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Dealing directly
By Feizal Samath
A major international congress on AIDS and HIV, scheduled for 2007, was launched in Colombo last week with Marina Mahathir, a leading Asian AIDS activist, urging governments not to shy away from the threat of this epidemic.
More than 3,500 delegates from over 60 countries in Asia and the Pacific are expected in Colombo for the 8th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) to be held at the BMICH in August 2007.

The four-day congress from August 19 – 23, 2007, which brings together politicians, government officials, medical experts, academics, people living with HIV/AIDS, community workers and the media, is set to discuss a wide range of issues with regard to this epidemic, that is confronting the region. It will be the biggest-ever conference on medical and health issues to be held in Colombo in recent times.

Representatives of the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific (ASAP), including Marina Mahathir, international liaison officer for ICAAP were present at the Colombo launch.

Marina, daughter of former Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir Mohamed, who single-handedly steered ICAAP’s 5th conference in Kuala Lumpur in 1999, said at the Colombo launch that “keeping our eyes closed to the issue of HIV/AIDS, responding slowly and in an ad hoc way will ensure that the epidemic will impact on our countries, communities and families in the future”.

Mahathir stressed the need to be pro-active with a comprehensive response to HIV and AIDS, and the need to be prepared to change, to meet the challenges that they present. “ICAAP can be a vehicle for change. It has been known to change the attitudes of many people on HIV/AIDS. It can stimulate political leaders to take up the issue in ways that can benefit their own people. It can change the way we provide health care, and it can energise and bring together communities in ways that few other issues can,” noted Marina, who is also a member of ICAAP’s International Advisory Committee. She said that ICAAP can be used as a vehicle to test new ways of doing business, to break down cultural and social barriers that impede a strong response to tackling the epidemic, and to change the way government and civil society interact.

With seven regional congresses held so far from the inaugural summit in Canberra, Australia (1990); Delhi, India (1993); Chiang Mai, Thailand (1995); Manila, Philippines (1997); Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (1999); Melbourne, Australia (2001) to Kobe, Japan (2005), the eighth venue – Colombo – is the first occasion where a high-level summit on this topic is taking place in a low HIV prevalence country.

Professor Myung-Hwan Cho, President of ASAP and Co-chair of the International Advisory Committee, said it is timely that the 8th ICAAP focuses the world’s attention on the enormous problems that HIV/AIDS is presenting to South Asians. He said that governments everywhere must work with communities and NGOs, and academics must be researching and publishing results on difficult issues, both in bio-medical and social science areas. Equally, all governments must listen to the evidence presented and act accordingly.

“The private sector must recognise that they have a duty not just to their shareholders, but to the communities within which they work,” Prof. Cho said, adding that corporate responsibility includes responsibility to the communities and to populations that need or will seek to use their services. He urged the creation of laws that prohibit stigma and discriminatory behaviour within Asian societies, against people with HIV and AIDS. Avenues must be found through which people who have been discriminated against, can find suitable solutions. In particular, laws must work to protect the most vulnerable groups of people including women and children, men who have sex with men, people who use injecting drugs and sex workers.

Compared to the rest of the region, the number of people living with HIV in Sri Lanka is low. While the reported number of people living with HIV is nearly 750, with approximately 200 having gone on to develop AIDS, it is estimated that about 5000 people may be living with HIV in Sri Lanka, a launch statement said. “However, the authorities with the support of the UN, INGOs and local NGOs are conscious that the country cannot be too complacent, because it has a low prevalence status. Every effort is being made to create awareness on HIV/AIDS, and provide treatment and care to those who have been infected and affected,” it said.

The 8th ICAAP is organised and presented by the Ministry of Health, on behalf of the Sri Lankan government, with the support of UNAIDS, UN agencies based in Colombo, and a string of NGOs and community-based workers.

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