“I want to share my experiences and the lessons I’ve learned with other people in my community so that they can help stop the spread of HIV...” 26 year old Veasna from Cambodia, who is HIV positive, tells how she has rebuilt her life after her family died from HIV-related illnesses.

Alliance India and Alliance linking organisation Palmyrah Workers Development Society held a consultation meeting for partners to develop a common understanding of what mainstreaming HIV means and why it is an important strategy in tackling the HIV epidemic.

Civil society groups in Myanmar are working hard to develop local, regional and national networks to improve HIV responses. At their third annual meeting in January, participants shared the benefits of working through networks and agreed to the establishment of regional networking groups.

At the end of January the first Asian consultation on the prevention of HIV related to drug use was held in Goa, India. Organised by the Asian Consortium on Drug Use, HIV/AIDS and Poverty, “Response beyond the Borders” discussed HIV prevention and treatment for injecting drug users.

In February, civil society board members from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria met UK parliamentarians at a meeting co-hosted by the Alliance. The board members delivered a clear message to MPs and Lords on the need for continued UK government financial and political support for the Global Fund.

The three civil society delegations to the board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria came together in February 2008 for a joint retreat hosted by the Alliance secretariat in Brighton. Thirty-five delegation members defined priority issues and opportunities for joint work in 2008.

Twenty-one donors attended the Alliance’s Donor Consultation Meeting in Brighton at the end of January. Delegates found the meeting a tremendous learning opportunity as they reviewed how work over the last ten years has contributed to building sustainable national responses to HIV.