GCM and the Africa Microbicides Advocacy Group (AMAG) hosted a talk show event at the 11th AWID International Forum in Cape Town South Africa.

Nearly 1,500 women from around the world convened in an energetic forum in Cape Town from November 14-17. The 11th AWID forum entitled 'The Power of Movements' was a point of convergence for ideas, change agents, perspectives, experiences, and commitments that aim to enhance women's rights worldwide. Topics addressed at the conference included organising in conflict situations; recent gains in women's leadership; using technology for advocacy; women and the environment: and the concerns of women with disabilities and other marginalised groups. Issues surrounding violence against women were addressed in most of the sessions and a successful march raising awareness on this cause was organised by the 'One in Nine Campaign'. The training tracks of the conference included social networking, digital story telling and use of video and audio for advocacy.

GCM's Pauline Irungu hosted a "talk show" style session entitled 'Does the women's movement have time to demand HIV prevention options for women?' Panelists included Tina Musuya (Centre for Domestic Violence Prevention, Uganda), Prudence Mabele (Positive Women's Network, South Africa), Grace Mukankuranga (Society for Women and AIDS in Africa, Rwanda) and Dr Samukeliso Dube (GCM.)

Click here to access the Campaign's full AWID report.

Place: Nairobi, Kenya

On October 16th – 17th, 2008, civil society organisations gathered at Swara Safari Hotel in Nairobi under the auspices of the Kenya AIDS NGOs Consortium (KANCO) to update their knowledge on the HIV prevention clinical trials going on in Kenya. GCM and the Kenya AIDS Vaccines Initiative collaborated with KANCO to provide technical input into the process.

GCM’s East Africa Coordinator, Pauline Irungu gave an overview of the HIV prevention research landscape in Kenya highlighting the role that the country was playing in hosting clinical trials for microbicides, HIV vaccines, Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis and male circumcision trials that showed efficacy of about 60% for men engaging in vaginal sex. She also led a discussion on the recent developments in the microbicides field and facilitated a process through which civil society members identified key advocacy messages to relay to their constituents. .

The meeting culminated in civil society members present developing action plans and affirming their commitment to advocacy for the HIV prevention research field despite the challenges facing it.

Place: Nairobi, Kenya

Women Leaders discuss microbicides

On 5th May 2008, the Global Campaign for Microbicides gave a one hour presentation to 24 women leaders drawn from Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. This was part of a regional workshop titled “Advancing Women’s Leadership and Advocacy for AIDS Action” organised by CEDPA in Nairobi, Kenya.

The session covered microbicides basics, challenges of microbicides development, trial ethics and the role of civil society leadership in the microbicides field. Some of the key issues of concern to the participants included: trial ethics, community literacy about microbicides, participation of vulnerable women in trials, the place of microbicides in the lives of women living with HIV and AIDS, adherence to microbicides products by trial participants, acceptance of gel in communities that practice dry sex and the issue of partial efficacy.

The session provided an opportunity to discuss pertinent community concerns regarding microbicides development.

Place: Abuja, Nigeria

The conference seeked to bring together key actors in the field of Sexual Health and Rights to explore how sexuality has affected and can improve development in Africa, especially when working with women and youth. For more information, click here

Place: Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

The conference focused on HIV/AIDS, Gender and Human rights. It targets gender activists, women groups, persons living with HIV, researchers and government representatives among others. For more information visit www.swaaburkina.org

Place: Nairobi, Kenya

This Regional Workshop seeked to develop a cadre of skilled and confident women advocates to provide leadership in preventing the spread and mitigating the effects of AIDS through gender sensitive, community-based HIV/AIDS programs. For more information, visit http://www.cedpa.org/section/training/aids_leadership

Events & Trainings - 2007                                        back

A summary report of the meeting and the key issues, recommendations and action items it elicited is now available! Click here!

During the Summit, there were several sessions of interest to advocates on new HIV prevention technologies (NPTs) including microbicides.

