| Huairou Commission Report on Satellite Sessions from the International AIDS Conference |
| Mexico City By: Shannon Hayes, August 6, 2008 The Huairou Commission opened its participation at the International AIDS Conference this week with two Satellite Sessions. Our delegation consists of 20 grassroots women and NGO partners from Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe, Honduras and Guatemala, who have come to Mexico City to advocate for greater recognition for grassroots women’s contributions to mitigating HIV and AIDS, decreasing stigma, and reducing women’s multiple vulnerabilities through empowerment processes. Blanca spoke particularly about the situation of Mayan communities in Izabal, Guatemala. She focused on women’s disability to take advantage of educational and other opportunities even in the rare cases when those opportunities are present because of her subservient role to her husband, household duties and a need to care for children. She also talked about the common phenomena of men migrating or immigrating to search for paid labor, and returning to the community with HIV and other sexually-transmitted infections which are quickly passed on to their wives. “We are forming a movement of empowered people that live with HIV.” – Julia Dolmo of Nuevo Amanacer, Honduras After hearing the testimonials from the community level, the session then focused on the strategies that women are leading to address these vulnerabilities. Mirna Torres of the Hogar de la Esperanza in Costa Rica began the presentations. Mirna, who is Nicaraguan, is one of many HIV positive single mothers living and working with Hogar de la Esperanza (the House of Hope), and is becoming empowered through that association. The Hogar de la Esperanza provides her and many others with shelter, education, self-esteem workshops and livelihoods trainings to enable the women to earn an income and care for their children. Women are using the House of Hope to organize and support each other. Julia Dolmo of Nuevo Amanacer (New Beginnings) in Honduras also shared the many strategies she and the other grassroots women in her group are leading in response to AIDS. Organizing from a support group model, the women provide home-based care to patients and train families to care for their relatives who are living positively. In addition, they organize community platforms for people living with HIV and AIDS to speak out in order to end stigma and discrimination, provide information to the community on HIV and AIDS, and encourage the formation of new self-help groups to build self-esteem, share information (about PMTC, reinfection, etc.) and become educated about staying healthy. “We are forming a movement of empowered people that live with HIV.” Florence Enyogu from UCOBAC explained the work and challenges of home-based caregivers in Uganda. In the beginning the home-based caregivers began by visiting people who were sick and who were sent home from hospitals (often with an expectation that they would just die). Caregivers would just sit with her or him, counsel them, and help to restore their hope. Soon the caregivers began teaching positive living, managing opportunistic infections, and educating about nutrition and hygiene. Those who were not bedridden were organized by their caregivers into self-help groups. Caregivers brought food to the sick, built latrines, and provided beds so that they could be comfortable and live in sanitary conditions. They then started linking to hospitals and clinics to educate pregnant women on PMTC, to advocate for people to get tested. Reflecting on Florence’s presentation, Alice reminded the audience that many grassroots women spend their own resources to care for those infected by HIV without getting anything in return. They provide their money, food, time and energy. As caregivers have grown in numbers and begun to organize however, they are increasingly demanding concrete recognition through documentation, representation in national and international forums, and budget lines dealing with HIV and AIDS, health care and development. Alice also recognized that partners have played an important role in supporting caregivers to organize and demand recognition for their contributions. Our first formal event at the International AIDS Conference was organized in partnership with Horizons of Friendship, entitled “Grassroots Women and their Partners create HIV-resistant communities in Latin America and Africa.” This Session was facilitated by Patricia Rebolledo of Horizons and Alice Kayongo-Mutebi of the Uganda Community-Based Association for Child Welfare (UCOBAC), a member of GROOTS International and the Huairou Commission. The session focused on highlighting the realities grassroots women are facing in terms of HIV and AIDS, the strategies they have devised to reduce the vulnerabilities of their communities to HIV, and the ways partners are supporting these efforts. The Session also was a space to feature the cross-regional peer learning networks and partnerships that the Huairou Commission and its member networks are building such as the recent peer exchange to Guatemala that preceded the Conference. |
Patricia Rebolledo with Canada’s Ambassador to Mexico, Guillermo Rishchynski
HIV/AIDS Central American Observatory partners
Patricia Rebolledo and Bill Fairbairn speaking with Canada’s Health Minister, Tony Clement
Huairou Commission members share information and strategize during the daily Grassroots Caucus at the International AIDS Conference
Horizons Joins the Voices of Thousands in Mexico City at the Internationl AIDS Conference
Horizons of Friendship’s Executive Director, Patricia Rebolledo, and Mesoamerican Program Coordinator, Bill Fairbairn, will be attending the 17th Annual AIDS conference in Mexico City this year, and will collaborate with the Huairou Commission (a US-based organization with Consultative Status with the United Nations) to present a satellite session on August 5th, entitled ‘Grassroots Women and their Partners building HIV-Resistant Communities in Latin America and Africa’. This session will provide a venue for grassroots women from both continents, within the networks of Horizons and the Huairou Commission, to share their perspectives and strategies for responding to HIV and AIDS in the communities in which they work. Horizons is bringing community leaders from across Central America to lend their voices to the urgent message; HIV and AIDS is rapidly increasing and is made worse by poverty, discrimination and limited access to health care.
