Fw: South Asian Presence to be Prominent at ICAAP !?

[Guest guest]

South Asian Presence to be Prominent at ICAAP!?

Joe

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Dear Forum members,

It is delightful to see that south Asian presence is to be prominent at 6th

ICAAP. (Please refer to the following news item presented at the

youandaids.org. The South Asia portal of the UNAIDS). The conference

organizers should be commented on giving South Asians the place they deserve

at the 6th ICAAP.

But, what about the level of consultation with the Key South Asian

Stakeholders in the governance of the 6th ICAAP?

Consultation with the key stakeholders is a key principle to be adhered in

all aspects of HIV prevention and care activities, which includes organizing

ICAAP.

Will somebody from this forum help me to understand the level of

consultation 6th ICAAP organisers had with the key stakeholders from South

Asia? It appears that the level of consultation with the key stakeholders

from south asia, in the running of 6th ICAAP (Such as, who should speak on

what subject and what themes and concerns should be addressed at the ICAAP)

was very limited?

The following is a snapshot of key stakeholders of HIV/AIDS prevention and

care initiative in South Asia

1) South Asia is the home for about 4 million People Living with HIV/AIDS

2) South Asia has one of the large pools of HIV/AIDS prevention and care

experts as there is about 10,000 fulltime staff working on AIDS prevention

and care

3) South Asia is also home for sourcing cheap antiretroviral drugs

4) There are some significant demonstration projects on enhancing access to

anti retroviral treatments in South Asia

5) South Asia has one of the active government sponsored HIV/AIDS prevention

and care projects in this region

6) In South Asia there is a large pool of senior government administrators

working fulltime on AIDS prevention and care issues (E.g. The NACO in India

and its state level AIDS prevention societies)

7) About 1,000 AIDS service agencies working exclusively on AIDS prevention

and care initiatives in South Asia (Unfortunately, they are not adquately

represented at APCASO)

8) All major religious groups have HIV/AIDS prevention initiatives in South

Asia

9) There is a UNAIDS south Asia Inter-country program which co-ordinates UN

activities in the region.

10) There is an active UN Theme groups in most of the South Asian countries

In this context, will somebody help me to understand the level of

consultation 6th ICAAP organisers had with the above key stakeholders from

South Asia? As this will have consequences on addressing South Asian

concerns at the 6th ICAAP.

Thank you for your attention

Joe

Joe_thomas123@...

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South Asian Presence to be Prominent at ICAAP

Melbourne, August 23, 2001: The voices of South Asia will be prominently

heard at the Sixth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific

(ICCAP), to be held here from October 5 to 10, with speakers from the region

addressing all the plenary sessions.Noted Indian AIDS activist, Ms.Celina D

Costa, NGO leader, Ms. Lalitha Kumaramangalam, Health Policy specialist, Dr.

Indrani Guptha and Mr. Rajesh Kafle, a specialist on harm reduction, will

share their views on the epidemic in South Asia at the plenary sessions. Mr.

Anand Grover, Director of Lawyers Collective, will be featured in the Meet

the Experts session.Ms. D Costa, Vice President of Indian Network of People

Living with HIV/AIDS, will be a key speaker at the first plenary on

Treatment and Care to be held on October 6. She will speak on Persons Living

with HIV/AIDS in Development and Access to HIV/AIDS Care .A the second

plenary on Prevention on October 7, Mr. Kafle from Prerna in Kathmandu will

speak on The Role of Breaking Down the Barriers to Harm Reduction for Drug

Users in the Asia Pacific Region. Dr. Guptha, Health Policy Research Unit,

Institute of Economic Growth, New Delhi, India, will address the session at

the third plenary on Socio-Economic Determinants on October 8. Is Poverty

Alleviation a Solution? will be the title of her presentation. Ms.

Kumaramangalam, who heads Prakriti, an NGO in Chennai (the capital of the

South Indian state of Tamil Nadu), will speak on Hearing the Missing Voices,

Structural Violence and Structural Silence. The plenary sessions will have

16 renowned speakers from around the world, including Prof. Ho, a

pioneer in Antiretroviral Therapy and Dr. Margaret , Head of the

International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. I believe that the sixteen speakers

we've asked to speak at ICAAP together will provide a remarkable insight

into the complexities, the impact and the response to the epidemic, said

Prof. Dennis Altman, ICAAP Co-Chair. " We were seeking a combination of

different expertise and experience, which together would highlight both the

lived meanings of the epidemic in Asia/Pacific and underline what

achievements have been made and what issues remain to be addressed, " he

said. " Getting the balance between countries, backgrounds, identities and

topics right is never easy. The applicants, who have submitted abstracts for

the Conference are being notified of the status of their application over

the next few weeks, said a communiqué from the ICAAP Secretariat.

Scholarship applicants are also being notified. Applicants without emails

are being notified through fax or express international couriers.

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- A cross posting from sea-aids@...

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