Public Policy

~ Declare That People with Disabilities Get HIV Due to Discrimination and Exclusion ~

~ Demand Immediate Inclusion in HIV/AIDS Research and Programming to End A Generation of Neglect ~

Today people living with disabilities - including people living with HIV/AIDS and disabilities - and allies will convene at an historic AIDS2008 satellite session to demand that international AIDS community end decades of neglect of this population, who lives at heightened risk of HIV acquisition and morbidity.  AIDS-Free World and Disabled Peoples' International will call for immediate inclusion in HIV/AIDS research agendas, data collection and programming for prevention, treatment and care.

At an August 4 press conference organized by AIDS-Free World and Disabled People's International, activists and researchers laid out the context that makes people living with disabilities especially vulnerable to HIV.  At least 10% of the world's population - 650 Million people - has a disability affecting their daily lives.  Globally, most people with disabilities face poverty, stigma, social isolation and marginalization, and 80% dwell in rural areas of developing countries.  read more »

 An alliance of housing activists took over the space just outside the media center Tuesday at 1pm with a model encampment to dramatize the international crisis of homelessness. Demanding that policymakers recognize that housing needs to be an integral part of any response to the AIDS pandemic, they chanted, "Housing is a human right!" and "Que Queremos? Vivienda Digna!" (What do we want? Housing with dignity!)  read more »

Kormix, a hip-hop group of youth from Cambodia, performed today at the opening ceremony of the Global Village. Their rhymes in English and Khmer talk about the rough conditions of street life, like drug use and the vulnerability to HIV. In a workshop before the event, Andrew Hunter of the Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers explained that the teens in Kormix are themselves affected by a UNAIDS policy that the network is protesting. The policy labels them as "street youth at risk for trafficking."

The Network has an excellent overview of how this policy hurts sex workers and youth. Also check out Darby Hickey's previous post about sex workers rights in Cambodia. She speaks also about the new Cambodian law that is hurting sex workers and HIV prevention.  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

 read more »