“Art and AIDS have been inextricably linked throughout the epidemic’s quarter of a century history. Art has conveyed what words alone cannot.” UNAIDS Executive Director, Peter Piot.

World AIDS day 2007 marked the first anniversary of the UNAIDS’ Art for AIDS collection—an art collection created to recognize the role art has played in the response to AIDS. From AIDS quilts in America to memory books in Africa, from painting, multi-media to sculpture—AIDS has influenced art and the artistic world.

The pieces in the collection have been chosen to provoke thought and dialogue around some of the most difficult issues around AIDS. With an initial emphasis on contemporary African art, the collection has grown to more than 60 museum quality pieces thanks to the involvement of artists, collectors and donors around the world.

In this, the first of a special three-part series, www.unaids.org tells the story of the collection and its creators.

Ghanaian artist El Anatsui, uses pieces of found meal such as
bottle caps that he twisted and strung together to create a
commentary on AIDS and the AIDS response.

Among the pieces in the UNAIDS permanent collection is ‘Crust of the Earth’ a mixed media metals sculpture by Ghanaian artist El Anatsui. Drawing from his environment, El Anatsui uses pieces of found meal such as bottle caps that he twisted and strung together to create a commentary on AIDS and the AIDS response. One of India’s best known artists, Maqbool Fida Hussain, created ‘Mother Theresa’ a painting for the permanent collection. This oil on canvas depicts a mother and child shown together—symbolizing the hope that exists in the response to AIDS.

“I’m so please we are able to share works by leading artists in the world. These are artists whose pieces have graced the walls of the Tate Modern in London, the Guggenheim in Bilbao, and the Pompidou in Paris.” said Annemarie Hou, UNAIDS Chief of Communications and Knowledge Sharing and curator of the UNAIDS collection.

With names such as ‘Courage’,
‘Compassion’ and ‘Community of
Love’, Fisher—who is openly living
with HIV— expresses her feelings on
AIDS.

Throughout the lobby of the building are seven towering sculptures generously donated to the UNAIDS permanent collection by UNAIDS Special Representative, artist and author Mary Fisher. With names such as ‘Courage’, ‘Compassion’ and ‘Community of Love’, Fisher—who is openly living with HIV— expresses her feelings on AIDS and the response. And outside the UNAIDS building, stands the statue ‘Eradication’ by Zimbabwean artists Mike Munyaradzi. To the artist, the statue symbolizes “the fragile world we live in today”. The hollowed sphere signifies the destruction of our globe and the difficult issues of our time, including AIDS. The leaf represents hope and the life we are struggling to sustain.

The permanent collection also includes a number of stunning photographs by Gideon Mendell and Jonathan Torgovnik. Torgovnik recently won the UK National Portrait Gallery's Portrait Photographic Prize for his work to give a voice to the women that were raped during the genocide, had a child and contracted HIV.

In addition to the permanent collection, UNAIDS has been fortunate to be granted the loan of a number of other museum quality pieces.

In addition to the permanent collection, UNAIDS
has been fortunate to be granted the loan of a
number of other museum quality pieces.

“We are very fortunate to have art on loan from the Jean Pigozzi Geneva collection,” said Ms Hou. “ Pigozzi’s collection, one of the most important in the world, includes works of artists that live and work in sub-Saharan Africa who use different formats of expression ranging from paintings and sculptures to video and multi-media,” she added.

Also exhibited are pieces loaned by the ‘ArtAids’ organization, founded by Dutch writer and art collector Han Nefkens, who set up the organization to “use art to increase involvement with AIDS issues so that real contributions can be made towards creating a better existence for people living with HIV. The proceeds of the sale of works commissioned by ArtAids will provide people living with HIV with medical care to which they would otherwise not have access.

Arte carte - browse online

Accompanying the art collection, UNAIDS has also produced the ‘Art for AIDS art carte’ which catalogues the collection pieces in words and pictures. This art carte is available in hard copy and is now available to browse online, through the new e-book feature.

