Naomi Watts UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador GWA advocacy

Naomi Watts, UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, visited Nyumbani Children’s Home in Kenya on 11 July to learn about Kenya’s prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programme and the work done in the home to care for children living with HIV.

In the space of just a few years, as the result of a strong partnership between political leadership, programme implementers and the community, new HIV infections among children aged 0–14 years in Kenya have fallen from 12 000 in 2013 to 6600 in 2015. In June, under the leadership of the First Lady, Margaret Kenyatta, Kenya launched a new framework to accelerate the country’s efforts towards elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV and syphilis. The framework calls for the elimination of stigma and discrimination and the creation of an environment that empowers women living with HIV.

Nyumbani Children’s Home opened in 1992 and is currently home to 124 children living with HIV. The home provides nutritional, medical, psychosocial and spiritual care to the children and to the surrounding community, providing a place of safety in Nairobi for abandoned children living with HIV. In addition, the organization has a community- based programme that supports more than 3100 children living with HIV who reside in the informal settlements of Nairobi and 1000 orphans in Nyumbani villages.

Mss Watts and her two sons visited several facilities in the home, including its state-of-art laboratory equipped to undertake early infant diagnosis and viral load testing. Ms Watts congratulated Nyumbani Children’s Home for the impact it makes on a daily basis in the lives of so many remarkable and empowered children. She committed to continue to create awareness of the need to ensure that children living with HIV remain AIDS-free. 

Actress and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts talked about her work in support of UNAIDS’ efforts towards an AIDS free generation while in Mozambique.

Mozambique is one of the settings of a new film about the life of Diana, Princess of Wales. It’s also where UNAIDS.org caught up with actress and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts. She talked about her work in support of UNAIDS efforts towards an AIDS free generation—ensuring no new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive.

“In the United States and Europe there are virtually no new HIV infections in children and many African countries are moving steadily in that direction,” said Ms Watts. “We at UNAIDS call that ‘getting to zero’—zero babies born with HIV and zero mothers dying of AIDS-related causes. And for us, getting to zero is not a dream or a slogan but a doable reality,” she added. 

The country she is filming in has one of the highest rates of HIV in sub-Saharan Africa—11.5% of the adult population is living with the virus. But is also one of the 22 countries that is making a concerted effort to stop new HIV infections among children as part of a Global Plan championed by UNAIDS and partners.

In 2011, 98 000 pregnant women living with HIV were in need of antiretroviral medicine to prevent transmission of HIV to their children in Mozambique—the third highest number after South Africa (241 000 women) and Nigeria (229 000 women).

The nationwide programme to stop new HIV infections among children and keep their mothers alive has grown rapidly since its inception in 2002. The number of sites offering HIV services to prevent new HIV infections in children has increased across the country from 356 in 2009 to more than a thousand in 2010. As a result, the number of pregnant women receiving HIV counselling and testing also increased from 12% in 2005 to 87% in 2010—one of the highest rates in the region. And since 2009, the percentage of pregnant women living with HIV in Mozambique receiving antiretroviral treatment to prevent transmission of HIV to their children rose from 38% to 51%.

However, much more needs to be done when nearly half the pregnant women living with HIV in Mozambique do not yet receive the medicines to prevent transmission to their children.

“I wish I could spend more time here in this beautiful country of Mozambique. I would encourage all the partners in the AIDS response to redouble their efforts here and in the other 21 highly affected countries,” said Ms Watts. “Women need access to quality, life-saving HIV prevention and treatment services for themselves and their children and I know that together we can make this a reality.”

In her role as a UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, Ms Watts joined former President Bill Clinton and United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to launch the Global Plan in June 2011 at the United Nations in New York. She has visited AIDS and maternal and child health programmes from Lusaka, Zambia to Dehli, India advocating tirelessly to ensure all countries put in place the necessary efforts to achieve a generation born free of HIV. Last week in New York, Ms Watts urged the Women Leaders Forum, which included prominent CEOs and a number of African Firs Ladies, to combine their efforts to get to zero.

L to R: UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts; UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Aishwarya Rai Bachchan; UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé; Director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University and Special Adviser on the Millennium Development Goals to the United Nations Secretary-General, Professor Jeffrey Sachs; and Founder and President of the Advanced Development for Africa (ADA) Foundation and conference Chairperson Ms. Coumba D. Touré at the Yale Club, NYC. September 24, 2012.

First Ladies of several African countries, government officials and representatives from international and civil society organizations working on development and women’s issues gathered in New York on the side-lines of the United Nations General Assembly meeting to discuss ways to empower women and youth especially through digital technologies.

Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé participated in the session entitled Partnership in action: Ensuring children everywhere are born HIV-free. Calling on women to lead the way for social justice, Mr Sidibé introduced two UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassadors Naomi Watts and Aishwarya Rai Bachan. “These two women have the power to change the world—nothing could be nobler than a generation free from HIV,” he said.

