Blog Posts
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Darby Hickey: It’s Not Just the US or IAS – We All Need to be Accountable
03 August 2012
Watch: Sex Worker Activists Disrupt Special Session on the US Congress’ response to HIV As we look back on the International AIDS Conference, there are plenty of lessons and conversations to carry with us. As a transgender woman and a sex worker, I want to make sure that the theme of exclusion, which people who [...]
Posted by Darby Hickey, 2012-08-03 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (0)
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Jonathan Cohen: Why We Marched
27 July 2012
Optimism is the order of the day at AIDS 2012, with “treatment as prevention” now a reality, a blueprint for an AIDS-Free Generation just released by the US government, and non-US residents with HIV now allowed to enter the country. But there is another conversation going on — in the Global Village, the blogosphere, and [...]
Posted by Jonathan Cohen, 2012-07-27 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (0)
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John Mathenge: Where is the change?
27 July 2012
We sat down and chatted with John at the Sex Workers’ Freedom Festival in Kolkata, India. Here’s what he had to say… I was born in a poor poor poor family in the Central Province, a very remote place in Kenya. I am born gay – it is my identity. For 11 years now I [...]
Posted by John Mathenge, 2012-07-27 | Categories: Blog, Kalkota | Comments (0)
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Alexander Delphinov: Paging Harm Reduction Activists: The Time to Mobilize is Now
27 July 2012
Boarding the plane, I met Alexey Kurmanaevsky, one of the few Russian activists who went public about his life as a person who uses drugs. Alexey appealed to the Russian Ministry of Health asking for opioid substitution treatment (OST). His request was rejected. Then he sued the Ministry for refusing to provide effective, evidence-based treatment [...]
Posted by Alexander Delphinov, 2012-07-27 | Categories: Blog, Kiev | Comments (0)
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July 26, 2012: AIDS 2012 Daily Summary
27 July 2012
A high point of the International AIDS Conference (IAC) for sex workers and allies occurred at the July 26 plenary featuring presentations by Cheryl Overs, a sex workers rights advocate and founder of the global Network of Sex Work Projects, and Debbie McMillan, an African-American former sex worker. Cheryl opened with the image of waves [...]
Posted by Alissa Sadler, 2012-07-27 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (0)
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Debbie McMillan’s Plenary: Making Waves: The Changing Tide of HIV and Drug Use
26 July 2012
The following speech was delivered by Debbie McMillan of Transgender Health Empowerment as a plenary address at AIDS 2012 on Thursday, July 26. Posted with permission. Good morning and thank you all for being here. Before I give my presentation, I’d like to invite you to watch messages from my peers around the world. Welcome [...]
Posted by Alissa Sadler, 2012-07-26 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (1)
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Michel Kazatchkine: Why are human rights so central to the AIDS response, in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, as everywhere else?
26 July 2012
I am thrilled to have been appointed, last Friday, as the United Nations Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. Eastern Europe is the region of the world that has witnessed the largest increase in HIV prevalence in the last ten years and where the epidemic continues to expand. While the [...]
Posted by Michel Kazatchkine, 2012-07-26 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (2)
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July 25, 2012: AIDS 2012 Daily Summary
26 July 2012
On the third full day of the International AIDS conference (IAC) in Washington DC, stickers started showing up on the water coolers asking “Where are all the sex workers? Not at IAC 2012!” The overall level of awareness among conference participants about the travel restrictions preventing sex worker and drug user attendance appeared to be [...]
Posted by Alissa Sadler, 2012-07-26 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (0)
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Michel Sidibé: Why human rights must occupy the centre of the global AIDS response
25 July 2012
It is outrageous that, in 2012, when we have everything we need to beat AIDS, we are still fighting prejudice, stigma, and exclusion—not just in homes and in the streets, but also in police stations and in courtrooms. It is my daily reminder that the AIDS response is not just about an epidemic; the AIDS response [...]
Posted by Michel Sidibe, 2012-07-25 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (4)
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July 24, 2012: AIDS 2012 Daily Summary
25 July 2012
The second full day of the International AIDS Conference (IAC) in Washington DC contained an interesting mix of science, activism, and vibrant sex worker culture. Sex workers and allies here were sorry that technical difficulties made it impossible to join the Kolkata Sex Workers Freedom Rally – at least remotely – in acknowledging 20 years [...]
Posted by Alissa Sadler, 2012-07-25 | Categories: Blog, Washington, D.C. | Comments (0)
