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UNI Africa has been working with the postal administration in Burkina Faso to ensure they are part of the UNI, UPU, ILO, UNAIDS campaign on raising HIV AIDS awareness using post offices and amongst postal workers.



Burkina Faso has launched two new postage stamps as part of the campaign.







This is part of a philatelic initiative which is one of the phases of the global HIV-campaign launched in 2009 by the Universal Postal Union, UNAIDS, the International Labour Organization and UNI Global Union. The campaign relies on the global postal network’s vast outreach to draw attention to the importance of HIV prevention.



More than 23,000 post offices around the world have carried out awareness campaigns using posters, postcards, a website (www.unaids.org/preventHIV) and public events to inform people about HIV. The campaigns have potentially reached millions of people. In Cameroon alone, the Post estimates that campaign materials are viewed daily by 36,000 people.



This is the first time that Posts worldwide have made a concerted effort to draw attention to AIDS, but philately has been raising awareness about the disease for years. A quick survey of the UPU’s World Numbering System (www.wnsstamps.ch) reveals that more than 60 different AIDS themed stamps have been issued since 2002, when the database was created.



To view a slideshow of AIDS stamps through the years, please go to: www.upu.int/en/aids_stamps