From the 3rd SA Aids Conference - Day 1

I've been to so many exciting sessions at the AIDS conference over the past few days. I can barely figure out how best to summarize all of the information that I think you guys might find interesting. Maybe I'll just do it one day at a time and post the write-ups and I finish them. And let me preface all of my observations about the conference with the following: Listening to very smart and extremely passionate people discussing the complex issues at the intersection of science, research, public health, politics, and activism over the past three days has been quite an inspiring experience for me.

Tuesday afternoon I attended a panel discussion focusing on HIV prevention. There were scientists from many of the exciting prevention studies, including those focusing on a new generation of antiretrovial drug-containing microbicides, pre-exposure vaccines, and the African circumcision trials.

One topic that both speakers and audience members at the talk came back to on several occasions was actively keeping an eye towards eventual implementation of an intervention, even during the randomized trial phases of research. Long lags between the release of positive results from a study and the post-trial access to a given intervention was seen as a shortcoming of the scientific process. And while some of the scientists asserted that it wasn’t their job to implement, they still conceded that they would like to see improvement in this area as well.

This session also was my first exposure to Dr. Salim Karim (he pronounces is Slim, which then rhymes with Karim), who is one of the world's foremost experts on HIV prevention in South Africa. He comes across as extremely smart, well-spoken, and generally captivated the audience with everything he had to say. He has also written (along with his wife, who is also a HIV researcher and also sat on prevention panel) a comprehensive textbook about HIV in South Africa, focusing on wide-ranging topics from basic science to medicine, sociology, economics and politics. Intrestingly, Slim has a faculty appointment at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University.

Next was the Conference's Opening Ceremony. There was some singing and dancing - staples of any event taking place in KwaZulu Natal - followed by a series of plenary speeches. Some of the talks were dull, but Graça Machel, Nelson Mandela's wife, gave an impassioned speech about combating stigma on individual and national levels.

Finally, South African Vice President, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, took her turn at the podium. The South African government is currently patting themselves on the back for having developed and ratified a very ambitious nation-wide strategic plan on HIV/AIDS for the next five years. The plan calls for a 50% reduction in new infections and ensuring ARV access to a full 80% of those with CD4 counts below 200 by the year 2011. And while many congratulate the South African government for taking such a dramatic stance, there is an equally vocal group noting that the proposed goals can not be bet without a major overhaul of the health system.

The Vice President also included a controversial rant against the organizers of the conference, for refusing to give Minister of Health, Manto Tshabalala-Msimang, a more prominent role in the conference. It was sort of political nonsense, but here's a link to a New York Times article about the episode. It should also be noted that the spurned Health Minister drew international condemnation at last year's world AIDS conference in Toronto for promoting garlic and beetroot as treatments for HIV while conference attendees booed her and exited the auditorium she was speaking in.

And so ended my first day at the SA Aids Conference. I attended a full day's session on Wednesday and am planning on heading down to the conference center to catch tomorrow mornings' talks and poster presentations. I'll try to write up any interesting findings as soon as possible. Hope you guys learned something interesting, and I'll talk to you soon.