World's AIDS Day in Iran

Iran has celebrated the World Aids Day this year with a series of activity, including the official ceremony that took place on 29 November 2010.

UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office (UTCO) has been involved actively in the celebration, in close cooperation with other international as well as national organizations, as joint-efforts in tackling the issues related to HIV/AIDS.

UNESCO Tehran Cluster Office, in close collaboration with Center for Disease Control, has been actively involved in this year’s World's AIDS Day events, as also reflected during the ceremony of World AIDS Day at Tehran Medical University Amphitheatre, hosted by Ministry of Health and Medical Education of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Official poster and leaflet issued by the co-host organizations for World AIDS Day this year which has been distributed across the country in all universities and health care settings bears the UNESCO logo. UNESCO has also been the sole counterpart of Ministry of Education regarding their World AIDS Day interventions within school settings, one of these interventions is providing support to an educational website called Javane Salem (Farsi for Healthy Youth). The website provides information on HIV specifically targeting younger generations.

In her speech at the World AIDS Day ceremony H.E. Minister of Health, Ms.Marzieh Vahid Dastjerdi openly addressed the need for educating young people on sexuality issues and called on MoE for accelerating their interventions in this regard. She also addressed the need for more interventions for Most at Risk Populations especially female sex workers and noted that Ministry of Health is determined to provide quality services for them.

Another highlight of the ceremony was the use of correct HIV terminology in the speeches delivered by Head of the State Welfare Organization, representative from the government institution in charge of prison, and representative from Drug Control Headquarters.

This year MoH in collaboration with State TV and Radio Organization has developed 20 episodes of animated films on HIV which has been broadcasted since 28 November 2010 and will continue for 20 days during different TV programmes in different hours. They are educational, musical and very fun to watch.

In addition to the ceremony, an HIV festival was held in Mellat Park in Tehran which was open for public. The festival was offering various programmes, including street theater on stigma & discrimination, recitation from Shahmaneh, the masterpiece of Iranian famous poet, Ferdowsi, musical performance, painting contest for children, balloon and kite festival as well as distribution of printed materials containing useful information on HIV/AIDS.

• Source:UNESCO Tehran
• 06-12-2010

Image two: leaflet issued by the co-host organizations for World AIDS Day 2010