OFFRE DE VOLONTARIAT AU TOGO EN MISSION HUMANITAIRE AVEC L'ASSOCIATION CFED EN ETE 2009 - Posted By: ASSOCIATION CFED
Salut,
Nous sommes une Association Humanitaire de développement: Solidarité sans frontière, dénommée Centre de Formation des Enfants Démunis (C.F.E.D), de type loi 1901, apolitique et à but non lucratif, créée le 04 octobre 2002 et dont le Récépissé a été délivré le 20 septembre 2004 sur le numéro 2056/MISD-SG-DAPSC-DSC. Le Centre de Formation des Enfants Démunis (C.F.E.D) est un Centre d'accueil pour les enfants de la rue, enfants démunis et enfants handicapés: Hébergement, Scolarisation, Encadrement, Formation professionnelle, Soins sanitaires et Soutien alimentaire, Appui aux malades du Sida sont nos domaines d'Actions.
L'association vient en aide aux enfants ou jeunes déshérités du TOGO en leur offrant gratuitement l'apprentissage d'un métier.
CFED organise aussi des chantiers internationaux au Togo autour d’un projet d’intérêt général rentrant dans le cadre du développement communautaire à la base dans les domaines de l’éducation, de la santé et de l'environnement. L’objectif est d’aider d’une part les zones les plus défavorisées à progresser sur le plan social, de promouvoir la formation professionnelle des jeunes déscolarisés pour leur réinsertion socioprofessionnelle et d’autre part de permettre la rencontre des jeunes de différentes cultures dans une dynamique de découverte volontaire des autres.
C’est ce que l’association vous convie à vivre en vous proposant de venir visiter son Centre, ses différents ateliers, de leur venir en aide en collaborant avec elle et surtout de participer à l’un de ses chantiers internationaux au Togo, l’Afrique en miniature, l’été prochain. Des volontaires et des animateurs locaux vous accompagneront tout l’été et vous feront découvrir les richesses culturelles du pays.
Le Personnel du CFED et tous les enfants démunis du centre vous remercient du choix de leur projet et comptent sur votre soutien tous azimuts.
Ainsi tu peux participer à l’un de nos projets en t’inscrivant à l’un des camps chantiers internationaux au TOGO.
Merci de ton aimable attention.
Unissons nos forces pour réduire les souffrances des autres.
MESSAN-ABBEY K. H. FREDERIC
Président Fondateur du C.F.E.D
BP : 60587 LOME - TOGO
TEL : (00228) 2212805 // 932 11 59
E-mail : cfedmg@yahoo.fr / cfed.mg@caramail.com
Site Internet : www.cfed.itgo.com
N.B : Pour toutes informations contactez notre site web : www.cfed.itgo.com ou écrivez nous à l'adresse suivante : cfedmg@yahoo.fr
Access to life : The Global Fund and Magnum Photo joint presentation - Posted By: Muntasir
Its was a great experience to retaining a photography exhibition titled “Access to Life” by Magnum Photos at global village of XVII International AIDS conference of Mexico City. Its impossible to make anyone understood what Magnum is or what they are doing! May be my words are harsh for my friends but I am skeptical if I have to write an introductory for Magnum Photos for others, I am sure that will be too much and I will miss the weight the simple few alphabets that Magnum can hold! Yes, they are the most prestigious photo agency in the world and in other way I must say group of extraordinary “Image Makers” of all time.
This Exhibition was directly hoarded by “The Global Fund”. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is supporting lifesaving treatment with antiretroviral drugs for more than 1.4 million people worldwide. The Global Fund is a unique global public-private partnership dedicated to attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society, the private sector, and affected communities represents a new approach to international health financing.(from official website)
Eight photographers has been working with peoples living with HIV and AIDS in different nine countries of the world for few months and came out with magnificent stories of their life. Some time it was hard to believe and some time it was hard to cope. From India to Peru every where is the same, life is meeting the decay or staying alive positively.
From the images there was a clear visual in front us, we have to think again about what we are going to do next. What we really want for the whole condition of HIV and AIDS which is an epidemic for many courtiers. Should we keep growing up the numbers of infections? Or we should keep the promise? If this is not the right time, then when?
Images are eloquent, having a strong message to protect us, ourselves and those who are living positively and reminds us to access in our life. Again. It’s a sanity.
For more information about the exhibition and photographer please visit
http://accesstolife.theglobalfund.org/exhibition
La pregunta. Bueno, una de las preguntas que nosotros, agentes de cambio, nos hacemos en estos difíciles momentos...
Vivimos una experiencia producto de un riesgo y una apuesta que decidimos hacer. ¿Qué hacer con ese recurso?
Nuestro trabajo como agentes es un artefacto que podemos utilizar de forma ingeniosa, para acercarnos a otros y hablarles, o a los medios como ya lo han hecho algunos.
Lo más importante que podemos tener son los contactos y lo que hallamos pactado con ellos. Recuerdo que una de las preguntas que hicieron en los primeros días es Por qué los jóvenes no participan en la Conferencia. Personalmente, me di cuenta que las conferencias son multitudinarias, en su mayoría (inmensa) en inglés con opción a traductor, y que se dirigen a cientos de personas. No suele ocurrir el 'click', al menos a mí no me paso que una conferencia tomara mis sentidos y mi atención. Creo que faltó personalización. Tampoco podemos pedir que la cosa cambie solo por eso, pero a partir de esta realidad podemos hacer cambios en nuestra forma de trabajo, como alejarnos de juergas muy intelectuales y sin perder rigor llevar a otros las preguntas que nos sacudieron en la conferencia.
Solo seremos agentes de cambio rodeados de otros agentes de cambio.
Estrategias de Incidencia Política / YOUTH ADVOCACY!! - Posted By: Pablo!°
Hoy fué el segundo día de la Pre-Conferencia de la Fuerza Joven de México y entre varias ponencias muy interesantes, encontré una que me ha sido de gran utilidad y estoy seguro que a ustedes también...
El título de la ponenecia fué:CREANDO UNA ESTRATEGIA DE INCIDENCIA POLÍTICA. las expositoras fueron Courtney Matson y Kimberly Whipkey de la ONG: Americans for Informed Democracy.
Ellas hablaron sobre como llevar nustros proyectos y nuestras ideas hasta la meta proponiendo el siguiente método:
- Identifica el tema, problema o proyecto que quieres que se lleve a cabo.
- Define las metas sobre tu tema
- Objetivo, ¿cuál es el personaje o tomador de decisión al que quieres llegar?
- Apoyo o Ayuda, ¿quiénes serán las personas que te ayuden a llevar a cabo este proyecto?
- Aliados, las personas u organizaciones que se aliarán a tu idea y te darán soporte
- Oposición. Las personas u organizaciones que no apoyen tu idea o proyecto.
- Mensajes Clave de tu campaña
- Tacticas...
Estos fueron solo algunos de los métodos que propusieron para una verdadera incidencia política de los jóvenes activistas... :)
Good afternoon everyone. Buenas tardes a todas y todos!
I am honoured to have the opportunity to report to all of you today on the exciting and intense week that we have shared together in this beautiful city of Mexico.
As you have just heard, I am the Chief Youth Rapporteur at the 2008 International AIDS Conference.
Therefore I will do my best to report to you what this conference has meant for young people. I will also talk about what I perceive as the major highlights of the conference.
From my perspective as a young person, I think there are five words that express most clearly what was most significant about this conference: visibility, prevention, partnership, leadership, and human rights.
First, I will talk about visibility.
At the 2006 Toronto AIDS Conference, young people came together as the Toronto Youth Force.
We announced to the world that we were disproportionately affected by the epidemic.
We announced to the world that we were major stakeholders in the response to the epidemic.
We announced to the world that we were ready to play our part.
From Barcelona to Bangkok to Toronto to Mexico, the Youth Force has become bigger and stronger.
There were more young people at this conference than ever before.
There were more young people as speakers and presenters in plenaries, panels and sessions than ever before.
Young people were involved in the organization of the conference and made important contributions to the discussions that took place in and out of session rooms.
Young people were recognised for their scientific contributions with the Young Investigators Award.
In terms of visibility, this conference was a landmark for the community of people living with HIV, men-having-sex-with-men, injection drug users and sex workers.
People living with HIV were at the centre of this conference.
For the first time, there was a plenary session on men-having-sex-with-men and an international march against homophobia.
All of us saw, hopefully not for the last time, Methodone Man and Buenorphine Girl in their attractive costumes drawing attention to issues of harm reduction.
We saw sex workers speaking out for their rights and protesting against the UNAIDS Draft Guidance Note on Commercial Sex Work and PEPFAR Anti-Prostitution Pledge.
Yet, much remains to be seen in terms of visibility.
We heard calls about the lack of data on youth issues.
We heard calls about the lack of data and attention to the effect of the epidemic on lesbians.
We heard similar calls from trans-gendered people and other sexual minorities.
And there are many calls we did not hear and people we did not see.
Next, I want to talk about prevention.
A week before the conference, the UNAIDS Epidemic Report showed that for every two people who have access to HIV treatment, five people get newly infected.
With more than 45% of all new infections amongst young people between 15-24, about 3000 young people get infected daily – that is 2 every minute.
This conference saw a renewed interest and commitment to working on prevention.
This conference recognised the importance of positive prevention for people living with HIV.
The pendulum is swinging back from treatment to prevention.
This conference also saw a more comprehensive approach to prevention.
Earlier, we were asked why information didn’t automatically lead to behaviour change.
Earlier, we heard questions such as, “Why do young people engage in risky behaviour despite knowing the risks?”
Today, we have begun to see how poverty, inequality, stigma, discrimination, criminalization, unemployment, violence, disability, fundamentalisms, humanitarian crises and other social factors are barriers to effective prevention.
Today, we have begun seeing evidence that shows how prevention programs that address social determinants are more effective and more sustainable.
Today, we have begun to see the role that new technology and communication can play in the impact of prevention programs.
While looking at the virus, we cannot ignore the terrain.
Prevention programs must be based on evidence and address the realities of young people.
My third observation is about partnerships.
The Mexico Youth Force was built by young people of 75 youth organizations coming togther for a common purpose.
It brought together young people from different organizations, countries, cultures, HIV-statuses, religious beliefs, genders, sexual orientations and backgrounds.
Under the Youth Partnerships Initiative of the World AIDS Campaign, young leaders from the youth preconference interacted and built partnerships with other young leaders from the ecumenical pre-conference, the labour preconference, the sex-workers’ preconference and the MSM pre-conference.
There was the recognition that young people are not a single homogenous group. We are part of every group and represent every constituency.
Positive young leaders across the spectrum met and formed partnerships.
Young people began and strengthened partnerships with civil society, governments and international institutions.
If AIDS has taught us anything, it is that we need to unite and build partnerships.
Constituencies of stakeholders working in the response to HIV and AIDS need to find common ground and work together.
The partnerships we have built and continue to build are valuable resources that will bring us closer to universal access.
Yet, more needs to be done to bridge gaps that exist.
Researchers and human-rights activists need to work closer together. International institutions and grassroots communities need to sit at the same table.
Constituencies that have never worked together before will need to find a common language. They will need to build trust and skills in order to communicate better.
We all need to build partnerships to ensure that enough resources are mobilised to fund the response to HIV and AIDS. We need to build partnerships to ensure that those resources we have already mobilised are spent effectively.
This includes funding for young people’s sexual and reproductive rights and youth-led initiatives to provide a platform for meaningful participation.
Such partnerships must be equal and respectful. Young people should not be involved in a peripheral or tokenistic way, but as decision-makers in their own right, in the design, implementation and evaluation of programmes and policies that affect us.
My fourth observation is about leadership.
At the youth pre-conference, Dr. Pedro Cahn took the lead by being a dependable ally of the Mexico Youth Force.
The Mexican Minister of Health, Mr. Cordoba Villarobos took the lead by making a commitment to young people at the Youth Pavilion.
Heads of UN agencies including Peter Piot from UNAIDS and Thoraya Obaid and Purnima Mane from UNFPA took the lead by engaging in several conversations with young people.
Leaders of business such as Bill Roedy of MTV took the lead by promising to establish a Youth Advisory Board to review and advise on all MTV programming for young people.
The International AIDS Society took the lead to put together an ambitious and challenging agenda. The executive director of the Society, Craig McClure took the lead by announcing he is committed to supporting the leadership of young people in the response to AIDS.
And it goes without saying that young people have taken the lead again and again to speak out about the issues that concern them and to advocate for their rights.
While this is heartening, there are still those who are silent on young people’s issues.
There are still those who don’t meaningfully engage with young people.
There are still those who deny young people the right to decide on all programs and policies that affect their lives.
There are still those who do not take the lead and do not take responsibility.
Young people urge each person in civil society, government and international institutions to take the lead on youth issues.
