Toronto, Canada – A Tanzanian youth, with links to a Toronto-based charitable organisation, was today announced as having created the winning logo design for AIDS 2014 - the 20th International AIDS Conference – being held in Melbourne, Australia in July 2014. This follows a global competition for youth aged between 10 and 30 years old launched by the International AIDS Society. 

Yohana Haule (21) is a young artist who has been working with the organisation Africa’s Children-Africa’s Future (AC-AF) since October 2011 through their office in Dar es Salaam. AC-AF first met Yohana at his secondary school graduation. Current Executive Director, Dave Christie and founder of AC-AF, Gita Jaffe, were attending as guests of the school and another youth in their programming. Drawn to Yohana’s talent, he would become the first recipient of the AC-AF Youth Leadership Award. The award looks to strengthen the youths’ skills to develop promising talent into concrete actions that can help the youth achieve their dreams. Since then, he has become the resident artist for the organisation, producing artwork used in programming resources for children and in awareness materials currently being used in Canada.

As Christie explains, “This is an incredible achievement for a young man from Dar es Salaam who, like many youth in Tanzania, has faced many hardships to get to where he is today. When we first met Yohana, we were not only struck by his talent, but by the messages that he was portraying through his art. One of the first images he showed to us was a depiction of the roles women play in Tanzania – both in the strength they bring to the country but the burdens they also face. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the burden on women in the AIDS epidemic is particularly harsh, and here was a young man willing to confront some of those issues.”

Toronto has strong links to the International AIDS Conference having hosted the 16th conference in 2006. As a legacy to that conference, the Global AIDS Initiative was established by the City of Toronto, to fund programming concerning HIV and AIDS undertaken by organisations working in sub-Saharan Africa. For the last two years, AC-AF has been part of the coalition of organisations utilising these funds for its work in Tanzania with children and youth. As a result of the budget passed in January at City Hall, this funding will end in August 2013. Although the financial legacy of AIDS 2006 is coming to an end, the work that the City of Toronto has enabled AC-AF to undertake, including with Yohana, will ensure that the contribution of the people of Toronto will have a lasting impact on AIDS 2014.

For AC-AF, this provides a moment of pride in the accomplishments of the youth they work with. At the heart of their programmes and ethos is a continual focus on the potential of children and youth. As Christie explains, “Our programming does not look to just help children; it is aimed at ensuring children and youth help themselves, both now and in the future. They need encouragement to increase their independence, ensuring that they can support themselves, their families and their community, while fulfilling their dreams. Yohana exemplifies this. Although we are able to provide him with some of the initial opportunities, it is ultimately his effort and talent that has brought him this recognition by the International AIDS Society.”

Yohana will continue to work with AC-AF before travelling to Australia in July 2014 to be officially thanked at the conference for his design. This will be the first time that he has travelled outside of Tanzania.

For more information about Africa’s Children-Africa’s Future (AC-AF) visit: www.ac.af.com.

For more information about the AIDS 2014 conference visit: www.aids2014.org.

This article by Lisa Fitzpatrick, M.D., M.P.H. first appeared on TheBodyPRO.com here. Republished with permission. 

The last two years have been filled with wonderful news for HIV science, including the focus on treatment as prevention, the availability and endorsement of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) for high-risk populations, and efforts across the country to scale up testing and linkage to HIV care. Expansive discussions about each of these advancements have loomed large at each infectious diseases-related conference, including the recent 2012 International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012).

The conference was well attended, with over 20,000 participants spanning the globe. It afforded many of us who have worked for many years in global and domestic HIV/AIDS the opportunity to reconnect with old colleagues, share ideas and network about potential collaboration opportunities. By many measures, AIDS 2012 was a resounding success.

However, as I reflected on whether the conference shifted our focus to achieve a more direct and positive impact on reducing new infections, increasing testing uptake and improving engagement in HIV care, my view dimmed a bit.

The week of AIDS 2012, our clinic registered six patients with newly diagnosed HIV infection. On one hand, these new diagnoses were clearly due to our testing expansion efforts. But at the same time, I asked myself: Why hadn't they benefited from any of the prevention messages and strategies that should have kept them from becoming HIV infected and having to walk through our doors?

I wondered about the magnitude of the financial and human resource investments we have committed to conferences like AIDS 2012, and whether or not these resources should instead be utilized to implement structural interventions that present barriers to prevention, testing, treatment and engagement in care. We know of these barriers because the HIV scientific literature is rich with information naming and describing these challenges. But at AIDS 2012, I didn't hear concrete conversations about a clear and specific strategy to address these challenges.