Speaking about her experiences in the field Ms Watts focused on the importance of partnerships in the incredible progress made in getting to zero new HIV infections among children. “But we are not there yet. One baby is born with HIV almost every minute and currently only one of every four children in need of treatment is actually receiving it. To me, these are not facts and figures but faces with families,” she said. “Surely we can keep moving until we get to zero.”

Mrs Rai Bachchan, who was appointed a new Goodwill Ambassador earlier in the day, shared her passion to learn and to make a real difference in the lives of women and families. She also called on the media to do its part. “We need to draw attention to something that needs attention,” she said. “Women need to find their voice, anywhere a baby is born we need to work there.”

The event also focused on the advances in technology and health. The provision of health services and information via mobile technologies such as mobile phones, also known as mobile health or mHealth, has been proven effective in providing greater access to healthcare to populations in low income countries. Using such technology has also shown cost efficiencies and an improvement in the capacity of health systems to provide quality healthcare.

Recent evidence from randomized scientific trials and studies has demonstrated that SMS messaging in particular can positively impact treatment outcomes. For example, results from a study conducted in Kenya on November 2010, showed that patients who received SMS support had significantly higher adherence to antiretroviral treatment.

With 5.3 billion mobile subscribers across the globe and almost 90% of the world’s population covered by a wireless signal, the mobile phone has become the most widely spread communica­tions technology platform. Participants at the meeting brought ideas on how mobile technologies could help scale up access to health for women and youth in low and middle-income countries.

A multitude of mHealth solutions have emerged over the years in countries such as Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa, according to the Global Observatory for eHealth at the World Health Organization. However, a recent report commissioned by the Advance Development for Africa Foundation, highlights that despite the strong promise demonstrated by mHealth tools and applications, the current land­scape is characterized by a proliferation of unsustainable pilot projects that often expire once initial funding is exhausted.

The event was co-hosted by Advance Development for Africa Foundation, Digital He@lth Initiative and the Global Partnerships Forum in cooperation with UNAIDS, UNDP, UN Office for Partnerships, the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn & Child Health, and UN Habitat.

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts during her visit to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi.

Ahead of this year’s World AIDS Day (1 December), UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts travelled to Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, India, to meet with mothers living with HIV and find out about some of the challenges they face in their daily lives.

Ms Watts toured the hospital and met with a group of mothers on the HIV ward. “I felt the many challenges they face, including the impact of stigma and shame, and yet it was their strength and determination to raise healthy children that shone through. We need to ensure that all mothers living with HIV get the services they and their families need. No mother needs to lose a child to AIDS and no child needs to be orphaned by AIDS.”

Safdarjung Hospital is a multi-specialty hospital in New Delhi and one of the largest government hospitals in India. The hospital provides medical care to people from across the country free of cost, including HIV prevention, treatment care and support services.

During her visit, Ms Watts was greeted by staff of the hospital, who guided her through different HIV facilities that Safdarjung Hospital offers including preventing new infections in children. Ms Watts met with hospital staff and was able to get new insights into how HIV prevention programmes are run in India.

“We test over 400 men and women from across India per day,” said Dr Renu Arora, Head of the Preventing Parent to Child Transmission of HIV Centre at Safdarjung hospital. She highlighted, however, that about 15% of pregnant women living with HIV across India seek treatment too late in their pregnancies—immediately before or during labour—and that they give birth to about 50% of all HIV-positive children in the country.

Ms Watts spent time talking with women living with HIV, discussing the challenges they face including stigma.

Ms Watts spent time talking with women living with HIV, discussing the challenges they face including stigma. She learned that the virus just doesn’t impact the women but their communities and families as well––emotionally and financially. Stigma and discrimination create a silence that prevents women from coming forward to access vital HIV prevention information and services both in India and across the world.

Sukhhvinder Kaur said, “I was diagnosed with HIV while I was pregnant. My in-laws abandoned my baby and me and we now live with my parents without any financial support. If people had more awareness about HIV maybe my child and I would be accepted in society.”

There are an estimated 2.4 million people living with HIV in India, one of the countries with the highest numbers of people living with HIV globally.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon speaking at the "Light for Rights" event during the World AIDS Day celebrations in New York City.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon joined with leaders in the AIDS response and entertainment stars at a dramatic public event commemorating World AIDS Day 2009 on 1 December at New York City’s historic Washington Square Park Memorial Arch.

Lights on the arch and other landmarks around the city were turned off at 6:15 pm to remember those lost to AIDS, and to represent how stigma, discrimination, fear and shame drive people with HIV into the darkness; then re-lighted to show how shining a human rights light on HIV can help people with HIV emerge from the shadows, to seek the information, treatments, care and support they need to live healthy lives.

