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U.S. to honor outstanding HIV and AIDS activists
United States Embassy
November 25, 2008

In honor of World AIDS Day, U.S. Ambassador James McGee will present the annual Auxillia Chimusoro Awards at a ceremony to be held on Wednesday December 3, 2008 at the National Gallery of Zimbabwe. The awards go to individuals and organizations that have excelled in mitigating the stigma surrounding HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe.

The purpose of the awards is to recognize and reward individuals and organizations who have demonstrated commitment and courage in breaking the silence, reducing stigma and discrimination, and caring for infected and affected people. The awards were established by the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) in 2000.

Past winners of the Auxillia Chimusoro awards include Dr Geoff Foster, a consultant pediatrician at Mutare Provincial Hospital, Pastor Maxwell Kapachawo, popular musician Oliver Mtukudzi, and Kingdom Bank.

The awards were named after Auxillia Chimusoro, one of the first persons in Zimbabwe to openly disclose her HIV positive status, in 1987, at a time when silence shrouded HIV and AIDS.

On World AIDS Day 2008, the U.S. celebrates life. In Zimbabwe, through partnerships with the American people, courageous individuals are choosing life, saving the lives of their fellow countrymen and women, and creating hope for a future free of HIV/AIDS. Through the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the U.S. Government commits approximately $30 million on HIV and AIDS programming in Zimbabwe per year, implemented by USAID, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Department of Defense, and the U.S. Embassy's Public Affairs Section.

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