Young people urge the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to take the lead on youth issues.
Finally, I want to talk about Human Rights.
What will probably be remembered as the major achievement of this conference is the renewed emphasis on the centrality of human rights.
This conference recognised that now more than ever, human rights must occupy the centre of our response to HIV and AIDS.
Yesterday afternoon, I saw all the diverse individuals, organizations and institutions that have been affected by the epidemic rally around human rights.
A key demand of young people working on HIV and AIDS has been the promotion and protection of their human right to comprehensive and accurate information and education about HIV and AIDS.
This week, the meeting of Ministers of Health and Education of Latin American and Caribbean countries committed in declaration to providing young people comprehensive sexuality education.
This is a good beginning. But it does not end here.
The challenge will be to ensure that these ministers remain accountable to their promises.
The challenge will be to ensure that decision makers remain accountable to the declarations they have signed.
The challenge will be to ensure that that we keep each other accountable for the failure to meet progress to Universal Access by 2010.
The challenge will be to advocate for governments of all countries to commit to the protection and promotion of the broad range of human rights including sexual and reproductive rights.
The challenge will be to ensure that these human rights become accessible to all people regardless of their gender, age, sexual orientation, profession, drug use, HIV+ or other status.
This conference was an opportunity to review the progress we have made, to look at lessons learnt and to plan our efforts for the future.
We have our work set out for us. We have our commitments before us.
The next Conference in Vienna will be a similar opportunity for all of us engaged in the response to AIDS to come together and to hold each other accountable.
It has been a privilege to report on the happenings of the pre-conference and the main conference for the past week and a half.
I was fortunate to have the help and support of several people who I’d like to thank. Mara, Prateek, Karolien, Claudia, Dalila, Rayonne… and of course, the organizers and volunteers of the Mexico Youth Force.
Caras de la Conferencia: Message by Mary Robinson former UN High Comissioner on Human Rights - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
Ok, so I spoke to Ms. Robinson while both of us ran to her press conference after she chaired the session on The Aftermath of War: Women, Children and the Displaced. She addressed the issue of Youth advocacy for HIV and AIDS. Unfortunately, my camera didn't record ANYTHING except her rolly-bag. I am an epic fail as a journalist. I'll try to recover from memory
"Youth activism has to be data-based activism. Young people need to know the real facts before they get involved to properly analize the situation."
"This conference has been better than Bangkok, better than Toronto and it will keep getting better the more youth paritcipation there is."
Seriously....I can't believe that the camera didn't film.
Women taking the lead in the face of HIV and AIDS - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
Although women have made great strides in addressing the issue of the HIV and AIDS pandemic in a manner that suits their feminine needs, female participation is still lacking, said Elizabeth Tyler Crone of UNIFEM.
76 percent of HIV positive women have children and must tend to responsibilities of the home. Also, men tend to be paid for their activism and volunteering while women aren't.
One of the success stories is Mujeres Positivas Frente a la Vida of Mexico. Poor women in Mexico City were among the most succeptible to the HIV and AIDS crisis. Many women had to resort to selling their blood in unsafe,clandestine blood banks which exacerbated the transmission of the virus, according to Hilda Perez Vazquez.
But their collective anger at their isolation created a source for positive change.
But the keynote speech was Sophie Dilmitis call to young girls, both positive and negative to get involved in a manner that is inclusive to all genders.
While young girls might have spaces they can discuss issues that are important to them, those spaces are not always readily handed over to them. Feminism has almost entrenched women in this stagnant place where they bicker over meta terms rather than strive for action. Dilmitis' speech is an example of a sound rallying call that should be heard and put into play.
Planning ahead: Q & A with Morillio Williams about setting up a youth hub in Suriname - Posted By: Georgina Yidanpoa Caswell
Georgina Caswell, Youth Journalist with the Mexico Youth Force, interviewed Morillio Williams, Director MDG No. 6 for UN MDG Youth Ambassador Corps, about the development of a youth hub in Suriname.
G: Hi Morillio
M: Hello!
G: What is a youth hub?
M: Well, a youth hub is actually like having a small international AIDS conference with young people away from the conference. We plan to share and discuss knowledge from the conference with young people in Suriname. We will use sessions through web casting and involve young people in discussions about the issues. We’re using the living room at the Family Planning Association of Suriname called St. Lobi. We’re turning their lobby into an interactive space.
G: Who are these young people?
M: They are all organised youth working in the area of HIV and AIDS. We really want discussions to be engaging and to contribute to their work in the area.
G: That sounds exciting - how are you promoting the youth hub?
M: We have promoted it through mass media. There was a big media launch last Monday and we’ve been using television and newspapers. It’s now a big thing in Suriname, everyone knows about it. I’ve been going to sessions to pick up information that is relevant to our national programme.
G: So you’ve been busy!
M: Yeah! I’ve been preparing presentations. I’ve been busy. The people back home have also been really busy – we’ve been emailing everyday to organise the hub. It’s a group of 10 people working on this project.
G: So this is an intervention as opposed to a one-off information event?
M: It is! We want it to be useful and I’m putting into action some of the skills and information from the sessions at the youth pre-conference.
G: Do you have a lot of support for the youth hub in Suriname?
M: We are happy to have the support of the National AIDS Programme of Suriname. A lot of big companies in Suriname support us. A big telecommunication company called Telesur are setting up a stage for us in downtown Suriname to profile the opening of the youth hub. The biggest bank in Suriname DSB are sponsoring logistical things such as pens and maps. The Ministry of Education, Youth Affairs are supportive with resources (refreshments, technical assistance). We also have support from individuals who are giving us things like a couch to use for a few days. There is also a lawyer’s office supporting us with some funding and technical assistance with financial coordination.
G: How can we learn about the outcome of your initiative?
M: There will be a report sent to all focal points at the National AIDS Programme in Suriname, UNAIDS, and the Global Youth Association. We would like to take it global! On Friday, we are doing some outreach downtown in Suriname – there’ll be drama, music, information – to raise the profile of HIV in Suriname. There’ll be incentives like t-shirts and folders.
G: Are you happy to share your email with other young people who may be interested in setting up a youth hub one day?
M: Yeah, we really want to make a difference and share our knowledge and experience with other young people so that at the next conference when young people don’t have the funds to go to the conference, they have a means of being internationally involved within their own countries. My email address is wmorillio@hotmail.com
Crossing boundaries, making commitments - Posted By: Emily Davila
To spread a social movement, like scaling up the world AIDS response, religious leaders need to talk to religious leaders, business to business, youth to youth, and media to media. Studies show that messages spread most effectively when they come from their peers.
In an initiative to bridge the gaps between groups that don’t usually connect, the World AIDS Campaign is convening 12 “leadership encounters” – small facilitated meetings away from the microphones and crowds of the main conference. By having these meetings, the campaign hopes the different sectors will find common ground and uncommon activities.
For instance, in the dialogue between leaders of the youth and media, MTV committed to convene a youth advisory panel. Other dialogues occurred between leaders of faith communities and men who have sex with men, and between commercial sex workers and the business community.
The World AIDS Campaign will compile a report of the commitments, and follow them up and report on them in Vienna at the AIDS conference in 2010.
But this isn’t the only group collecting commitments in Mexico. At the Youth Pavilion in the Global Village young people staff a “youth commitments desk”, asking for leaders to promise to scale up youth participation in their programs.
In 2006, the youth commitments desk at the Toronto AIDS conference collected 371 commitments. But making commitment doesn’t guarantee action. A team of youth followed up the 371 commitments and found a completion rate of 25%.
lets face it, drug users and sex workers are scary - Posted By: Emily Davila
What is standing out for me at the conference is the need to focus on investment and programs for and research of the most at-risk groups---, men who have sex with men, drug users, sex workers and prisoners.
Let’s be frank, this is no “save the children” kind of cause – generally people are afraid of these groups and don’t know much about them. I’ve had a lot of global experiences in my life, but I have never spoken directly with a sex worker or prisoner (to my knowledge). With so many sex workers here, I can surely change this soon.
Simple prejudices and impressions aside – the numbers tell a shocking story. Of global AIDS expenditures, only 1.2 percent is spent on specific responses to men who have sex with men. This totals $3 million out of the estimated $30 million needed according to UNAIDS.
“Less than 10% of high risk populations are receiving appropriate prevention.” Alex Coutinho, Executive Director, Infectious Disease Institute Uganda.
Outside of Africa – drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with men make up the vast majority of those contracting HIV. It’s amazing after 25 years and billions of dollars we are not able to better address these populations. There is research and success stories that document what works in these populations, especially in Mexico and Brazil.
Youth are key to this struggle actually – we need a generation of young people that can fearlessly empower and protect the human rights of sex workers, prisoners and drug users.
Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS Session - Posted By: Jo Anne
Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008
Jo Anne Tacorda
The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.
Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.
In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.
Se fue al Gabacho: Mexico-U.S. Migration and Vulnerability to HIV and AIDS - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
A study conducted by the University of California Office of the President showed that Mexican male migrants participate in HIV high-risk behaviors and without intervention, the epidemic could further spread among migrant population.
The factors contributing to the spread of HIV among the Mexican migrant community have been unemployment, housing, isolation, constant mobility, depression and limited access to healthcare.
Melissa Sanchez,epidemiologist with California HIV and AIDS research office at the University of California, annouced that condom use has decreased among the male migrant population in California.
Prior to migration, Mexican migrant's to California, 18.1 percent reported sexual contact with a sex worker.After migration, the number increased to 29.4 percent. Sexual contact while under the influence of drugs or alcohol was 24 percent before migration and and 41.6 percent after migration. While MSM was a 3.6 percent before and 6.9 percent after.
The study sampled 458 Mexican migrants from primarily male dominated work, bar and community venues in California. Most at risk were populations ranging from ages 18 to 20 and migrants who had been working in the U.S. for over 5 years. Women were surveyed but were not among the prevalent numbers sampled.
Currently, 28 million people of Mexican origin live in the U.S., 11 million of them immigrants.
Caras de la Conferencia: Representacion Salvadorena - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
Luis Alonso Argueta miembro de la Asociacion Contra el SIDA Cabanas El Salvador en Solidaridad con las Personas que Viven con VIH/SIDA (CoCoSi)
da su mensaje a los jovenes.
Crossing boundaries, making commitments - Posted By: Emily Davila
To spread a social movement, like scaling up the world AIDS response, religious leaders need to talk to religious leaders, business to business, youth to youth, and media to media. Studies show that messages spread most effectively when they come from their peers.
In an initiative to bridge the gaps between groups that don’t usually connect, the World AIDS Campaign is convening 12 “leadership encounters” – small facilitated meetings away from the microphones and crowds of the main conference. By having these meetings, the campaign hopes the different sectors will find common ground and uncommon activities.
For instance, in the dialogue between leaders of the youth and media, MTV committed to convene a youth advisory panel. Other dialogues occurred between leaders of faith communities and men who have sex with men, and between commercial sex workers and the business community.
The World AIDS Campaign will compile a report of the commitments, and follow them up and report on them in Vienna at the AIDS conference in 2010.
But WAC isn’t the only group collecting commitments in Mexico. At the Youth Pavilion in the Global Village young people staff a “youth commitments desk”, asking for leaders to promise to scale up youth participation in their programs.
In 2006, the youth commitments desk at the Toronto AIDS conference collected 371 commitments. But making commitment doesn’t guarantee action. A team of youth followed up the 371 commitments and found a completion rate of 25%.
Georgina Yidanpoa Caswell
Youth Journalist - Mexico Youth Force
Ban Ki-Moon (UN Secretary General), Felipe Calderon (Mexican President) Bill Clinton (former US President), Margaret Chan (WHO), Dr. Pedro Cahn (IAS President), Peter Piot (UNAIDS), Stephen Lewis (AIDS-Free World, former UN Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa), Thoraya Obaid (UNFPA)…this conference has involved several world leaders. All spoke about the importance of addressing HIV issues; all mentioned that this is a collective effort.
A session entitled ‘Reclaiming our Lives: Developing accountability for positive (PLHIV) leadership and our advocacy priorities’ focussed on meaningful positive leadership to address HIV. Presenters demonstrated that positive leadership can happen at different levels and in different ways. Some people bring HIV positive together to influence policy in countries where no structures to do so existed. Others are using innovative research methods, such as picture maps, to encourage people living with HIV to express their needs and aspirations, which are in turn used as advocacy tools to lobby policymakers. Some people living with HIV are on the board of trustees of organisations and/or speak at conferences to ensure that the specific needs of HIV positive people are recognised and acted upon. What was clear from the discussion about positive leadership is that it is not easy to be a leader who represents other peoples’ voices in the community. A participant in the audience stated ‘Really, [networks representing us] listen to our voices. If you don’t have a story to tell, if you don’t hear us, you don’t represent us’. Representation involves accountability to the people you are representing and to the issues they are raising.
