Iran HIV organization receives UN special recognition
Published: Friday, August 08, 2008
16:12GMT—12:12PM/EST
UNAIDS – IRAN – RECOGNITION
Washington, 8 August (IranVNC)—An Iranian organization in the northeastern city of Mashhad was one among five community organizations world-wide selected for recognition yesterday at the 17th International AIDS Conference of the United Nations in Mexico City.
The Hamyaran Mosbat [Positive Friends] club of Mashhad, which received the UNAIDS Red Ribbon Award along with 25 other communities from around the world, was also one of five to be selected for special recognition for supporting HIV positive individuals.
Each of the 25 organizations received $5,000 in recognition for their work while the five which were specially recognized received an additional $15,000.
“These are extraordinary organizations helping to meet the needs of their own communities in often very difficult circumstances,” said Rebecca Grynspan, Director of the Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), during the awards ceremony. “In doing so they have shown extraordinary creativity, courage and leadership in responding to the epidemic and achieving tangible results with limited resources,” she added, according to a report on the UNAIDS website.
This year UNAIDS received nominations from more than 550 organizations in 140 countries for the organization’s award.
Iran’s Positive Friends community organization is a car wash and spare parts shop which employs 70 people, all of them HIV positive, Sarmayeh Newspaper reports.
“We sent a report of our activities to the United Nations with little hope and winning a prize was far from our thoughts. But the United Nations had chosen criteria similar to the criteria [which determine] our activities,” Sarmayeh quotes the head of Positive Friends, Vahid Nobahar as saying.
Sources: UNAIDS website, Sarmayeh Newspaper
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