Toronto AIDS Conference 2006: A personal Account
Suffice to say the XVI International AIDS conference that occurred this summer in Toronto was overwhelming.
I’m not sure if it was the 25,000 plus participants or the 500-page conference program. How was one person supposed to attend 500 pages of conference activities (not including the supplement) on 8 different floors, spread between two buildings, in a week? Let alone follow the theme of Time to Deliver. Maybe it was the face-to-face meetings with some of my heroes: Stephen Lewis, Dr. Paul Farmer, and Gracia Violeta Ross. Or hearing from leading activists, physicians and celebrities who are all fighting for a way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Never having been to something with this scope, I took it upon myself to attend everything I possibly could, thus making the best use of my press pass. This turned out to be a fairly big mistake.
The first day I attended a satellite session by MSF – Medicines Sans Frontiers – or Doctors Without Borders as they are typically called. Sitting, listening to a deputy medical officer speak, I realized exactly how little I knew about HIV/AIDS and its treatments. Until that point I had considered myself to be well informed.
In that first day I learned radio programs are one of the best ways to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS in developing countries and Botswana has an HIV prevalence rate of 33 per cent in pregnant women. I was horrified to discover domestic violence in some parts of India is so ingrained the women themselves think it is acceptable.
In a presentation from a media panel, which included Richard Gere, I learned the South African Broadcast Company dedicates five per cent of daily television programming to HIV/AIDS awareness – 50 per cent (nearly 30 minutes) of that is during prime time.
The popular topics at the conference were microbicides, HIV vaccines and circumcision as methods of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The information was powerful, the people working in these fields are amazing, and it really began to be overwhelming. Funding is required, government support is needed, and more research has to be completed. I started feeling that it wasn’t going to be possible to stop the spread of this disease and governments would never deliver.
It took a few days for me to realize I was missing the point. I was finding all the news, hearing about the set backs, and listening to promises made by the Gates, Clinton, and UNAIDS, but I wasn’t hearing the stories. The small, individual success stories, where a group of people were making a difference in their community.
The turning point came one morning when I was in a hurry and typical for the Metro Toronto Conference Centre, people were not moving very quickly. There was a lineup at the escalator.
I was almost there and flipping through my copy of the daily press release when we stopped, again. Two or three people in front of me a woman, wearing bright purple, had stopped. People pushed past her irritated at another delay.
She was giggling nervously, making the move to step onto the moving part of the escalator then stop. It occurred to me this could have be her first solo escalator ride. I tried to prompt her to make the first step. She shook her head. I extended my hand; the woman grabbed and held it tight. With one big, shaky step we were on the move. There was no talking during the ride and my fingers were becoming numb, the woman was hanging on so tightly. Soon we were at the top we stepped off onto the carpeted floor - she thanked me and continued on her way, still looking a little bewildered.
I was running really late by then – but suddenly I didn't care anymore. I realized I needed to get involved with the people in attendance, not just wave my press pass and look for a quote. That’s when I changed my outlook. I spent time in the women’s centre and sitting on the cushions, visiting with people living with HIV/AIDS.
One afternoon I learned ‘the drill’- the dance assembled by the organization Dance4Life. Their goal is to have one million youth in 50 cities, in 24 countries be agents of change. Dance is the reward and is designed to be integrated in with life skills programming in schools. Every two years, on the Saturday before World Aids Day, the youth dance and it is telecast to all the other kids in the other schools around the world. The workshop proved the effectiveness of the plan. Young and old, men and women from Canada to as far away as Kenya had their arms in the air, hips swaying as they sang “HIV and AIDS we can beat it, take responsibility.”
Methods of prevention and treatment weren’t always so upbeat though. One of the most frustrating things to hear about was presented by Dr. Paul Farmer.
"Food has been forgotten in the treatment of HIV," said Farmer, a doctor and professor at Harvard Medical School.