What is our responsibility to face these issues head-on? What will it really take to turn the tide of this epidemic? Can we really get to zero, and what concrete steps must we take to achieve this? These are the conversations we shun, because the answers are elusive and overwhelming -- and because, for obvious reasons, we like conferences.

Connecting with other HIV stakeholders and hearing about shared hardships, program challenges and concerns from across the country and around the globe lifts our spirits and boosts our morale. These connections remind us we are not struggling to fight this disease alone. That's positive.

But a recurring theme in these conversations is the need for more financial resources to "fight" HIV. The notion that a lack of funding presents the greatest barrier to addressing the epidemic feels shortsighted and uninformed. My experience collaborating within multi-lateral partnerships and with program implementation on the ground causes me to disagree with these ardent cries and demands for increases in funding.

In 2011, the U.S. funding allocation for HIV/AIDS was over $20 billion. That's substantial. We desperately need these funds to address the epidemic, but have we considered how much of this money directly impacts the availability of testing, treatment and engagement in HIV care? It's a fascinating question -- one we can no longer afford to evade.

I believe ending the epidemic is absolutely achievable. But doing so may require a sharp right pivot from current conversations and business as usual.

The fourth workshop in the current series of free open discussion forums for people living with HIV hosted by the AIDS Committee of Toronto (ACT) will be held on Wednesday, December 5, 2012 at 7:00 pm at the Ramada Plaza Hotel, 300 Jarvis Street in Toronto. 

This month, the forum will provide an overview of both the International AIDS Conference held in Washington in July 2012 and the Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy (ICAAC), held in San Francisco this past September. 

The guest speaker is Dr Sharon Walmsley, professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and assistant director and clinical staff physician, Immunodeficiency and Infectious Diseases, at Toronto’s University Health Network. 

Topics to be discussed at the forum include: 

• Based on presentations at the 2012 International AIDS Conference, what new information is there and what could we expect to hear more about?
• Overview of the San Francisco Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy.

The forum will be webcast live so those who cannot attend in person can participate in the event online. The forum and the webcast will begin promptly at 7:00 pm and last two hours. 

To join the live webinar: login at 7:00 pm EDT on December 5 (00:00 UTC, December 6) at www.actoronto.org/forum   

The forum will also be recorded and should be available for viewing on the day following the event at the same website: www.actoronto.org/forum  

This forum and webinar are free and no registration is required. For those attending in person, a light buffet will be available from 6:00 pm. 

For more information, see the flyer below or contact Robin Rhodes at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. or 416 340 8484 ext. 219.

This article first appeared on the website of CATIE  here.  

Une version française est disponible ici. 

Recent advancements in our understanding of HIV transmission, treatment, prevention and testing are changing the landscape of our response to HIV and generating a significant amount of optimism. The buzz at the International AIDS Conference this past July in Washington D.C. was that we may now be able to achieve an ‘AIDS-free generation’ where first, no one will be born with the virus; second, that as people age, they will be at a far lower risk of becoming infected than they are today; and third, that if they do acquire HIV, they will get treatment that keeps them healthy and prevents them from transmitting the virus to others.

Similarly, the United Nations AIDS organization has launched a ‘Getting to Zero’ campaign for this World AIDS Day, December 1, signifying the aim of getting to zero new infections, zero AIDS-related deaths, and zero discrimination.  

There are many reasons why we should feel these commendable goals can be achieved. But there are also significant challenges that need to be addressed before we get there.

New understanding about HIV

First, a word about those things that give us confidence.

We now have newer medications for people living with HIV that are easier to take and have fewer side-effects, thereby making HIV treatment more manageable. These medications also allow people living with HIV to have a near-normal life expectancy. We also have a much better understanding of the importance of starting treatment earlier in order to achieve better health outcomes.

Treatment can also help prevent the transmission of HIV. Research shows that people living with the virus who are on successful antiretroviral therapy and have a fully suppressed viral load (undetectable) are less likely to pass HIV onto others.

Due to these advancements in our understanding of the virus, treatment guidelines now recommend that people living with HIV begin antiretroviral therapy as soon as they are ready after diagnosis.

The importance of early detection

To complement the uptake of early treatment, we have also made progress in developing new testing technologies and strategies that allow us to detect HIV earlier and faster than ever before, allowing HIV-positive people to learn about their status much sooner after becoming infected. 

Early diagnosis is crucial to our success in preventing HIV transmission for three major reasons.  First, it may help identify people during the first few months after HIV infection when their viral load and risk of HIV transmission is at an all-time high. Second, it gives newly diagnosed individuals the option to start treatment earlier. And lastly, the majority of people diagnosed with HIV take active measures to reduce their risk of passing HIV on to others.

