Top HIV/AIDS experts to address Commonwealth conference

30 September 2009

Meeting will look at stigma, access to treatment and the impact of the financial crisis on internationally agreed health goals

High-profile international experts on HIV and AIDS will address a two-day conference from 1 to 2 October 2009 at Marlborough House, London, on ‘Supporting the Commonwealth Response to HIV’.

Sixty per cent of the 40 million people worldwide with HIV/AIDS are living in Commonwealth countries and many millions more are directly affected by it. This conference will bring together the Commonwealth Secretariat with civil society co-organisers the Commonwealth Foundation, the Commonwealth HIV/AIDS Action Group and the International HIV/AIDS Alliance.

International HIV/AIDS Alliance

It is a global partnership of organisations supporting community action on AIDS in developing countries. The Alliance is the largest HIV/AIDS organisation in the UK and has links with 23 Commonwealth countries.

South African activist Zackie Achmat will address the issue of how to promote respect and understanding to tackle HIV stigma and discrimination, including the need for constitutional and law reform to promote a rights-based approach in challenging HIV stigma.

HIV/AIDS ribbon made out of candles in India to raise awareness about the fight against the disease.

Ellen t’Hoen, Senior Adviser on Intellectual Property and Medicines Patent Pool at UNITAID, will discuss how international patent protection reduces Commonwealth countries’ access to affordable medicines, and how the Commonwealth can benefit from the UNITAID patent pool.

Other keynote speakers include Sony Kapoor, Executive Director of Re-Define - a new international ‘think tank’ on development, finance and environment - and Stephen Lewis, Co-Director of AIDS-Free World, a new international advocacy organisation.

Mr Kapoor will address the global financial crisis and the threat to fully financing international health goals, innovative models of financing in funding, and the role of a currency transaction levy for health.