www.aidshulpmoetblijven.nl

[Maaike van der Velden]

Dear Friends,
Dutch government says farewell to the fight against AIDS? I don’t think so!

The Dutch government is planning to drastically cut the budget for the international fight against AIDS. This includes the Dutch contribution to UNAIDS and the Global Fund to fight Aids, TB and Malaria. This is unacceptable. In a time of economic crisis governments need to cut budgets. But not a budget that will threaten 180.000 lives. Help us prevent a tragedy!

Send a condolence card

If the Dutch government continues its plans, the lives of more than 180.000 people with HIV will be at risk. You can help to avoid this by making your voice heard. Send a condolence card to the Dutch government.

The site www.aidshulpmoetblijven.nl is in Dutch, but you can fill it out very easily. All you need to do is leave your name and e-mail address. See the translation below. Click on the Facebook or Twitter button to share it with all your friends.

Jouw naam	Jouw e-mail	Verstuur
Your name	Your email address	Send

Text of the condolence card

With sincere condolences

With great sorrow, but with a thankful memory of the hundreds of thousands of lives that have been saved, we say farewell to

The Dutch fight against AIDS

November 26, 2010

In the prime of her life, the international AIDS response of the Dutch government passed away. Unbelievable and totally unnecessary. Our heart goes out to hundreds of thousands of people that are left without support.

[Gaston]

I did sign already. It also shows somehow that we didn't succeed yet in showing that HIV is a key to the door of discussion of many other things in the communities. If we facilitate the AIDS response well, it will have impact on especially community responses to many other things. That multiplier is relatively high for HIV.

We are currently doing a Cost-effectiveness study in DR-Congo that assumes exactly this: The AIDS Competence Process increases the capability of communities and therefore not only their AIDS response, but as well their Quality of Life in the wider sense. Capability here is defined by Amartya Sen as: “the alternative combinations of functionings that are feasible for [a person] to achieve.” Put differently, they are “the substantive freedoms he or she enjoys to lead the kind of life he or she has reason to value.”