“The collection and the accompanying arte carte, are designed to enable as many people as possible to enjoy and benefit from this inspiring work. Several pieces have provoked hallway conversations and heated discussions—to hear people talk about the art was when we knew the collection was working,” Annemarie Hou said.

Three-part series on Art for AIDS:
Part 1: Art for AIDS: A sculptor’s voice
Part 2: Art as an inspiration
Part 3: More than words: ART for AIDS

In the first of a special three-part web series, www.unaids.org looks at the state of research into new HIV prevention technologies, the ethical debates around the issue, and the steps that have been taken to answer the concerns. The question of HIV trials, and in particular the involvement of women and adolescent girls in them, will be the subject of a two-day conference being hosted by UNAIDS in Geneva December 10-11.

Nearly three decades after AIDS began ringing global alarm bells, no vaccine is in sight and medical advances are still urgently needed. Some significant progress has been seen – biomedical prevention modalities which have been proven highly effective in randomised controlled trials, such as prevention of mother-to-child transmission and male circumcision for HIV risk reduction— still have suboptimal coverage in the most affected countries. Concerted efforts are underway to expand access to these two HIV prevention tools, however nevertheless, the prevention ‘tool box’ needs to be expanded to provide people with additional choices, particularly for prevention of sexual transmission of HIV.

But medical breakthroughs in such a complex disease not only take time—seeking them also poses special practical and, perhaps more critically, ethical problems because of the inevitable need for testing eventually to be done on humans. In recent years, there has been criticism from activist and human rights campaigners about perceived failings in the organisation of human trials. Argument has focused on suggestions of insufficient involvement of local communities in the low- and middle-income countries chosen as sites for testing in the decisions that surround trials, or on the alleged inadequacy of information or guarantees for volunteers taking part in them.

The often very public disputes that ensue have led UNAIDS and other international organisations involved in the AIDS response to refine guidelines for the ethical conduct of human trials.

Need as great as ever

According to the latest data released by UNAIDS and WHO, nearly 7,000 people are newly infected with HIV every day, while the daily death toll from AIDS stands at nearly 6,000 per day, putting it in the top rank of global killers. In sub-Saharan Africa, home to 22.5 million people living with HIV (68% of the global total), AIDS is the primary cause of premature death. Although scientists have succeeded in developing drugs that can prolong the lives of those living with HIV, only a minority of people in need of treatment in developing and middle-income countries has access to it.

Since their launch in 1996, antiretroviral drugs (ARVs) have revolutionised the treatment of HIV-related illness and prolonged and improved the quality of life for people living with HIV in countries where they are available and affordable. But in poorer countries, and particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, where women and adolescent girls make up 61% of the population living with HIV, the cost of drugs remains a huge deterrent to their use, and this is particularly so of second line drugs which people need once first line regimens are no longer as effective for them. “Halting the spread of HIV remains an imperative as each new infection translates into eventual treatment demand. Finding ways to slow HIV transmission is a top research priority,” said UNAIDS Chief Scientific Adviser, Catherine Hankins. “Speeding the search for a biomedical breakthrough to complement changes in social norms and behaviours remains urgent.”

The International Aids Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) estimates that— conservatively—an effective HIV preventive vaccine could avoid almost 1-in-5 of a projected 150 million new infections – that is 30 million – in coming decades. A highly effective vaccine could prevent 70 million infections in 15 years, it says. Modelling of the potential impact of male circumcision in sub-Saharan Africa suggests that male circumcision could avert 2 million new HIV infections and 300,000 deaths over the next ten years and avert a further 3.7 million new HIV infections and 2.7 million deaths in the decade thereafter.

Trials underway

There are currently some 50 vaccine trials underway, or scheduled, in a record number of over 30 countries, ranging from the United States to Uganda. Much of the cutting-edge research is being carried out in Asia and Africa, where most of the new HIV infections are occurring. But the announcement in September 2007 of the discontinuation of a leading HIV Merck vaccine candidate being tested in trials underlines how difficult this type of research and development is and shows just how far there is still to go before a vaccine becomes available.

