Working together to end poverty and injustice

HIV and AIDS

There are over 40 million people living with HIV and AIDS worldwide. AIDS claims over 8,000 lives every day. We know how to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS and yet last year over four million people became infected with the virus.

HIV and AIDS is fuelled by poverty and it’s one of the biggest social, economic and health challenges in the world – and in our neighbourhood.

How and where we work

The HIV and AIDS epidemic impacts across all of Oxfam’s work and can no longer be treated solely as a health issue. We work directly with communities in Vanuatu and Papua New Guinea.

Human rights, gender equality, access to information, sexual and reproductive health rights are all essential in the battle against the virus. Oxfam and its partners around the world are working to address the major obstacles of discrimination, stigma, the unequal position of women and the lack of public awareness to prevent the further spread of the disease and to protect people living with HIV and AIDS.

Oxfam supports specific HIV and AIDS programmes which respond to the epidemic in a direct way. We work with partners and AIDS-affected communities on:

• prevention and education
• fighting stigma and discrimination
• improving access to treatment and care

Residents of Nuigo village, Papua New Guinea. Oxfam and its partners have been conducting AIDS awareness programmes in Nuigo and across the Pacific and Southeast Asia. Credit: Dave Tacon/OxfamAus

HIV and AIDS and basic rights

Oxfam believes everyone has the right to a life of dignity and opportunity. HIV and AIDS pushes many families into poverty and poverty makes people more vulnerable to the disease. It is vital that this cycle is broken.

• Read more on HIV and AIDS and basic rights

The numbers of women living with HIV and AIDS is on the increase. In some parts of Southeast Asia and the Pacific, infection rates among women now exceed men.

• Read more on HIV and AIDS and gender

HIV and AIDS in the Pacific

In the Pacific, more than 90 percent of HIV infections reported in 2004 were recorded in Papua New Guinea, prompting predictions that PNG is fast becoming the new frontline in the battle against HIV and AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region.

• Read more on HIV and AIDS in the Pacific