Giovanny Romero Infante from the Movimiento Homosexual de Lima, a Peruvian gay activist living with HIV’ provided me with a definition of ‘positive leadership’ from a young person’s perspective. He powerfully stated,
‘Positive leadership is the capacity that HIV positive youth have to talk about their own experiences, to represent the needs of other youth, including LGBT, and to take action using evidence of what is really happening’.
First of all it’s just plain silly that it’s already day 6!
Secondly Sophie has been unnaturally worried about having needles poked in her head. Today we spent time in the traditional healing zone in the crazily vibrant global village – this fantastic area offered free acupuncture…so why not make the most of it? Probably the fact that you have to have needles poked into you actually…
Although Ruth is verrry excited about the good dreams she will be receiving tonight from having a needle in the ‘point of a thousand ghosts’. Otherwise know as the middle of your head. Along with this incredible benefit the healing of Sophie’s lower back has probably saved UNICEF considerable litigation costs from the amount of cameras and equipment we’ve been dutifully lugging around.
Pizza for breakfast managed to fuel a media mental day. We’ve been grabbing many an interesting interview for our sex education project and for you to sit back, relax and enjoy.
Today we saw one of the most interesting sessions so far with a panel of incredibly involved young people talking about youth participation and the HIV and AIDS response. We’ve seen so many experienced speakers this week in high profile positions that were no where near as engaging or eloquent as some of the panel today. Probing questions made for some very exciting and lively discourse.
We rounded off the day with another session on harm reduction which has become something that we feel should be central to U.K focus of our work. This was closely followed by an impressively horrible meal that’s we attempted to eat whilst being serenaded by a whining Mexican songstress. The fun we have. Thankfully Alice saved the night with some tasty, tasty churros and chocolate.
Marcelo Ebrard,Emilio Alvarez y Priscila Vera: Comprometidos con la juventud - Posted By: Daniel Serrano de Rejil
El día de ayer, en la mesa de compromisos de la Pabellón de Jóvenes, contamos con la presencia de tres tomadores de decisiones importantes en México.
A continuación cito los compromisos adquiridos:
Marcelo Ebrard, Jefe de Gobierno de la Ciudad de México.-
Lograr la políticas de juventud a través del congreso de la juventud.
Emilio Álvarez, Presidente de la Comisión de Derechos Humanos del DF.-
Promover la cultura de los derechos humanos de los y las jóvenes y a trabajar con organizaciones de la sociedad civil e instituciones públicas a lograr que los y las jóvenes sean sujetos de derecho y no objetos de derecho.
Priscila Vera, Directora General del Instituto Mexicano de la Juventud.-
Brindar información oportunidad a jóvenes y métodos anticonceptivos.
A pesar del compromiso que han tenido para la Fuerza Joven era importante contar con su presencia y reafirmar su compromiso. Desde los integrantes de la Fuerza Joven en México daremos seguimiento a estos acuerdos en pro de la juventud mexicana.
Porque incidência política é tão importante na luta contra a AIDS?
Como ação preparatória para os adolescentes e jovens ativistas que participam da conferência, a Fuerza Joven de México , realizou a Pré Conferencia dos Jovens, três dias de oficinas, rodas de debate, seminários. A Pré conferencia, foi organizada pelo Sub comitê de Incidência Política, que leva o nome do principal tema debatido nestes dias de conferencia. “ Um conjunto de ações e estratégias, formas de mobilização e atuação para atingir os objetivos propostos e influenciar a sociedade”, assim define Manuella, integrante do subcomitê.
Em entrevista para o site, Manuella, 23 anos, integrante do subcomitê de incidencia política, fala da importância de ações estratégicas e objetivas na luta contra a AIDS.
Portal: O que é incidência política?
Manuella: "a incidência política é um conjunto de ações e de estratégias, forma de mobilização e atuação pra gente conseguir atingir nosso objetivo, influenciar uma outra parte e chegar aquilo que a gente quer. Então afinal de contas, a incidencia política, a importância dela ta nisso, pois a gente como parte da sociedade civil parte de movimento social. Esse é o nosso principal papel, fazer com que os responsáveis, garantam que os direitos sejam cumpridos, e façam os compromissos acontecer, que não fique somente nos papeis, então diria que a incidencia política é a principal função, papel, objetivo, motorzinho da sociedade civil".
Eles vieram de diferentes cidades, participam de movimentos e organizacoes distintas, mas estao na conferencia unidos contra a AIDS e convocando a todos e todas para uma ACAO UNIVERSAL JA!!!! Este e o espirito dos jovens brasileiros na conferencia Internacional.
Em entrevista para o site 05 jovens brasileiros, contam suas expectativas sobre a Conferencia Internacional de AIDS, e porque a conferencia e um espaco tao importante para os jovens do Brasil. Para Ivens, representante da GYCA – Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, fomentar a importancia de acoes continuas e que a conferencia seja um espaco para articular acoes conjuntas no Brasil, `e fundamental para que esta vontade de mudanca nao morra aquí. Ivens, alem de participar da Conferencia como delegado, teve um papel muito importante, de representar os adolescentes e jovens na reuniao com ministros da educacao e saude da america latina. Na ocasiao, Ivens leu a carta de compromissos a serem assumidos pelos ministros na implementacao de projetos de educacao para saude sexual reprodutiva
Para Leticia, a conferencia e um importante momento para establecer contatos com diferentes organizacoes do mundo inteiro, e poder tambem contribuir com os adolescentes e jovens de organizacoes que n’ao puderam participar da conferencia. Leticia representa o MAB – Movimento Nacional de Adolescentes do Brasil.
Se voce quiser conversar com os jovens brasileiros, mandar sugestoes de temas, diretamente da conferencia internacional, envie um email para:
Leticia – MAB/MG email: Leticia_mab@yahoo.com.br
Manuella – Fuerza Joven/PE manudonato@gmail.com
Ivens – GYCA/SP ivens_reyner@yahoo.com.br
Clarissa – Gestos/PE clarissacarvalho1@gmail.com
Eles vieram de diferentes cidades, participam de movimentos e organizacoes distintas, mas estao na conferencia unidos contra a AIDS e convocando a todos e todas para uma ACAO UNIVERSAL JA!!!! Este e o espirito dos jovens brasileiros na conferencia Internacional.
Em entrevista para o site Voz dos Adolescentes, 05 jovens brasileiros, contam suas expectativas sobre a Conferencia Internacional de AIDS, e porque a conferencia e um espaco tao importante para os jovens do Brasil. Para Ivens, representante da GYCA – Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS, fomentar a importancia de acoes continuas e que a conferencia seja um espaco para articular acoes conjuntas no Brasil, `e fundamental para que esta vontade de mudanca nao morra aquí. Ivens, alem de participar da Conferencia como delegado, teve um papel muito importante, de representar os adolescentes e jovens na reuniao com ministros da educacao e saude da america latina. Na ocasiao, Ivens leu a carta de compromissos a serem assumidos pelos ministros na implementacao de projetos de educacao para saude sexual reprodutiva
Para Leticia, a conferencia e um importante momento para establecer contatos com diferentes organizacoes do mundo inteiro, e poder tambem contribuir com os adolescentes e jovens de organizacoes que n’ao puderam participar da conferencia. Leticia representa o MAB – Movimento Nacional de Adolescentes do Brasil.
Se voce quiser conversar com os jovens brasileiros, mandar sugestoes de temas, diretamente da conferencia internacional, envie um email para:
Leticia – MAB/MG email: Leticia_mab@yahoo.com.br
Manuella – Fuerza Joven/PE manudonato@gmail.com
Ivens – GYCA/SP ivens_reyner@yahoo.com.br
Clarissa – Gestos/PE clarissacarvalho1@gmail.com
Thembi's radio diary offers powerful HIV positive youth testimony - Posted By: Emily Davila
With her doll-like face, she hardly looks her 23 years, but Thembi has learned a lot about life. After she was diagnosed with HIV at age 16, she started taking a tape recorder with her everywhere to capture her life.
At aidsdiary.org, listeners travel with her on her first visit to the doctor, hear firsthand about the decline of her T-cell count. The diary covers her progression to full-blown AIDS, starting ARV treatment, and finally having a daughter.
Presenting her story at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, she talks about how keeping a diary empowered her. “Ever since I knew my status my life has changed for the better. Ever since I started my diary I have felt more confident and comfortable and I am an inspiration to other young people.”
In a conference or thousands of experts, the most powerful presentations still come from personal testimony. In one of her entries, she reflects on the future.
”I’m just imagining what a world would look like without me in it. I’m not scared of dying but of leaving my baby behind. I want to see her grow a little bigger. HIV will try to rule my life on the inside but outside I will be boss. I want to study and have a good job, I want to go on with my life.”
Beyond the radio, Thembi also writes a blog http://thembisaidsdiarytour.vox.com/.
A recent concert hosted by the South African government, she reflects below on how AIDS messages still don´t effectively reach young people at risk.
”I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.”
Her has been used as a teaching tool all over the world and aired on National Public Radio in the U.S., and in the U.K., Australia and Canada, reaching more than 50 million people.
Thembi's radio diary offers powerful HIV positive youth testimony - Posted By: Emily Davila
With her doll-like face, she hardly looks her 23 years, but Thembi has learned a lot about life. After she was diagnosed at age 16 with HIV, she started taking a tape recorder with her everywhere to capture her life.
At aidsdiary.org, listeners travel with her to her first visit to the doctor, hear about the first the decline of her T-cell count, her progression to full-blown AIDS, starting ARV treatment, and finally having a daughter.
Presenting her story at the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, she talks about how keeping a diary empowered her. “Ever since I knew my status my life has changed for the better. Ever since I started my diary I have felt more confident and comfortable and I am an inspiration to other young people.”
In a conference or thousands of experts, the most powerful presentations still come from personal testimony. In one of her entries, she reflects on the future.
”I’m just imagining what a world would look like without me in it. I’m not scared of dying but of leaving my baby behind. I want to see her grow a little bigger. HIV will try to rule my life on the inside but outside I will be boss. I want to study and have a good job, I want to go on with my life.”
Beyond the radio, Thembi also writes a blog http://thembisaidsdiarytour.vox.com/.
A recent concert hosted by the South African government, she reflects below on how AIDS messages still don´t effectively reach young people at risk.
”I felt like those images on those big screens with infected people had nothing to do with me. It reminded me of high school. When they would show pictures of thin, poor orphans that look like they are dying, and try to scare you out of having sex. But it never works because young, South African, at-risk kids do not see themselves in those images. They cannot imagine that it can happen to them.”
Her has been used as a teaching tool all over the world and aired on National Public Radio in the U.S., and in the U.K., Australia and Canada, reaching more than 50 million people.
Ban Ki-Moon visita a Fuerza Joven en la aldea global: un compromiso compartido - Posted By: miguel angel
Fuerza Joven, organismo -entre otros-por cuya visión mis compañeros de agente de cambio nos encontramos aquí, Recibió la visita del secretario general de la ONU Ban Ki-Moon, quièn se reunió para hablar con jóvenes
que viven con VIH/SIDA, después de una hora de espera bastante tensa.
'Estoy muy agradecido de estar con ustedes' -dijo sonriente. 'Entre mis principales objetivos es que nadie este solo en la lucha contra el VIH(...) y son los líderes de generación los
que harán la diferencia'. También aseguro que, como secretario de la ONU daría todo el poder de su apoyo para que cada vez sea más sencillo conseguir medicamentos con las menores restricciones, 'El gobierno tiene
que generar estrategias (...) y es con la fuerza de su juventud y lucha política con la que se podrán generar esos cambios. Los felicito'.
¿Y qué vendrá después?
Cuándo regresemos a nuestros hogares debemos recordar estas palabras como una orden directa del secretario de la ONU, que tenemos pruebas de haber estado ahí y que no dejaremos que la apatía y sordera institucional
borren nuestra bandera, nuestra convicción.
Todas las tribus para una sola comunidad: vivir con VIH en el mundo - Posted By: miguel angel
La conferencia internacional sobre el SIDA diseñó un espacio donde ir de un paìs a otro sin ausentarse del tema que nos convoca. Se llama Aldea Global. A manera de feria o expo, vemos rostros
que existiendo con el SIDA adoptan sus formas culturales, artísticas, educativas y mercadotécnicas para influir en sus pueblos convirtiendo la información
científica, fría e impersonal de la prevención en un objeto de acuerdo a sus modelos de identificación étnica.
Ahora, muchos activistas apuestan en acercarnos a un mundo donde la existencia del VIH no impide
la expresión. Particularmente me gusta la forma singular en que cada pueblo y sus activistas se las ingenian: Visité la obra 'El ángel portador' de Buenos Aires, limite entre en performance, teatro educativo
y el género clown donde un acróbata vestido de querubín sensual, más cercano al deseo iconográfico gay que los que podríamos ver en los cuadros de la sala de comer de nuestros abuelos, sube y baja por una silla mientras con cadencia nos habla de sus
sexualidades. Se nota que el espectáculo toma nota del humor como antídoto.
