Initial thoughts on the International Conference

by Deirdre Ni Cheallaigh, Trócaire HIV and Gender Policy Officer.

We took our place among the long snake of people shuffling forward to claim our conference badges and delegates bag. The air thick with Spanish and anticipation, the person beside me shrieking with delight each time she clocked a fellow Nicaraguan in the line. Kisses and Olas out of the way, she’d go on to explain who the new arrivals were – friends from organisations of men against violence working on issues of gender and masculinities or others from associations of positive people in Nicaragua.

Recurring themes among those in the queue was the curious decision to send the delegates badges by post, despite the fact that many are from countries without properly functioning postal systems. I ended up in the line among them, but was glad of the opportunity to get some Central American views on the AIDS conference being hosted in their region for the first time. While largely positive, more than a few wry smiles broke out when, having successfully registered, the Nicaraguans opened the ‘Spanish version’ of the delegates’ bag to find just one of the documents in Spanish.

‘It seems as if the location for the conference itself is incidental - that is really lamentable’, I heard one colleague say. She’s right - it’s a real missed opportunity to make the conference accessible to the majority of the participants. As an English speaker, I can open the phone-book sized programme and choose any session at random knowing that I can access it (well, with the exception of some of the scientific ones which, having abandoned the sciences almost 15 years ago, are in an entirely different language: NRTIs, NGFs, PBMCs or V1-V2 loops anyone?).

I was reminded of other recurring themes, when I scanned down through an AIDS 2008 message from SIDA, the Swedish government’s overseas development body. The opening paragraph reminds us of past conference themes – ‘Access for All’ (Bangkok, 2004), ‘Time to Deliver – Promises to Deliver’ (Toronto, 2006) and this year, this week here in Mexico ‘Universal Action Now’. Other themes that we’ve become familiar with include ‘Universal Access’, ‘Stop AIDS. Keep the promise’, ‘Faith in Action Now’.

With some slight variations, they all point to the same thing – a demand that the promises and commitments that have been made, must be translated into action, by those who made them. The response to HIV and AIDS, and the fulfilment of these promises, is about rights, equality and justice. This afternoon, setting out from Monumento a la Revolución, thousands of people will take part in a march entitled ‘Universal AIDS Action Now – treatment, testing and prevention’ organised by AIDS Health.

The official opening ceremony for the Conference takes place this evening. For me though, the march, and the opportunity to publicly remind ourselves and others of the promises that we made and are failing to keep, feels like the real opening ceremony. There won’t be the formality and protocol that will go along with the official proceedings this evening but there will be thousands of people, competing with the chaotic Mexican traffic and noise, raising their voices above it, and calling - loudly and clearly - for ‘Acción Universal En SIDA Ya – treatmiento, detección y prevención!’