There are many other prevention strategies undergoing human testing. These include vaginal microbicides, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), suppression of herpes simplex 2 infection and treating the infected partner in serodiscordant couples to see if it reduces HIV transmission.

Vaginal microbicides come in the form of creams, gels, suppositories, films, sponges or rings that release anti-HIV microbicide over time and could afford protection against other sexually transmitted diseases. If spermicidal, they might also be used for preventing unintended pregnancy. The ideal product would be odourless and colourless. As such, microbicides could increase the options for women who find it difficult or impossible to persuade their partners to use a condom. PrEP is another experimental prevention strategy which is being tried out in many parts of the world. It consists of anti-retroviral medications, taken as a single drug or as a combination, on a daily basis, with the intention of protecting people from acquiring HIV.

The successes achieved so far in the response to AIDS, and future hopes for further advances, have and will depend on such human trials.

Scientists may get promising results in laboratory experiments and from studying animals, but at the end of the day, the only way to find out whether a biomedical HIV prevention strategy is effective, whether a vaccine triggers an immune response to impede or delay the development of disease, whether an intervention has side effects, and the frequency and severity of them, the implications for drug resistance, is to try the strategy out on people.

Protecting rights

Getting scientifically valid research requires that trials be carried out where there are sufficiently high numbers of infected people, and people at high risk of HIV exposure, and where effective interventions will have the greatest effect. This often means dealing with some of the most socially vulnerable sectors of society, whether they are women and girls in sub-Saharan Africa, sex workers, men who have sex with men or injecting drug users. And often, people most at risk may not be well placed to protect their rights in the run-up to and the preparation of testing, during the trial programme itself or in its aftermath.

A lack of information and the relative powerlessness of some communities could produce situations in which there is an unequal power relationship between research sponsors and trial investigators, on the one hand, and communities and trial participants on the other. People could, for example, opt to take part out of the false belief that there will be some immediate therapeutic benefit to them, which could even lead them to behave in a more risky fashion because they feel protected. Building research literacy and community capacity to engage meaningfully in trial design, conduct, monitoring and results dissemination is essential to minimising harms and maximising the benefits for communities of participation in research.

Ethical questions

One of the most controversial incidents in the history of AIDS research occurred in the early 1990s during testing of a shorter, simpler, and presumably cheaper version of perinatal zidovudine prophylaxis. Zidovudine was already known to be an effective barrier to the transmission of HIV from a mother to her unborn or newly born infant. The trials involved randomised placebo-controlled tests and were carried out in a number of developing countries. Activists argued that a placebo controlled trial amounted to a violation of fundamental ethical principles because those being given the placebo were being denied a treatment that had already proved its worth elsewhere. Zidovudine was one of the milestones in HIV research and had been shown to cut mother-to-child transmission by over 60%, offering tremendous hope to pregnant women. Subsequent improvements have reduced such transmissions in high-income countries to just 1-2 percent.

Another well-known incident surrounded randomised placebo-controlled trials for tenofovir disoproxil fumarate used as PrEP, in Cambodia and Cameroon in 2004-5. The Cambodian trial involving sex workers was halted by the government when no agreement was reached on future access to treatment for those who became infected during the trial. The affair generated much adverse news coverage and the Cameroon government followed suit in suspending the trial underway there.

In Thailand, a trial in which the participants were injecting drug users was criticised by activists for not providing clean needles. In one protest that gained much publicity, the activist group Act-Up Paris stormed the display stand of tenofovir’s manufacturer, Gilead, during the 2004 International AIDS Society Conference.

Health community responds

Much has been learned and acted upon from these experiences. For example, in 1993 the Council for International Organisations of Medical Sciences (CIOMS) issued international ethical guidelines for biomedical research involving human subjects that stated that there was an ethical responsibility to provide treatment that conforms to the standard of care in the sponsoring country when possible.

