By Ben Kangwa
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| Billboard Washington DC Declaration |
The 19th
International Conference on AIDS convened by the International AIDS Society
(IAS) was held in Washington DC from July 22nd – July 27th,
2012 with an expected attendance of 21, 000 people.
Under the theme “Turning the Tide Together”, delegates
presented and reviewed the latest scientific research and built a momentum
toward ensuring that financing and global leadership across all sectors kept
pace with scientific progress against HIV.
By the 27th of
July, the count of delegates, participants, countries and activities had
swelled as follows:
- · 23, 767 participants
- · 17,066 delegates
- · 1,904 media delegates
- · 12,042 participants from the US
- · 183 countries represented
- · 12, 433 abstracts submitted
- · 3, 837 abstracts accepted
- · 19 plenary speeches
- · 14 special sessions
- · 210 exhibits
- · 265 global village exhibits
- · 185 satellite meetings
- · 60 workshops
2012 marked the first time
the Conference would be held in the US since 1990. It had been held in Atlanta
in 1985.
In 1990 the International
AIDS Society (IAS) had resolved to hold the meeting only in countries where
participants would not be barred due to their HIV status. This decision
therefore excluded the US as a location due to its restriction on international
visitors who were HIV positive.
In 2009, US President Barack
Obama reversed the then 22 year ban and the IAS announced that the 2012
Conference would mark the return to the United States.
I noted that US leaders who
participated in the Conference included US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton,
former US President Bill Clinton, former US First Lady Laura Bush, American billionaire computer programmer and
philanthropist Bill Gates, US Secretary of Health and Human Services, Katheleen
Sebelius, Congresswoman Barbara Lee,
Washington DC Mayor Vincent Gray and Ambassador Mark Dybul.
Joining them from the global
arena were the Champions for a HIV Free Generation led by former President of
Botswana Festus Mogae and Zambia’s First Republican President Dr. Kenneth
Kaunda. Other notable dignitaries were also former Tanzanian and Mozambican
Presidents Benjamin Mkapa and Joachim Chissano respectively, former Ugandan
Vice President Dr. Speciosa Wandira and
former Chairperson of the Kenyan National AIDS Control Council Professor Miriam
Were .
Others were the South
African Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe, the World Bank Group President Jim
Yong Kim, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UNAIDS Executive Director
Michel Sidibe and out-going IAS President Dr. Elly Katabira.
I was happy that Zambia had
a delegation of 77 headed by Deputy Minister in the Ministry of Community
Development, Maternal and Child Health, Jean Kapata, perhaps the biggest
delegation that Embassy of Zambia in Washington DC had ever hosted in recent
years.
From the onset, Zambia was on
a positive spotlight at the conference. Former President Kenneth Kaunda was
instant Zambia’s flagship at each and every appearance, each
and every presentation, each and every workshop and each and every plenary
session.
First were accolades from
Ambassador Mark Dybul, former US Global AIDS Co-coordinator (who led the
implementation of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief – PEPFAR
during the Presidency of George Bush) who showered Zambia with praises on how
the country was dealing with the issues related to HIV&AIDS, women
empowerment and orphans.
He specifically mentioned
Chikumbuso (which unfortunately was spelt as “CHICKEN-BUSO” on the big, wide
over-head projector), a grassroots project in Ng’ombe compound in Lusaka, that
provides an alternative lifestyle to vulnerable children and women as in free
schooling, adult training, capacity building, income generation activities and
community building programs.
He cited a
Zambian woman who
has built business and
increased her economic empowerment by collecting plastic bags in
collection depots in Lusaka which are eventually made into what he called
“gorgeous handbags and purses” that are sold locally and are also exported to
the United States of America
Ambassador Dybul further
added that women at Chikumbuso also turned what used to be a bar into a
community center to build a school that started with 30 children and had now
grown to over 300. The best part, he went on, is that the entire school is
free.
Through the implementation
of a tailoring course for single moms
and widows, a grandmother support group
and a feeding program, the team at Chikumbuso is able to cover a variety of
aspects to make the project run successfully. The women participate on every
level…six widows are bankers that handle sales, pay out salaries and make and
collect micro-loans.
Another group of widows
serve as the community leaders – they help out in times of desperate need, go
to the community to visit sick neighbors and assess ways in which Chikumbuso
can be a “light” for the rest of the community in Ng’ombe
Former First Lady Laura Bush
also took the stage to praise the conference attendees for their courage and
persistence even as she brought up the next battle – Helping Women Who Live
With HIV stave off other deadly disease.
“Because we are seeing women
living with HIV and dying of Cervical Cancer, the George W Bush Institute has
launched the Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon Campaign,” she said.
The Campaign provides
screening and treatment of breast and cervical cancer of women in the
developing world.
“Cervical Cancer is the
leading cause of cancer death in Sub Saharan Africa and…it is up to five times
more common in women whose immune systems are already compromised by HIV,” Mrs.
Bush said.
