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NEWS VISION - January 2007
The report noted that WV distributed a total of 276,000 metric tonnes of WFP food. WV worked with the WFP to support healthcare initiatives in 16 countries and was an NGO partner in education, which the WFP supports through its school feeding initiative, in 15 countries.
WV International partnered with the WFP in a total of 29 countries, more than any other international NGO. Moreover, members of the WV Partnership collaborated with the WFP in 35 countries, putting the Partnership second only to Caritas Internationalis in terms of NGO federations collaborating with the WFP.
According to the report, WFP food reached 96.7 million people spread across 82 countries in 2005. The WFP was involved in 230 partnership projects, a six percent increase over the previous year. Its partnersincluded 260 international NGOs, such as Catholic Relief Services, CARE US, and Doctors Without Borders, and 2010 local NGOs.
Weapon of Mass Destruction: “The HIV Myth” - Singapore youths find out why HIV/AIDS is their problem
On December 7, 2006, World Vision together with undergraduates from the Singapore Management University (SMU) organized the 2nd HIV/AIDS Youth Convention to commemorate World Aids Day. About 200 youths and adults gathered at SMU to share about what they can do in the fight against the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The convention entitled ‘Weapon of Mass Destruction – The HIV Myth’ was more than a reference to popular culture and politics. The purpose of this year’s conference was to highlight the amorphous, deadly nature of the HIV virus and to debunk common myths that Singaporeans believe about it.
Participants from various secondary schools, colleges and universities heard from the Guest-of-Honour, Dr Fatimah Lateef, Member of Parliament, and Associate Professor Leo Yee Sin, Clinical Director of the Communicable Disease Centre, Singapore. Both highlighted the fact that HIV incidence rates had risen sharply in Singapore in the past 10 years and young people between 15 – 24 years of age were most at risk.
Youths in action: Participants pledged toshare with their loved ones and friends about the spread of HIV/AIDS and how they can stem the spread of this deadly disease. |
Keynote speaker, Dr Milton Amayun, World Vision International’s Senior Technical Advisor, HIV/AIDS and Health and Hope Initiative Programme Representative, dispelled myths such as “only poor people get AIDS” and “pregnant women who are HIV-positive will transmit the virus to their babies”. He said that with antiretroviral drugs, these women were able to reduce the risk of infecting their babies significantly.
In addition to plenary sessions, participants also participated in workshops that involved them thinking and talking about AIDS and issues like abstinence and anti-stigmatisation. Heather Ferreira, HIV/AIDS Programme Coordinator from World Vision India and her two youth volunteers who are part of WV India’s HIV/AIDS Street Theatre group also showed the Singaporean youths different ways to conduct peer education through the use of song and drama.
Chairman of the organizing committee and 2nd year undergraduate at SMU, Mr Nicholas Beh, 23, said the conference aimed to “educate, empower and encourage youths” achieved it objective based on the feedback from the participants as many said they would take the message back to their schools and spread it among their peers.
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