Today was the finale for the XVIII International Aids Conference and an appropriate time to reflect on all that I have learnt, seen and heard over the past week. This is the second International Aids Conference I have attended; I remember feeling very impressed when I attended the previous International Aids Conference that took place in Mexico. ‘How well organized’ I thought, ‘so many learning opportunities’…

3 new things I learnt at this year’s conference:

Sero-Discordant Couples Exist

As the Chair of one of the panels on sero-discordant couples said, discordant is not really the appropriate word to refer to relationships in which one person is HIV+ and the other is HIV- because many of these relationships (like other types of relationships) are harmonious. For some reason I had never conceptualized relationships in which people would consciously choose to be with a person who happens to be HIV+, maybe a sign of my own prejudice… People in sero-discordant (I don’t know what other term to use) relationships can protect themselves by using barrier methods during sex – the same way any other couple should protect themselves. It was interesting to find out that some people choose to have unprotected sex even thought they know that their partner is HIV+. Reasons given varied including intimacy, love, etc. I was struck by how some people are HIV- despite long-term exposure to the virus. The only reason I was given is that some people appear to have a gene that makes them immune to the virus.

Sex Workers

I went to a panel on sex work because I have been trying to understand why anyone will choose to engage in sex work. I can understand participating in ‘survival’ sex, I can understand that some people get addicted to drugs and engage in sex work in order to feed their habit but I have struggled to understand why anyone would willingly choose to be a sex worker so after sitting through a panel and finding my question unanswered I was the first one to jump up when the floor was opened for questions:

Q: “So why will anyone choose to be a sex worker”

I got a range of responses:

A: “No one asks anyone else why they choose the jobs they do”

A: “You need no capital to start sex work”

A: “As a trans woman its a way of affirming my gender identity. Men find me attractive and are willing to pay to have sex with me”

A: “I like sex”

A: “I got raped as a child”

A: “It’s a way of running my own business – I work when I want to. I am my own boss”

CAPRISA 004

This was the most exciting news of the conference! The first microbicide trial to show a statistically relevant result and had resulted in 54% protection against HIV for those who had taken the vaginal suppository as instructed > 80% of the time. CAPRISA 005 is a Tenofovir (TFV) gel that is ART (Anti-retroviral therapy) based. The TFV gel is inserted 12 hours before sex and 12 hours after sex. CAPRISA 004 now becomes the benchmark for protection/prevention where future trials are concerned.

All in all it was an interesting, useful and educational conference. Roll on AIDS 2012!

Nana Darkoa Sekyiamah

Programme Officer

Fundraising & Communications