In 2000 came the fifth revision of the Declaration of Helsinki with its stipulation that all those involved in studies be assured of the best “proven diagnostic and therapeutic method”. The same year saw publication of the UNAIDS guidance document “Ethical considerations in HIV preventive vaccine research” which has now been substantially revised in 2007 in collaboration with WHO and an expert panel to reflect changes, particularly changes in standard of prevention and access to care. “Ethical considerations in biomedical HIV prevention trials” contains 19 guidance points for ensuring that scientifically rigorous biomedical HIV prevention trials meet ethical standards.

In 2005, following the tenofovir case, UNAIDS and others organised consultations focusing on ‘partnerships’ with communities, their involvement, standards of prevention and access to care. This led to UNAIDS producing in collaboration with AVAC “Good Participatory Practice Guidelines for Biomedical HIV Prevention Trials,” It covers core principles and essential activities throughout the research life-cycle, providing a foundation for community engagement in research.

“With solid international guidance in place for community engagement and the ethical conduct of trials, there is anticipation that research, both underway in the field and planned, can offer a number of promising new avenues to prevent HIV transmission, improve treatment and mitigate against the epidemic’s impact,” said Dr Hankins.

The question of HIV trials, and in particular the involvement of women and adolescent girls in them, will be the subject of a two-day conference being hosted by UNAIDS in Geneva December 10-11. On Wednesday 5 December, part two of this special web series will take a closer look at the history and debates around the involvement of women and girls in trials. Part three, to be published on Friday 7 December will preview the Geneva meeting, featuring interviews with the four organizing partners UNAIDS, The Global Coalition on Women and Girls, Tibotec and the International Center for Research on Women (ICRW).

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (fifth from right)
and his wife Yoo Soon-taek (fourth from right) with
members of UNPlus—the UN System HIV Positive
Staff Group, at the opening of the UNPlus
photographic exhibition and launch of their
calendar, in observance of World AIDS Day 2007.
Photo credit: UN/Paulo Figueiras

In observance of World AIDS Day 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his wife Yoo Soon-taek opened a photographic exhibition entitled "UN Plus" at the United Nations headquarters in New York with the members of UNPlus - the UN System HIV Positive Staff Group.

UNPlus also marked the occasion with the launch of their new calendar, which features photos of UN staff ‘living positively’ and which has been distributed around the world.

UNPlus was initiated in March 2005 by a group of UN staff members living with HIV, with the support of the UNAIDS secretariat, to create a more enabling environment of all HIV-positive staff members, irrespective of the level of disclosure of their HIV status. UNPlus aims to create an organized and effective voice for people living with HIV within the United Nations system that challenges stigma and discrimination, and contributes to the development of and improvement of existing policies on HIV among United Nations agencies.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (second from right),
and members of UNPlus tour the UNPlus
photographic exhibition, in observance of the
World AIDS Day.Photo credit: UN/Paulo Figueiras

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon first met UNPlus in May 2007, as part of the 61st session of the General Assembly, to discuss the opportunities and challenges that UN positive staff face at work.

Describing his first meeting with the group as “one of the most moving experiences” of his life, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon vowed to step up efforts to eliminate the stigma that still surrounds people living with AIDS in so many countries.

Mr. Ban said he was touched by the courage shown by the members of UNPlus, as well as the directness with which they spoke about their lives.

Links:
More on World AIDS Day
UN Plus meets UN Secretary-General (May 2007)
Visit UNplus web site

2007 World AIDS Day events

This year's World AIDS Day theme – leadership – reminds us that, from government leaders to individuals, we all have a leadership role to play in the AIDS response and we are all accountable for the promises made. On 1 December UNAIDS participated in events around the globe to commemorate this special day of remembrance and hope.
View UNAIDS in action on World AIDS day in the special photo gallery