New prevention approaches

Although condoms and clean needles are the backbone of our prevention efforts, we are learning about additional prevention tools that can also be used. We now know that the same drugs used to treat HIV can be used by HIV-negative people to help reduce their risk of an HIV infection. These preventative approaches are known as post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP). While PEP is the standard of care for occupational exposure to HIV, its availability for non-occupational exposures and its cost vary greatly across Canada. Although PrEP is not currently approved for use by Health Canada, some doctors may already be prescribing it to their patients (known as ‘off-label’ use).These new prevention approaches are promising options for HIV-negative people who are at a high risk of getting HIV.

HIV drugs, in combination with other strategies such as not breastfeeding can also help eliminate the transmission of the virus from an HIV-positive mother to her newborn child.

Challenges we still face

Despite these advancements, translating them into a generation without AIDS or without new HIV infections remains challenging. The hurdles we continue to face include limited financial resources applied to HIV prevention and treatment, and the barriers people living with and at-risk of HIV face when accessing HIV-related services.

Additionally, people living with HIV can be criminally prosecuted for not disclosing their HIV status to their sexual partners, which can discourage them from wanting to know their status, and thereby opting out of getting tested.

Stigma, discrimination, and poverty can make it difficult for marginalized populations to access services, which explains why some populations are more strongly affected by the HIV epidemic. The reality is that a number of Canada’s communities have a high prevalence of HIV. According to the latest estimates (2008) by the Public Health Agency of Canada, gay men and other men who have sex with men represent a majority (51 per cent) of people living with HIV. People who use injection drugs represent 20 per cent, people from regions where HIV is endemic (such as Africa and the Caribbean) represent 14 per cent, and Aboriginal people represent eight per cent of the total HIV epidemic in Canada.  

Where do we go from here?

It’s clearer than ever that HIV prevention, testing, care and support, and treatment are all mutually reinforcing elements of an effective response to realizing an ‘AIDS-free generation.’ At CATIE, we feel these advancements call for an ‘integrated approach’ to HIV treatment and prevention. Such an approach will be discussed, for example, in September, 2013, when CATIE will host a forum that will explore the recent developments in HIV and determine ways to integrate HIV treatment and prevention for us to move forward in an effective way.

While we are still years away from an ‘AIDS free generation,’ we appear to be on the right path. It only takes a look back 30 years ago at the despair we once felt in the face of this unknown disease to see how far we’ve come. 

The photo mosaic above (created by the YAHAnet team using AndreaMosaic) is made up of all the scanned hand photo messages of the people who participated in this project at the IAS 2012 YAHAnet booth!

What do the hands of 313 people visiting Washington DC tell you?  A lot if they were visitors to the YAHAnet booth at the International AIDS Society's conference in July 2012. But you don’t have to have been there to see the evidence, because the good folks at YAHAnet brought it all home.

Here’s how their website describes what they did “From July 22 to 27, 2012, YAHAnet ran an interactive booth (#633) in the Global Village of the XIX International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2012). Chandra, Lukas, and John of the YAHAnet team met and had wonderful discussions with amazing youth leaders, activists, not-for-profit representatives, health researchers, and healthcare providers. 313 photos of visitors' hands were printed off and attached to clotheslines around the booth, with handwritten messages on the photos declaring what is needed to "take the LEAD to get to zero"!

“Getting to zero” relates to the UNAIDS 2010-2015 strategy - getting to zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths.

Neat idea,  eh?  Better still, YAHAnet took all the photos home and with a bit of techie wizardry, all the photos are online in a virtual exhibit.

You can view that virtual exhibit here. 

Some message are in English but there are also many other languages represented, from 68 different countries.  A lot of them speak to youth empowerment  - “ Empower Young People”,  “Listen to Youth”, “It’s Our Turn” are examples.  But other participants chose to leave more general, sometimes  touching messages – like “Love Conquers All”,  “Love, peace, hope, coolness”, “Start dancing, stop AIDS”. You’ll love browsing through this exhibit, believe me.

Almost all the images are also on YAHAnet’s Facebook page . Look at them here.

Big kudos to YAHAnet for doing something engaging, powerful and lasting. In the words of the Who’s’ 1965 song, which predates the  organizers by quite a bit, the kids are alright.

About YAHAnet:  YAHAnet is an innovative networking platform that provides young people from around the world with the opportunity to actively and creatively participate in the fight against HIV & AIDS using an interdisciplinary approach which combines public health, education, art, and technology. Follow them on Facebook here or twitter @YAHAnet here.