More than 25,000 doctors, scientists and
Aids activists attended this year’s World Aids Conference in Toronto.
John Clarkson
asked delegates living with HIV how it was for them
Mikhail Rukavishnikov
• Russian Federation • HIV+ 8 years “This conference seems
less interesting than the last one I attended in Barcelona in 2002. There
seems to be a negative tendency in the activists. Before they were accompanied
by enthusiasm and now it seems like formal, friendly tourism. It also seems
like there have been no drug innovations in the last two years. ‘Time
to deliver’ is the conference slogan but it seems like just another
declaration and there have been too many already.”
Anne
Ntombela • South Africa
• HIV+ 15 years “A lot has changed since Bangkok in 2004 but issues
like access to treatments remain the same. Many women there were on treatment,
but poor quality treatment, and now we are beginning to see the side effects.
There are better drugs out there and our lives are being compromised.
In South Africa we don’t even get a seat at the table. Those who do
get a seat become government pawns and fall silent when they get too comfortable.
In 2003 I co-founded the Springs of Hope support group project. As project
manager, I’m in the frontline with Treatment Action Campaign and the
International Community of Women Living with HIV/Aids; I risk getting my head
bashed in every time I bring up HIV. We send proposals to the government but
we get no funding; they say I talk too much! I would like to be seen as part
of the solution, not part of the problem. I have enjoyed seeing women’s
issues highlighted so much here; we are breaking ground. People are listening
and it seems like there is a small hole in the wall. The lack of development
of paediatric medicine and second-line therapies is disappointing.”
Pen Mony • Cambodia •
HIV+ 5 years
“I have enjoyed the fact that community organisations get to meet the
donor organisations who support them. It was a positive experience to meet
people from the world and fight stigma and discrimination
and make our voices heard. There should be more involvement of people living
with HIV and Aids; that’s what it’s about and we shouldbe at the
forefront.”
Vuyani Jacobs • South Africa •
HIV+ 13 years
“There is so much to learn here. It was good to see Abbott being exposed
over challenging the Indian government; they just want loads of dollars. And
it’s good to see the focus on young people and positive prevention again.
Gates and Clinton have pledged to continue working with people with HIV, but
I want to see more access to medication and testing, more access to government
and more money put into female education and activism.”
Ryan Bureyko • Canada • HIV+ 12 years
“I’m a conference virgin and it’s overwhelming, but in another
wayit was what I expected; no surprises in science and a lot of focus on microbicides.
I must be the only Canadian here happy that Stephen Harper [the Canadian Prime
Minister] didn’t come. He’d just end up saying something dumb;
he’s our Dubya. He probably thinks Aids is a diet pill. Canadians have
been apathetic about the HIV movement for some time.
When the world gets together like this it reminds me how desperate things
are and how far we have to go. Questions from the public are blowing me away.
Talking with some children yesterday I had to go and cry. They were young,
black and poor, and I was thinking, ‘Without education, you’re
next’. They need guidance; I don’t want these kids coming to our
offices in ten years’ time.
Meeting all these people has rejuvenated me and made me realise I don’t
want to quit working in HIV just yet. Working and living with HIV can take
it out of you but I’ll be going to work on Monday with a spring in my
step.”
Doreen Brown • Bahamas
• HIV+ 16 years
“There was a better buzz at the conference in Thailand two years ago;
friendlier people, more
culture, better food. If the Caribbean had been in charge of the conference
it would have been 100 per cent better. There was much more new information
in Thailand, too.
There has been a lot about microbicides but it seems as if the results are
on hold. My highpoint was seeing Bill Gates and Bill Clinton; they’re
good guys with their hearts in the right places, but I wish more leaders would
follow their lead and step up to the plate.”
Svetlana Moroz • Ukraine •
HIV+ 8 years
“It’s a great opportunity to meet friends from different countries
and discuss our challenges and successes. There is energy here and the power
to make a difference. It’s important our political and religious leaders
know how important it is to be proactive in the fight against Aids. Hope spreads
faster than HIV and in my country hope is the most important thing. On the
downside, the international sessions aren’t representing the specific
needs of Eastern Europe and sometimes the language barrier prevents us being
involved. Universal access is important but so is treatment literacy. There
is no point having treatments if doctors, nurses and patients don’t
know about side effects and adherence. In the Ukraine the government ignores
us; only 200 get their treatment funded, the Global Fund provide for the rest.”
Conference snapshots
1) Crown Princess Mette-Marrit of Norway meets Indian Hijera community
representative Laxmi Narayan Tripathi in the global village.
2) Condoms demonstrate their versatility; they even stretch to fashion.
3) Pharmaco Abbott may have been hard to find but the protesters
were not.
4) It wasn’t long before the Aids Memorial Sculpture unveiled
at the conference opening was vandalised.
5) Protesters outside the US consulate make their voices heard.
