4th SA AIDS Conference
Message from the Chairperson
2009 Conference Chair:
Associate Professor Linda-Gail Bekker
Theme: “Scaling up for success”
We are delighted to welcome delegates from all over the world to the 4th SA AIDS Conference in Durban South Africa, 31 March – 3 April 2009. There is an important new aspect to this 4th conference that will build on the successful conferences of the preceding years. Recognition that one of the hardest hit regions in the world is that of Southern Africa and the southern tip of Africa continues to see rising numbers of new infections, the conference organisers and committee of 2009 have agreed that the conference reach should be extending to our neighboring countries and we extend a particularly hearty welcome to Southern Africa.
Sobering reports continue to identify Africa has the global epicenter of the AIDS pandemic and describe the epidemic as highly diverse and especially severe in southern Africa where some of the epidemics continue to expand. Even where epidemics are leveling off in this region they are doing so at exceptionally high levels. An estimated 22.5 million adults and children in sub-Saharan Africa were living with HIV in 2007. By April of that year, 1.3 million people in the region were receiving antiretroviral therapy. Globally, however, antiretroviral drugs reach only 1 in 5 who need them and currently only 9% of pregnant women living with HIV in the developing world are provided with drugs to prevent the virus being transmitted to their babies.
Our theme this year: ‘Scaling up for success’ recognises that there is an urgency to take stock of best practices in treatment and prevention and to scale these up sufficiently to begin to roll back the onslaught in numbers and impact that the epidemic is currently waging in Southern Africa. We know what needs to be done. We have a National Strategic Plan that is all at once comprehensive, challenging and ambitious. We need to examine the evidence of how these goals can be achieved critically, assess feasibility and then remove all obstacles and barriers to implement as widely and as efficiently as possible. We need to identify the gaps in the evidence and systematically set out to meet those knowledge gaps. More than ever before we need to come together as a region, declare war on the epidemic and begin to see the rates in Southern Africa decline.
List of Committee members
| Name & Surname | Company | Designation |
|---|---|---|
| Linda-Gail Bekker | Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation | Conference Chair |
| Gustaaf Wolvaardt | Dira Sengwe | Board of Directors Representative |
| Francois Venter | RHRU | Skillsbuilding : Chair |
| Natalie Martyn | SA Clinician Society | Skillsbuilding : Co-chair |
| Thumbi N’dungu | University of Kwa-Zulu Natal | Track 1: Chair |
| Jo-Ann Passmore | University of Cape Town | Track 1: Co-chair |
| Rosemary Musonda | Botswana – Harvard AIDS Institute Partnership | Track 1: Co-chair |
| Doug Wilson | KZN Dept of Health | Track 2: Chair |
| Vivian Black | Reproductive Health & HIV Research Unit | Track 2: Co-chair |
| Moses Sinkala | Catholic Medical Mission Board, Zambia Branch | Track 2: Co-chair |
| Virginia Zweigenthal | WC Dept of Health | Track 3: Chair |
| Guy de Bruyn | PHRU | Track 3: Co-chair |
| Alex Coutinho | TASO, Uganda (Infectious Diseases Institute, Mulago Hospital Complex, Kampala, Uganda) |
Track 3: Co-chair |
|
Catherine Slack |
University of Kwa-Zulu Natal | Track 4: Chair |
| Vasu Reddy | HSRC | Track 4: Co-chair |
| Michaela Clayton | Aids & Rights Alliance for Southern Africa) Namibia | Track 4: Co-chair |
| Astrid Dearham | WC Dept of Health | Track 5: Chair |
| Nigel Rollins | University of Kwa-Zulu Natal | Track 5: Co-chair |
| Jeremiah Chakaya | Ministry of Health | Track 5: Co-chair |
| Peter M.Mathebula | Medunsa | Track 6: Chair |
| Victor Lakay | TAC | Track 6: Co-chair |
| Pauline Musukwa | MPH, Zambia | Track 6: Co-chair |
Conference poster
