World AIDS Conference 2008

July 15, 2010 10:56 am

by Suseelkumar, November 2008

Participating the World AIDS Conference and to be part of the ‘Community Tequio’, (Community Equip), was a lifetime experience. It was the first International Conference that I attended and must admit that I was not prepared to be part of such a huge gathering of 20,000 people.

We stayed at the Best West Hotel Majestic in the heart of the Mexico City, which was one of the boundaries for the grand open space, where there were flag hoisting parades every morning paying tradition to the first parliament held for the Country until two decades back. There was the Palace, which had been turned into Parliament after the Revolution, a Cathedral and an administrative building, which are reminiscent of the 18th Century architecture in Mexico.

We were 50 delegates there, representing the 25 Award Winning NGOs / CBOs from around the world and on 1st and 2nd August were briefed on the Community Tequio and the Inaugural Ceremony that was to be held on 3rd August, where the UN Secretary General was the chief guest. The ‘Community Tequio’, Community Dialogue Space was the forum created in the Global Village to show case the stories of success and the challenges faced by these NGOs / CBOs as well as to highlight the effectiveness and pivotal role of grassroots action worldwide in the field of HIV/AIDS.

My first observation about the activities of other NGOs was that the World over the activities were mostly community driven, where as in our country it is still through NGO based programmes. I felt that the major issues dealt or faced in African and Latin American areas are stigma and discrimination in the care and social integration. In that sense we, in India, is yet to give prominence beyond awareness activities and struck with nuances in the delivery of ART and segregating the high risks behaviours into communities of so and so, furthering endangering them to social labeling.

The world over, the movement is looking into the minute aspects of adverse effects on society, as a result of affliction, such as access to medicine and treatment, human rights, psycho social health, services to children orphaned by AIDS, vulnerability of other family members and advocacy instigating changes in policies and legislature for child custody, asset & property inheritance and prevention of trafficking.

We were also made aware the efforts for empowerment of women, involving women more in traditional councils, generation of community funding, change of attitude among Police, Administration and Judiciary, special programmes for the deaf and blind communities, alliances with faith based organizations, religious and opinion leaders to bring in an enabling environment for the society to respond to the situation.

Another pleasing aspect of the Conference was the presence of transgender and other sexual minorities vocalizing their existence and their involvement in HIV prevention, working for the care and support of people living with HIV/AIDS and the concerns they felt as barriers in the effort.

Daily deliberations at the Community Tequio celebrated success, shared knowledge, priorities and concerns. There were opportunities to enter into dialogue with donor agencies, global leaders and government officials on how to partner with and support locally driven community efforts on HIV.

The Conference was hosted outside the Global Village, there were presentations and discussions held simultaneously on various topics. The exhibitions and stalls were marked by materials and publications on various research studies and interventions, accompanied by pavilions set up by the multi national pharma companies propagating treatment and advanced monitoring facilities available currently.