Farmer has spent his life treating diseases in areas of extreme poverty. He explained without food people will not adhere to their daily regiment of Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART). Farmer said he was shocked when the UN made the statement that people's food preferences were not being met.
"It's not about food preferences," he said, "we are talking about not having any food whatsoever."
According to the World Food Programme it would cost 66 cents per day in food for someone who is on ART as well as a package for their family. They found that all the nutrient requirements would cost $1.1 billion, until 2008. The number sounds big, but in context it makes up a mere 2 per cent of what UNAIDS says will be required to start curbing the prevalence of HIV.
A perfect example of how effective the ARTs can be in combination with nutrition one only has to look at Joseph Jeune, from Haiti. He was on his death bed in 2003 then after six months on Farmer’s program he was on his feet and ready to go back to work. When he walked into the room at the AIDS conference, everyone looked ready to open their wallets and donate.
The Global Village was another place to see positive change in action. Every group imaginable was represented: MSM (men who have sex with men), Sex Workers, Women, Youth, African, Transgender, Latin American, and First Nations among many others. Education workshops were on going all day, everyday and now and then there would be protests; both planed and spontaneous.
People were calling for the pharmaceutical company Abbot to release a patent on the drug Kaletra; explaining why Free Trade Agreements were simply widening the poverty gap; and demanding the Canadian government not close Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection site.
Despite the calls to government to make changes and to act on their promises there were no significant political breakthroughs at AIDS 2006. Instead of making these activists slow down it simply strengthened their resolve, if the governments won’t deliver they will.
Maybe that was the point, to find new ideas and share information with each other. With each person who becomes aware of the issues and takes up the cause the governments will have to listen - they won't have a choice.
The people I met at this conference have inspired me to learn more and to do what I can in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Stephen Lewis said, “We have lost an uncountable number of lives, which never should have been lost, and that is a source of insufferable pain.”
Together we can stop from loosing more lives to HIV/AIDS. It truly is, Time to Deliver.
I’m not sure if it was the 25,000 plus participants or the 500-page conference program. How was one person supposed to attend 500 pages of conference activities (not including the supplement) on 8 different floors, spread between two buildings, in a week? Let alone follow the theme of Time to Deliver. Maybe it was the face-to-face meetings with some of my heroes: Stephen Lewis, Dr. Paul Farmer, and Gracia Violeta Ross. Or hearing from leading activists, physicians and celebrities who are all fighting for a way to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS.
Never having been to something with this scope, I took it upon myself to attend everything I possibly could, thus making the best use of my press pass. This turned out to be a fairly big mistake.
The first day I attended a satellite session by MSF – Medicines Sans Frontiers – or Doctors Without Borders as they are typically called. Sitting, listening to a deputy medical officer speak, I realized exactly how little I knew about HIV/AIDS and its treatments. Until that point I had considered myself to be well informed.
In that first day I learned radio programs are one of the best ways to spread awareness of HIV/AIDS in developing countries and Botswana has an HIV prevalence rate of 33 per cent in pregnant women. I was horrified to discover domestic violence in some parts of India is so ingrained the women themselves think it is acceptable.
In a presentation from a media panel, which included Richard Gere, I learned the South African Broadcast Company dedicates five per cent of daily television programming to HIV/AIDS awareness – 50 per cent (nearly 30 minutes) of that is during prime time.
The popular topics at the conference were microbicides, HIV vaccines and circumcision as methods of preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS.
The information was powerful, the people working in these fields are amazing, and it really began to be overwhelming. Funding is required, government support is needed, and more research has to be completed. I started feeling that it wasn’t going to be possible to stop the spread of this disease and governments would never deliver.
It took a few days for me to realize I was missing the point. I was finding all the news, hearing about the set backs, and listening to promises made by the Gates, Clinton, and UNAIDS, but I wasn’t hearing the stories. The small, individual success stories, where a group of people were making a difference in their community.