“On World AIDS Day this year, our challenge is clear: we must continue doing what works, but we must also do more, on an urgent basis, to uphold our commitment to reach universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010,” UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said. “This goal can be achieved only if we shine the full light of human rights on HIV. AIDS responses do not punish people; they protect them.”

Joining the event were Naomi Watts, Oscar-nominated actress and UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador; Christine C. Quinn, Speaker of the New York City Council; Oscar winner and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Susan Sarandon, Dr Paul De Lay, Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS; and Tembeni Fazo, a counselor and educator for HIV-positive African and Caribbean immigrants in New York; and Cheyenne Jackson, a star on television and now on Broadway, who opened the evening.

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador and actor Naomi Watts addressed the event in New York.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts highlighted the injustice of stigma. “It has been both unfortunate and unfair for HIV infection to be considered a shameful disease, for people living with HIV to be judged as blameworthy, and for AIDS to be equated with certain death. I have personally seen that dignity and hope have been strongest among those whose lives were changed by HIV.” As UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador, Watts has used her celebrity status to raise AIDS awareness and give a greater voice to the needs of people living with HIV.

“We are here tonight to shine a light on the human rights that are so central to the success of the fight against AIDS. And we’re here to recommit ourselves to bringing an end to the global AIDS epidemic,” said Kenneth Cole, renowned fashion designer, chairman of Kenneth Cole Productions, and chairman of the board of trustees of amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research), who hosted the event.

UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Programme Paul De Lay at the "Light for Rights" World AIDS Day event. New York, 01 December 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS/B. Hamilton

The event launched the global LIGHT FOR RIGHTS campaign organized by amfAR, UNAIDS, Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and the World AIDS Campaign. UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Paul De Lay confirmed UNAIDS support, “UNAIDS is excited to participate in the launch of this two-year campaign to shine a light on the importance of humans rights for achieving universal access.

“If we shine a human rights light on people with AIDS, they can emerge from the darkness to gain access to treatment, information, care and support to allow them to live normal lives,” he continued.

Dr De Lay called Tom Viola, Executive Director of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and Marcel Van Soest, the Executive Director of the World AIDS Campaign, to join him on stage and thanked their organizations for the commitment to co-sponsor the two-year LIGHT FOR RIGHTS campaign. Dr De Lay also thanked Mr. Cole for his leadership on the campaign and for the LIGHTS FOR RIGHTS brand and Red Ribbon Light Bulb symbol, which the design team of Kenneth Cole Productions developed in consultation with the four co-sponsoring organizations.

Other speakers spoke powerfully of the shared responsibility we have to ensure rights are protected.

Ms Susan Sarandon, who was a leader of efforts to free HIV-positive Haitian refugees from the HIV detention Camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in the early 1990’s, recalled the long struggle against stigma and isolation facing people living with HIV, and said that ensuring respect for human rights is essential. City Council Speaker Quinn highlighted how the lack of equality for segments of the general population including the inequality of men who have sex with men, drug users, sex workers and women and girls, heightens their vulnerability to discrimination and marginalization, which makes them especially at risk of contracting HIV.

Other landmarks around the city that dimmed their lights and then re-illuminated them as part of the LIGHT FOR RIGHTS event included: the Chrysler Building; Rockefeller Center; Lincoln Center, including the Metropolitan Opera, Avery Fisher Hall, the David H. Koch Theater and the Revson Fountain; the MetLife Building; Madison Square Garden; the Beacon Theatre; 33 Broadway theaters; and Radio City Music Hall.

To focus on the human rights of people living with HIV, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will be joined UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador Naomi Watts, Kenneth Cole, chairman, board of trustees, amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, New York City Speaker of the City Council Christine C. Quinn, and 13-year-old AIDS activist Keren Dunaway-Gonzalez in New York City.

They will gather at the Washington Square Park Memorial Arch where the floodlights illuminating the monument will be turned off at 6:15 to remember those lost to AIDS and will be turned back on by 6:20 to emphasize the need to shine the light on human rights for those living with HIV around the globe.

Floodlights on the Empire State Building, clearly visible through the arch, will also be turned off and turned back on at the same time. Other participating venues turning off their lights in New York City include all Broadway theaters, Madison Square Garden, Lincoln Center, the Chrysler Building, and the Brooklyn Bridge.

The New York event is part of global “Light for Rights Campaign” organized by amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research; UNAIDS; Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS; and World AIDS Campaign.

amfAR and its partner organizations have created a special Light for Rights campaign web site (www.lightforrights.org) that provides descriptions of Light for Rights activities that can be organized in other locations, social networking ideas, and templates for campaigning.

World AIDS Day is an international day of celebration, remembrance and an opportunity for people around the globe to renew their commitment in the AIDS response. The theme for this year is "Universal Access and Human Rights".