The organization also is demanding lower prices in the
developed world, where health-care costs continually
increase significantly faster than the inflation rate
due, in large part, to the price of pharmaceuticals.
ATTN was created by the Network of AIDS Communities of
South Africa, the Uganda Business Coalition on
HIV/AIDS, the AIDS Healthcare Foundation from Los
Angeles and AHF's Global Immunity project.
The opening plenary session was unremarkable except
for the speech by Spanish Minister of Health and
Consumer Affairs Celia Villalobos. No one heard what
she said because several hundred Spanish delegates
screamed and blew whistles throughout her entire
address.
BAREBACKING TROUBLES IN THE USA
In the U.S., said a spokesman for the D.C.-based
national lobby/policy group AIDS Action, one of the
biggest AIDS-related problems nowadays is barebacking
-- gay men deliberately not using condoms during
casual sexual encounters.
"There is the whole notion that AIDS is over in the
United States, that it's not a problem any more,"
Director of Public Policy Scott Brawley said in an
interview after the opening plenary.
"Prevention messages are not working. We do have gay
men barebacking. We have risk groups sharing needles
again. We've got heterosexuals that have no idea
what's going on. We have a whole generation of people
under the age of 30 that don't remember the AIDS
epidemic, that think it's nothing more than, 'Hell,
you take a couple of pills and you'll be fine.'"
Brawley said he did not really have any good ideas on
how to stop gay men from barebacking.
"My honest response, as a gay man, is that things are
going to have to get worse again before they'll ever
get better," he said. "Resistant HIV, an explosion of
HIV, something that may go wrong with the medications.
You never know when medications will fail."
The conference runs until July 12, when the closing
plenary session will be addressed by former U.S.
President Bill Clinton, who is the advisory board
chair of the International AIDS Trust, and former
South African President Nelson Mandela, who is
honorary co-chair of the International AIDS Trust.
©WNS
|