The turning point came one morning when I was in a hurry and typical for the Metro Toronto Conference Centre, people were not moving very quickly. There was a lineup at the escalator.
I was almost there and flipping through my copy of the daily press release when we stopped, again. Two or three people in front of me a woman, wearing bright purple, had stopped. People pushed past her irritated at another delay.
She was giggling nervously, making the move to step onto the moving part of the escalator then stop. It occurred to me this could have be her first solo escalator ride. I tried to prompt her to make the first step. She shook her head. I extended my hand; the woman grabbed and held it tight. With one big, shaky step we were on the move. There was no talking during the ride and my fingers were becoming numb, the woman was hanging on so tightly. Soon we were at the top we stepped off onto the carpeted floor - she thanked me and continued on her way, still looking a little bewildered.
I was running really late by then – but suddenly I didn't care anymore. I realized I needed to get involved with the people in attendance, not just wave my press pass and look for a quote. That’s when I changed my outlook. I spent time in the women’s centre and sitting on the cushions, visiting with people living with HIV/AIDS.
One afternoon I learned ‘the drill’- the dance assembled by the organization Dance4Life. Their goal is to have one million youth in 50 cities, in 24 countries be agents of change. Dance is the reward and is designed to be integrated in with life skills programming in schools. Every two years, on the Saturday before World Aids Day, the youth dance and it is telecast to all the other kids in the other schools around the world. The workshop proved the effectiveness of the plan. Young and old, men and women from Canada to as far away as Kenya had their arms in the air, hips swaying as they sang “HIV and AIDS we can beat it, take responsibility.”
Methods of prevention and treatment weren’t always so upbeat though. One of the most frustrating things to hear about was presented by Dr. Paul Farmer.
"Food has been forgotten in the treatment of HIV," said Farmer, a doctor and professor at Harvard Medical School.
Farmer has spent his life treating diseases in areas of extreme poverty. He explained without food people will not adhere to their daily regiment of Anti Retroviral Therapy (ART). Farmer said he was shocked when the UN made the statement that people's food preferences were not being met.
"It's not about food preferences," he said, "we are talking about not having any food whatsoever."
According to the World Food Programme it would cost 66 cents per day in food for someone who is on ART as well as a package for their family. They found that all the nutrient requirements would cost $1.1 billion, until 2008. The number sounds big, but in context it makes up a mere 2 per cent of what UNAIDS says will be required to start curbing the prevalence of HIV.
A perfect example of how effective the ARTs can be in combination with nutrition one only has to look at Joseph Jeune, from Haiti. He was on his death bed in 2003 then after six months on Farmer’s program he was on his feet and ready to go back to work. When he walked into the room at the AIDS conference, everyone looked ready to open their wallets and donate.
The Global Village was another place to see positive change in action. Every group imaginable was represented: MSM (men who have sex with men), Sex Workers, Women, Youth, African, Transgender, Latin American, and First Nations among many others. Education workshops were on going all day, everyday and now and then there would be protests; both planed and spontaneous.
People were calling for the pharmaceutical company Abbot to release a patent on the drug Kaletra; explaining why Free Trade Agreements were simply widening the poverty gap; and demanding the Canadian government not close Insite, Vancouver’s safe injection site.
Despite the calls to government to make changes and to act on their promises there were no significant political breakthroughs at AIDS 2006. Instead of making these activists slow down it simply strengthened their resolve, if the governments won’t deliver they will.
Maybe that was the point, to find new ideas and share information with each other. With each person who becomes aware of the issues and takes up the cause the governments will have to listen - they won't have a choice.
The people I met at this conference have inspired me to learn more and to do what I can in the battle against HIV/AIDS. Stephen Lewis said, “We have lost an uncountable number of lives, which never should have been lost, and that is a source of insufferable pain.”
Together we can stop from loosing more lives to HIV/AIDS. It truly is, Time to Deliver.
posted by Angela at 11:40 AM
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