UNAIDS Executive Director marks World AIDS Day
In Mexico, UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot joined government and civil society representatives and people living with HIV to commemorate World AIDS Day 2007. Throughout the events, Dr Piot underlined the importance of continued leadership on AIDS issues. “Sustaining leadership and accelerating action on AIDS… requires us all to focus on AIDS every day of the year,” he said in his statement marking the Day.
Read UNAIDS Executive Director's speech ( es )
View photo gallery

UNAIDS joins French President at World AIDS Day gathering

On World AIDS Day 2007, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Michel Sidibe joined governmental and civil society representatives at a meeting with the President of France, Nicolas Sarkozy, to discuss AIDS and the global response, and to mark the International Day. The meeting provided a key opportunity for UNAIDS and civil society to brief the French President on the global AIDS epidemic and for discussions on critical issues including universal access to treatment and the situation for women and girls within the AIDS response.

UN Secretary-General opens UN Plus exhibition

In observance of World AIDS Day 2007, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his wife Yoo Soon-taek opened a photographic exhibition entitled "UN Plus" at the United Nations headquarters in New York with the members of UNPlus - the UN System HIV Positive Staff Group.
Read more

Geneva's candlelight march

In Geneva, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Deborah Landey joined other representatives from the UN family, missions, people living with HIV, faith communities and civil society groups, in a candlelight march to commemorate World AIDS Day and to celebrate the leaders and communities worldwide who are setting example, taking initiative and helping the world to keep its promise to act on AIDS. During the march, Geneva’s famous ‘jet d’eau’ turned red to mark the international day.
 View photo gallery

World AIDS Day - Statements

On 1 December, people around the world commemorate World AIDS Day. This year, World AIDS Day focuses on ‘leadership’, the theme set by the World AIDS Campaign under the five-year slogan “Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise”. Marking the day, the United Nations Secretary General, the Executive Director of UNAIDS and UNAIDS cosponsors and key partners speak out in special World AIDS Day statements.
Read statements

AIDS Perspectives 2007 - DVD

The UNAIDS/Face of AIDS DVD AIDS Perspectives 2007 is a seven minute collection of stories from around the world focusing on efforts taking place to respond to AIDS. Linking to the 2007 World AIDS Day theme of ‘Leadership’, the film focuses on young people and the work they are doing to lead the AIDS response into future. The film contains clips from Cambodia, USA, Mexico, the Russian Federation, Botswana and India.
View DVD - AIDS Perspectives 2007

Credit: UNICEF video

Roger Federer speaks out on World AIDS Day
Roger Federer, the Association of Tennis Professionals world number-one tennis player and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, took a break from his whirlwind schedule of tournaments, grand slams and public appearances to record a video message raising awareness about AIDS.
Read more

Leading cricketers show support for World Aids Day

As part of the partnership between the International Cricket Council and UNAIDS, many of the world’s leading cricketers will show their support for people living with HIV when they wear red ribbons in international matches taking place on 1st and 2nd December.
Read more

MTV launches ‘Staying Alive’ website

MTV Networks International has re-launched www.staying-alive.org, the online portal for the company’s Staying Alive campaign. With the site, Staying Alive—the world’s biggest youth focused HIV prevention campaign—provides young people with a unique platform to exchange views on life, love and relationships while also accessing vital information on HIV prevention.
Read more

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Piot, called on
religious leaders to scale up efforts to promote
tolerance: to denounce discrimination and violence
based on gender, sexual orientation or social status,
and to eradicate the stigma around AIDS.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot spoke at the Saddleback Church Global AIDS Summit in Lake Forest, California.  Dr Piot noted the unique and important role in the global AIDS response of religious groups of all kinds, which provide HIV treatment, care and support in some of the remotest parts of the world.

He called on religious leaders to scale up efforts to promote tolerance: to denounce discrimination and violence based on gender, sexual orientation or social status, and to eradicate the stigma around AIDS. He encouraged them to reach out to groups who are marginalized by society and as a result at greater risk of HIV infection. 

"A quarter century into the AIDS response, it is time to take stock of the progress we've made, and consolidate and scale up what's working," said Dr Piot. "It is also time to recognize that all of us can, and must, do more, if we are to get ahead of the epidemic."

