Renewing the response to AIDS in Asia
29 July 2005
Participants in an Alliance sponsored breakfast meeting at the recent International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific heard that promoting good practice in HIV/AIDS programming is critical for successful responses to the epidemic in Asia.
The Alliance joined with the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) and the International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) in hosting a briefing on the Code of Good Practice for NGOs Responding to HIV/AIDS.
Chaired by Dr Nafis Sadik (pictured at the meeting above), the UN Secretary General’s Special Envoy on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific, and a trustee of the Alliance, the event provided an overview of the code, why it is important, and how organisations will be able to show their support for the code during its forthcoming second phase.
Dr Sadik opened the meeting by saying “Never has it been so important in the history of HIV/AIDS to return to first principles.”
“As community interest and political will in response to the pandemic grows we must ensure that action on HIV/AIDS embodies best practice, and at the heart of best practice are a set of fundamental principles which are critical to effectively responding to the challenge that is the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
“The code of practice provides us with that set of principles and some very concrete examples of what those principles look like in practice.”
Dr Sadik was followed by presentations on the code by the Alliance’s director of field programmes, Jerker Edstrom, ICASO’s Sumitra Banerjee and IPPF’s HIV/AIDS Adviser Alé Trossero.
There was strong interest from participants in promoting the code in Asia and the Pacific and an equally strong recognition of the need for clear principles and guidance on good practice that could be used to help shape the response to the epidemic across the region.
In closing the meeting, Dr Sadik pointed to the potential of the code to help address some of the key contemporary challenges posed by HIV/AIDS.
“Despite our efforts the pandemic continues to out strip us, despite 20-plus years of programming we continue to let ideology rather than evidence drive the design and implementation of our response and despite the growth in community interest and political will to fight the disease, we aren’t doing nearly enough. Supporting the principles contained in the code and using it to enhance the quality and scope of programming will play an important part in meeting these challenges head on,” said Dr Sadik.
