Letter from the Executive Director

Dear all,

The various working groups of aids2031 are in the final stages of harvesting the hard work of the last two years. We have just had our 10th and final Steering Committee meeting, hosted by the Ford Foundation, to review the collective work of the initiative and ask ourselves some hard questions about what are the most important things we have learned. No magic bullet, no single solution, is certainly a strong message coming out of the various working groups. The epidemic - or epidemics - needs multiple, albeit targeted, approaches if we are to make significant progress by 2031.

Other aids2031 meetings on the programmatic response as well as outreach and leadership were held over the past two months, taking a look at how to implement and advocate for the needed approaches and policies for a better future.

World AIDS Day is not far away. Perhaps a good question to ask ourselves as we continue our work is - if we make some deep changes in the AIDS response today, will we need a World AIDS Day in 2031?

Best wishes,

Heidi Larson, PhD
Executive Director of aids2031

Working Group News & Notes

Costs and Financing group expands paper series

The aids2031 Costs and Financing working group issued four new papers in September. You can read the following papers on the aids2031 website.

Strategic Planning in Honduras; A Case Study, by Eric M. Gaillard, Rosalía Rodríguez-García and Marcelo Bortman

The Cost of Antiretrovirals; Maximizing Value for Money, by Veronika J. Wirtz, Steven S. Forsythe, Atanacio Valencia-Mendoza, Sergio Bautista-Arredondo, and Yared Santa Ana Téllez

What Works to Prevent and Treat AIDS; A review of cost-effectiveness literature with a long-term perspective, by Lisa M. Demaria, Sergio A. Bautista-Arredondo, and Omar Galárraga

Assessing Costing and Prioritization in National AIDS Strategic Plans, by Vaughn Hester, Bill McGreevey, Robert Hecht, Carlos Avila, and Eric Gaillard

For a complete list of working group papers, please visit www.aids2031.org.

Momentum builds around aids2031 findings

An international outreach strategy has been developed to take the findings and initiatives of aids2031 to key stakeholders and communities that can make a difference to the future of AIDS.

The strategy was discussed at the aids2031 September Steering Committee meeting and is based on a series of media and new media opportunities as well as public engagement activities to build interest in the reports and findings from individual Working Groups and the launch of the "Agenda for the Future" aids2031 synthesis report.

Contact Dee Searle (d.searle@imperial.ac.uk) or Lara Cumming (lara.cumming@imperial.ac.uk) for more information and to share ideas for outreach around aids2031 emerging findings.

Upcoming events

Love in a Time of HIV community screenings

aids2031 has partnered with the Global Youth Coalition on HIV/AIDS to host screenings around the world of the documentary series, Love in a Time of HIV. Screenings for community groups and policy-makers will take place in Uganda, Zambia, Rwanda, India, USA, Brazil and other countries. For more information, please contact media@aids2031.org.

Young Leaders Summit meeting report released

The 2009 aids2031 Young Leaders Summit, held June 23-25 in Oslo, Norway, brought together close to 50 leaders for dialogue on changing HIV-related stigma and discrimination.

The full meeting report is now available here.

aids2031 meeting on HIV, drugs and policing

By 2031 the world should have eliminated HIV transmission associated with injecting drug use, participants said at a June 2009 workshop organized by aids2031 and the Social Science Research Council.

The meeting, which brought together HIV researchers with practitioners and experts on harm reduction, discussed elements of a draft strategy to achieve this vision. Greg Denham, convener of the Coalition of Police Supporting Harm Reduction, said Australia had achieved this goal through an active campaign of harm reduction, including needle and syringe exchanges and drug substitution.

Participants agreed countries needed to decriminalize injecting drug use and reform existing drug laws. International institutions should focus on United Nations advocacy, expanding definitions of treatment and improved resource allocation for harm reduction.

Questions or comments?

Please contact us at info@aids2031.org.