Not knowing your epidemic remains a principal barrier to controlling HIV and AIDS globally
"The most vulnerable are still the most excluded," says new Executive Director of ICASO
Even as the world marks more than two decades of responding to HIV and AIDS, the numbers of people living with HIV keep climbing every year.
"Many of us talk about human, rights, but we know that in countries where these rights are being violated, it remains a principal barrier to individuals and communities accessing services," says Kieran Daly, the new Executive Director of the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) International Secretariat.
"The consequence" he says, "is that as long as people who are most vulnerable and ar risk are still most excluded, we cannot control the epidemic."
Kieran believes that to ignore this from an epidemiological point of view "simply does not make sense."
Focusing support where the need is most, is just common sense, he explains. "The fact that every year, the number of new infections still reads in the millions, means that we are not doing the right thing."
Finding new ways to support people in realizing their rights is a public health issue, and pivotal to ICASO's response as a global network of networks mobilizing and supporting communities to build an effective response to HIV and AIDS.
"We need greater accountability in measuring our responses, so that communities can use the evidence to inform their national AIDS responses and international policy," Kieran says. "We need to bridge the gap that remains where governments are not investing sufficiently in the AIDS response and broader health systems, in ways that genuinely meet the needs of the most vulnerable and at risk."
Kieran, who was named ICASO’s new Executive Director in January this year, says that the organization is well-placed to review and revise its programs in an environment that has seen the epidemic evolve, changes in leadership, and a greater diversity of "actors" in the global AIDS response.
"Our own support to national community advocates needs to reflect this shift, as well as respond to it," he says.
Kieran, who has been active in the field of AIDS policy for over ten years, has experience at the country, regional and international levels on AIDS policy and advocacy, with a particular focus on mechanisms for involving and funding of civil society and vulnerable groups. He has also been actively involved for many years in various global AIDS policy fora, such as the NGO delegation at
the Global Fund Board and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) working groups and committees. Kieran holds a Masters degree in Development from the School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London.