OpenForum – a blog by the Health and Human Rights community

This week, the Ninth International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific is taking place in Bali, Indonesia. This year’s theme is “Empowering People, Strengthening Networks,” recognizing two important aspects of combating the spread of HIV: empowering individuals to be able to protect themselves from HIV/AIDS and encouraging and enabling groups to work together across regional divides and national borders.

This year’s theme was chosen in response to the increasing need to coordinate HIV prevention and treatment efforts. The ethnic and cultural diversity of the Asia/Pacific region and the presence of numerous organizations involved in reducing HIV transmission and improving care require that networks among these groups be built and strengthened so that the HIV epidemic can be fought efficiently and effectively.

Because there is a large range of issues related to HIV — from scientific to clinical to socioeconomic — the Congress covers four focus areas: understanding the epidemic and strengthening prevention efforts; strengthening partnerships for treatment, care, and support; HIV/AIDS in context: understanding and addressing cultural, economic, and political determinants; and leadership and broadening the response.

Approximately 3000 people from 65 countries are expected to participate in this year’s Congress. Among the participants is Sonal Zaveri of the Joint Learning Initiative on Children and HIV/AIDS (JLICA). JLICA was a two-year project whose goal was to improve the well-being of children affected by HIV, as well as the well-being of their families and communities. At the Congress, Zaveri will present work she has done with JLICA’s Learning Group 2: Community Action in a presentation titled “Mine and Ours: An Economic Paradigm for Children Affected by HIV in Resource Poor Countries in Asia.”