Last Day of IAC
Tapiwanashe Kujinga
CEPA Partner, PATAM
The conference is slowly winding down, and the energy among the delegates is visibly sapped. I have been here attending the conference for 4 days and another 2 days in a pre-conference symposium, so I am about knackered.
Today we held a PATAM meeting to discuss the future direction of the movement. There have been a number of calls during the conference for the movement to take a more decisive role on the continent. I will compile the minutes and send them out later.
I have attended a number of interesting sessions. One cohort study found that 47% of partners in a sero-discordant relationship were women. This is quite startling especially given the fact that men are usually conceived as the drivers of the epidemin, especially in heterosexual settings. This study is likely to have a fundamental impact on social marketing that, hitherto, has largely targeted men.
The drive for a cure for HIV has been narrowed to focus on latent HIV reservoirs. Even with effective HAART and undetectable viral load, HIV can still persist by latently occurring in parts of the body where ARVs have low rates of penetration. The testes, for instance, can have up to 30% virus levels even viral load is undetectable. Therapies to penetrate and destroy HIV within these latent reservoirs will give us an answer to the cure.
A number of sessions focused on MSM, injecting drug use, commercial sex work, law & HIV and prevention.
As expected in such a large gathering, surprises never end. I was delivering some PATAM magazines to the Women's Networking Zone and found myself ducking under a line of women's underwear (bras, panties, G-strings etc) strung around the booth. The attendant informed me that these were surrendered by some women attending the conference in order to draw some attention to the booth.
"Thats what brought you here, isn't it?", she asked me.
"No, I'm actually here to leave these magazines".
Despite my evident haste to leave for a session, she detained me for a few minutes longer extolling the benefits of decriminalising sex work.
The TB demonstration was complete with an African drum, and I felt closer to home. The rhythm was distinctly Southern Africa.
The numerous stands in the Exhibition Hall and Global Village are laden with materials - books, magazines, CDs, posters, flash drives and other freebies. You can take all you want as long as you dont exceed your weight limitation on the place. I have duly taken all that caught my fancy (including hand sanitisers), and will deal with Lufthansa when I get to the airport.