Today March 1st 2022 Zambia Joins the rest of the world in commemorating the World Zero Discrimination Day.
Zero Discrimination Day was launched by UNAIDS director Michel Sidibé on World Aids Day in December 2013. It was first observed on March 1, 2014.
Zero Discrimination Day is significant to organizations such as UNAIDS that work in combating discrimination against people living with HIV/AIDS.
Zero Discrimination Day was established to address the inequalities and discrimination experienced by people living with HIV/Aids. Over the years it has evolved to include all minority groups experiencing discrimination.
This year, UNAIDS is highlighting the urgent need to take action to end the inequalities surrounding income, sex, age, health status, occupation, disability, sexual orientation, drug use, gender identity, race, class, ethnicity and religion that continue to persist around the world.
Governments should use this day to achieve the objective of ensuring dignity by safeguarding the rights of people through good political, economic, and social policies. At the same time, there is also an urgent need to pay attention to the needs of disadvantaged communities.
Confronting inequalities and ending discrimination is critical to ending AIDS. The world is off track from delivering on the shared commitment to end AIDS by 2030 not because of a lack of knowledge, capability or means to beat AIDS, but because of structural inequalities that obstruct proven solutions in HIV prevention and treatment.