She went on to say that she
and former US President George Bush had visited Zambia recently to see how the
Ribbon Campaign they launched in December, 2011 was doing.
In her own words, they were
“thrilled” to see the progress. The Pink Ribbon Red Ribbon (PRRR), which is
endorsed by President Michael Sata and First Lady Dr. Christine Kaseba “has
expanded from the capital City of Lusaka to health clinics across the country.”
“Already, more than 14,000
women have been screened. Of these, nearly 40 per cent tested positive for HIV
while a third tested positive for cancerous or precancerous cervical cells. Of
those women showing signs of cancer, more than 80 per cent could be treated
immediately with a therapy that kills cancer cells by freezing them,” she said.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of
State Hillary Clinton took to the stage and in her keynote address to the
gathering mentioned Zambia by name four times…….. all in the positive!
She noted that the new
numbers of HIV&AIDS cases and especially mother to child transmission in
Zambia had been decreasing adding that the Barack Obama Administration would leap
up the momentum on prevention of mother to child HIV&AIDS transmission and
scale up male circumcision.
Mrs. Clinton observed that
steps taken by her government in Zambia would reduce the number of new sexually
transmitted infections by more than 25 per cent over the next five years.
“Think of the lives we will
touch in Zambia alone- all the mothers, fathers and children will never have
their lives ripped apart by the disease. And now multiply that across the many
countries we are working with,” she said.
To add to the accolades was Microsoft
Founder and billionaire Bill Gates, who last March visited Zambia on a field
trip to appreciate the work of the Bill and Melinda Foundation that provides
funding for the elimination of malaria in the country.
During that visit, he told
the Conference, he had a chance to meet with His Royal Highness Chief Mumena of
the Kaonde people.
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| HRH Chief Mumena (left), KK, Hon Jean Kapata & Ben Kangwa |
In his own words, “Chief
Mumena is one of Zambia’s most respected traditional leaders. He has been using
his voice to encourage Kaonde men to embrace voluntary medical male
circumcision as a strategy to prevent HIV transmission.
The discovery that male
circumcision can reduce a man’s risk of acquiring or transmitting HIV by up to
60 per cent is an exciting breakthrough in HIV prevention, but the message
about male circumcision’s life-saving potential still has not reached enough
people.
Traditional leaders can play
an important role in expanding demand for male circumcision and Chief Mumena is
showing the way,” he said
As the AIDS Conference was
coming to a conclusion, I could not help
but take stock of how Zambia had been represented by the huge delegation. I had
in mind the several abstracts by members of the delegation covering topics such
as:
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| KK with Elina Mulenga from Project Concern |
- · Integrating Cervical Cancer Prevention Services Into Mobile HIV Counseling and Testing Services To Reach More Women With Life-Saving Cancer Interventions or indeed a topic such as “Reducing HIV Incidence Rates Through Repeat Testing And Post Test Risk Reduction Education: The Case of the Zambia Defence Force Counseling and Testing Program by the Zambia Defence Medical Services and Project Concern International.
Other abstracts that were of interest
came from USAID /PEPFAR Projects in Zambia such as:
- Systems of Early Infant HIV Diagnosis in Zambia-Skipping the Graveyard: Effective of Door to Door and Mobile Drama HIV/AIDS Sensitization in Rural Zambia
- Improving Pediatric Access to HIV Testing and Treatment: The Role of Provider Initiated Counseling and Testing in Outpatient Departments in Lusaka
- Partnering With the Church To Turn the Tide of HIV in Zambia
- Strengthening the Capacity of Nurses and Midwives as frontline Providers in Tackling the HIV/AIDS Pandemic: The Heartbeat of the Healthcare System and many more.
- ·Poor Linkages Between TB and HIV Services Affect The Quality of Care: A Retrospective Cohort Study of TB/HIV Co-Infected Patients from HIV Testing to ARTY Initiation in Rural Setting in Zambia - Chongwe
- The Factors and Barriers Influencing Retention in pre-ART Care Services: Assessing the Quality Of Care In A Resource-Limited Facility In Zambia- Kalomo
- Decentralization of HIV Care Services In A Rural District In Zambia: A Comparative Analysis of the Quality Of Care Between The District Hospital And Rural Health Center - Kalomo
- Social Support And Improved Adherence To Antiretroviral Therapy: An Observational Longitudinal Study In A Rural Setting Of Zambia – Mumbwa
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| AIDS 2012 Billboard - Join the Conversation |
After a hectic five days of discussions, debates,
workshops and satellite meetings, it was abundantly clear in my mind that the
Zambian delegation had been “spot on”.
Thanks to the National AIDS Council (NAC) and the Embassy
staff in Washington DC for the countless tele-conferences between Washington DC
and Lusaka in realizing a worthwhile, productive assignment. This should serve
as an integral part of planning and follow up by NAC leading to AIDS 2014 in
Melbourne, Australia.
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The writer is Charge D’affaires at the Embassy of the
Republic of Zambia in Washington DC
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