The International AIDS Society did an excellent job to organize the 18th International AIDS conference.
AIDS conferences I have attended in the past took place in Mexico City and before that Toronto.
Since the Obama administration lifted the travel ban on HIV positive people wanting to travel
to the US, the 2012 conference will take place in Washington DC.
An excellent summarz can be found by clicking on the logo.
PlusNews
Global HIV/AIDS news and analysis AIDSfreeAFRICA has successfully renewed its collaboration efforts with German NGO Actrion Medeor,
the only NGO we know of today that is interested in drug distribution management and drug production.
We are also please that Tibotec is introducting their AIDS drug in Sub-Saharan countries including
Cameroon. Diagnostic machine manufacturer Partec offers now reagents for CD4 count machines that
do not need refridgeration and have a longer shelf life.
We are very please to have been promised large shipments of HIV tests using saliva, thus no more
need to draw blood and looking for syringes. Besides boxes of condoms we are also expecting a
shiopment of k1 vitamin injection, crucial to stop bleeding in post partum women. We are working
with an organization to offere GMP (Good Manufacturing Procedures) training and are working towards
raising the $40,000 we need to by a blisterpack machine.
Taking advantage of other organizations connections and by pure luck we got two sources of MD doctors
one of which will hopefully go to Yaounde to work in our collaborators brand new hospital.
The conference also emphazsised and showed us hard facts that human rights prevent HIV.
How can this be? In countries where homosexuality is persequted infections amongst men having sex
with men (MSM) is higher than in countries that legalized homosexuality.
Countries with needle exchange programs have fewer positive interveneous drug users. Managing prostitution
instead of criminalizing it helps to keep up condom use and down the rate of infections amongst sex workers.
Even prison abuse has a negative effect on the rate of infections of prisoners, although I must admit
I am not able to reccount the details of this argument, it made sense to me when I heard it.
Indeed a good conference! I am very pleased.
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