Leadership was an important theme of the summit, and was the focus of speeches from Dr Piot and United States Global AIDS Coordinator Ambassador Mark Dybul who spoke in a session called ‘Excellence in Global Leadership’. Also speaking on the topic were leaders from the Organization of African First Ladies Against AIDS – Her Excellency, Mrs. Jeannette Kagame, First Lady of Rwanda and Her Excellency, Mrs. Maureen Mwanawasa, First Lady of Zambia.

The Saddleback Summit was organized by Saddleback Church founder Rick Warren and his wife Kay Warren, Executive Director of the church’s AIDS initiative, as an avenue for attendees to learn more about AIDS and coordinate their efforts to address the disease. The summit is taking place from November 28-30.  A youth summit is scheduled to follow on December 1.

MTV's Staying Alive web site provides young
people with a unique platform to exchange views
on life, love and relationships while also accessing
vital information on HIV prevention.

MTV Networks International today (Thursday 29 November) announced the re-launch of http://www.staying-alive.org/, the online portal for the company’s Staying Alive campaign. With the site, Staying Alive—the world’s biggest youth focused HIV prevention campaign—provides young people with a unique platform to exchange views on life, love and relationships while also accessing vital information on HIV prevention.

Multi-platinum selling artists including Kanye West and Nelly Furtado are among a host of celebrities who share their personal stories and offer life-saving advice exclusively on MTV’S Staying Alive website. Nelly Furtado encourages women to carry their own condoms, as she reveals she was 26 when she bought her first pack of condoms.

Digital technologies, particularly the internet, are increasingly integrated into young people’s lives across the globe, transforming how they communicate with each other. These platforms are providing opportunities for young people to find critical life-saving information on HIV.

Some 33 million people are now connected to the internet in Africa - a continent where 22.5 million people, two-thirds of the world’s population living with HIV, live. Since 2001, internet use in South America has grown by over 374%, and by 832% across the Caribbean, both areas that are heavily affected by AIDS.

“The internet is one of the most effective ways of getting out education messages to young people. It’s a vital resource in the fight against the spread of HIV,” said Georgia Arnold, Head of Public Affairs for MTV Networks International. “Young people continue to be disproportionately affected by HIV. Of the 5,800 adults infected every day 40% are young people aged 15-24 years old ”.

Much of its content for the Staying Alive web site will be generated by young people around the world through audio, video and still pictures. In one vlog, Natalia Cales, a native of South Carolina, USA, shares her experience of caring for a mother during her last months living with HIV, while in China, Yongshi Deng unveils the shocking levels of ignorance among youth who believe HIV is only in Africa or among gay men in the USA.

A host of artists appear on the website in support, including: Enrique Iglesias, Kelly Rowland, Macy Gray, Sum 41, James Blunt, Wayne Wonder, Good Charlotte and MIMS among others and will appear on MTV channels worldwide to promote staying-alive.org.

The site is available in English, French, Arabic, Chinese, Dutch, German, Italian, Japanese, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Serbian and Spanish.

MTV’s Staying Alive is a multimedia global HIV prevention campaign to challenge AIDS-related stigma and discrimination. The UNAIDS Secretariat and UNFPA have partnered with MTV, providing funding and technical assistance on key AIDS issues. UNICEF and the World Bank also provide support.

Visit the Staying Alive web site

In advance of World AIDS Day, UNAIDS cosponsor organizations the World Food Programme and the World Bank have released reports focusing on AIDS, nutrition, and food security.

Hunger and Health – the World Food Programme

In Rome, Italy, the World Food Programme (WFP) launched their ‘Hunger and Health’ report – the second in a series launched in 2006 with Hunger and Learning—which highlights the vital link between food assistance and effective antiretroviral treatment in developing countries. At the launch, the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy for Africa, Elizabeth Mataka, gave a special statement, where she underlined that “ Inequitable access to food may force people to engage in risky behaviour that can lead to their being infected with HIV. And if people can’t get hold of enough food, the efficacy of anti-retroviral treatment is seriously undermined.”

