Putting People First at AIDS 2024

An estimated 15,000 participants from around the world will gather to share information and best practices about HIV/AIDS-related advocacy, public health policy, and research at AIDS 2024 in Munich, Germany, July 22–26.

This year’s theme is “Put People First”—a chance for a nuanced conversation about what a person-centered and human rights-based HIV response looks like. As amfAR’s mission also puts people first when it comes to research, advocacy, and outreach, many of the contributions to AIDS 2024 from representatives of amfAR are aligned with this holistic, health justice-oriented approach.

As part of the “Bridging Mind and Body” symposium, Annette Sohn, MD, PhD, amfAR vice president and director of the nonprofit’s TREAT Asia program, will discuss a practice that is uncommon but much-needed in the Asia-Pacific region—the integration of mental health services and HIV care.

For the “Person-Centered Services” symposium, Greg Millett, MPH, amfAR vice president and director of Public Policy, will present on the impact of structural racism on Black gay men in Europe and America accessing HIV prevention and treatment, specifically addressing challenges in accessing HIV status-neutral services.

Other presentations and posters from amfAR staff, TREAT Asia network investigators, and multiregional partners include analyses of stakeholder perspectives on and navigating chemsex services in Thailand; the experience of adolescent girls and young women living with HIV accessing health facilities in Lesotho, South Africa; and depression, anxiety, and PTSD among people with HIV who are 40 and older in low- and middle-income countries, among several others.

We asked some of amfAR’s researchers who are headed to AIDS 2024 this summer to weigh in on how their work intersects with the official theme.

Lead investigator: Community-led monitoring goes beyond evaluating essential health components, it also actively addresses issues of rights and social justice in Indonesia and Manipur, India (oral abstract)

“The community-led monitoring work we are implementing with our community partners in Indonesia and India on HIV and viral hepatitis has provided care recipients with an avenue to express their perception on the essential components of healthcare services they receive. A process for reaching and seeking the input of people living with HIV and viral hepatitis was unavailable prior to this intervention.

Beyond the assessment of the essential components, our work has also enabled addressing
individual-level human rights violations, accessing financial support through social security programs, and completing the care cascade from screening to treatment for HIV and hepatitis B, and achieving a cure for hepatitis C.”

Co-author: Predictors of waiting time at public health facilities in South Africa: Evidence from Ritshidze’s community-led monitoring (in-person poster exhibition)

“How long did you wait at your last doctor’s appointment? Community-led monitoring of HIV services in South Africa found an average wait time of nearly three hours at public health facilities and, the longer people have to wait, the less likely they are to regularly access services. When we talk about improving HIV programming, however, we often fail to account for basic issues like wait time. As so many wonderful new technologies become available in the HIV response, we cannot lose sight of the need to provide them in ways that work for those who need them most.”

Facilitator: Undue influence: The outsized role of U.S. policy in global HIV and sexual and reproductive health and rights (satellite session, organized by
amfAR and Open Society Foundations)

“Troubling trends in anti-abortion, anti-gender, and anti-trans policy in the United States are having global implications for HIV and human rights. Mounting evidence shows how these policies divert funding from qualified organizations, disrupt HIV service availability, and drive those most at risk away from critical HIV services. It’s time to put people over politics and institute evidence-based policy that promotes access to lifesaving sexual and reproductive health services—not restricts it.”

Click Here to read more from the July 2024 issue of amfAR INNOVATIONS.

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