One of the questions that I keep getting asked is how the most recent AIDS conference was from the last one. I met some people at the conference who had been to the last 7 or 8, so they’d be better at describing the conference’s evolution, but here are a few thoughts from me.

First of all, I was a very different participant in each. In 2006 in Toronto I helped Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief with their booth in the Global Village but didn’t have access to the conference sessions. Elbow to elbow with other NGOs and activist organizations, I remember learning exponentially about the different aspects of the pandemic, about just how many social groups it affects. I also felt a lot of solidarity with the other civil society groups, the positive result of so many people in one spot trying to make change.

At Mexico City this month, my press pass allowed me beyond the Global Village and into the Conference itself. Being media made the experience totally different adding a distance between me and what was going on. Where the Global Village was the activism, the Conference was the institution. Its academics and international bureaucrats present themselves as the pragmatists, focused on treatment and cures as well as cost-effectiveness and scale up. I felt passive in sessions and plenaries, excited to hear the latest research and initiatives, but without the action and momentum that I’d felt in Toronto.

Where the Conference and the Global Village seemed to meet was on the topic of prevention. With much hype the Lancet released its first series on prevention, and with it the AIDS institution acknowledged that there won’t be a magic bullet response to the pandemic. At the last conference, it seemed as though universal fixes were still on the agenda. While vaccine and microbicide research continues, the “softer” approach of structural and behavioural prevention approaches were admitted into the private club of institutional solutions to AIDS.

To some, the fact that research hasn’t resulted in a cure or vaccine and that the battle against AIDS is going to require a combination of different approaches is disheartening. But the overall feeling of the conference was one of hope, of small successes, of understanding next steps.

The Undercurrent Canadian Undergraduate Journal of Development Studies publishes open source academic papers by Canada’s International Development undergrads, covering topics from indigenous land rights to microcredit to media representation of the developing world.

Undercurrent aims to:

• To raise the profile of undergraduate IDS
• To establish a venue in which young scholars may undergo constructive review and have work published
• To provide the best examples of work currently being done in undergraduate IDS programmes in Canada
• To stimulate creative scholarship, dialogue and debate about the theory and practice of development
• To provide a learning opportunity for contributors, staff and readers
• And to help students meaningfully participate in broader exchanges within IDS.

And I’ve just joined the team as the Editor-In-Chief! Look out for the December issue that we’re working on right now.

In other news, I’m headed to Medicine 2.0 at the beginning of September.  So excited to connect with people who are using the internet to give people more power over their own health, to manage health data, to work on prevention.  The final program came out yesterday and there doesn’t seem to have a lot of global health stuff, but I’m hoping to be pleasantly surprised!

As I mentioned in a previous post, there seemed to be a lot of visual arts components of the AIDS conference, whether it was aimed at raising awareness or used as an income generating activity for people living with AIDS.

My favourite!

Graffiti ribbon in the Youth Booth, part of the Global Village

The Empower project’s Kumjing dolls from Thailand traveled to Mexico to raise awareness of migrant workers.

Outside of the conference, at the cultural centre in Zocalo, there was a great exhibit on migration. Migration is a significant factor in the spread of AIDS.

The centre also exhibited a public health project for rural women — participants were given a disease to study and then had to make a larger-than-life crafty representation.

The Bead for Life booth in the Global Village had bustling sales of their paper necklaces made by poor women in Uganda.

Fancy Stitch is another income generating project for low income women in South Africa with amazing AIDS-based needle work. It doesn’t look like you can buy these ones, but they’ve got other products for sale online.

One of the friends I made a the conference from the large Canadian contingent works on Body Mapping where HIV positive people use self portraits to explore their status.

More on the Reaching Millions: Youth, AIDS and the Digital Age session for MobileActive.org.

First impressions:

 So excited to be a part of this conference.  Like two years ago, its just AMAZING to have so many people working for change in one spot.  Getting to know the four activists in our little group at the hostel, and so excited to learn about each of their projects (body mapping, harm reduction, youth and community health, and the internet…more later?).  We made it as far as the Global Village and checked out the various booths.  The craft-based approach to awareness and income generation caught my eye the most, including a project that aims to put a human face to migration statistics by creating papier mache migrants (ultra visible).  Their dolls even have passports.  I am still not quite sure of the goal/outcome, but the brochure is in my bag along with tons of other things to read.

We have been insipred to have a collaborative craft for a cause for event…stay tuned!