Who is Dira Sengwe?

Dira Sengwe meaning "take action" is a South African based NGO established in 2002 by the members of the local organizing committee of the ground breaking XIII the International AIDS Conference, Durban 2000 .The organisation emerged at a critical period in the history of the struggle for the recognition of HIV/AIDS as a disease overwhelmingly of poor countries, especially on the African continent. This aim was achieved and accounted for the subsequent success of Dira Sengwe.

It is rooted in addressing the quintessential disequilibrium of the HIV/AIDS pandemic in the world. The events around that landmark conference led to profound changes in the struggle against the high costs of antiretroviral drugs, discordance between the state and the scientific and civil society, and the mobilisation of the global scientific community to support the scientific foundations of the cause and management of HIV/AIDS[The Durban Declaration-a unique document].

Dira Sengwe was established with the specific purpose of overcoming unequal access to information in the world by using scientific and social conferences as a tool to make knowledge on the subject more widely available to South Africans , Africans and colleagues from other developing countries, and to increase advocacy to advance the cause of HIV/AIDS in Southern Africa in particular. The members of Dira Sengwe convened at the end of 2002 to discuss their concern that despite the drop in cost of AIDS treatment that resulted from the debate of the 2000 conference, the South African government was still embracing AIDS denialist views , and there were numerous global trading barriers to equal access to life-saving drugs.

Dira Sengwe did not restrict itself to a reductionist philosophy on treatment alone but included the need to galvanise society around a comprehensive approach to the epidemic which emphasized prevention, care and rehabilitation. Dira Sengwe has been managed on a basis which demand complete integrity and volunteerism by its staff and board. It thus eschewed extravagant expenditure and demonstrated how a single well managed conference in the year 200 could sustain a series of superb biennial conferences which draw substantial participation from more about 3000 individuals from many disciplines and from both professional and non-professional groups.