Yesterday November 29 was a very important day for us- not only was it the Finnisage for Eastpak Artist Studio- which was hosted by top model Hannelore Knuts- but before she travelled to Antwerp on her way from New York, our DAA Ambassador passed by the Belgian federal parliament in Brussels to read a speech written by DAA for World AIDS Day. You can watch the speech here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sjs0387rRKo&feature=youtu.be
Present were a lot of Ministers and other dignitaries, including Federal Minister of Health Laurette Onkelinx, who presented the new Federal HIV Plan on October 15 and who took the mike after Hannelore.  The HIV Plan has the aim to lower the new HIV infections in Belgium (that have risen AGAIN with 8% in 2012, which is insane- especially in a developed, rich country) and to fight the stigma that's still associated with HIV/AIDS and with seropositive people.
Hannelore's speech was very well received and afterwards she distributed red ribbons and spoke with the politicians and the press about the need for prevention and the ways that we at DAA use pop culture in all its shapes and forms to help achieve this. Today Hannelore's speech is in all the daily newspapers, on radio and on TV and of course we are super proud- and more than ready to keep fighting HIV/AIDS- in Belgium and all over the world!
Copyright photo: parlement Inge Verhelst