Read more on WFP's publication 'Hunger and Health'
Read Elizabeth Mataka's statement

“HIV/AIDS, Nutrition and Food Security: What We Can Do’ – the World Bank

The World Bank and partners launched the ‘HIV/AIDS, Nutrition and Food Security: What We Can Do’ report— a synthesis of existing international technical guidance on AIDS, nutrition, and food security, which is a valuable contribution to efforts that support the integration of nutrition and AIDS projects and programmes.

Read more on the World Bank's publication "HIV/AIDS, Nutrition, and Food Security: What We Can Do"

The conference brings together Islamic scholars,
AIDS practitioners and people living with HIV to
help generate and develop practical responses to
AIDS by the Islamic community.
Photo credit: Islamic Relief

“UNAIDS welcomes the involvement of Islamic religious leaders and scholars in the response to AIDS,” said UNAIDS Director of Partnerships and External Relations Elhadj As Sy during the plenary address of the ‘Islam and AIDS’ conference taking place in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 26 – 30 November. “The key messages of this conference are to halt the spread of HIV, care for the sick and eliminate stigma and discrimination faced by people living with HIV,” he added.

Hosted by Islamic Relief Worldwide, the conference brings together Islamic scholars from a diverse range of Islamic traditions, AIDS practitioners and people living with HIV to help generate and develop practical responses to AIDS by the Islamic community. “The conference aims to develop and subsequently apply approaches to AIDS which are both effective and Islamically sound. These approaches will be jointly developed and will be based on Islamic teachings of trust, respect and other examples of good practice. They will also build upon existing Muslim and interfaith declarations related to AIDS,” said the organizers.

Declarations of intent will be issued by each of the conference participants, stipulating what participants will do to contribute to addressing AIDS and to dealing with its consequences for individuals and communities.

Michel Sidibe, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director,
highlights the important role of parliamentarians
at the opening ceremonies of the First Global
Parliamentary Meeting on AIDS .
Photo credit: UNAIDS

The First Global Parliamentary Meeting on AIDS was opened on Wednesday 28 November in Manila by Mr Manny Villar, President of the Senate of the Philippines.

Around 200 participants from around the world are attending the three-day meeting which has been organized by the Inter-Parliamentary Union in cooperation with the Senate of the Philippines and in close collaboration with the United Nations Development Programme and the Secretariat of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

It is the first time that Parliaments from all over the world have been convened to jointly discuss the part they have to play in responding to the AIDS epidemic. The main aim of the event is to enhance the commitment and collaboration of Parliaments worldwide as crucial stakeholders in the AIDS response.

During his opening address, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Michel Sidibe highlighted the important role parliamentarians have to play in the global response to the epidemic, “As Parliamentarians you are opinion-leaders and decision-makers. What you say matters. You can encourage informed debate. You can address prejudice and misconceptions. You can lead by example,” he said.

Michel Anders B. Johnsson, Secretary General of
the Inter-Parliamentary Union, presents “The
Handbook on Taking Action”.
Photo credit: UNAIDS

The meeting is being held ahead of World AIDS Day (1 December) under the main theme of ‘Leadership’. In addition, five sub-themes will be discussed in plenary sessions or panel discussions; stigma and discrimination; affordability of drugs; vulnerable groups; legalization and criminalization issues; and budgeting.

A range of keynote speakers have been invited to contribute to the sessions including Dr Nafis Sadik, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy on AIDS for Asia and the Pacific, Mr Marcel van Soest, Executive Director of the World AIDS Campaign and Justice Michael Kirby, from the High Court of Australia.

One of the highlights of the meeting will be the launch of a handbook for Parliamentarians entitled, ‘Taking action against HIV’. The handbook will serve as both a call to action for parliamentary leadership and a reference book that parliamentarians and their staff may consult for information and guidance on specific issues in relation to the AIDS response.