The prevalence of TB and HIV in Swaziland is one of the highest in the world. Caritas co-sponsored a Joint Mission to Swaziland with the World Health Organisation to lobby the government to decentralise treatment. Caritas wanted a bigger role to be given to grassroots, faith‑based organisations.
Msgr Robert Vitillo, Caritas’ special advisor on HIV and AIDS talks to the UN’s Non-Governmental Liaison Committee. NGLS: CARITAS Internationalis has been engaged in the response to HIV and AIDS since the late 1980s. What have been some of the major difficulties your organization has encountered over the years in this regard? Where has the ...
Children are the focus of one of Caritas Internationalis’ major campaigns: HAART for Children. HAART stands for Highly Active Anti- Retroviral Therapy. Caritas Internationalis presses governments and pharmaceutical companies to develop “child-friendly” forms of medicines and testing. Caritas Australia directly asked the pharmaceutical giant Roche to do its part in facilitating access to medication to ...
It makes Aslali the perfect spot for an outreach health centre for counselling and testing for HIV: in its first month alone, 50 truckers came for ward. As word spreads, the project aims for 6,000 a year. The centre is a pioneering private-public partnership supported by Caritas India, and is part of its creative work around HIV/AIDS.
By Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, Head of Delegation to the UN in Geneva and Special Advisor on HIV/AIDS for Caritas Internationalis Let’s begin with the good news – of a child who gained access to anti-retroviral treatment (ART) at the Village of Hope, a programme in Tanzania that is assisted by the Vatican’s Bambino ...
By Rev. Msgr. Robert J. Vitillo, Caritas Internationalis, at the High Level Meeting on AIDS, UN Headquarters It was not so difficult to wake up early in New York City since the streets there live up to their reputation of “never sleeping” – so I found myself out of my hotel and waiting outside the ...
Caritas Internationalis General Secretariat and Caritas member representatives are attending the United Nations General Assembly High Level Meeting on HIV in New York this week, where they will be part of the launch a policy paper on the need for maintaining funding to tackle the pandemic in the wake the financial crisis. The meeting, which ...
The following Caritas initiatives, undertaken since 2009, have aimed at increasing access to testing and treatment for children and mothers with HIV and TB: Advocating with pharmaceutical companies for better testing and treatment. Encouraging the international community to prioritise maternal and infant care, especially for those living with HIV. Organising a conference on paediatric HIV ...
Caritas says mothers living with HIV in poor countries face anguish. Caritas says the risks to the health of their children are massive and their lives may be painfully short. And yet, the suffering and deaths of these children are preventable. “Children and women need access to timely diagnosis of HIV and TB and to ...