4th int'l conference on HIV/AIDS for Nairobi

Kenya will this month host the fourth International Conference on the Social Aspects of HIV/AIDS, officials disclosed here Saturday.

The conference scheduled for 29 April to 3 May, and whose theme is "Innovations in access to prevention, treatment and cares in HIV/AIDS" will be held at the Lake Victoria port city of Kisumu.

The Vice Chancellor of the Kisumu based Great lakes University, Dan Kaseje, the venue of the conference, in a statement said the purpose of the conference is to find a range of robust, home grown, African interventions in prevention, treatment and care of HIV/AIDS.

The official added that the discussions would be aimed at facilitating the voicing experiences from parliamentarians, policy makers, implementers and users of interventions. Younger scholars and researchers have also been incorporated.

He said the conference would be unique, as it will incorporate community members as the end users of innovations/ interventions whom he noted, were "often excluded from scientific discussions and designs of interventions".

Kaseje said the current medical solutions such as Antiretroviral therapies were complex and hardly accessible to majority of people living with the deadly virus.

The don, who is the conference`s convenor, regretted that stigma related to HIV/AIDS, food insecurity and the burden of orphans and vulnerable children remained prime drawbacks to the fight against the deadly scourge.

The conference is sponsored by various development agencies including, United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), National Aids Control Council (NACC), Commonwealth secretariat among others.

South Africa hosted first conference in 2003 and the second in 2004 before Senegal hosted the third conference in 2005. - angop