Activism

As a committed SGACer and activist, the experience of going to the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City proved to be an amazing, draining, energizing and exhausting experience all wrapped up together. Getting on the 5:45 am shuttle from the hotel to the conference and not returning again via cab until after midnight is certainly tiring. I know that I definitely consumed a significant quantity of coffee just to be able to maintain some semblance of coherency and alertness—we all did! From speakers and sessions to the twice daily activist meetings, multiple protests a day, and meetings with people, we were kept pretty busy running around. However, my energy increased as the week progressed, in large part because of the passion from the people around me, and the realization that while much work has been done in the area of HIV/AIDS, there is still an enormous amount left to be done.

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Ok, I’m back…that wasn’t too long--was it?

Now—of course, the feminista in me always comes out, especially at a conference where there are so many opportunities to learn about what experts are doing at the policy and programmatic level to address gender inequities.   read more »

Today, I realized something. Well, maybe not realized something so much as had something reaffirmed. Bad guys are afraid of activists. We make them uncomfortable. We make them own up for failed policies. It’s no wonder that, over the past few days, many bad guys have refused to show up to sessions. They know we’re waiting to put them on the spot.

It started with Abbott. In 2004, activists targeted Abbott for high drug prices and a refusal to allow generic production of Kaletra. We targeted their booth, and by the time we were done, they knew how we felt about them. Then, in 2006, Abbott paid for space at the AIDS Conference, but never built a booth. This year, they didn’t even bother to rent space! Abbott, which makes the blockbuster AIDS drug Kaletra, isn’t in the Exhibition Hall pushing their fancy pens and free coffee on passersby this year. My guess – they’re afraid of the activists.  read more »

Click for Video

Kaytee already posted a great blog about ACT UP Paris' action earlier today--where they took over the beginning of Bristol-Myers Squibb Symposium entitled "Rethinking Initiation of HAART" to call attention to the fact that BMS is "rethinking" production of a key HIV medication for children--but I wanted to follow-up and share a quick video and some photos from the event.  read more »

You know the AIDS Conference has started when you hear the chants of activists resonate through the halls as they exit a conference room. So I'm happy to say - the AIDS Conference has officially started!

Activists have always played an important (and vocal) role at AIDS Conferences. This year is no exception. Today, more than a dozen activists, organized by ACT UP Paris, took the stage at a Bristol-Myers Squibb Symposium entitled "Rethinking Initiation of HAART" to call attention to the fact that BMS is "rethinking" production of a key HIV medication for children.

Accoring to TRT-5, the European AIDS Treatment Group and Sidaction, BMS stated in March 2008 that the company would stop the distribution of the 100mg pediatric capsule formulation of Sustiva/Stocrin (efavirez). Several countries are already experiencing stock-outs.

This medication, at the 100mg dosage level, works well in children, and is especially imporant considering that there are very few effective medications for children. Children who previously were taking 100mg efavirenz will have to change up their regimens, or will have to take more or larger pills (both of which are difficult for children in particular).  read more »

Hola companeros. This is my first blog of the conference, so I thought I'd open with a question. Not my question though...this one actually came from UNAIDS chief, Peter Piot during his keynote at the MSM pre-conference. In his remarks, Piot urged the audience not to forget HIV prevention activism, reminding us that it was the gay community in the 80s that invented it.

So what do you think folks? Has prevention activism been waning? Does it need a revival?

In my day job as a sexuality education advocate, I can report that in the US prevention advocacy around sexuality and HIV education is certainly alive and well. Advocacy is slightly different from activism, but the activism still pops up in local stories about students pinning condoms to their shirts in schools that teach abstinence-only-until-marriage programs or parents mounting a honk-and-wave campaign for responsible sex ed.

I should also give a hat tip here to CHAMP, who has been carrying the banner of prevention activism and prevention justice since it's inception.  read more »