1. The First Asia/Pacific Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS Best Practices Conference

The conference that took place in Islamabad from 29 November to 1 December, 2004 seized the global momentum gathering behind the issue of women and HIV/AIDS. These included:

• The 2000 Millennium Development Goals targeting the elimination of HIV/AIDS
• The 2002 United Nations General Assembly’s Special Session on Children, which included a commitment to combat HIV/AIDS
• The February 2003 South Asia High Level Conference on HIV/AIDS at which all South Asian countries adopted “The Kathmandu Call against HIV/AIDS in South Asia”

In 2004, two significant events had put the spotlight on the spread of HIV/AIDS. February saw the launch of the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS. The July meeting of The Women’s Leadership Forum in Bangkok pledged to take the necessary action to address all HIV/AIDS related issues.

Why Women, Girls and HIV/AIDS?

The feminization of HIV/AIDS across Asia is the result of several developments that directly impact women. Among them:

• Women infected as a result of husbands’ absence from home as migrant workers for long periods
• Women sex workers infected through increased demand for their services from migrant workers
• Women forced into sex work to help maintain their families where husbands have fallen victim to drug addiction
• Women and girls trafficked into prostitution across the region

Conference aims were to highlight the issues, discuss them in depth and suggest a way forward for the women of the region.

Why Islamabad?

HIV/AIDS is a fatal illness and a source of shame in conservative societies across Asia. Millions of sufferers are reluctant to disclose their condition. Some governments are even in denial about the extent of the problem. Even where treatment is available, it is often limited and ineffective.

Understanding cannot happen without first bringing the issues surrounding HIV/AIDS to the notice of as wide an audience as possible. Raising awareness and enabling discussion must happen before stigma can be reduced and effective strategies to treat the disease put in place.

AMAL Human Development Network selected Islamabad as the conference venue, confident of the full support of a variety of national and international partners. The Government of Pakistan provided the full backing of the Ministry of Health’s National AIDS Control Programme. Without ministerial leadership and vision, such an important undertaking would not have been possible. Donors’ representatives in Pakistan provided generous funding, particularly DFID and CIDA. Crucial support also came from UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNDP, UNIFEM, Catholic Relief Services, GTZ and the Global Fund for Women.

This firm network of support meant that women and men from as far away as Papua New Guinea, China and Uganda made it to Islamabad to share their wealth of knowledge.

How was the conference organized?

300 delegates from 25 countries sat through six plenary sessions and nine working groups.

Plenaries looked at:

• the cultural context of the disease as it relates to women and girls in Asia
• high risk behaviour groups including women sex workers, injecting drug users and men who have sex with men
• success stories of projects engaged in best treatment and prevention strategies
• solutions such as the need to enlist men’s full support for sharing the burden of HIV/AIDS on women and families

Working groups looked at:

• best practices for young people
• the problems of female sex workers
• how to achieve equity in access to treatment and prevention services
• the need to strengthen the provision of home and community-based care for HIV/AIDS sufferers

What was special about the conference was the wealth of expertise and experience brought together on one platform and the host of positive messages.

• Asian women are improving their advocacy strength through growth in political representation and in the power of women’s movements networked effectively across borders and boundaries
• Partnerships and networks are enabling HIV positive women to take part in public hearings and help shape HIV/AIDS discourse.
• Even the most conservative societies are slowly beginning to open up to the problem. Shukria Gul, a Pakistani wife infected with HIV/AIDS by her husband who had been a migrant worker in Africa, spoke of her commitment to help fellow sufferers.
• Faith-based organizations, including Muslim ulama, are becoming partners in the fight against HIV/AIDS
• Men’s involvement in the fight for women’s access to information and treatment is now being acknowledged

And the results?

The outcome of three days of intense interaction was the Islamabad Agenda for Change 2004. Among its declarations were:

• Women have the right to appropriate HIV/AIDS prevention information, including reproductive and sexual health information, through formal and informal education
• Women must be empowered in their families and communities to make decisions about their sexual and reproductive health
• Men must be constructively involved in all responses to the disease and its impact on women and girls
• Religious and community leaders must be enlisted in the fight to reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS.

Where did it go from there?

Imran Rizvi, AMAL’s Chief Executive and a member of the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, presented the Islamabad Agenda for Change 2004 to the delegates at the Second Thematic UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board Meeting held in Jamaica in December 2004.

2005 International Congress on HIV/AIDS in Asia Pacific in Kobe

Conference followup.