The Living/Vivir 2006 Conference, a combination of the 12th International Conference of People Living with HIV/AIDS and the 7th International Home and Community Care Conference, due to have been held in Lima, Peru in March 2006, has been cancelled. The conference organisers, the Living with HIV Partnership, said in a press release dated November 7th that this was "due to challenges in securing sufficient financial support from donors." In fact, four months prior to the conference, less than 25% of the minimum required funding had been confirmed.
Financial problems had already forced the organisers to postpone the conference which should have taken place last month, as Living/Vivir 2005. It would have been the first global HIV/AIDS conference to be held in the Andean Region of Latin America.
The conference aimed to highlight the important role of home and community care in responding to scaling-up access to care, treatment and support, while reaffirming that people living with HIV, their families and communities were at the heart of the AIDS response.
In particular, the cancellation of the 7thInternational Home and Community Care Conference may hinder further developments in community and home-based care, which is a critical, but often an under-appreciated part of the healthcare system, particularly in resource-limited countries. The Living with HIV Partnership press release states that "home and community care givers, many themselves HIV-positive, deserve investment that would improve their efforts to work better with people living with HIV and AIDS... If donors only choose to invest in formal health care systems, universal access will remain a dream."
In addition, previous International Conferences of People Living with HIV/AIDS had enabled people living with HIV and AIDS to share knowledge and experience and to promote community activism. Fiona Pettitt of the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), a conference partner, says that both conferences will be sorely missed. "This is one of the hardest decisions ICW has had to be involved in. Both conferences have been in existence for many years and played their part in reducing the impact of HIV. Their value has been immense to ICW members and other HIV-positive women, often providing inspiration which results in embarking on a life of activism. Donors must fund these conferences: their worth far outweighs the cost of holding them."
The Living with HIV Partnership is a consortium of organisations committed to the empowerment of people living with HIV/AIDS and their communities. The Partnership consists of the Global Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+), the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW), the International Council of AIDS Service Organisations (ICASO), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), and the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Although the 2006 conference has been cancelled, the Living with HIV Partnership says that it will continue to work towards its goals of empowering people living with HIV/AIDS globally at other regional and international conferences. A December Partnership meeting will examine reasons for the lack of funding and find alternate strategies for the future.
Future updates, and further details can be found at the Living/Vivir 2006 web site.