Namibia Home to International AIDS Conference

Boston (HealthKnowItAll) - Over the weekend, representatives from 54 countries met for an HIV/AIDS conference in the country of Namibia.

The conference was planned to help bring awareness to the disease in the country and to look at ways of strengthening locally lead programs.

HIV/AIDS continues to be the silent killer, taking the lives of millions of people each year, the majority of those from developing countries.

According to Assistant US Global AIDS Coordinator Michele Moloney-Kitts, “The purpose of the implementers meeting is really to bring together people who actually implement HIV/AIDS programs from around the world to really share their experiences.”

By sharing their own experiences, the hope is to allow for the locals, who run the HIV programs to gain insite and come up with the best possible methods of running their own programs in the country.

“What you find is that it’s really, really important for these programs to be locally owned and led. In other words, communities need to decide what’s going to work for them…. And they need to…take charge of the programs. That’s the only way you’re going to ensure long-term continuity, as well as that the programs are really relevant,” she added.

The conference also touched on the success of the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief as the program has helped millions around the world by providing badly needed medication to combat the disease.

“PEPFAR is a really well appreciated program around the world,” said Moloney-Kitts. “I think the US government has much to be proud of and people…recognize that. The US is the
largest donor to HIV/AIDS.”

HIV has been known about for more than 25 years, and during that time, millions of lives have been lost to the disease.

Although there is no cure for HIV, there are drugs now on the market that are a huge help to people living with the disease, allowing them to live meaningful normal lives.