My final day

This is a day that has been full of education for me. The message that came across most strongly for me is that there is resources within ourselves to improve on the food security and nutrition needs within our society. We can also improve on the social support and care of our constituents who are living with or are affected by HIV/AIDS.

The brief speech made by Dr. Lydia Mungherera of Uganda summed this up in not too many words. She spoke of her own experience and how she had been sent home to die. Her mother took it upon herself to find books on nutrition and in in her words "Put her cooking pots together and began preparing healthy meals for her". This reminds us that in most parts of Africa healthy foods grow around us but as Princess Kasure of Zambia put it "Ordinary people do not know what a good nutrition is". Is this a wake up call for all of us on the ground? YES. Let us educate our constituents on what is nutrionally good for them that is locally available and stop waiting for international aid and supplements.

Dr. Mungherera said she is well today because of her mothers cooking, the palliative care she received and the social support of her loved ones. This is something our own home based care providers can help provide given proper guidance and training.

I feel a great call for all of us on the ground to put in greater efforts in holding our governments accountable on delivery of services because the Joint UN Action Team works with our governments. The question is how many of our governments are as aware of the situation on the ground as we in the Civil society are? Are they aware that there is a gap in decisions reached in meetings such as this one and delivery of the promises made? As Princess Kasure aptly put it "People living with HIV/AIDS cannot continue to live on promises".

I go back home tomorrow determined to make a difference through advocacy and education. I want my sisters and brothers to know that we can find good nutrition locally and that palliative care and social support plays a great part in bringing healing and improved quality of life to all living with HIV. Empowering my constituents to know that they can help themselves instead of helplessly waiting for aid will bring a light at the end of the tunnel. I go home to take a message of hope and strength and help fight for proper delivery of services and government accountability. This is so these meetings will not just be meetings but will make a difference in the lives of our constituents through us who get the wonderful opportunity to attend them.

An Overview of Impressions

Today woke up in good time as I had a good night and feel well rested. The first part of the meeting this morning was a report from the Task Force on the Second Independent evaluation. It felt for me like it dragged on for a very long time because I was eager for us to get on with the days agenda which was pretty long. The first discussion was on Gender Sensitivity of the AIDS response which was a combination of a report back on the implementation of the UNAIDS Agenda for Accelerated Country Action for Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV (the Agenda) and linking sexual and reproductive health and HIV interventions (follow up to a thematic segment from the 26th PCB).

I was very impressed by the presentations from Rwanda and Liberia on their implementation of the roll out of the Agenda. It is evident that most of our continent bears the burden of women being discriminated upon by cultural practices, violence and gender inequality issues amongst others. I am not at all saying that this is limited to our continent but it is a call for a stronger stance from all of us women to say no to practices that put us, our children, families and in extension the entire community at higher risk of infection. The input by one of the Member State Delegations also struck a chord in my heart because it is one of the leading topics in most of the advocacy in my country. This is the fact that most women in long term relationships like marriage are at a higher level of vulnerability. It has been seen in my country that a lot of new infections are occurring in marriages or long term relationships. Of even greater importance is the fact that the main barrier to women accessing HIV services is linked to stigma and gender inequality issues.

After this was the issue of AIDS, security and humanitarian response. The input that most struck me here was the issue of violence against women in conflict and how this plays a key role in putting women at risk. Cross border issues that more often than not are ignored were also discussed. Once again this is close to my heart because it happens a lot in our continent and follow up on treatment is interfered with or stopped further jeopardizing an already volatile situation because most countries concentrate on national provisions only.

I am beginning to feel overwhelmed by the weight of the various issues at hand when we get to the Universal Access issue. Ideally this target was to have been reached by the end of this year. However by all standards it is understandable that it is not an easy achievement to reach despite the tireless efforts being put in by all the stakeholders.

The meeting got interesting when the High level June 2011 meeting began being discussed. The modalities of the meeting were given by the Ambassadors of Botswana and Australia, the co-chairs of the High Level Meeting. They called for participation at the highest level, meaning that governments should send members of parliament or preferably Heads of State alongside youth, women, orphans and PLHIV.

Finally the election of new delegates went ahead as planned and was uneventful. We were invited for snacks and to the NGO Delegation's debrief of the days events. Everyone was in agreement that the PCB Chair had been very effective in getting the days agenda run smoothly and efficiently.

I feel like I am beginning to understand this whole meeting better. Its a wonderful opportunity and it makes me wish that all people involved in HIV work or directly affected by it could be here to see how much effort is being put in by all the stakeholders to get things moving in the right direction and in good time too. It fills me with hope for the future of all those affected by HIV.

The PCB begins!

6th Dec

Finally we're off to the meeting. This was the opening ceremony, discussion of the last PCB meeting items and a tabling of the UNAIDS strategy 2011-2015. It was also to get the views and interventions of the delegates. The Executive Directors speech moved me to tears when he spoke about the eleven year old Nigerian girl who said that mothers should not be without treatment. This really touched me. The keynote speech by Dr Francoise Barre-Sinoussi was very enlightening. I had really been looking forward to hearing it. Not disappointed at all. She is absolutely brilliant and so knowledgeable. She spoke on HIV research and I was amazed at the progress that has been made from the time the virus was discovered. It’s just amazing enough that she played a role in the discovery of the virus. This I have to say has been a longer day than I expected it to be. The new strategy was passed though to my relief because I think going back to the working table would be a great drawback. It’s nice though that every delegate was able to express themselves on what they felt about it. There's still a de-briefing about the day’s meeting and a reception. Am beat but strangely still ready to go. I think it's all new and exciting. Glad to be a part of this because I am in a forum where I have a voice in the sense that I can actually put in an intervention through an NGO Delegate or even make an intervention on the floor. It’s all very important stuff. The UNAIDS Strategy for the period 2011-2015 is a very exciting especially because of the emphasis it lays on prevention and also because it takes into account the promotion of human rights and gender equality. Am sure my constituents will be happy to know that the world had time to discuss their needs. It'll really boost their self-esteem.

Introducing Esther

5th Dec, 2010

Hi my name is Esther Gitau from Nairobi, Kenya. I work with Nairobi Outreach Services as an Addiction counselor. My organisation works with injecting drug users in the prevention of HIV.

Though I'm still trying to adjust to the time difference, the day started well with a briefing meeting from the World AIDS Campaign. I finally met everyone Talent Jumo, Shukria Gull, Juliana Davids and of course Natalie Siniora who I'd met shortly yesterday. I find all of them easy going people and am sure we'll all get along just fine. After having some lunch and an opportunity to exchange expectations for the meeting, we headed to the NGO Delegation’s pre meeting at UNAIDS.

The meeting was set up to discuss the agenda of the PCB Meeting for the next 3 days, do introductions and get us all to be on one footing on the agenda. I was very confused at the beginning about exactly what my role was meant to be in all of this though was glad when a few other returning observers said they also were struggling with some of the issues and processes. I will learn though and am already beginning to enjoy the whole meeting concept. It was nice meeting lots of other people. We took lots of pictures in the snow and I am kind of sad that I can't charge my phone so I don't have a camera. After the meeting I had dinner with Talent. Later I explored some more of the city with a friend. I am still amazed by the quiet seeing as Nairobi is noisy especially at rush hour. Going to sleep very eager about tomorrow and can't wait. I was very keen to listen to the Executive Directors speech, and see the outcome on the UNAIDS strategy decision. Oh got a camera form my pal so tomorrow can take pictures. Yipee!