Special treats for the early risers at AIDS 2018?

Dawn in Amsterdam during the summer is beautiful, fresh, and still. In late July sunrise will be just after 5.15am. This may be some consolation for the fact that some sessions will be starting at 7.00am on the Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday of the conference

From the eight sessions that start at 7.00 am at the conference facility on Tuesday I have picked out three to whet your appetite for an early start, and it is highly likely that there will be a coffee and a pastry available for those who have made the effort to attend.

Clicking on the session titles will take you into the full details of the sessions on the conference planner.

The role of civil society and donors in times of crisis: Venezuela

This  article “For Venezuela a lack of medicine is creating a death sentence” is a chilling indictment of how all too often we are doing too little too late to respond to humanitarian crisis’s. And the fine mechanisms and structures that we thought were nimble and agile effort to prevent these crisis’s  are not always up to the job.

The report featured in the picture tells you far more. It is available for download (in Spanish and English) here.

For those interested in following the issues raised by the situation in Venezuela and the global communities’ inability to act there are at least three sessions, two abstracts, and a global village booth listed in the programme. You can find them using Venezuela as a search phrase.

To use the planner go to the online programme planner here  and type in the word Venezuela in the box on the top right hand side of the screen and the information will appear. This can then be added to your personal programme for the conference by following the instructions

There are two other 7:00 am sessions on the Tuesday that I would also commend to you:

The Trump effect: How the U.S. is jeopardizing the global AIDS response

and

HIV and Migration within a fast track agenda

On the Wednesday the two sessions that have caught my attention are:

High Rates of Suicide Among People Living With HIV: Implications for the Health and Well-being of Indigenous Peoples

A panel discussion including the wonderful Marama Mullen aka Pala, of the International Indigenous HIV and AIDS Community, New Zealand, will be discussing why it is that “throughout the world, indigenous peoples have some of the highest rates of suicide recorded, with Indigenous people living with HIV being at elevated risk of suicide due to the high rates of stigma, discrimination and racism they experience”.

Re-Defining the Global Health Response to Gay and Bisexual Men: New Perspectives and Opportunities

“This satellite assembles experts in LGBT rights, sexual health, and development for a critical discussion about the current state of the global HIV response for men who have sex with men. Drawing from their own experience, research, and examples from the field, panellists will reimagine the HIV response, a response that centres community-based, sexual health and rights programs led by gay and bisexual men and that are unapologetic in addressing sex and sexuality in its strategies”.

On Thursday my choices are:

HIV Stigma, Discrimination and Human Rights Violations: Global Extent, Impact & the Way Forward

The session promises to provide attendees with:
• An up-to-date global perspective of where stigma, discrimination and human rights violations are increasing and decreasing
• An understanding of the structural and institutional drivers of these trends
• An overview of the impact, costs and consequences of HIV related stigma from the individual to societal level
• An examination of innovative ways that community concerns can be addressed via pragmatic interventions at the local, national and global levels.

And finally, on Friday:

 Young Leaders Cracking the Code & Improving Adolescent Access to Care

This describes itself as an “interactive session that will be led by diverse voices of young leaders and offer a much-needed youth perspective”.

———————————————————————————————————————————

Of course, my selections from the 30 odd sessions that start at 7:00am are a subjective choice. All the others may be far more interesting, invigorating and useful to you. I have concentrated on those sessions where I could see grassroots ‘community leaders and activists’ on the panels.

So, do check the online programme and make your own choices

In closing don’t be put off by the prospect of getting to the conference site by 7:00 am. Transport in Amsterdam is efficient. It is also very quick at this time of day you may well be surprised at how easy your journey is.