Por el lado del activismo, hablé con integrantes de 'Católicas por el derecho a decidir' de México, estrenando un modelo publicitario incisivo y netamente verídico: por medio de citas al cantar de los cantares, resaltan pasajes donde
la erótica no tiene que estar peleada con la espiritualidad, al contrario, que justamente tendiendo una vida con esperanza y fé se puede hacer un cambio quitando la carga de culpa y martirización sobre el ejercicio de la reproducción y el amor. Su articulación
en una conferencia de VIH debe ser entendida como una razón de derechos y equidad.
Y a todo esto, ¿cuáles son los beneficios que obtendríamos de Aldea Global? Se me ocurre por un momento que el mundo es más concentrado, con el VIH como motivo de trabajo para que cientos de seres humanos encuentren en las redes esas manos
que a veces en nuestras comunidades (en especial de los gobiernos) rara vez son tendida. Con la diferencia nos identificamos, sin duda.
Georgina Yidanpoa Caswell
Youth Journalist – Mexico Youth Force
I will never forget the Latin American spirit at this International AIDS Conference. From the moment I arrived at the conference (and even before…at the airport, at Hotel Palace, at the youth pre-conference), I felt welcomed by other Latin American youth. Communication for me was not a problem even though I didn’t speak Spanish and some of the Latin American youth didn’t speak English – somehow we managed and we managed it well.
The Latin American spirit was most apparent to me in the skills-building sessions at the Mexico Youth Force pre-conference. I hesitate if asked to participate in activities or discussions unless I’m completely sure what I’m getting myself into. This was certainly not the case at the pre-conference where there were endless volunteers to join in group work and to share personal experiences and express well thought-out perspectives on complex issues such as gender, sexuality and identity.
Similarly at the ‘1st International March Against Stigma, Discrimination and Homophobia’, the Latin American youth enthusiastically led us in very loud chants, such as ‘Alerta, Alerta, Alerta, que camina la juventud unida por America Latina’ (which translates to something like ‘Listen up, Listen up, Listen up, we are representing the united youth of Latin America’. Another important chant was ‘No hay libertad politica si no hay libertad sexual’ (‘There’s not political liberty if there’s not sexual liberty’).
I’ve certainly been fired up by the Latin American activists that I’ve met and I hope we are all approaching the conference with the vibrant Latin American spirit that I have found so inspiring and uplifting!
Youth of faith ready for action at AIDS 2008 - Posted By: Emily Davila
For the first time, a youth caucus delivered a statement to the more than 600 religious leaders meeting at the Ecumenical Pre-Conference to the International AIDS Conference.
Youth of faith are conservative, moderate and liberal.
Youth of faith are infected, effected and affected by HIV and AIDS.
Youth of faith are abstinent, sexually active, married and single.
Youth of faith are of every race, socio-economic class and ethnicity.
Youth of faith are women, men, men who have sex with men, gay, straight, transsexual, people who use drugs and sex workers.
Youth of faith do not all speak English.
Our values come from our faith, but our safety comes from our access to and understanding of comprehensive sex education.
Youth of faith will be and are meaningfully involved in all levels of the churches’ response to HIV and AIDS.
However, meaningful involvement of youth and children requires meaningful investment from us all. It requires young people to raise our voices, and it requires our elders to open their ears.
HIV is a virus, not a moral condition. Youth of faith strive to end stigma between faith-based and secular organizations to make access to treatment, care and prevention to increase the quality of life for all people living with HIV and AIDS.
We can no longer wait to be protected! We look forward to working with all of you to end this pandemic. Truly, our Faith is in Action.
##
For more information contact Daniel.Pieper@elca.org
Is religion a barrier to HIV prevention asked speakers on Monday, August 4th and my singular, silent self in seminar room 2 at the XVII World AIDS Conference
Although the conference had already started (the room was jammed with journalists, activists and educators and security wasn't letting in any extra bodies) on arrival. Once inside, the speaker representing the Catholic faith addressed the political regression society has seen in the past few years.
The issue of the politisation of the bible has secularized sexuality and made the Vatican and world governments increasingly anti-choice, anti-contraceptives, strictly monogamist and heterosexual. What’s left for some but to de-baptize themselves?
But while some people are fine with defecting from the catholic church to enjoy sex, perhaps I’m too much of an old-fashioned prude to do such a thing. It turned out religion was not so much the barrier as were the politics at the levels of government. Time for a coup.
In Mexico, the local government approved legal unions among same sex couples and decriminalized abortions. However, at the federal level, the policies of the Vatican continued to influence decision making policies. The same trend can be seen in the U.S. El Salvador will be a mess best left for another time.
Ashok Rapavi, editor of “Bombay Dust” India’s first homosexual publication, further underlined the point of how Christian beliefs had “prude-ified” India, a country with a rich, sexual culture predating British rule. The British have been long gone and the government reinforces a sexually repressive mentality, and India now has the second largest infection rate of HIV after South Africa among MSM, transgender and IDU’s.
I could blame the Vatican for having prevented me from embracing my own imaginative, if ambiguous sexuality. However, I’m not about to de-baptize myself because, you know, just in case.
Being a Catholic woman who lived primarily in Latin America, the holy rosary increased its chokehold around my neck as the bra sizes increased (then decreased. Long story). Although the women in my family openly answered all the questions I had about sex, their jaws would always hit the dinner table before the incoming answers. Then there’s the catholic guilt and the (ridiculous) expectation that I should be a virgin until my wedding day. Anything that feels good is sinful.
But somehow, I managed to inform myself better than my American classmates who, when they arrived to college, didn’t know how to fasten a condom around a wooden dildo or list five STD’s off the top of their head. The supposedly conservative environment had taught me more than I needed to know. And the Great Zeitgeist had taught its own very little. This concerned me. They were doling out the funds, but to what ends? Well, now we know. It's as simple as A-B-C...
While I have bucket loads of information, I still don’t know how to reconcile my religious beliefs, however lapsed they might be, with my sexuality. While the issue of contraception, responsibility and open dialogue was addressed, re-addressed and dumped into my bag over and over in neat little cellophane-wrapped squares, I still think that there’s something lacking at the end of the day. I can make him strap on a rubber, but I’ll still feel like a slut. A confused one, at that and it seems like I’m being subliminally pushed in a direction I have no interest in going in. You can’t deprogram years of sexual repression in one conference.
eL Presidente de la Répública Mexicana inauguró la xvii Conferencia Internacional sobre VIH/SIDA 2008 en la Ciudad de México...
Este evento da inicio a la Conferencia Mundial a la que asisten más de 23,000 delegados, record mundial de cualquier conferencia en la historia.
Gobierno, sociedad civil y organizaciones fueron testigos de la inauguración. A partir de ahora comienza uno de los retos más importantes patra todos!°...
ACCIÓN UNIVERSAL ¡YA!
PABLO TORRES AGUILERA
AGENTE DE CAMBIO
FUERZA JOVEN DE MÉXICO 2008
Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS Session at AIDS 2008 - Posted By: Jo Anne
Children and Youth Facing HIV/AIDS
August 4, 2008
International AIDS Conference 2008
The session opened with Stephanie Raper, of Australia, a young person born HIV+ and Peter Laugharn, of the Netherlands. During the session similarities between panelists emerged such as their findings related to the discrimination and stigma youth living with HIV face in their daily lives. Adriana Gomez, of Brazil, spoke about a magazine called “Living as a Young Person,” this magazine featured workshops conducted in March – August 2007 and was first published in 2004. During those workshops, youth shared their feelings, fears and hopes. Similarly, Christabell, from Kenya, representing a group called Stay Alive Group support (SAYG), spoke about the wide gap between non-infected and infected youth, young people’s reluctance to get tested, and the lack of commitment young people have to support infected persons. Panelists also touched upon the double standard between adult and children disclosure; adults are told about their status via well trained health care providers while children and youth are often told their status via parents or caregivers who are not properly trained to support them. Discussions also focused on a growing body of evidence that suggests that while orphan hood in Africa is an important factor, it is not the only factor. Research has shown that orphans do not necessarily suffer greater deprivation so, including factors such as orphan hood, we must consider poverty, regional factors, and gender disparities as more effective measures.
Panelists showed that without education youth can perceive HIV+ status as a ‘death sentence’ and untreatable, they feel shame and exclude themselves from society. Those not infected and uneducated about the subject often use derogatory language, play ‘the blame game,’ and excluded HIV+ persons from society; as Christabell noted “discrimination leads to stigma, whether knowingly or unknowingly”. However, with proper support and education youth who are living with HIV have a better outlook on life and can see the possibilities for a brighter future.
In the future Panelists would like to see more effective strategies to combat reluctance to get tested and hold youth accountable to know their status. Panelists recommended that health care workers and parents receive training to properly support young people, take them through the testing process and also to communicate status disclosure with youth appropriately since “trust in [your parents] is key, if you can’t trust your parents who can you trust?... Keeping an illness from a child, a child who has their own body and their own mind, is devastating and should not happen” as Stephanie Raper noted. Best practices include those exemplified by SAYG who provides psychological support, opportunities to form partnerships on health issues and information for peer education. SAYG uses effective approaches including community asset mapping, programs and interventions and community resources. Developing disclosure guidelines and best practices is also important. There is also a strong need for youth friendly services so that youth feel comfortable about being tested and are open to receiving support.
Well well, three days in and we are already skipping blog entries! You just cannot get the staff...So today you get two for one, you lucky lucky kids.
Yesterday was super manic. The pre-conference threw us right into workshops, no easing in with a nice talk like we've had other days. We went to one on sex education, where we had a lady frantically typing up everything we said onto a powerpoint. Very exciting! We did brainstorms on why everyone thought sex education was important and why it should be based in human rights. There were around 50+ people in the session from a mind boggling number of places, and everyone babbled away so much that we overran, but since Mr Mark Richmond, UNESCO Global Coordinator for HIV and AIDS (ooooo) said at the end that it was one of the most impressive discussions on sexual education he'd heard (double ooooo), I'd say worth missing snacks for.
Then we had a little help navigating the programme of the main conference (which is a telephone directory. Literally) before everyone else got ready to go on the march against homophobia, but we didn't get to go, sniff. We'd already agreed to discuss a new website called iAIDS which is a wiki type affair for youth working on HIV and AIDS to share their cleverness. We did manage to snaffle a couple of the sassy pink t-shirts that the Mexico Youth Force generously distributed to marchers, though. Check out their catwalk potential. The Mexico Dance4Lifers got everyone in the mood.
It was a good job we had a bit of practice earlier, as the pre-conference ended at a museum, i.e. at the most beautiful party venue ever seen, thanks to Bill and Melinda Gates apparently (triple oooo)! It was bags and bags of fun, featuring Mexico's answer to Kate Nash with a glittery accordion and a lot of poor salsa dancing on our behalves.
So we get to the main shindig, which started this morning, and is absolutely amazing! Pretty cliched, but it really is! Apart from the fact that under 18s count as accompanying children and don't get any cool free stuff. Which is a bit daft considering there was a whole pre-conference for youths about how important our involvement is. We had a bit of a paddy with them about it, which resulted in us finding out that in 2006 they didn't even let under 18s into the youth pre conference (????) and a free cagoul for Sophie. Woo.
At the first session we got to meet Eastern Europe's finest songstresses and a goooorgeous Egyptian actor called Khaled Abol Naga (who made Ruth cry, again) working on HIV and Sexual Health campaigns. It was about how to meaningfully involve high profile people in actions, rather than just have them rock up and not really have a clue what they're talking about just because they reckon it'll help them to shift a few more records. The input from Georgia Arnold from MTV's Staying Alive Foundation was really useful for us, as we've been a bit concerned about trying to get celebrities involved in the Winter Festival idea due to the media backlash around Live8.
Then it just got better, as the next session was all about making safe sex sexy. It was organised by 'The Pleasure Project'. We heard all about safe sex advertising aimed at gay men in Australia, which involved teatowels (we'd link to a picture but they were a little too graphic for this website) and an amazing peer led clinic for sex workers in San Francisco.
Now we're home safe and have made a right mess of the hotel lobby area with junk food debris. Very classy travellers!
Monday, August 4, 2008, 04:37 AM
Well well, three days in and we are already skipping blog entries! You just cannot get the staff...So today you get two for one, you lucky lucky kids.
