activism still makes a difference
and other nations clearly attempt to use such conferences as a public
relations exercise.
Yolanda Simon, the conference chair, said there
was much more to celebrate now for positive people than at the first
international conference in Denver in 1983. "Today people living
with HIV and Aids are not the problem but part of the solution. The battle
against the epidemic is now more urgent than ever," she said, "but
we seem to be in a race against time."
Stuart Flavell, conference coordinator, said: "We come together to
take back our lives from the epidemic."
He called on positive people to fight for the global advocacy agenda drawn
up at the last conference in Warsaw. He, himself, had become more motivated
since then. "Step up - the world is depending on you and me,"
Flavell pleaded, "We are the beginning of the end of the HIV epidemic."
Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAIDS, praised the activism of HIV
positive people and said it has already made a huge difference.
"The movement has grown and activism is a key component in in bringing
about cheaper drugs," he said. "You confront the virus day by
day and we need the power
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of positive people to focus our response to the epidemic.
"Access to HIV care must become a reality for all", he said,
"and we must act now to tackle the stigma and
discrimination faced by people with the virus
