Community advocates from the Asia-Pacific region wrapped up three days of sessions and workshops on 14 January 2004 in Bangkok of the Alternative Community Forum (ACF), a gathering of 270 participants from across the region, designed to fill the gap left by the cancellation of the 7th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) that was scheduled for November 2003 in Kobe, Japan.
The Coalition of Asia-Pacific Regional Networks on HIV/AIDS (the Seven Sisters) saw a need for an opportunity and space for community-level discussion, networking, and strategizing in light of the upcoming Bangkok International AIDS Conference (IAC) which will be a key opportunity to move the global and regional response to HIV/AIDS forward. Funders agreed and provided strong support to hold the meeting. Other meetings were organised to take advantage of the gathering: a civil society consultation for the Global Fund and a regional meeting on treatment access sponsored by the TIDES foundation. Elsewhere in Bangkok that week were an organising committee meeting for the IAC and the AIDS and the 7th Bangkok Symposium on HIV Medicine.
Bangkok 2004 wasn't the only reason for this event. The forum aimed to capitalize on the new momentum to the response to HIV/AIDS in the region. Governments are supporting national plans, governments and foundations are putting in funds, and PLWHA groups and community groups are growing in strength. The meeting also aimed to look at the best ways to collaborate with each other and to identify regional, cross-border and inter-country issues.
The course utilizes various training methodologies such as participatory approaches to learning, lectures/discussion groups, case study visits and in the end action plans.
At the heart of the meeting, though, was the aim to promote community involvement in the response to HIV/AIDS in the region and beyond. An effective response to HIV/AIDS must involve affected communities and the organisations that represent them. Community expertise must inform AIDS prevention, treatment and care and it is the experiences of those affected that will inform us how, for example, women can be made less vulnerable to infection, how to work with drug users, how to prevent infections, and what steps are needed for PLWHA to access HIV treatment. Involvement by affected communities in the response will ensure that solutions and programs work and can be carried out effectively. This involvement builds a shared responsibility between community and government - it recognises the partnership that must be in place to respond to AIDS and the ethical right for communities to be informed of and involved in programs that involve them.
The first two days of the program featured an opening address by Senator Mechai who reminded the conference to use every opportunity as an intervention for AIDS - for example, HIV training for the staff of hotels where meetings are held. He also talked about the need for a broad response to AIDS that reaches everyone from policemen to government officials to schoolchildren. The Seven Sisters network and organisations of which it is made up of - APCASO, ASAP, CARAM-Asia, AHRN, AP-Rainbow, APN+ and APNSW - gave presentations and updates on their work.
The first plenary, designed to tie in with the theme of the World AIDS Conference looked at access: the WHO 3x5 plan; HIV prevention, as well as human rights and AIDS advocacy in Taiwan; and principles of working with drug users and reducing drug-related harm. Discussion groups were then formed on the issues of treatment access, harm reduction, youth, sexuality, migration and sex work. A presentation was also made on the one-day PLWHA congress organised by UNDP a day before the forum and the various ways to move forward with PLWHA organising.
The second plenary was on the UNGASS Declaration and current progress on its use and included a look at how civil society in the Philippines is successfully using UNGASS as an advocacy tool. The plenary also considered the progress of the Global Fund. Group discussions were held on how to have stronger involvement and representation in Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM) for the Fund as well as how communities can better understand Global Fund processes. A final session included an introduction to the Bangkok 2004 International AIDS Conference and its community program, and discussion groups on how to make the most of it.
An important part of the meeting was a day of skills-building workshops. Workshops aimed to build skills in areas such as: how to obtain funding; advocacy; how to meet with government officials; applying gender concepts to HIV programs; building and sustaining PLWHA groups; and best practice on IEC materials. Specific issues, themes and topics dealt with in other workshops were: treatment access, including treatment education and literacy; the Global Fund; the governance of the regional sex workers' network; HIV prevention options for women, and UNGASS.
Amidst the diversity of the topics of this forum, there were a number of common themes, or cross-cutting issues - issues that cut across divisions and categories. Treatment access, sex worker's rights, harm reduction and more - all point to the need for advocacy with governments. Discussions of sexuality, working with drug users, safe workplaces for sex workers, work on migration issues - all of these lack an enabling environment - legislative and policy frameworks that allow work in these areas to be carried out. Many discussions raised the need for funds and financial sustainability.
Also touched upon was the lack of discussion on issues such as gender, youth, and mandatory testing on migrants. Participants also talked about the difficulties of regional work - the barriers of language to participation, for example. There is a real need for translation into local languages. Also, there was the question of how to find common definitions of terms such as "vulnerable groups" to make them understandable to governments as well as to community advocates. Treatment access was an issue brought up in many discussions beyond the ones which were specifically aimed as such.
Other common themes included: the need for community and PLWHA input and representation into CCMs and UNGASS processes; the use of human rights frameworks; sexuality; attention to marginalized groups in relation to UNGASS, access to treatment, the Fund and more; and the Greater Involvement of both PLWHA and vulnerable groups in responses to AIDS. It was also pointed out that there is a lot of planning and good intentions at meetings such as the forum but when can we start to talk about implementation?
Conference participants learned outside of the formal sessions as well. By simply participating in the meeting, participants gained skills in listening and understanding, in speaking in public and groups, in forming opinions, and in learning how to share knowledge with others. The travel itself may have given advocates an opportunity to meet local groups, or maybe as important, to see their work and country from the distance and perspective of a different country. People learned through discussions, arguments, and networking.
There may be outcomes from the meeting that will become clear at a later date. A discussion on forming the first PLWHA network in China was held. The sex worker's meeting discussed issues of structure and governance for their network. There was a proposal at this meeting to form a regional network on youth and AIDS.
Finally, at the wrap-up session for the forum, participants were asked to consider what they learned at the forum and how they will apply this knowledge and share it with others. They were asked what they want to gain from the Bangkok World AIDS Conference and what planning needs to take place in order for that to happen. It was pointed out that HIV/AIDS work can be hard physical, emotional and spiritual work and that meetings like this may be useful beyond gaining skills and knowledge, but to gain new inspiration to do the work we are doing.