Yesterday was super manic. The pre-conference threw us right into workshops, no easing in with a nice talk like we've had other days. We went to one on sex education, where we had a lady frantically typing up everything we said onto a powerpoint. Very exciting! We did brainstorms on why everyone thought sex education was important and why it should be based in human rights. There were around 50+ people in the session from a mind boggling number of places, and everyone babbled away so much that we overran, but since Mr Mark Richmond, UNESCO Global Coordinator for HIV and AIDS (ooooo) said at the end that it was one of the most impressive discussions on sexual education he'd heard (double ooooo), I'd say worth missing snacks for.
Then we had a little help navigating the programme of the main conference (which is a telephone directory. Literally) before everyone else got ready to go on the march against homophobia, but we didn't get to go, sniff. We'd already agreed to discuss a new website called iAIDS which is a wiki type affair for youth working on HIV and AIDS to share their cleverness. We did manage to snaffle a couple of the sassy pink t-shirts that the Mexico Youth Force generously distributed to marchers, though. Check out their catwalk potential. The Mexico Dance4Lifers got everyone in the mood.
It was a good job we had a bit of practice earlier, as the pre-conference ended at a museum, i.e. at the most beautiful party venue ever seen, thanks to Bill and Melinda Gates apparently (triple oooo)! It was bags and bags of fun, featuring Mexico's answer to Kate Nash with a glittery accordion and a lot of poor salsa dancing on our behalves.
So we get to the main shindig, which started this morning, and is absolutely amazing! Pretty cliched, but it really is! Apart from the fact that under 18s count as accompanying children and don't get any cool free stuff. Which is a bit daft considering there was a whole pre-conference for youths about how important our involvement is. We had a bit of a paddy with them about it, which resulted in us finding out that in 2006 they didn't even let under 18s into the youth pre conference (????) and a free cagoul for Sophie. Woo.
At the first session we got to meet Eastern Europe's finest songstresses and a goooorgeous Egyptian actor called Khaled Abol Naga (who made Ruth cry, again) working on HIV and Sexual Health campaigns. It was about how to meaningfully involve high profile people in actions, rather than just have them rock up and not really have a clue what they're talking about just because they reckon it'll help them to shift a few more records. The input from Georgia Arnold from MTV's Staying Alive Foundation was really useful for us, as we've been a bit concerned about trying to get celebrities involved in the Winter Festival idea due to the media backlash around Live8.
Then it just got better, as the next session was all about making safe sex sexy. It was organised by 'The Pleasure Project'. We heard all about safe sex advertising aimed at gay men in Australia, which involved teatowels (we'd link to a picture but they were a little too graphic for this website) and an amazing peer led clinic for sex workers in San Francisco.
Now we're home safe and have made a right mess of the hotel lobby area with junk food debris. Very classy travellers!
Sophie learnt about the history of collage. She then had difficulty overcoming her inner selfish artiste when she worked with a group on a piece about risk. The workshop brought together lots of groups using art techniques to respond HIV and AIDS amongst young people, a fabulous example being Dylan, who you just might get a glipse of if you're lucky and nice in a film we're going to put on the website .
Ruth went to a misleadingly named session on effective writing for media, which just turned into a really impressive discussion about the power of language, but also helped her technophobic self find some friends who'll help with all the digital treats that we have in store for you.
In the breaks we found a lovely bloke from Chicago. He made Sophie go tingly with his stories of the exhibitions he's put on with a group called Project Focus . Now we'd really like to adapt some of their techniques for the Winter Festival that our shiny Unicef groups are planning to hopefully happen on World AIDS Day 2009.
To top the day off we successfully managed to buy a pint bottle of diet coke (AMAZING).
Now we have a fabulous night in store of photo logging (oh my life if we come home with no eyes left don't say we didn't warn you) and interview planning. Woop.
I will never forget the Latin American spirit at the Mexico Youth Force pre-conference. From the moment I arrived at the pre-conference (and even before…at the airport, at Hotel Palace, in the restaurant), I felt welcomed by other Latin American youth. Communication for me was not a problem even though I didn’t speak Spanish and some of the Latin American youth didn’t speak English – somehow we managed and we managed it well.
The Latin American spirit was most apparent to me in the skills-building sessions. I hesitate if asked to participate in activities or discussions unless I’m completely sure what I’m getting myself into. This was certainly not the case at the pre-conference where there were endless volunteers to join in group work and to share personal experiences and express well thought-out perspectives on complex issues such as gender, sexuality and identity.
Similarly at the ‘1st International March Against Stigma, Discrimination and Homophobia’, the Latin American youth enthusiastically led us in very loud chants, such as ‘Alerta, Alerta, Alerta, que camina la juventud unida por America Latina’ (which translates to something like ‘Listen up, Listen up, Listen up, we are representing the united youth of Latin America’. Another important chant was ‘No hay libertad politica si no hay libertad sexual’ (‘There’s not political liberty if there’s not sexual liberty’).
I’ve certainly been fired up by the Latin American activists that I’ve met and I hope we can all approach the conference with the vibrant Latin American spirit that I have found so inspiring and uplifting!
Mexico YouthForce: Power generation - Posted By: annelies mesman
by Annelies Mesman, youth rapporteur and CHOICE board member, and Vanessa Brocato, assistent director GMHC
“Universal Action Now!”— more than 300 young people from around the world gathered for 3 days before the International AIDS Conference to empower each other to move beyond rhetoric to concrete action. As part of Mexico YouthForce, young leaders led discussions on not only HIV and AIDS prevention, treatment and care but also the range of sexual and reproductive health and rights and social justice issues that intersect with and complicate responses to AIDS.
“Hope is here. Adults don’t know the challenges we are facing; they are guessing. You can never be successful if you design any program for young people without them. This is for all the adults here: Let the Mexico YouthForce speak!” said Igor Mocorro, a 21 year old from the Philippines.
Prior to this event, 125 young people from 46 countries worked together, communicating virtually, to create key messages of the Mexico YouthForce. Throughout the Banamex, posters will carry the following resulting slogans:
• Rights: we have a right to comprehensive, accurate information and services to protect our sexual health.
• Respect: for our realities, our experiences, and our contributions.
• Responsibility: together, we must create an environment where we have power over the decisions that affect our health and lives.
• Resources: we need training, mentorship, funding, and opportunities.
Together, these messages demand one thing: programs and policies based on realities. The “Our Realities” poster shows a young Asian man preparing to shoot up, an image selected to illustrate one of the most hidden and ignored realities of young people today. 30% of new HIV infections are attributed to injection drug use, directly or indirectly through drug using sexual partners.
Delegates at the pre-conference examined the real life impact of programs and policies on their health and human rights and identified gaps in program content and availability, especially for marginalized and vulnerable young people. One notorious example of abandoning those most in need— including injecting drug users, sex workers, and all young people— is the recently reauthorized U.S. global AIDS policy, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR II). Although PEPFAR II acknowledges IDUs and men who have sex with men and alters the abstinence-promotion requirements, the changes fall short and the policy drew sharp criticism each day.
“We have a nationwide ABC program supported by our AIDS Commission and Ministry of Health. But some oppose and just say “abstain and be faithful.” This is a result of PEPFAR. The solution: if young people have other means of accessing information except for the sources who receive this funding then they can hear about condoms,” said a participant from Uganda. Many advocates in PEPFAR recipient country are working with U.S. advocates to change the prevention-related provisions in the law.
To build capacity to meet these challenges effectively, the participants shared knowledge and skills. Sessions offered insightful presentations on topics ranging from epidemiology, peer education models, advocacy strategy, harm reduction, human rights, the needs and rights of young people living with HIV/AIDS, and the inclusion of young people in all levels of decision making.
One of the privileged and inspiring adults to address the meeting, Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of UNFPA- the United Nations Population Fund, scrapped her original talking points to deliver 6 points of action that emphasized the need for youth-adult partnerships. She said, “We don’t always understand what you say. We don’t always understand what you do. But engage us so we can speak out and support you.”
You can speak out and take action with the YouthForce by visiting the Youth-Adults Partnerships Desk in the Youth Pavillion in the Global Village and making a signed commitment to engage young people in your work with HIV and AIDS. If you signed-up during the conference at Toronto in 2006, please stop by, share your progress and renew your pledge.
Caras de la Conferencia: Interview with Ilse Smit - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
The female condom has been a controversial form of contraception for the past 15 years. Available in Europe since 1992 and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration in 1993, the female condom-sold as Femy, Myfemy, Protectiv, Care and other brand names-is available in limited quantities in most parts of the world.
Ilse Smit, a representative of the World Population Foundation (WPF) at the Mexico City Youth Force Pre-Conference brought up the female condom at the Understanding Gender and HIV seminar, as well as other workshops.
She continuously advocates for world governments and health organizations to “demystify” the function of the female condom and its universal, affordable distribution.
“It is not a culturally bound issue, because people simply don’t want to insert it,” said Smit. “It took 50 years for people to accept wrapping something around a penis so we can achieve things by pushing for widespread use.”
Female Condoms are distributed in Nigeria, Cameroon, South Africa, Brazil and Zimbabwe. In 2007, the FC female condom sold 27.5 million units worldwide. This method of contraception allows a woman to protect herself if her partner does not want to wear a condom. However, it is not available in many countries.
At the conference, Smit, a resident of Holland, felt as if she had come home to be surrounded by like-minded people working towards the same ends: the prevention of HIV/AIDS.
Involved in youth participation since she was young, Smit, 26, laughingly admits that her advocacy has won her the moniker Ilse “Female Condom” Smit among her family, friends and peers. But she knows it’s well-earned.
“I frame things in the bigger context,” said Smit. “This isn’t just about preventing HIV this is about women’s empowerment, sexual and reproductive rights. It’s an automatic bullet.”
La preconferencia de jóvenes: El encuentro - Posted By: miguel angel
La ciudad de México me recibió como un asalto, impactante y sin reservas. La espera termino y el trabajo para Fuerza Joven comenzaba. Por razones de seguridad no traje mi lap, cosa que lamento (y es la razón de mi tardía presentación).
Me interesa el trabajo con los aspectos humanos, culturales, sociales y subjetivos enlazados al VIH/SIDA. Mi propuesta es intervenir primero en el otro, en el sujeto antes que estudiar un virus.
Pero enfoquémonos en la preconferencia. Mis compañeros y yo recibimos capacitación de MTV y GYCA que pareciera obvia y sencilla, pero que a la hora de presentarnos ante un tomador de decisiones es necesario proyectar claridad, y sobre todo ser conciso. Puede ser una tarea difícil, hay que ceder nuestro Ego, lleno de juventud y cierta pretensiocidad.
La tarea es involucrarse, conocerse y actuar. Identificar qué se quiere y poner manos a la obra. Es el inicio de cualquier incidencia política, tal como lo señalaron Vladimir Jaquez y Manuella Donato en su propuesta 'incidenciando políticamente por la Fuerza Joven'.
Habrá medios visuales para mostrarles algunos chicos y chicas que buscan una forma de incidir en su mundo. ¡Hasta pronto!
Creando una estrategia de Incidencia Política! - Posted By: Pablo!°
Hoy fué el segundo día de la Pre-Conferencia de la Fuerza Joven de México y entre varias ponencias muy interesantes, encontré una que me ha sido de gran utilidad y estoy seguro que a ustedes también...
El título de la ponenecia fué:CREANDO UNA ESTRATEGIA DE INCIDENCIA POLÍTICA. las expositoras fueron Courtney Matson y Kimberly Whipkey de la ONG: Americans for Informed Democracy.
Ellas hablaron sobre como llevar nustros proyectos y nuestras ideas hasta la meta proponiendo el siguiente método:
- Identifica el tema, problema o proyecto que quieres que se lleve a cabo.
- Define las metas sobre tu tema
- Objetivo, ¿cuál es el personaje o tomador de decisión al que quieres llegar?
- Apoyo o Ayuda, ¿quiénes serán las personas que te ayuden a llevar a cabo este proyecto?
- Aliados, las personas u organizaciones que se aliarán a tu idea y te darán soporte
- Oposición. Las personas u organizaciones que no apoyen tu idea o proyecto.
- Mensajes Clave de tu campaña
- Tacticas...
Estos fueron solo algunos de los métodos que propusieron para una verdadera incidencia política de los jóvenes activistas... :)
Hello everyone, Sophie Harrison reporting for blogging duties.
Please excuse any fogginess of thought, we have just eaten an obscene amount of meat, on top of still being really quite jetlagged. I never though I´d see the day that I´d jump out of bed at 5.30am. We´re 6 hours behind you Brits, so we were madly emailing parents reading DFID´s actions when we couldn´t sleep, who knew timezones could be so educational?
The pre conference started with a young person from every region of the world (except Western Europe, which was a bit odd, we´re going to follow it up) talking about how HIV and AIDS affect young people in their area. Ruth cried. Luckily I´d managed to bring tissues to stop her snotting on everyone. We were both surprised by the diversity of the groups with the highest prevalence in different areas, it varied from young married women in North Africa to street involved youth in Canada. It was so moving to hear how powerful some youth lead initiatives have been in changing the lives of HIV positive people. It was properly motivating as well, we bounded out clutching Unicef´s camera and accosted loads of people with cute advocacy t-shirts.
