08 January 2015 – The Philippine Embassy in Cairo, pursuant to the Government’s Gender and Development (GAD) mandate, led the Filipino community observance of World AIDS Day (WAD) on December 03, 2014, in support of the global drive to “fast-track ending the AIDS epidemic by 2030.”

The program received meaningful assistance from UNAIDS-Egypt, particularly in allowing the private screening of “Asma’a,” which is a film it commissioned to raise awareness of issues surrounding HIV-AIDS. The moving drama portraying a woman in her 40s who is HIV positive and dying from a failing gallbladder, tells about her struggle against the pervasive problems of social stigma, prejudices and alienation confronted by HIV patients in Egyptian society.

The highlight of the program was the presentation by Dr. Ahmed Khamis, UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Egypt. There was keen interest among the participants, above all, on how the Egyptian government responds to and acts on cases involving foreigners, as well as migrants’ access to critical services. Dr. Ahmed also explained the role violence against women (VAW) plays in spreading HIV and AIDS.

UNAIDS also provided material inputs for the mini-exhibit, especially the banner and tarpaulin images that acutely depict core issues and concerns pertinent to migrants in general, and the women workers among them, in particular. END