Since December 1, over 10,000 people have been gathering in Kigali for the International Conference on AIDS and Sexually Transmitted infections (ICASA). Part of the conference is a platform called the ‘Community Village’ where people living with HIV as well as key populations—people who inject drugs, men who have sex with men, transgender persons, sex workers and prisoners, community leaders and their partners—showcase their programmes, services, best practices and share experiences and network. The platform seeks to scale-up and sustain the response towards the end of HIV/AIDS. It also creates a forum to appreciate and exchange African arts and traditions in relation to AIDS and STI’s. At the forum, The New Times visited networks of people living with HIV from different African countries and organisations, activists and exhibitors Rwanda Network of People living with HIV/AIDS (RPP+) The RPP+ has been operating in Rwanda since 2003. It is comprised of 135,000 people living with HIV and are on and are on antiretroviral therapy. The work with 16 nongovernment organisations, 300 cooperatives and 500 associations across the country. Their areas of intervention include reducing new HIV infections, reducing HIV/AIDS-related morbidity and mortality, ensuring human rights of people living with HIV and those affected as well empowering members to grow as a support network. “What we would like people who visit this stand to know is that AIDS is still there. People should take their life seriously, keeping in mind that there is no vaccine nor cure. Those who don’t know their status should get tested and know the measures that should be taken,” Sage Semafara, Executive Secretary of RPP+. Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative (DNDi) “DNDi is a foundation that was created by Doctors Without Borders, with the Nobel Prize money that they received for Global Peace prize in 1999. And our mandate is to develop drugs which do not exist because there is no market for them. We focus on neglected diseases, previously malaria,…which are diseases that do not interest big pharmaceutical companies,” said Renaud Boulet of Medecins Du Monde. The DNDi, in the field of HIV/AIDS, focused on ‘neglected population’, little infants infected by HIV/AIDS. While there might be no babies infected with HIV/AIDS in Europe or America because of new treatments, in Africa some women don’t have access to such treatment, and their babies are born infected. Around 160 thousand babies are born with HIV in Africa, according to Boulet. Since little babies cannot take tablets that are being developed for adults as big pharmaceuticals are producing for millions of adults and adolescents that are infected, the babies are in a way neglected. The DNDi developed a drug that contains a four in one-dose combination of; abacavir, lamivudine, lopinavir and ritonavir for children. The drug can also be sprinkled on baby food if they cannot swallow the tablet. The drug, however, is under review by the US Medicine Agency. International Network of Religious Leaders Living with or Personally Affected by HIV/AIDS (INERELA+) INERELA+ is an Interfaith Network based in Johannesburg, South Africa. It was found in 2002 and empowers leaders through education to live positively, becoming symbols of hope and agents of change, to eliminate stigma and discrimination within their congregation and communities. Their strategy is Anti-SSDDIM- Anti; Stigma, Shame, Discrimination, Denial, Inaction, Misaction, and Pro; Safer, Access to treatment and nutrition, Voluntary Counselling and Testing, and Empowerment. INERELA+ believes that faith-based leaders are people of authority and thus have a big role to play in their communities. BIOSYNEX Biosynex is a French company that is specialized in making diagnostic devices, including rapid tests for both laboratory and self-testing. The evaluation of the practicability of their HIV self-testing kit, Exacto Test VIH, was used on 322 adults living in some districts in the Democratic Republic of Congo. 79.5 per cent correctly understood the instructions of use, 98.4 per cent correctly performed the HIV self-test, and 90.2 per cent correctly interpreted the results. The kit contains a pamphlet that has educational pictograms that show how everything is done, and words written in French, English, and some vernacular languages explaining the same. The test provides results in 10 minutes and the accuracy rate is 99.99 per cent. Biosynex also produces the ‘triplex’, a rapid test for HIV, Hepatitis B and C, in 15 minutes.