We spent th rest of the day in workshops, my personal favourite being on sexuality and the body where we got to draw pictures of willies and pretend to be in a uterus! Another was on harm reduction, by a really cool organisation called Youth R.I.S.E. It was wicked because it´s something neither of us knew anything about and the facilitators were brilliant at getting you to challenge prejudices that you weren´t aware of having. The other workshop featured a lady who was absolutely fascinating, but knew a scary amount about vaccines. So obviously we followed her to a restaurant tonight, then hung around outside a bit like crazed fans.
Tomorrow we´re looking forward to having proper name badges so that I won´t have to explain why my funny Whitby accent does not scan in Spanish when introducing myself.
I'm Ruth, one half of 'Sophie and Ruth, UNICEF UK Young volunteers and AIDS 2008 Delegate Duo Extraordinaire' Catchy, no? Welcome to the test entry of this shiny blog.
Day Zero
I figure it's not day one as we don't leave for Mexico City, where for the next week and a bit the International AIDS Conference 2008 will be keeping us and about 25,000 other delegates busy, until tomorrow morning.
Tonight we just go down to London, as Sophie and I are from the lovely North of England, so we need a day to settle. She's East side (Whitby; fish and chips, Dracula, etc etc) and I'm West (Bolton; pasty barms, Peter Kay etc etc).
So far, so many packing dilemmas. I mean, can you ever really have too many pairs of wedge heels? A philosophical quandry that has kept many a great mind busy, I'll bet. It doesn't help much that I'm STUPIDLY excited.
Been reading the youth pre-conference programme this morning. That's the bit that fills the first 3 days which only lovely young things are let in to, no crumbly oldies for us thank you very much. It looks SO GOOD, positively rammed with relevancy to the stuff our groups at Unicef are working on. The first session has advocacy t-shirt swapping, and I've got 3 wicked samples to take along.
AHA. I think we've found the cause of this non-shutting suitcase problem. Three t-shirts are obviously thicker than you think...
I'm Ruth, one half of 'Sophie and Ruth, UNICEF UK Young volunteers and AIDS 2008 Delegate Duo Extraordinaire' Catchy, no? Welcome to the test entry of this shiny blog.
Day Zero
I figure it's not day one as we don't leave for Mexico City, where for the next week and a bit the International AIDS Conference 2008 will be keeping us and about 25,000 other delegates busy, until tomorrow morning.
Tonight we just go down to London, as Sophie and I are from the lovely North of England, so we need a day to settle. She's East side (Whitby; fish and chips, Dracula, etc etc) and I'm West (Bolton; pasty barms, Peter Kay etc etc).
So far, so many packing dilemmas. I mean, can you ever really have too many pairs of wedge heels? A philosophical quandry that has kept many a great mind busy, I'll bet. It doesn't help much that I'm STUPIDLY excited.
Been reading the youth pre-conference programme this morning. That's the bit that fills the first 3 days which only lovely young things are let in to, no crumbly oldies for us thank you very much. It looks SO GOOD, positively rammed with relevancy to the stuff our groups at Unicef are working on. The first session has advocacy t-shirt swapping, and I've got 3 wicked samples to take along.
AHA. I think we've found the cause of this non-shutting suitcase problem. Three t-shirts are obviously thicker than you think...
Jóvenes Transgéneros, expresan su voz - Posted By: Danny Perez Diaz
Ilsa, una chica transgénero de México, expresa a Latinoamérica su experiencia y mensaje sobre la importancia de la NO discriminación y el respeto a la DIVERSIDAD SEXUAL
Opening Day at the Fuerza Joven de Mexico Conference - Posted By: Alexandra McAnarney
Young activists, doctors, politicians and student groups gathered from all corners of the globe at the Youth Pre-Conference for the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City to voice their concern against the increase of HIV/AIDS cases among young people.
The president of the international AIDS society and Co-Chair of the International AIDS Conference, Dr. Pedro Cahn, rallied young participants to action at the opening ceremony.
"You are the main actors in epidemic response and not the passive receivers," said Cahn.
"If we don't respect youth then we don't have a chance. Let's work stronger, together."
According to a 2007 report by UNAIDS, 33.2 million people are living with HIV worldwide. Around half of the people infected with HIV are under the age of 25, a fact which underlines the urgency of Cahn's message.
A retinue of speakers including Steve Kraus, chief of HIV/AIDS branch for the UNFPA, United Nations Population Fund and Neils Katsberg, regional director for UNICEF voiced the same urgent concern to the audience composed mostly of people under the age of 30.
"Silence is the killer that keeps sexual abuse going on within a family and maintains the spread of HIV/AIDS."
Young activists from seven areas of the world presented a regional panorama to highlight the factors that are particular to that region as well as to discuss shared issues.
Sexual abuse within the family, intravenous drug use, unprotected sex, poverty and unemployment among young people, access or lack there of, to education, funds and treatment and the dynamics between veterans at the front lines of the epidemic and younger newcomers were presented as factors that contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS.
But success has been achieved. According to the 2008 HIV/AIDS report released on Tuesday by the United Nations, young people are postponing their sexual debut, having less sexual partners and using more condoms. Yet there are still roads to be paved in the areas of microbicidal, retroviral and vaccine research, female condom use and acceptance and gender role discourse.
The FuerzaJoven de Mexico(Youth Force of Mexico) is a coalition of NGO's and international organizations that promotes youth participation on subjects like HIV/AIDS by promoting advocacy and action. Supported by names like the UNFPA, UNESCO, and Gates Foundation, the Youth Force made it's debut in 2002 at the International AIDS Conference in Barcelona. The success of the first conference took the Youth Force to subsequent conferences in Bangkok and Toronto.
La primera sesión del día: La época del SIDA como celebridad. Me parecía que iba a ser una charla positiva, sobre cómo los famosos pueden ayudar a las campañas.
¡Qué equivocada estaba!
En vez, fue una plática muy informativa sobre como las campañas publicitarias pueden mandar el mensaje equivocado al utilizar a una celebridad como promotor.
Uno de los ejemplos que más me impactó fue la campaña (RED) que mantienen compañías como Gap, Apple, Motorola y Converse. Me parece increiblemente irresponsable que en toda la campaña, NUNCA utilizaron información ni estadísticas sobre el VIH/SIDA.
No sólo eso, sino que cambiaron un mensaje que se supone que fuera "el apoyo del VIH/SIDA es algo cool y accesible" a uno de "el tener un ipod/una camisa/unos zapatos/un teléfono rojo es cool". Por ejemplo, el sitio web de la campaña (RED), joinred.com, dice "Sé un Samaritano atractivo", insinuando que te tienes que vestir bien para ser una persona buena o bondadosa.
El sitio web también da recomendaciones de cómo ser un activista (RED). ¡Qué recomendaciones! En ningún momento menciona el VIH, lo único que promueve es el consumerismo. Dice: "ten una fiesta en tu casa y dile a tus invitados que traigan ropa (RED)", o "organiza una excursión de compras para comprar cosas (RED)".
Comenzo la PreConferencia de Jovenes - Posted By: Joel
Por fin comenzo la PreConferencia, y entre la emocion y la alegria no se puede dejar de lado la importancia, la responsabilidad de todos los que nos encontramos aqui. La apertura estuvo llena de emotividad, palabras de animo y consejos. Tuvimos una serie de personalidades importantes de la UNAM, el UNFPA, UNICEF, entre otros, quienes nos compartieron sus expectativas e ideas con respecto a la PreConferencia y la Conferencia, la importancia del rol de los jovenes y de romper el silencio, hablar de sexualidad abiertamente y buscar la informacion y compartirla con nuestros compañeros y amigos.
Y entre todo, ha sido una bienvenida llena de sonrisas y abrazos, al encontrarnos con personas de nuestros paises, o de las ONGs para las que trabajamos, hemos conocido chicos y chicas de todo el mundo con la misma meta de aprender y compartir el mensaje, de luchar por el cambio y buscar un mundo mejor para las generaciones que vienen detras de nosotros.
Asi, los que una vez pudimos haber pensado que estabamos solos en la lucha contra el VIH/SIDA nos hemos dado cuenta aqui que no es asi, que somos un granito de arena en una playa enorme que lucha contra la corriente del VIH/SIDA. Y eso, nos anima a hacer mas, a luchar por mejor informacion, a buscar los mejores metodos y asegurarnos que nuestros familiares, amigos, compatriotas reciban el mensaje.
Saludos a todos.
Jóvenes en Acción: El fin del silencio - Posted By: Adriana Olavarria
El primer día de la Pre Conferencia para Jóvenes y ya han comenzado los temas serios: el VIH/SIDA y cómo afecta a los jóvenes.
El Sr. Neils Katsberg comentó en la bienvenida: "Lo que mantiene que el VIH siga expandiéndose es el silencio". Pues entonces, AQUI TERMINA EL SILENCIO. Vamos a hablar.
¿Sabías que del 2001 al 2008, las estadísticas muestran que los jóvenes están tomando medidas más responsables en términos de relaciones sexuales? Según Steve Kraus, del UNFPA, los jóvenes son más propensos a posponer su primera experiencia sexual, a reducir la cantidad de parejas sexuales que mantienen, y mucho más propensos a usar condones.
Esto suena bonito, claro, pero no quiere decir que no existan todavía cantidades de problemas de falta de educación en cuanto a prevenir el VIH. De momento, hay 33.2 millones de personas a través del mundo padeciendo del VIH/SIDA, y un increíble 40% de todas las nuevas personas infectadas son jóvenes.
Por eso, por los próximos diez días, estaré contando todo lo que ocurra en la Conferencia...porque a través de la información y el conocimiento, podremos difundir nuestro mensaje: que es realmente alarmante la rapidez del crecimiento del VIH/SIDA entre los jóvenes.
INICIA PRE-CONFERENCIA!! Fuerza Joven de México!!! - Posted By: Pablo!°
Hoy ha dado inicio la Pre-conferencia de la Fuerza Joven de México!!!!
Ha sido de verdad enriquecedor reunirme con jóvenes de tantos países que piensan y sienten muy parecido a mi!
Escuchar a los representantes de la AIDS 2008 Pedro Kahn y representantes de distintos programas de la ONU como Steve Kraus (UNFPA)y Neils Katsberg(UNICEF) es de verdad muy motivante. Escuchar las experiencias de otros te ayuda a encaminar más tus proyectos y a saber más detalladamente cual podría ser el mejor camino a seguir.
De las ponencias más importantes para mi fué sin duda la de Stephen Kasomo de Uganda, al hablar sobre las verdaderas necesidades de un país y una región y una región tan importante en VIH/SIDA como Africa SubSahariana. "Hace falta gente que hable de sexualidad" fué lo que Stephen recalcó!
Una de las cosas que creo más importantes de la Pre-conferencia además de las habilidades que adquieres y el conocimiento, es la RED de jóvenes que se crea!! UNIÉNDONOS a todos con un mismo fin!!!
Representar la voz de los jóvenes latinoamericanos es sin duda la labor más importante de un AGENTE DE CAMBIO.
Después de la fuerte emoción que implica formar parte de AIDS2008, es hora de trabajar.
Cada uno representará a pequeños núcleos de lo que el mundo económico y cultural globalizado conoce como Latinoamérica. Seremos puesta en acto en esta aldea global, de nuestra lucha, prejuicios y síntomas de propios y compartidos por nuestros pueblos acerca del VIH y la discriminación, además de una juventud llena de sueños que empiezan a dar frutos y que no debemos abandonar en tiempos difíciles. Para mí, es el momento de emprender un camino hacia una vida donde pueda nombrarme con orgullo y sin miedo, apostar por la verdad frente a la hipocresía y al amor contra la cobardía. ´
Desconozco qué sentirán ustedes, pero yo tengo el presentimiento de muchas posibilidades, experiencias y exploración.
Con cariño a YouthAids, Joya Benerjee y a todos los que conoceré.
Putting the XVII International AIDS Conference Online - Posted By: LauraK
In July 2010 Vienna will host the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC 2010), bringing the largest professional conference addressing the HIV and AIDS epidemic into the heart of Europe. Before they descend on the wide boulevards and majestic plazas of Vienna the many activists, researchers, politicians, health practitioners, people living with HIV, and others who make up the worldwide response to HIV and AIDS are busy readying themselves for the IAC 2008, which is getting underway in Mexico City at the beginning of August. Included amongst those people are perhaps the most important demographic in the response to HIV and AIDS – youth. Why are youth so important? Let's sum it up in three sentences: Half of new HIV infections are amongst those between 15 and 24 years of age. According to UNAIDS there were approximately 2.5 million new infections in 2007. This means that over a million youth were newly infected with HIV last year.
