On the occasion of the XVIII International AIDS Conference in Vienna, July 18-23, 2010, PAMOJA - TOGETHER will demand that the issue of corruption in health care systems and its negative impacts on the fundamental human rights of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) to life and medical treatment be addressed.

Our goal is to heighten awareness of the lack of accountability for the negative impact of corruption on the quality and outcomes of antiretroviral therapy, particularly in Tanzania. We believe that stakeholders as well as the general public are insulated from this issue – as a result it is one of the least addressed mechanisms for the abuse of the human rights of PLWHA.

During AIDS 2010, PAMOJA - TOGETHER will call upon the international community to radically improve accounting mechanisms, both financial and in terms of program delivery, as well as implement systems for legal consequences in the case of fraud and human rights abuse resulting from corruption.

Under the AIDS 2010 theme “Rights Here, Right Now”, PAMOJA - TOGETHER, in cooperation with the Canadian design firm Origami and the Viennese artist Christoph Holzknecht, will set up a NGO exhibition booth called "Blood on Their Hands" and present the sculpture, "Who Killed Veneranda?” Both of our activities will be open to public viewing in the global village and we would like to welcome everyone to stop by to meet us.

Find the content of PAMOJAs and PIUMAs booth here. Click on the thumbnail to enlarge the picture.

                                     
     Main Wall (pdf, 394 KB)                     PIUMAs Wall (pdf, 2,56 MB)        Wall of Shame (pdf, 297 KB)

"Who Killed Veneranda?" - The Impact of Corruption on the Quality of Antiretroviral Treatment by Christoph Holzknecht and PAMOJA

Veneranda Sanga, who died at the age of 17, stands as a symbol of all People Living with HIV/AIDS in Bulongwa, Makete District, Tanzania, who are being denied state-of-the-art treatment due to corruption and human rights violations within the public and Lutheran-church based health care systems of Tanzania.

The sculpture is a memorial for the 70 HIV-patients (most of them activists from the HIV/AIDS self-help group PIUMA) who died unnecessarily since 2006 - not from AIDS but because of embezzlement of foreign aid money designated for health care, because of fraudulent procurement decisions with regard to HIV testing and treatment technologies and because of the denial of the human right to life and proper medical care by corrupt and incompetent church and governmental authorities.

The artwork shows an arm of a sick child on an intravenous drip shaped like the “red ribbon” of the international AIDS effort, constricted by “the hostile hand of corruption” that also pierces the skin of the childs arm.

The artist Christoph Holzknecht describes his sculpture as follows: "My sculpture exposes the reality of theft and corruption that forces its way through people's skins deep into their bodies, with deadly consequences."

If you want to know more visit PAMOJAs and PIUMAs NGO exhibition booth (Booth No 644) at AIDS 2010 in the human rights area of the global village.

If you want to know more about Veneranda watch the documentary "Who Killed Veneranda?" (ENG/GER) and read the article “Veneranda: Struggle of an AIDS-infected orphan?” written by the award winning journalist Vicky Ntetema, former BBC bureau chief for Tanzania.