XVII International AIDS Conference: From Evidence to Action - Regional focus

This article summarizes the challenges, opportunities and lessons learned from presentations, discussions and debates addressing major policy and programmatic responses to HIV in six geographical regions: Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Eastern Europe and Central Asia, Latin America, Caribbean, and Middle East and North Africa. It draws from AIDS 2008 Leadership and Community Programmes, particularly the six regional sessions, and Global Village activities. While the epidemiological, cultural and socio-economic contexts in these regions vary considerably, several common, overarching principles and themes emerged. They include: advancing basic human rights, particularly for vulnerable and most at risk populations; ensuring the sustainability of the HIV response through long-term, predictable financing; strengthening health systems; investing in strategic health information; and improving accountability and the involvement of civil society in the response to AIDS. Equally important is the need to address political barriers to implementing evidence-based interventions such as opioid substitution therapy (OST), needle and syringe programmes (NSPs), comprehensive sexuality education for youth, and sexual and reproductive rights. Finally, these regional discussions emphasized the need for legislative and policy reforms related to structural barriers facing women and girls, MSM, IDUs, sex workers and migrant populations.