Grim statistics like these mean that the role of youth in the fight against HIV and AIDS is crucial. Youth are living with HIV and AIDS and more youth are being infected every day, but they are not only sufferers – they are leaders in this fight and hundreds of them will be assuming this role in Mexico City in only a few weeks time. The Mexico City YouthForce is a coalition of organizations dedicated to increasing and supporting youth participation at the International AIDS Conference, which has been present at each IAC since its creation in 2000 at the conference in Durban, South Africa. The YouthForce will be preparing youth delegates to IAC 2008 to be effective advocates for youth issues, providing a youth-friendly space for them at the conference, and helping them to make connections with other youth as well as the many professionals attending. The cost of attending IAC 2008 means that not all youth who are affected by or working in the fight against HIV and AIDS will get to be there in person, but thanks to technology this is no longer the barrier it once was.
A team of Youth Journalists will be amongst the hundreds of youth delegates at IAC 2008 whose task will be to cover the people/issues/events/developments relevant to youth and report on them from a youth perspective. Their coverage will allow youth all over the world to tune in to the conference online and stay updated on the progress/achievements/experiences of the youth delegates as they bring a strong voice for young people affected by HIV and AIDS worldwide to IAC 2008. In order to do this the Youth Journalists will be armed with Nokia's N95 phone, generously donated by Finnish telecommunications giant Nokia. With this 'smartphone' Youth Journalists will be capturing the conference through video, photography and podcasting, and posting it directly to the web. Tools like these are allowing more and more youth to feel involved in international conferences like IAC 2008, they provide eyes and ears to youth who might normally never have the means to participate in person.
We're really excited about the Youth Journalist team that has been put together this year – it includes youth from Norway, Austria, USA, Bangladesh, Kenya, Mexico, Nicaragua, UK, and Haiti, who will be blogging, podcasting, photographing and videotaping their way through IAC 2008. Look out for their coverage on the official YouthForce website – www.youthaids2008.com!
Saudações direto do Brasil, senti falta da língua portuguesa neste espaço interativo... as expectativas em relação a conferência são muitas, principalmente por ser a primeira experiência numa conferência desta dimensão ...
Espero logo encontrar a todos e todas,
Welcome to the land of Smile - Posted By: Muntasir
I was wondering after seeing the welcoming info board just behind the custom of Thailand international airport. It was pretty crowed and colors of different nationals are roaming around. We are had a flight to catch for our most waited world tour on bicycle from Dhaka. Best Air, a new airline from Bangladesh started regular flight from Dhaka to Bangkok so we thought our journey will be smoother if we can catch them during the inaugural month. We are prolonging a dream of travel around the world on our two wheelers, we haven't got any chance to get a good bike to carry them for the whole trip across the globe. Our target is to kick off the journey from Latin or Central America. But, Bangladesh is not having any embassies of those countries. So finding no other alternative, we are here for fixed them up. After two and half hours, we have got glimpse of Thailand, the so called landscape, paddy fields and the modern marvels. The whole landscape was divided by roads and highways without having single break for long, from the top it was looking like arrows in the green! The only similarity with Bangladesh is the green but we have with plenty of isles.
After had a safe landing, while facing the immigration police, saw a board just behind the counter, vibrantly written in blue colored ink, welcome to the land of smile! Queues were growing fast and long, though there were number of counters having the same backdrop and officer but we dint find any of them who having smiling face. The dutch-british-african-arab-indian-or us almost every one was astonished about the behavior of the officer and their backdrop slogan! Small mistakes or anything that she or he may dint like, had to left the queue and fix that and again follow the queue! For me us it was more embarrassing, all on a sudden they inquired us by saying “show money”! after all of these happenings we found out the green channel and ensure our landing in Thailand. It was mid day, bright sunny day. Catch up a taxi to Kausang Road, as it was backpackers hub in the town. Long way to go and so long to wait in the traffic jam. The saying “you can come to Bangkok airport sharp, but you can hardy reach the city in a same day due to the traffic” though there were hundreds of multi storied highways to follow – toll ways and many more but almost all the same. We have boarded in New Vong Thong Hotel for our first day, room was big and clean. Bangladesh food available near by. Mr Ibrahim, early aged Bangladeshi running this business who had come to Bangkok eight years ago with the help of his uncle. Small room vertically split into two with floor board, skewed stair case in the front. A kitchen, four tables and a Burmese helping hand cum waiter. Moderate cost per food which has common of our food. This is very popular meeting place for all Bangladeshis – tourist-businessman-residents.
Bangkok, a decades ago it was alike ours economically but now fended couple of decades within very short time. Deliberately constructed roads, high ways and express ways are pack with vehicles and their sense of obeying the law drove them to prime stage of saving times of daily life. Though roads are often packed with traffic during peak, causes several minutes to wait in a single traffic signal. Only for that they trying make more fly overs to reduce loads on the common roads. City is having subways, number of buses, sky rails, taxis and famous Tuk-Tuk. Living is bit costly for generals as Thai peoples annual average income is nearly 2000 us dollar. But local food is quite popular among the locals and tourists and it’s within budget. So far it is a very well maintained city where dwellers will get every facility of basic need to live. In my understanding this is one of the most fast grown countries to reach the standard as a nation. Bike shops: Its quite clear that locals are not that much into cycling as the roads are vigorously packed with fast plying vehicles and there is not sign of cycling track on the street. But two wheels like motor bikes of different types are very common among guys and girls. No age and sex barriers, peoples loves to ride on their motor bikes very much, its very clear. We have hardly seen any bicycle rider during day time but at night after 9 we have seen flock of cyclist are paddling as a matter of recreation specially before any weekends. We have found two very good bike shops in Bangkok. All are imported and brand cycles. Some other shops are available in the China Town too.
I am really excited for the International AIDS Conference! I was at the conference when it was in Toronto in 2006 and it was such an amazing experience to hear everyone's struggles in battling HIV/AIDS.
I look forward to checking out the resources on the youth site, and getting to know the stories of those who are participating. I am really interested in the ways that we can utilize social networks and mobile technologies in the conference. I think that mobile blogging is definitely one way to go. For example one can post text by sending the blog entry to username-password@tigblog.org -- replace username with your username, and password with your password!
It will be cool to try out some mobile video blogging technology, such as applications like Qik. Qik can be used by most smart phones, and is an application for streaming live video over the internet. While it already works on Nokia smart phones, it will be coming to the iPhone officially next week.
I think that youth can use these technologies as a form of mobile grassroots journalism. It will be interesting to look at what other ways youth communicate at the conference, as youth from around the world have different new media habits. In certain countries like Brazil and India, Social Networks are the big fad, while in other countries mobile phones dominate social communications. Youth may trade tips on media use, creating transnational media habits and sharing best practices in Citizen Media production.
Sex…Uncovered is a new MTV Staying Alive global series of shorts.
Staying Alive is MTV’s international HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention award winning campaign. Staying Alive’s mission is to educate young people on issues of HIV/AIDS in a bid for them to protect themselves from becoming infected with HIV and therefore stem the spread of HIV. Staying Alive also aims to support an enabling environment for those who are already infected with HIV, free from stigma and discrimination. One of the key ways of educating young people is by engaging them in the issues. Staying Alive seeks to empower young people to open up channels of communication, with their peers, their relationship partners, their family and friends, by dialoguing on issues that relate to their love life, sexuality, sex and indeed HIV/AIDS. Staying Alive is a safe space for self-expression on the issues of sex and relationships that directly impact our audience.
The issues are serious, and the conversations will range from the serious to the light heartened as young people discuss personal experiences, myths, rumours, fact and fictions, the types of conversations young people have everyday. For this series of short spots, Staying Alive is looking for young people to talk about the issues below:
Masculinity
Gifts in exchange for sex
Disability and HIV/AIDS
Living with HIV
Sex and HIV
Using a condom
Not having sex
Multiple partners
Injecting drug use
Women and HIV/AIDS
Dating
Sexuality
Rape and coercion
Violence and HIV/AIDS
We’re looking for young people from around the world to participate in this project to talk about regional issues as well as global themes affecting young people. The project will be filmed in multiple languages including English, Spanish, Swahili, French, Portuguese, Arabic, Italian and other major languages in the world. You will be paired up to discuss one of these issues on camera.
We want you if:
You have had personal experience of any of the above subjects, or you just have an opinion and not afraid to speak your mind!
You’re willing to feature on a global tv and online campaign
You’re aged between 18-25
You’re articulate
You’re going to be attending the International AIDS Conference in Mexico
You want to make a difference in the fight against HIV/AIDS
If you think you’re the right person for the job, email info@staying-alive.org with your name, age, gender and country. Attach a picture of yourself and a short essay (not more than 250 words) about what subject you’d like to talk about and why. State which languages you speak and which language you’ll be comfortable speaking in.
Also include the dates you’ll be in Mexico and where you’ll be staying.
All applications must be in English only. Please submit application by the 20th of July 2008.
THE MIND IS THE CONTROL ENGINE OF A MAN.A MAN IS WHAT HE THINKS,GET HIS MIND :YOU HAVE HIS LIFE.
TO STOP AIDS(MOSTLY AMONG YOUTH)WE NEED TO TO INCREASE THE AWARENESS OF THE USE OF CONDOMS.
AM NOT A PERVERT,I JUST BELIEVE THE TRUTH MUST BE SAID,AM A FINAL YEAR STUDENT OF MICROBIOLOGY ,AND IN KNOW WHATS HAPPENING AROUND ME.
MORE OF AWARENESS,INFORMATIUON TO THE MIND,DEFINITELY I BELIEVE AIDS NWILL BE STOPPED
FORO MUNDIAL - AYUDA- !!! - Posted By: luis ignacio
Necesito ayuda con lo del foro, trato de enviar la informacion al correo que ellos dejaron justamente para eso (agentedecambio@aids2008.org) y no se puede. el envio falla, osea se envia pero luego llega el correo ese diciendo que el envio falla, que no se puede.
¿Alguien me puede ayudar? ya estoy casi sobre la fecha tope.
Mi correo es thecyber3000@hotmail.com
para cualquier informacion al respecto.
Hola, soy estudiante de diseño gráfico de Chile. Por lo que entendí en el aviso que dieron en el canal de MTV, uno debe generar, según su talento, una pieza gráfica que aporte con este movimiento interesado en el VIH. Me gustaría saber hasta que fecha se puede entregar y donde debo hacerlo. Tengo una buena idea y me gustaría mucho participar. Mi gran problema es que no comprendo mucho la Web y menos el inglés.
Gracias por su atención. Saludos.
Se despide Octavio.
Si pudieran responderme al mail
realphixion@hotmail.com, realphixion@gmail.com
se los agradecería.
Hola, soy estudiante de diseño gráfico de Chile. Por lo que entendí en el aviso que dieron en el canal de MTV, uno debe generar, según su talento, una pieza gráfica que aporte con este movimiento interesado en el VIH. Me gustaría saber hasta que fecha se puede entregar y donde debo hacerlo. Tengo una buena idea y me gustaría mucho participar. Mi gran problema es que no comprendo mucho la Web y menos el inglés.
Gracias por su atención. Saludos.
Se despide Octavio.
Hola, soy estudiante de diseño gráfico de Chile. Por lo que entendí en el aviso que dieron en el canal de MTV, uno debe generar, según su talento, una pieza gráfica que aporte con este movimiento interesado en el VIH. Me gustaría saber hasta que fecha se puede entregar y donde debo hacerlo. Tengo una buena idea y me gustaría mucho participar. Mi gran problema es que no comprendo mucho la Web y menos el inglés.
Gracias por su atención. Saludos.
Se despide Octavio.
The problems is what alcoholism or using it by humans? - Posted By: Max
...at once somebody called me and said that our another classmate's father was dead. When I got to his home I could know that his father was ill from alcoholism. And yesterday he had more alcohol products and today morning sudden he dad....
preparandonos para AIDS 2008... - Posted By: Saditte
hey hola :) estoy ya creando mi perfil para la preconferencia de jovenes, mira tui que talvez conozca a algun chico guapo ;) jojojo y asi mi mala suerte cambie ¬¬
Going to start for IAC 2008 on my Bicycle - Posted By: Muntasir
Dear Sir
I am Mr. Muntasir Mamun Imran, 25 years old electrical engineer living & working in Dhaka capital city of Bangladesh.
We few young enthusiastic personals getting prepared for a World tour on bicycle. We would devote our efforts towards an AIDS awareness campaign titled "Stop Aids, Keep the promise" as a part of our contribution along with the international AIDS campaign. This is a global campaign against massive epidemic of AIDS around the globe.
I am happy to let you know that we will start paddeling from Argentina en route to Mexico city.
so I am egarly waiting for anyone who may join in my ride.
