The First South African AIDS Conference - Professor
Hoosen Coovadia
Professor
Hoosen Coovadia
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
