Every day 5,500 people around the world die from HIV-related illness. For World AIDS Day on 1 December the Alliance wants to know how you think we can achieve a world in which people do not die from HIV. We would love to hear and share your views.

To mark this year's World AIDS Day in the UK the Alliance is interested to know what you think. Jane Waterman, Director of External Relations at the Alliance in Brighton explains.

The Guardian International Development Journalism competition has culminated in the announcement of Sylvia Rowley as the overall winner in the amateur journalist category, writing about the Alliance's work in India.

The Alliance will showcase its work with communities in Africa at the 15th International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa, to be held from 3 - 7 December in Dakar, Senegal.

The Loop will be featuring highlights of citizen journalism from Health & Development Network's Key Correspondents team every month. This month Bobby Ramakant reports on activist demands in the run up to the 39th World Conference on Lung Health in Paris.

The Observatory, a new watchdog organisation, has been launched in Bolivia as part of the Alliance's Andes Advocacy project. The Observatory will monitor government policy, ensure the observance of existing legislation, and report on the delivery of health services to key population groups.

The Alliance in Myanmar has successfully secured a two and a half year grant from the European Union, which will allow it to develop the work of ten community partners with orphans and vulnerable children.

In our second HIV good practice update, Susie McLean, senior advisor on drug use and HIV in the Alliance secretariat's HIV Best Practice team, explains substitution treatment for opiate dependency and examines some of the implementation and advocacy issues for organisations starting to work in the field of harm reduction.

The International HIV/AIDS Alliance has demonstrated its ongoing commitment to create a global network of indigenous, independent, sustainable organisations with the successful evolution of the Caribbean country office into an independent national linking organisation.

The UK secretariat has been successfully accredited following an extensive evaluation and review process. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance in China has already been formally endorsed by the accreditation system, meeting the high quality standards required to be part of the Alliance group.

Plans for joint programme activities, which maximise the benefits of the merger between the International HIV/AIDS (the Alliance) and Health & Development Networks (HDN), have been moving ahead rapidly following the approval of the merger.

Earlier this year, an Alliance secretariat-funded horizontal learning exchange enabled staff from Alliance Myanmar to visit successful children's programmes set up by the Alliance in India. The knowledge and experience from the exchange has now led to a successful funding bid in Myanmar.