We will try hard to bring out the best through our campaign against AIDS. Our prime target would be covering as many countries as possible of 6 different continents.
While we are in your country it would be encouraging and appreciable to give us an appointment at your office and share this news to your local network where we can share our trip details and photos.
According to our plan we are going to start by the beginning of May 2008, first for Latin America then other continents to follows latter on.
So you are welcome to participate and please extend your support for this year long venture.
For more about the trip please visit
http://www.togetherweare.net
My TIG profile
http://profiles.takingitglobal.org/muntsir
My web site
http://www.muntasirmamun.com/
Regards,
Muntasir Mamun Imran
Round the Globe Campaign for AIDS on Bi-Cycle
Together We Are . net
www.togetherweare.net
Opportunities for Involvement! - Posted By: Kirsten
Technology has really opened up the doors to the sharing of creativity! The YouthForce has a couple of creative projects on the go that wanted to make sure you were aware of!
1. "AIDS in Focus" Photography Contest is a way for you to share your photographs. Learn more about the contest by going to http://www.tigurl.org/contest!
2. The other thing that we are doing is collecting artwork! Follow this link to see some of the great pieces that have already been submitted!
Click here!
The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the sub saharan africa has been a great challenge and most of the governments and NGOs/CBOs wonder why its such a challenge.
well there is one thing that has been ignored and it has had a lot to do with neglect. most governments ranks the virus in rural rather than urban areas and among the illeterate other than literate.
i did a research in 2005 at YMCA kampala branch in Uganda, thats where I knew that institutions teach academic issues and students have to learn the hard way about the virus and disease.
I suggest that all government treat every one equal by saying if its the fight agaist the pandemic, they major in all field and classes/ levels of understandings.
in international development communication, using strategies of a 1st world in third world can never work. thus we offer a change for the scholors in the developing world to change all that.
Your expectation from the IAC MEXICO 2008 - Posted By: Nabil Chemli
Hey,
I’m Nabil member of Y-PEER and MTV Staying alive.
I’m member of the YouthForce Media subcommittee,
I created this Blog where we can share our expectations from this big event.
For me I hope that all the youth activities will be successful so we demonstrate the need of a meaningful youth-adult partnership for a relevant global action.
I also hope to share and gain various new knowledge and skills related to the issue.
And of course network with youth having the same interest that me.
What's goind on with mankind.....since the beging of creation, many difficult diseases have come about.
What's really happening. Now see, that man can not defeat this one every lasted disease, AIDS/HIV....ooop God.
I believe it is a greatest task for man and all medical practitioners.
There non any such good result yet, reagrds the fight against HIV/AIDS, because even the drugs provide have side effects on humans, that sometimes even lead them to their graves quickly as compared to those who just sit and wait for it.
I have been trying my best to really figure out this.
BUT Man, we need to take this to a serious ATTENTION.
Hi everyone, just wanted to introduce myself as a part of this year's Mexico YouthForce. This is my first experience with collaborating with the YouthForce and being involved in the International AIDS Conference.
A little bit about me- I work at TakingITGlobal as the Partnerships Coordinator and am also one of the co-chairs for the YouthForce Media and Communications Committee. Anyways, I will write more in a bit but just thought I'd introduce myself and the launch of the 2008 Youth Site for the Conference!
I live and work in Africa. At no one time did my parents talked to me about sex openly or in public. This work was left to our teachers, who apparently saw me to be too innocent to be bombarded with sexual issues at an early age.
As i grew up, Tv was available with all its almost nude programs, magazines floated the streets and eventually AIDS was pronounced a National disaster in KEnya.
SOME INTERESTING FIGURES
It is estimated that 42 million people world wide have HIV / AIDS of which 2.5 million are children.
Predictions for AIDS deaths between the years 2000 to 2020 are around 68 million.
In 2003 those Africans who could benefit from treatment with ARV drugs, only 2% actually received the drugs.
However, there are problems in administering these drugs as they need to be taken at regular interval with clean water and the patient must also eat a healthy diet during treatment. This is often impossible when the patient doesn't have access to a clock and may only eat irregularly.
Cultural factors often make the situation especially difficult for women. In many countries women are not expected to talk about sexual matters and they may risk abuse if they refuse sex.
Some African men have many sexual partners and can unknowingly pass on HIV to them. It has become a myth that sex with a virgin can cure the man of AIDS.
The condom could prevent the spread of aids but even when they are made available, many African men won't use them.
Lets be wise. Keep the Promise. Speak about HIV/AIDS.
Now that antiretroviral therapy is beginning to become available on a large scale, and across a wide range of populations in Africa and Asia, evidence is beginning to emerge about the variations in side-effects and tolerability between different populations.
In particular, side-effects associated with nucleoside analogue treatment, and stavudine (d4T, Zerit) especially, attracted a lot of attention at the Thirteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.
Unfortunately these side-effects have been seized upon in a misleading way by AIDS denialists in South Africa as part of a shameless and highly misleading campaign to derail the roll-out of antiretroviral therapy in a country desperately in need of wider treatment access. AIDS denialists claim that side-effects experienced by people on treatment are a sign that antiretrovirals are `poisoning` South Africans.
"It is really shocking what damage [these] lunatics are doing to HIV care," said Dr Halima Dawood of King Edward's Hospital in Durban. "HIV is a disease that results in death and while the drugs have side effects, we are able to keep patients alive with the drugs."
Indeed, any rational, evidence-based approach to HIV treatment will reject such scare-mongering claims - unfortunately, these tactics do sometimes steer patients away from going on treatment. According to Chris Green, a treatment educator working with the Spiritia Foundation in Jakarta, Indonesia, "the word gets around. In our experience, a number of people who are probably inclined to avoid taking drugs when they feel well decide to delay starting ART because of these concerns."
It is also important to understand that drug toxicity is one of the major obstacles to good adherence, so careful observation of toxicity, education of patients and timely response to their concerns is a necessary part of HIV management.
Toxicities most commonly reported in cohort studies from resource-limited settings presented at the Thirteenth Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections included:
Peripheral neuropathy (damage to the nerves in the feet and legs, caused by d4T, universally reported as the most common serious toxicity)
Lactic acidosis (a build-up of lactate in the body)
Rash (caused by nevirapine)
Anaemia (caused by zidovudine (AZT))
Lipoatrophy (loss of fat from the limbs and face, chiefly caused by d4T, more prominently a problem in reports from Rwanda and India than from Uganda, South Africa or Kenya)
Novartis remet en cause l’accès aux médicaments génériques dans les pays pauvres. - Posted By: Eric
Ce matin les militants de la Déclaration de Berne et d’Oxfam International ont fait une action devant le siège de Novartis à Bâle afin de dénoncer les tentatives de la compagnie de limiter l’accès aux médicaments génériques à prix abordable en Inde et dans les pays en développement (voir photos). Une action en justice de Novartis en Inde pourrait mettre en danger l’accès aux médicaments dans les pays en développement.
Selon l'OMS 30% de la population mondiale n’a toujours pas accès aux médicaments essentiels. 74% des médicaments contre le VIH/sida sont toujours sous monopole (sous brevets) et 77% des Africains n’ont toujours pas accès au traitement du sida. Si plusieurs raisons expliquent cet état de fait, la concurrence des médicaments génériques reste essentielle pour faire baisser les prix et promouvoir l’accès aux médicaments pour tous.
« L'accès aux médicaments pour tous dans les pays en développement passe par les génériques bon marché produits dans les pays en développement. Par son action en justice, Novartis menace directement cet accès.» déclare Julien Reinhard, directeur de la campagne sur la santé à la Déclaration de Berne.
La législation indienne mise en cause par Novartis permet aux compagnies locales de vendre des versions génériques d'un médicament contre le cancer Glivec® dix fois moins chères que la version de Novartis. L’action en justice de Novartis va toutefois bien au delà du seul cas de l’Inde et du Glivec®. Elle pourrait avoir un impact sur d’autres médicaments génériques essentiels et vitaux, notamment les médicaments contre le sida, ainsi que sur les autres pays en développement qui importent des génériques indiens. L’Inde est le premier fournisseur mondial de médicaments génériques à prix abordable aux pays en développement: environ 67 % de ses exportations sont destinées aux pays en développement.
Selon Rolf Marti, directeur du secrétariat scientifique de la Ligue Suisse contre le Cancer: « Notre objectif est clair: toutes les personnes concernées doivent avoir accès aux médicaments anticancéreux les plus efficaces, à des prix abordables et socialement acceptables. Le comportement de Novartis dans le cas du Glivec® en Inde prend la direction inverse. C'est pourquoi nous nous opposons avec d'autres organisations aux revendications de Novartis. »
En mai 2006, Novartis a intenté deux actions en justice en Inde pour contester le rejet de sa demande de brevet indien sur le Glivec® et la conformité de la loi indienne sur les brevets par rapport aux accords de l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce. Dans une Lettre ouverte à Novartis, 52 organisations et diverses personnalités de tous les continents demandent à Daniel Vasella, président et CEO de Novartis, de renoncer à ces actions en justice au nom de la santé publique. Pour l’heure, Novartis n’a toujours pas répondu à cette lettre.
« Par ses plaintes, Novartis remet en cause la souveraineté de l’Inde à utiliser les flexibilités aux accords de l’OMC qui permettent de garantir un meilleur accès de tous aux médicaments.» affirme Céline Charvériat, directrice de la campagne d’Oxfam sur le commerce.
L’action en justice de Novartis remet en cause la section 3(d) de la loi indienne, qui prévoit l’exclusion de la brevetabilité pour de nouvelles formes ou de nouveaux usages de substances connues. Cette loi ne fait qu’appliquer une des flexibilités à l’accord sur les ADPIC que les Etats sont souverainement libres d’adopter dans leur législation. A l’heure actuelle, aucun Etat membre de l’OMC n’a contesté cette disposition. Une commission de l’OMS, présidée par Ruth Dreifuss, a au contraire cité cette disposition en exemple.
« Si Novartis obtient satisfaction, alors une flexibilité essentielle pour la production de medicaments à prix abordable sera perdue, déclare Ellen't Hoen, directrice politique de la campagne de MSF pour l'accès aux medicaments essentiels. Les gens à travers le monde qui dependent des medicaments produits en Inde seront affectés. »
Communiqué de presse Oxfam – 23 Novembre 2006
Pour plus d'information
Julien Reinhard, Déclaration de Berne: Tel : 076 327 67 41
Romain Benicchio, Oxfam International: Tel : 079 79 79 990
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Salut, 
Georgina Caswell, Youth Journalist with the Mexico Youth Force, interviewed Morillio Williams, Director MDG No. 6 for UN MDG Youth Ambassador Corps, about the development of a youth hub in Suriname.
Georgina Yidanpoa Caswell
I will never forget the Latin American spirit at the Mexico Youth Force pre-conference. From the moment I arrived at the pre-conference (and even before…at the airport, at Hotel Palace, in the restaurant), I felt welcomed by other Latin American youth. Communication for me was not a problem even though I didn’t speak Spanish and some of the Latin American youth didn’t speak English – somehow we managed and we managed it well.
The female condom has been a controversial form of contraception for the past 15 years. Available in Europe since 1992 and approved by the U.S. Food and Drug administration in 1993, the female condom-sold as Femy, Myfemy, Protectiv, Care and other brand names-is available in limited quantities in most parts of the world.
Photographers on the first day of the Youth Pre-Conference in Mexico City.
La primera sesión del día: La época del SIDA como celebridad. Me parecía que iba a ser una charla positiva, sobre cómo los famosos pueden ayudar a las campañas. 
El primer día de la Pre Conferencia para Jóvenes y ya han comenzado los temas serios: el VIH/SIDA y cómo afecta a los jóvenes. 
In July 2010 Vienna will host the XVIII International AIDS Conference (IAC 2010), bringing the largest professional conference addressing the HIV and AIDS epidemic into the heart of Europe. Before they descend on the wide boulevards and majestic plazas of Vienna the many activists, researchers, politicians, health practitioners, people living with HIV, and others who make up the worldwide response to HIV and AIDS are busy readying themselves for the IAC 2008, which is getting underway in Mexico City at the beginning of August. Included amongst those people are perhaps the most important demographic in the response to HIV and AIDS – youth. Why are youth so important? Let's sum it up in three sentences: Half of new HIV infections are amongst those between 15 and 24 years of age. According to UNAIDS there were approximately 2.5 million new infections in 2007. This means that over a million youth were newly infected with HIV last year. 
I am really excited for the 
While it already works on Nokia smart phones, it will be coming to the iPhone officially next week. 
...at once somebody called me and said that our another classmate's father was dead. When I got to his home I could know that his father was ill from alcoholism. And yesterday he had more alcohol products and today morning sudden he dad....
