good. People are dying now and the answer is simple: protect funding and save lives, now. I commend Bel and our talented, tenacious journalists for their enormously powerful work.”