Sessions:
Workshop: Male and Female Condoms for HIV Prevention for Dual Protection
Session: Female Condoms and More: Expanding Female-Initiated HIV Prevention Methods
Panel Session: Microbicides: An HIV Prevention Option for Women
Town Hall Meeting: Female-Initiated HIV Prevention Options
Workshop: ListenLearnLead on HIV Prevention Options for Women and Girls
See the complete program for descriptions of the above sessions

Place: Kampala, Uganda

A group of civil society leaders congregated in Kampala, Uganda to establish a position and make recommendations to the Eighth Commonwealth Women's Affairs Ministers Meeting (8WAMM), which was held later that month, June 11-14th.

Calling on governments to channel more resources toward new female-initiated prevention technologies in the fight against HIV/AIDS, the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI) and the Uganda HIV Vaccine Gender Advisory Committee organized a panel discussion, "Investing in Gender Equity: Ensuring the Development of and Access to New Preventive Technologies." While opening the session, the Ugandan Minister of State for Gender, Ms. Rukia Nakadama, emphasized that, "new and long-term prevention methods are needed, particularly methods that are within the realm of women's control".

Recommendations from the Kampala meeting will be presented for endorsement to a Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting in Uganda in November 2007.

Place: Nairobi, Kenya

For the first time, this international conference took place in the Global South at Cape Town, South Africa from 23^rd to 26^th April 2006. Africa was well represented by delegates drawn from different countries in the continent. The conference brought together over 1,000 delegates comprised of scientists, researchers, advocates, community representatives, people living with HIV and other stakeholders. Various speakers described the microbicides landscape and the conference concluded with a call for prioritisation of microbicides development as a “truly global product that would attract usage in both developed and developing countries due to their potential to protect against STIs and HIV infection” - Joy Phumaphi, the Assistant Director Family & Community Health, World Health Organization. The international community was challenged to build capacity for research, prepare countries for access when microbicides become available and increase funding for the field to accelerate development of microbicides. For more information, please click here

Advocacy and Outreach efforts per region                    back

KENYA

The International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) organised a briefing session on microbicides targetting diverse stakeholders including government officials, donors, researchers, advocates and civil society representatives on 12^th May 2006 in Nairobi, Kenya. During the event IPM gave updates on the status of microbicides research and development. The Kenyan Minister for Health, Hon. Charity Ngilu said that the government was committed to supporting microbicides development. The African Microbicides Advocacy Group (AMAG) gave a presentation on its activities in the region. AMAG noted that while there were trials going on in different countries in the region, there was need to strengthen linkages between various stakeholders so as to share lessons especially for community involvement.

NIGERIA

On 9^th June 2006, the Nigerian HIV Vaccine and Microbicide Advocacy Group (NHVMAG) reached over 100 medical women in Nigeria during the Medical Women Association of Nigeria's ordinary general meeting. All those present received resource materials which introduced them to microbicide and HIV vaccine issues. On 24^th June, NHVMAG attended a gathering of over 220 resident doctors from all over Nigeria and held a two hour session with the doctors to discuss microbicide and HIV vaccine issues. The event generated a great deal of interest in the microbicide research and development process, and a principal investigator of an ongoing microbicide trial was on hand to answer questions.

NHVMAG also reached out to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHAs) at two programmes. It participated in a nationally organised candlelight memorial programme to discuss about microbicide and HIV vaccine and the roles for PLWHA in the research and development process. The organisation also partnered with the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS through the African Council of AIDS Services Organiations supported ATPP programme to build skills of over 20 PLWHAs with respect to NPT issues. This in turn has been yielding results as a PLWHA reported discussing about NPT during one of her organised television programmes in her state following the training. The response has always been overwhelming. NHVMAG hopes to reach out to communities of medical students, women, men, sex workers, clinical trial participants and a host of others during the coming year. – Adopted from AMAG e-forum (posted by Morenike Ukpong)