Drugs

(good thing we're all working on that!)

 

The venerable medical journal the Lancet dedicated its pre-IAC issue to HIV-prevention, what editor Richard Horton called “the neglected issue in the AIDS response.” On Wednesday, contributing authors called for a reinvigorated movement for prevention that demands a comprehensive, multifaceted approach, including structural change. Mirroring the Caucus for Evidence Based Prevention critiques of narrow definitions of evidence, the distinguished panel also called for investment in flexibile, realistic monitoring and evaluation mechanisms.

 

Jeffery O’Malley, director of the HIV and AIDS group at the UN Development Program, opened with the history of HIV-prevention, urging us to remember when prevention and epidemiology were all the AIDS community had enough information talk about. In the early 80s, he recalled, “gay men and drag queens invented safe sex, and they still haven’t been given the Nobel Prize.”

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You don't need to know Spanish (which I don't) to understand this video and these photos. We demand fair drug prices for Abbott's Kaletra.  read more »

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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 »

by Annelies Mesman, youth rapporteur and CHOICE board member, and Vanessa Brocato

“Universal Action Now!”— more than 300 young people from around the world gathered for 3 days before the International AIDS Conference to empower each other to move beyond rhetoric to concrete action.  As part of Mexico YouthForce, young leaders led discussions on not only HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care but also the range of sexual and reproductive health and rights and social justice issues that intersect with and complicate responses to AIDS.

“Hope is here.  Adults don’t know the challenges we are facing; they are guessing.  You can never be successful if you design any program for young people without them.  This is for all the adults here: Let the Mexico YouthForce speak!” said Igor Mocorro, a 21 year old from the Philippines.

Prior to this event, 125 young people from 46 countries worked together, communicating virtually, to create key messages of the Mexico YouthForce.  Throughout the Banamex, posters will carry the following resulting slogans:

•    Rights: we have a right to comprehensive, accurate information and services to protect our sexual health.
•    Respect: for our realities, our experiences, and our contributions.  read more »

We've got the August 2008 special issue of AIDS which will be released at the IAC. The theme of this special issue is LEAP: Leadership, Equity, Accountability, and Partnerships to provide concrete recommendations for implementing the Ford Foundation's Global HIV/AIDS Initiative. We applaud the journal, the Ford Foundation and the authors for their emphasis on social justice.

Click the article title to jump to the abstract and PDF.

» Creating a world that survives, and thrives, with AIDS
» Moving beyond the alphabet soup of HIV prevention
» The next 5 years of global HIV/AIDS policy: critical gaps and strategies for effective responses
» Leadership development and HIV/AIDS
» Wealth, health, HIV and the economics of hope
» Gender and AIDS: time to act
» Stigma in the HIV/AIDS epidemic: a review of the literature and recommendations for the way forward
» The role of harm reduction in controlling HIV among injecting drug users
» Refocusing and prioritizing HIV programmes in conflict and post-conflict settings: funding recommendations
» Accountability in the global response to HIV: measuring progress, driving change
» Health and human rights in today's fight against HIV/AIDS

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