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International AIDS Conference taking please this year in Durban South Africa from July 18-22, 2016.
Theme and Objectives
Access Equity Rights Now
When Nelson Mandela addressed the 12,000 participants at the XIII International AIDS Conference in Durban, South Africa, no one knew what the future held for the AIDS response. Access to lifesaving antiretroviral drugs in 2000 was sharply limited, and donor spending on AIDS activities amounted only to a small fraction of current funding levels.
More than a decade later, the global AIDS response has been transformed. We’ve reached the goal of providing 15 million people with access to life-saving HIV treatment by 2015. Additionally, UNAIDS estimates that from 2002 to 2012, expanded access to HIV treatment averted 4.2 million deaths globally and contributed to a 58% reduction in new HIV infections.
However, many of the obstacles that impeded effective HIV prevention and treatment programs in 2000 still exist today. More than 60% of people living with HIV remain without antiretroviral therapy; including women and girls, men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, young people, and people who use drugs and other marginalized groups remain under-prioritized in the response; investments in HIV prevention research appear to have flattened; and widespread violations of human rights including criminalisation continue to undermine effective responses.
We must now draw attention to those being left behind.
Access Equity Rights Now is a call to action to work together and reach the people who still lack access to comprehensive treatment, prevention, care and support services.
Access Equity Rights Now is a call to action to strengthen the commitment to HIV research evidence-based interventions.
Access Equity Rights Now is a call to action to all HIV stakeholders to unite and overcome injustices caused by violence and the exclusion of people on the basis of gender, class, race, nationality, age, geographic location, sexual orientation and HIV status.
Access Equity Rights Now is a call to action to repeal laws that infringe on people’s human rights and deny communities the ability to participate in the world as equals.
Access Equity Rights Now reminds us that all our gains will be lost if we do not continue to push forward and build a strong global movement to change the course of the epidemic.
AIDS 2016 Conference Objectives
AIDS 2016 aims to reinvigorate the response to HIV and AIDS by:
Bringing together the world’s experts to advance knowledge about HIV, present new research findings, and promote and enhance scientific and community collaborations around the world;
Promoting HIV responses that are supported by and tailored to the needs of at risk populations or people living with HIV, including women and girls, men who have sex with men, transgender people, sex workers, young people, and people who use drugs;
Promoting activism and community mobilization that holds leaders, industry, and governments accountable and increases their commitment to an evidence-based, human-rights-affirming HIV and AIDS response;
Advancing a clear agenda for HIV in a post-2015 framework, including the cross-cutting issues of criminalization, gender-based violence, sexual and reproductive health, rights, and stigma and discrimination that keep people living with HIV at the center of the HIV response; and
Building innovative partnerships with businesses, community, government, and science to strengthen HIV prevention and treatment efforts
6. Apply for a Scholarship
7. Scholarship applications are now closed. Applications were accepted from 1 December 2015 to 12 February 2016. All scholarship applicants will be notified of their application status before the end of April.
8. The conference organizers are committed to doubling the number of scholarships for AIDS 2016 to make the conference even more accessible to people from resource-limited settings, researchers, young people, community activists and civil society representatives.
Disability, HIV and AIDS Trust (DHAT) is non-profit regional organization, registered in Harare, Zimbabwe as a Trust in 2007 and managed by a Board of Trustees. DHAT promotes the rights and capacity building of Persons with Disabilities having cervical cancer, TB, infected and affected by HIV and AIDS; aimed at achieving inclusion and full participation of Persons with Disabilities in response to disability rights, cervical cancer, Tuberculosis, Sexual reproductive health rights (SRHR), HIV and AIDS interventions. DHAT’s implementation strategy emphasizes on capacity development and DHAT’s mandate includes solidarity building, information management, training, research, advocacy and networking. DHAT is working in disability rights, sexual reproductive health, cervical cancer and Tuberculosis awareness, HIV and AIDS in Southern African countries namely; Angola, Botswana, (registered office), Malawi (registered office), Mozambique, Namibia, Lesotho, Swaziland, Zambia (registered office) and Zimbabwe (registered office & Headquarters). DHAT mission, vision, goals, objectives and strategies aim to address issues of disability (rights and livelihood), TB, Cervical cancer, SRHR, HIV and AIDS relating to Persons with Disabilities, which tackle vulnerabilities and increase empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. DHAT works with National Disabled Peoples Organizations (DPOs) and key stakeholders (policy makers, intermediaries, and leading implementers) as a strategic channel through which change, scaling-up and sustainability of service delivery to Persons with Disabilities can be achieved. DHAT will work with DPOs to ensure sustainability growth and change in attitudes and trends in the community and organization level).