The First South African AIDS Conference - Professor Hoosen Coovadia
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Professor Hoosen Coovadia
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The "Dira Sengwe" (Take Action) Conference to be held at the International Convention Centre in Durban, South Africa, between the 3rd and 6th August 2003, is the first comprehensive AIDS meeting on the epidemic in South Africa. In some ways this is surprising and worrying; for we are now about 20 years into the worst socio-medical catastrophe in the history of this country, and South Africa has more persons infected with HIV and living with this infection than any other region in the entire world.
These two linked aspects of the severity of the epidemic justify much deeper and more frequent examination of the impact of the disease on life in this country. Even the highly successful XIIIth International AIDS Conference held at the same venue in the year 2000 was insufficient for the purpose of describing, analysing and understanding the South African epidemic. Instead, there has been a multitude of meetings on varying features of the disease; we have concentrated on the trees but failed to see the woods.
Maybe it was necessary to have gone through this process of studying the particularities of HIV: mother-to-child-transmission, anti-retroviral drugs; specific at-risk groups; prevention interventions; impact on education, the economy, agriculture, social cohesion etc. But now it is time to look systematically at the problem as a whole, rather than as an accrual of its individual parts. he Dira Sengwe Conference aims to present a comprehensive account of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in South Africa. The organisers of the SA AIDS Conference 2003 are committed to providing a programme of high quality, embodying the rigours of science and firmly focused on the major advances in prevention and treatment of this epidemic.
"Dira Sengwe" means "Take Action". The messages to emerge from this Conference will amount to little if they do not distill the best and worst experiences of research, policies and programmes in this country and transform these into clear guidelines for action. Interest in the Conference is mounting; about 2000 persons have already registered. This is a fairly large number of attendees; indeed, the figure is almost certain to increase over the next few weeks. Opening day is likely to see a further influx of delegates. In South Africa the number of individuals at meetings of professional and scientific bodies is usually measured in a few hundreds; so a few thousand attendees for the first South African AIDS Conference is highly gratifying. It is an indication of the seriousness with which the country's different groups regard the impact of the disease and the eagerness with which they seek solutions.
Participants include scientists in HIV/AIDS research, medical professionals, officials from government departments, representatives from NGOs, industry specialists, representatives of international organisations, representatives of local and multinational corporations, media representatives, representatives of faith-based organisations, and People Living with HIV/AIDS.
The participants reflect a diversity of interests, which may promote robust deliberation of most of the central features of the disease. Colleagues and others from Africa and from the industrialised countries are taking part and will extend the range of discussions and potential remedies.
The structure of the Conference has been designed to ensure the broadest representation of views. Plenary sessions will present state of-the-art papers on matters of vital national and global importance. Half the number of speakers are South Africans who are leaders in their field and have valuable commentaries on the epidemic here. Symposia, seminars and posters cover a breadth of HIV issues and allow researchers to present their data for critical scrutiny. The Conference sessions are grouped into five broad tracks: Basic and Clinical Sciences; Social and Economic Sciences; Epidemiology, Prevention, and Public Health; Startling Successes and Spectacular Failures; and Human Rights, Ethics, Commitment and Action.
A number of institutions and groups will host their own meetings within the Conference; these include some of the major research groups in South Africa, the Department of Health, the National Institutes of Health (USA), Pharmaceutical Companies and various societies. For the Opening Ceremony we have invited the Minister of Health. The Deputy President, the Honourable Deputy-President Jacob Zuma, Mr Stephen Lewis (Kofi Annan's Special Envoy for AIDS in Africa), and Miss Universe (who holds AIDS high on her agenda) have accepted our invitation to speak. This will be followed by a Street Fair,which will be hosted by the City of eThekwini (Durban). The Closing Ceremony will be addressed by Justice Edwin Cameron, who has attained international acclaim for his unwavering and principled position on contentious issues regarding prevention, treatment, and care for HIV/AIDS; and by Dr Kgosi Letlape, President of the South African Medical Association, who has led the Association to the forefront in the call for better treatment for HIV infected individuals.
The South African AIDS Conference 2003 is organised by the same non-profit organisation that planned and managed the 13th International AIDS Conference in Durban in 2000.
Professor Hoosen (Jerry) Coovadia is the first encumbent of the Victor Daitz Chair in HIV/AIDS Research and is based at the Nelson R Mandela School of Medicine at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, South Africa. He is also Director of Biomedical Sciences at HIVAN, the Centre for HIV/AIDS Networking.
For more information on the First South African AIDS Conference, please click here
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