People with disabilities are at greater risk of HIV/AIDS

Professor Nora Groce of UCL's Leonard Cheshire Centre on Disability and Inclusive Development describes the increased risk of HIV/AIDS faced by people with disabilities, to mark World Disability Day on 3 December. 'UCL's Leonard Cheshire Centre on Disability and Inclusive Development in the Research Department of Epidemiology and Public Health is one of the few research centres anywhere in the world that concentrates on the inclusion of persons with disabilities in international development and global health efforts. I am the Chair of the centre, and as part of its work, I will be speaking at two major events to mark the upcoming United Nations? International Day of Persons with Disabilities: the first at the United Nations (UN) in New York on 2 December and the second at the US State Department in Washington DC on 3 December. I have been part of a group of researchers and disability advocates working on the increased risk of HIV/AIDS faced by people with disabilities in both developed and developing countries. This risk exists because people with disabilities often receive little AIDS information, services or resources to allow them to know how to protect themselves, and have less access to care and support should they become infected. Working with UNAIDS (the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS), I will be part of a panel of speakers on 2 December, co-sponsored by UNAIDS and the UN's Department of Social and Economic Affairs. The panel is intended to bridge events on World AIDS Day on 1 December and World Disability Day on 3 December, to call attention to the issue of disability and AIDS.