#34 Aidsfonds

Include all: no one excluded from care. Everyone has the right to equal treatment and the right to care. No matter where you love, no matter who you love.
No one in the world needs to die of AIDS anymore. Yet 650,000 people still die of it every year and 10 million people have no access to medication. Aids Fund is there for those people. Because we don’t care if you are black, white, young or old, gay or straight. We believe that no one should lose another loved one to AIDS.

Every government has a duty to care for the health and well-being of its citizens; of all its citizens. Yet more and more people are being excluded from HIV care. Conservative forces are gaining steam in more and more countries, for example in Uganda, but governments in Russia, Hungary, Ghana and Indonesia are also making discriminatory new legislation. What we see in these countries is that the number of new HIV infections is skyrocketing. In countries with anti-gay laws, HIV is 5 times more common among men who have sex with men than in countries without such laws. People don’t dare get tested anymore, or doctors don’t want to prescribe medication, “because gays don’t deserve it”. As a result, HIV is spreading faster and faster. Since 2011, the number of people diagnosed with the virus in Russia has increased 10% a year. In Indonesia, the number of people dying of AIDS has increased 68% since 2010. The end of AIDS begins with equal access to care.

Canal Parade
During the Canal Parade, we let the voices of people who are excluded from HIV care be heard. Excluded because they are different, because they don’t fit the mold. Excluded because of who they love. We echo the words of people who must fear for their lives because of new laws, unwilling doctors and intolerant societies. Their portraits we carry with us, with the message: include all.