Fionnuala Murphy
I work in the HIV&AIDS team at ActionAid’s office in London.
HIV stands for Human Immunodeficiency Virus. It’s a bug that gets inside the body and attacks the immune cells - the cells which fight off other illnesses and help keep us strong and healthy. After many years, HIV can make the body so weak that the person can feel ill regularly and may eventually die. This is called AIDS.
Sometimes, people are afraid of people with HIV and treat them badly. This can make those with HIV feel lonely and unhappy. Usually people are afraid because they don’t know much about HIV or don’t understand it.. HIV can’t be passed on through things like holding hands, hugging or kissing. So if you meet someone with HIV don’t be afraid – just treat them the same as everyone else.
When HIV was discovered in 1980, there were no medicines to keep people who were infected healthy. Today there are treatments called antiretrovirals, which aren’t a cure but allow people living with HIV to live healthily for many years. But in poor countries, most people with HIV still can’t get these medicines. In Africa, more than 14 million children are orphans because their parents have died of AIDS – that’s a quarter of all the people in the UK!
My job is to teach people in the UK about this problem so that we can do something about it together. We’ve been very successful in persuading our Prime Minister and others to provide HIV medicines for more than two million people in poor countries.
There’s still lots to do though. People need to learn about HIV and how it is passed on so that they can avoid infection. Young girls are most at risk as they don’t always get to go to school. Now I’m campaigning so that girls and women affected by HIV and AIDS can get the care and support they need.
Questions and Answers (February 25, 2008)
Q: [from Jessie] Why are young girls most at risk from HIV and AIDS because they don’t always go to school?
A: In most countries children find out about different diseases and how to avoid catching them, in school. For example in the UK children learn that smoking can cause cancer when they are still in primary school. This helps them to decide not to smoke when they are older so they don’t put themselves at risk of cancer. The same is also true of HIV and AIDS – many of you will hear of it for the first time from your teachers.
However, in countries where girls don’t go to school they never get this education, so they have no idea how to avoid getting HIV. This means they are more at risk of getting infected with HIV.
Q: [from Laurie] What happens to the orphans?
A: Traditionally, orphans in Africa and other regions would be looked after by their extended family, such as grandparents or aunts and uncles. However, in some countries there are now so many orphans that there is no one to look after them. Sometimes these children can end up looking after themselves or living on the streets. They miss out on school, often go hungry and have no one to love and look after them. ActionAid is working hard to help communities look after these children.
Q: [from Ros] How many people in the world have HIV?
A: Around 33 million people in the world are infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. However not all of these people have actually developed AIDS.
Q: [from Tamar] Where is the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS?
A: Officially South Africa has the highest number of people living with HIV and AIDS – with over 5 million people infected (almost one in five people).
However many smaller countries are worse affected in terms of the proportion of people living with the virus. In Swaziland for example a much smaller number of people are living with HIV – 220,000 – but this number accounts for 33% of the population of Swaziland.
Q: [from Jo] What can we do to help?
A: There are lots of things we can do to help solve the problem of HIV and AIDS in the world.
Your school might be involved in some kind of fundraising already. Donating money to charities like ActionAid to help people affected by HIV and AIDS can really help.
Campaigning also has an impact. This means persuading our government to use the money they give as aid to help more people affected by HIV and AIDS in poor countries. Many ActionAid supporters do this by sending emails, cards and letters to their MPs, the prime minister and others. We’ve already managed to persuade the former Prime Minister Tony Blair and others to provide HIV medicines for more than two million people in poor countries.
Q: [from Davinder] What are you campaigning for now?
A: Around the world, women and girls are worst affected by HIV and AIDS. The UK government is currently writing a new plan setting out how it will deal with HIV and AIDS in the world’s poorest countries. Our current campaign is called Invisible Women and is calling on the government to put women and girls at the heart of this plan.
