policy

Young people --predominantly young women -- make up 40% of new HIV infections worldwide (UNAIDS, 2007). And during a workshop session on August 2 for the Youth Pre-Conference, young men and women proved that they are capable of making sound policy recommendations when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health and rights.

I co-facilitated a workshop session entitled Understanding Public Policy, with Brian Ackerman of Advocates for Youth and Andrew Francis of Jamaica Youth Advocacy Network. We led an exercise where young participants deconstructed proposed legislation, U.S. global AIDS policy, and ABC (Abstain, Be Faithful, and Use Condoms) policy guidance distributed by the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator. Afterwards, the participants broke out into groups to develop sound policy recommendations based on that deconstruction for presentation to lawmakers and governments responsible for overseeing the implementation of global AIDS policy through programs and services.  read more »

The remainder of an 8 hour work day

My day ended today playing the role of "mama-san" in Empower's newest intereactive presentation, a game really, about the realities (fun and challenging) of sex work in Thailand, 7:55, or what sex work is when you're not having sex

    Sex! Sex! Sex!

    Libraries are about to burst open... they're overflowing with information about sex and sex workers! AIDS researcher centers drowning in data about us and sex... thesis after thesis on how we do it, why we do it, how to do it safely with us. Seems about sex workers is covered again and again... everyong in the whole world seems to know and have an expert opinion, paper or presentation about us to put forward at any conference whether local, national regional or itnernational.

    ...but maybe you never considered that the part of our work that has filled the academic halls with mountains of data, statistics and tehaories... is a tiny tiny part of out work... just like a small 5 minutes of our working shift!

So began our latest adventure with Empower, one of the strongest most inspiring sex worker groups in the world. It's important for people to understand that sex workers, like all people, have many other things besides how/why we have sex that affect our ability to be safe, in all manners of the term including from HIV.  read more »

As tens of thousands of people from all corners of the world descend on Mexico City this week for the 17^th International AIDS Conference, Mexico is dressing up much like a celebrity adorning a red ribbon before the Oscars.

This is the Olympics of AIDS and we’ve just landed in Beijing.

At Centro Banamex, the 19,000 square-feet facility hosting the conference, signs were going up all day as exhibitors, media, and participants filed in to leave tons (literally) of palm cards, posters, reports, and flyers intended for destinations far and wide. Nearly everyone left with conference totes and the 420-page conference programme.

An enormous tent city housing a food court and the “global village” of community and charity events was erected behind Banamex in the middle of an expansive horseracing stadium.

At the media center, staff scrambled to re-establish an Internet connection for a bank of two dozen computer terminals awaiting the legions of journalists that will be covering the conference.  read more »