The 1st of December was the World AIDS Day, and the United Nations officials marked it with a call for building on recent successes and pressing ahead to get to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths by 2015.

“On this World AIDS Day, let us commit to build on and amplify the encouraging successes of recent years to consign HIV/AIDS to the pages of history,” Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in his message for the Day.

The World AIDS Day Report for 2012, he noted, reveals significant progress in preventing and treating HIV/AIDS in the past two years. The number of people accessing life-saving treatment rose by 60 per cent and new infections have fallen by half in 25 countries. In addition, AIDS-related deaths have dropped by a quarter since 2005, according to the report, published by the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

“We have moved from despair to hope. Far fewer people are dying from AIDS,” said the Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibé. “Twenty-five countries have reduced new infections by more than 50 per cent. I want these results in every country.

“The pace of progress is quickening. It is unprecedented. What used to take a decade is now being achieved in just 24 months. Now that we know rapid and massive scale up of HIV programmes is possible, we need to do more,” he said in his message for the Day. However, as of December 2011, even if over 100,000 more children were receiving antiretroviral treatment (ART) compared to 2010,  less than one-third of children and pregnant women were receiving the treatment they needed, as opposed to the global average of 54 per cent for adults overall.

“We must do still more to help mothers and children who live with HIV be able to live free from AIDS. We must rededicate ourselves to boosting the number of pregnant women and children being tested and treated through basic antenatal and child health programmes,” said UNICEF’s Executive Director, Anthony Lake.

Good nutrition is vital for the health and survival of all people, but it is particularly important for people with HIV and AIDS, the Executive Director of the UN World Food Programme (WFP), Ertharin Cousin, said in her message marking the Day.

The Director-General of the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), Irina Bokova, noted that progress must strengthen the determination to create a world free of AIDS: “HIV and AIDS can be conquered through renewed commitment and sustained solidarity. For this, we need to use every resource as best we can and draw on all available evidence,” she said.

The agency works for the ‘triple zero’ goal by supporting countries to improve HIV and age-appropriate sexuality education for young people, as well as tackling gender inequalities since women and girls are severely affected by HIV and bear the greatest burden of care.

UNAIDS said it has harnessed the energy and creativity of youth and the fashion world in support of the global HIV response, with 11 young designers having joined together to create an exclusive collection of tops and t-shirts for Italian fashion retailer OVS.

Among those participating in the initiative – part of the “Make Love With” campaign, launched by OVS in partnership with UNAIDS – are Lavinia Biagiotti, Rachele Cavalli, Louis Marie de Castelbajac, Maria Sole Ferragamo, Marta Ferri, Alessandra Gucci, Alice Lemoine, Talitha Puri Negri, Lola Toscani, Rocco Toscani and Francesca Versace.

The National Museum aims to tell the story of South Sudan and its people. Therefore, as many people as possible will be consulted to provide their inputs and ideas on how this story should be told.

The experts, from the British group Metaphor, will give public lectures at universities, organize workshops with high school youth, hold meetings with government and parliament officials, and conduct field visits. There will also be social media platforms to engage young people and especially the large number of South Sudanese living abroad.

The absence of a traditional arts collection, combined with the unique historic context of South Sudan and the role that the National Museum is to play as a symbol of nationhood and democracy, requires the conceptual design of the National Museum to precede any planning of the construction and development of the institution.

South Sudan became the world’s newest country in July 2011 after decades of nearly continuous conflict. . Understanding and promoting the country’s rich diversity represents a key part of the solution as well as one of its main challenges. Culture lies at the basis of sustainable peace and development in South Sudan.

The young Government of South Sudan is working towards fostering a national identity that respects its diversity, which will be among the key requirements for sustaining peace and social stability.

Significant progress has been made in recent years, but South Sudan remains one of the most under-developed countries in the world and the government is facing one of the largest capacity gaps with over half of its civil servants having completed primary education. State-level institutions, capacities and relevant policies need to be built, including in r the culture sector, which has currently no institutions or policies in place.

South Sudan’s first National Museum will be created taking into account the country’s development challenges at all levels. It will be accessible to a population (73% of which is illiterate) and will feature an outreach programme that allows for the participation of even the most remote communities in the country. The building will take into account South Sudan’s energy restraints, and the need to use sustainable building technologies.

According to an UNESCO announcement, the potential of the first National Museum is an important -and neglected- resource in the construction of South Sudan; not only embodied in its intrinsic link with the culture and history of the country, but also in the institution’s potential contribution tto promoting education and life-long learning as well as a participatory and democratic society. A museum that tells stories and teaches history through objects, sound recordings, written texts and video images; a museum about South Sudan’s people, about the different cultures and communities, the customs and traditions, the refugees, returnees and diaspora, the young and the old, the women and the men; a museum about arts, crafts and cultural expressions

It is hoped that the National Museum of South Sudan will be a place where South Sudan’s people, their culture and their history are presented in an innovative and interactive manner. It will be a place for learning – about South Sudan, its culture and heritage, the struggle for independence, and the creation of a new state. It will provide an opportunity to move beyond an identity based on independence and conflict alone, by highlighting the rich heritage of its people. As such, the National Museum will need to be designed as an interactive educational institution, reflecting South Sudan’s rich cultural diversity.

In spite of it, people have been given the chance to savour righteous pride, to take a break from the ill socio-economical image the country is currently associated with. Due to it, some might find the courage to gaze at the monsters we all need to face; others might do it with a sense of humor, because Greece fosters a hero for every demon that sees the light of the day.

With this idea in mind, and the understanding that Greece is arguably Europe’s new ‘Monster’, the design company Beetroot reversed the meaning of the monster, and re-invented it, paying special attention to what is most needed today: prospective.

Beetroot’s powerful re-introduction of a Greek creativity in the European world of design won the red-dot Communication Design Award, which nominated the company ‘the Agency of the Year 2011′; another reason of pride for the Greek people.

The results can be admired in the exhibition The Greek Monsters, currently at the Benaki Museum in Athens. Beetroot’s particular take on the subject makes sure that the visitor understands the dual meaning each monster embodies; especially when it comes to the function of perpetrator and victim. In this game of shadows and mirrors, key philosophical stands and design’s practices are well explored. All exhibits are inspired by the vivid ancient Greek mythology but depart from the most traditional design. An original poem by Paris Mexis is put side by side a neo-black figure that embodies the principle each monster stands for. In so doing, this game of montage achieves a vivid visual narration, and links each figure with symbols against racism, generalization and exclusion, which resonate in our society. As a result, each monster welcomes the person facing it as a post- modern identity that is both timeless and global.

If Olympiacos’ victory is the most visible achievement, and one the media cannot deny, there are several examples of well-developed work in the country, which tend to go unnoticed. These cases might not attract much attention, but they are not less representative of the kind of heroes Greece needs to fight the monsters within her heart.

If you do not know what I am talking about, I would suggest a visit to the Benaki museum. Once you find yourself face to face with your favourite monster, laugh and cry with it, and maybe gain forgotten prospective, you might even bring home Cerberus’ comforting lines as I did, and feel hope in your heat:

‘Sentinel of the truth

I watch

the before

the now

the after

My work ceases time

and when the anxiety

comes to an end

Harmony remains.’