Bay Area Reporter - August 7, 2008
Liz Highleyman

There are more than 22,000 delegates attending the biennial conference, taking place for the first time in Latin America. In addition to scientific sessions focused on epidemiology, prevention, and treatment, the conference also features a "Global Village" and a wide array of cultural events.

In the days preceding the meeting, UNAIDS announced that the number of new HIV infections worldwide had reached a plateau, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that HIV incidence in the United States was higher than previously estimated.

The first International March Against Stigma, Discrimination, and Homophobia had all the color and flamboyance of a typical gay Pride parade, but the tone was both celebratory and somber as participants from as far away as India, Cambodia, and Russia denounced discrimination and repression against LGBT people, HIV-positive people, sex workers, and drug users in their countries.

Others spoke of the need for increased services for people living with HIV/AIDS, including men who have sex with men in developing countries - the focus of a pre-conference session that drew 500 participants.

"Recent data from around the world show that increases in infections among men who have sex with men are higher than for the rest of the population, but the level of funding for prevention, care, and services is lower," Shivananda Khan of the Global Forum on MSM and HIV told the Bay Area Reporter . "We are here to say that our lives matter. Our lives are as important as everyone else's."

Gathered at the Independence Monument on Paseo del la Reforma, participants heard speeches from several community and government leaders including Mexican Secretary of Health Jose Angel Cordova Villalobos and UNAIDS Executive Director Dr. Peter Piot, both of whom said that stigma and homophobia were helping fuel the global AIDS epidemic.

The march, which proceeded down the city's grand avenue to the main square in the old historic center, featured a leather pride contingent, parents of LGBT people, religious groups, health organizations, and large contingents of transgender women and sex workers - and many people who were both.

"We want to end stigma, violence, and discrimination against sex workers everywhere," said Oakland resident Robyn Few of the Sex Workers Outreach Project. "How do we do that? Decriminalization. We need to take that message all over the world, just as we're doing in San Francisco."

SWOP is supporting a measure on the November ballot in San Francisco that would defund prosecution of prostitution and increase protections for sex workers.

Sunday witnessed a second march, focused of the AIDS conference theme, "Universal Action Now." Led by a group of Aztec dancers, hundreds of conference delegates and local advocates again marched to the city's central square for an afternoon rally calling for expanded access to HIV testing, prevention, and affordable or free treatment.

"People ask which is more important, testing, prevention, or treatment," said AIDS Healthcare Foundation President Michael Weinstein. "These are not three things. They are all one thing. We have the ability to control AIDS in the world. There's only one question: do we have the will?"

Rally participants also heard from a multinational group of bicyclists who rode from Toronto - the site of the last International AIDS Conference in 2006 - to Mexico City over two months to call attention to the epidemic.

The conference opening session took place under rainy skies Sunday evening at the National Auditorium, featuring speeches by Piot, World Health Organization Director General Margaret Chan, Mexican President Felipe Calderon Hinojosa, and United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

"Stigma against people living with HIV remains a grave challenge," said Ban. "One third of countries still do not have laws to protect people living with HIV. In most countries, discrimination remains legal against women, men who have sex with men, sex workers, drug users, and ethnic minorities. I call on all countries to live up to their commitments to enact or enforce legislation outlawing discrimination against people living with HIV and members of vulnerable groups."

Following a year that saw the approval of two new classes of antiretroviral drugs, no major medical breakthroughs are expected to be announced at the conference. Much of the attention will be on prevention, and researchers will present mixed results from studies of circumcision, microbicides, vaccines, and drugs for pre-exposure prevention.

"The end of AIDS is nowhere in sight," said Piot. "Every day, almost three times as many people become newly infected with HIV as those who start taking antiretroviral therapy. We must categorically reject any attempt to so-called normalize AIDS, or treat this epidemic as just one of many medical problems. Now, more than ever, we do need an exceptional response."

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