Research Advocacy for HIV Prevention: Skills and Challenges for AIDS
Activists
forwarded from AVAC and CHAMP

During the recent Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic
Infections (CROI) held in February in Los Angeles, CA, the Community
HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project (CHAMP) and the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy
Coalition (AVAC) worked with a number of partner organizations to
convene "Research Advocacy for HIV Prevention: Skills and Challenges
for AIDS Activists". We are pleased to announce that the full report
and all of the presentations are now available online at
http://www.champnetwork.org/index.php?name=research.

The one-day training workshop and half-day advocacy strategy session
brought together nearly 100 community advocates and activists from
across the US, Europe and Asia to share information and perspectives
on HIV prevention research.

The sessions offered a unique opportunity for leaders in research,
policy and grassroots communities to come together to share
information and perspectives on HIV prevention research, examined
within a social justice framework. The participants discussed the
complexities of the prevention research agenda, including biomedical,
behavior and social prevention strategies as well as cross-cutting
issues, such as informed consent or partial efficacy. Case studies
and research on the impact of race and discrimination on HIV
prevention sparked discussions on the importance of structural
interventions as well as the overwhelming need for more ethnic and
minority researchers in the field. A panel discussion with
representatives from diverse AIDS communities on advocacy needs and
challenges made two things clear -- prevention is complicated, and
prevention is important.

The overall report (available in both Word and PDF versions) provides
Q&A, debate and analysis that puts the associated slide presentations
in context. We suggest viewing the PowerPoint file side-by-side with
its section in the report.

AVAC and CHAMP hope these materials are helpful, whether you attended
the workshop or not. We also hope to conduct additional sessions and
would be delighted to hear from you if you or your organization are
interested in collaborating with us.

Also, look for the upcoming CROI conference report on AVAC's CROI
conference page and in an upcoming Network update!

Best regards,

CHAMP and AVAC

Josh Thomas
CHAMP - Community HIV/AIDS Mobilization Project josh@...
917-539-7016

Mitchell Warren
AVAC - AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition
avac@...
212-367-1279