IAC 2012: No Progress on Visas for Drug Users or Sex Workers

Via Housing Works.

One year from the International AIDS Conference in Washington, D.C., prospects are looking dim for sex workers and drug users who want to attend.

The International AIDS Society has announced that it will release a document in August that details the U.S. visa process for IAC 2012. That document will describe entry restrictions for sex workers and drug users, and it will provide instructions on how to apply for a waiver if a delegate’s visa is denied. IAS will post that information here.

Still no obvious solutions

Strict U.S. regulations that block entry for people who admit to sex work or drug use could keep hundreds from participating in the world’s largest gathering on HIV/AIDS. Recognizing the key role these individuals play in charting the future of the fight against the disease, the IAS formed a working group to troubleshoot avenues for getting marginalized groups into the country.

The working group, however, has already explored—and discarded—a number of options. In June, it released a document stating that it will not lobby to change U.S. immigration policy before the conference.

The group did meet with U.S. officials to ask the federal government to issue a blanket waiver for all conference delegates who are denied a visa. The U.S. government rejected that proposal, and immigration authorities will have to review each waiver individually—a process that will cost delegates both time and money.

Read the rest here.

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

New Report: World’s Premier AIDS Event Neglects Populations Most at Risk for HIV

 via Global Forum on MSM and HIV

Independent assessment indicates severe underrepresentation of gay men, transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs at the biennial International AIDS Conference

A new report indicates that the International AIDS Conference (IAC), a biennial event convened by the International AIDS Society (IAS) that has become the world’s premier gathering for people working in the field of HIV, suffers from gross underrepresentation of populations most at risk for HIV infection, including men who have sex with men (MSM), transgender people, sex workers and people who use drugs.  The independent audit, conducted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF), confirms suspicions long-held by activist groups and calls for a comprehensive review of IAC governing structures.

Produced in response to growing concern among community groups that the IAC has repeatedly neglected these key populations, the report focuses on program content at the most recent IAC, held in Vienna, Austria in July 2010.  The analysis reveals that the percentage of all sessions at the conference exclusively focused on these groups was limited to 2.6% for MSM, 1.1% for transgender people, 3% for sex workers and 4.5% for people who use drugs.

“While the International AIDS Society turns a blind eye, HIV rates among these populations continue to climb around the world,” said Dr. George Ayala, Executive Officer of the MSMGF.  “The IAC is the world’s most important opportunity for international exchange and collaboration on HIV and AIDS.  Such abysmal representation of most-at-risk groups only serves to reinforce the invisibility, discrimination and disregard that drive the epidemic among these communities.”

Research has shown that these four populations are at higher risk for HIV infection than the general population in nearly every country context where reliable data exist.  MSM represent more than a quarter of HIV infections in Latin America and the Caribbean, people who inject drugs account for more than half of HIV infections in Eastern Europe,  and sex workers across Sub-Saharan Africa experience HIV prevalence rates of up to 50%.  Infection rates among transgender people in El Salvador, Indonesia and India are as high as 25%, 35%, and 42% respectively. 

The IAC takes place in a different city every two years, gathering tens of thousands of experts and advocates from around the world to share the field’s most recent developments and engage in strategic collaboration.  The most recent conference hosted an estimated 25,000 people.

“Ostensibly, the IAC offers chances for local healthcare providers to learn ways to improve their services, provides channels for advocates to engage in dialogue with powerful decision-makers, and creates opportunities for community members to shape global funding and research agendas,” said Dr. Mohan Sundararaj, Policy Associate at the MSMGF.  “This really is a phenomenal platform, but how useful can it be when those who need it most are locked out?”

The report recommends a number of steps to bring the IAC’s program coverage of these key populations up to a level proportionate to their epidemiological burden.  Among these recommendations are efforts to ensure transparent processes for abstract review and program design, the development of targeted support to authors developing abstracts focused on key populations, and open representation of civil society on the committees responsible for developing conference programs.

“The International AIDS Conference has unparalleled potential to impact the global AIDS epidemic,” said Dr. Ayala.  “It is incumbent upon the organizers to ensure that the IAC becomes a vehicle for change, shifting the global landscape so that funding, research and programs are directed to those who need them most.  Right now it’s part of the problem.”

[If an item is not written by an IRMA member, it should not be construed that IRMA has taken a position on the article's content, whether in support or in opposition.]

Straight Talk with Dr Zeda Rosenberg, CEO of the International Partnership for Microbicides

Via PlusNews Global

There were cheers and some tears at the International AIDS Conference in Vienna in July when delegates heard the news that a clinical trial in South Africa, had found a vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral drug, tenofovir, was 39 percent effective at reducing women's risk of contracting HIV during sex.

"There were tears from many people – tears of happiness that finally there is something we can work towards - and a lot of tears of sadness for all of the women whose lives have been lost waiting for a microbicide," Dr Zeda Rosenberg recalled at a recent meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, hosted by the International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM), a non-profit organization.

IPM is involved in coordinating and funding the long process of developing effective microbicides - products that women can apply vaginally to protect themselves against HIV - and making sure they reach the women in developing countries who most need them. Rosenberg, who has been working in the field of HIV prevention research for more than two decades and is CEO of IPM, talked to IRIN/PlusNews after the meeting.

QUESTION: What do you think is the likelihood that women will use a microbicide any more consistently than men use condoms?

ANSWER: Part of the issue with condoms is that although they're highly effective, many people put a large value on skin-to-skin contact and ... in long-term relationships it just seems that condoms aren't used as often because it's a trust issue, an issue of intimacy; and also, if everyone uses a condom all the time, women can't get pregnant.

So there really does need to be a method that women can use where they and their partners don't feel it reduces intimacy, allows for conception, and is culturally acceptable.

I think microbicides need to be marketed with the message: 'Condoms should be used', because you don't want a less effective microbicide replacing highly effective condoms. At some point there will be all of these partially effective methods that, when used together, will be highly effective.

Adherence was a challenge in the [South African] trial - those women who reported greater adherence had greater efficacy. [The investigators] also saw a drop-off in product use over the course of the study, which means you need something that's sustainable in the long term.

For more click here.