With 200,000 people living with HIV or AIDS in Central America with little or no access to treatment such as antiretroviral medications, and with over half the population living on US$2 per day, ‘Universal Action Now’ is key. This is the theme of the conference being held in Mexico, stressing the concerted response that is needed to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Every two years, this conference brings together international scientists, health care providers, educators, policy makers, AIDS service organizations, community leaders and people living with HIV/AIDS to exchange knowledge and experiences on a array of issues related to the global pandemic. From Cobourg, Ontario, Horizons of Friendship, the only Canadian international development organization working exclusively in Mexico and Central America, will be attending the conference in order to expand the work being done in the field of HIV/AIDS.
In 2006, Toronto launched a ‘Time to Deliver’ message at the 16th Annual International AIDS Conference. Although the international community has witnessed the adoption of the Declaration of San Salvador, signed by all Central American governments with a commitment to combat HIV/AIDS, rhetoric has not been put into action. According to the latest UNAIDS Report, the continuing lack of HIV monitoring systems, polices and budgets, complicated by widespread homophobia, extreme poverty, and the resulting migration of individuals in search of work are crucial factors in the spread of the virus in Central America. These complexities diminish the ability to provide an adequate and effective response. The implementation of national AIDS campaigns throughout Central America, support by all sectors of society such as governments, faith-based groups and businesses is needed to promote safe sex practices and to expand on the work currently underway by a vast network of civil society organizations and community groups.
Horizons has launched a three year HIV/AIDS initiative in collaboration with its Central American partners to address the rising epidemic in the region. This project provides a channel for training and information-sharing between existing organizations and networks through Horizons of Friendship’s ‘Learning Network’. The ‘Learning Network’ provides partners the opportunity to share knowledge and resources in order to: 1) research and disseminate information which highlights regional characteristics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic, while taking into account cultural, political and economic diversity; 2) create a citizen observatory that monitors the extent to which the states of the region are complying with the commitments they have made; and 3) to document and disseminate best practice models of HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment.
If Central American countries are going to have a chance to reach the goal of universal access to prevention, treatment and care by 2010, current barriers must be addressed. Bill Fairbairn states, “that as Canadians we must call on our government and political leaders as well to put pressure on the governments of Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama and Belize to adhere to the binding agreement of the San Salvador declaration”. “Universal Action Now is a call for all governments to adequately address; public attitudes that surround HIV/AIDS, social factors such as poverty that make individuals vulnerable to HIV infection, and the promises and commitments made to work towards universal access to health care”.
Download AIDS Grassroots Session Flier Here
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For more information about Horizon’s work, partnerships or the conference, please visit the following links:
International AIDS Conference www.aids2008.org
The Huairou Commission www.huairou.org
HIV/AIDS Central American Observatory (Spanish) www.observatoriocentroamericanovih.org
Community Voices from the International AIDS Conference www.AIDS2008.com
