The AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition is launching a new organization
to promote the development of a wide variety of HIV prevention
strategies, including microbicides and oral preventive drugs.

The launch of the new organization, called The HIV Prevention
Research Advocacy Network, was announced by AVAC Tuesdsy, Aug 21 in
Seattle at the AIDS Vaccine 2007 conference.

The initiative will be funded by five-year, US$14 million grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

According to the press release announcing the network’s launch, the organization will:

•Develop international advocacy partnerships that support both the
needs of communities involved in research and a global advocacy
movement for HIV prevention research.

• Translate complex scientific ideas to communities AND translate community needs and perceptions to the scientific community.

• Work to hold both research agencies and advocates accountable for accelerating ethical prevention research and development.

• Help ensure that communities, policymakers, and civil society have
realistic expectations about HIV prevention research and specific
clinical trials.

• Work closely with other groups conducting HIV prevention research advocacy, including microbicide advocacy groups.

AVAC also released it annual report, which provides an overview of
the state of HIV vaccine research today. Of particular interest is a
section that looks at the slow uptake of both male circumcision as an
HIV prevention strategy and the vaccine for human papilloma Virus
(HPV). These case studies, the report argues, holds lessons for those
seeking to implement other prevention strategies.

To visit AVAC site and download the new report go to: http://www.avac.org/

To visit the AIDS Vaccine 2007 conference website go to: www.hivvaccineenterprise.org/conference/index.html

Founded in 1923, the Social Science Research Council (SSRC) is a not-for-profit organization devoted to the advancement of interdisciplinary research in the social sciences and to facilitating international collaborations across academic disciplines and among policy-makers, non-governmental organizations, multilateral institutions and the public. It does this through a wide variety of interdisciplinary workshops and conferences, fellowships and grants, summer training institutes, scholarly exchanges, research consortia and publications.

In case you aren’t familiar with the SSRC, Alex de Waal is the Program Director of the HIV/AIDS and Social Transformation program. Jennifer Klot is the Senior Advisor to that Program.

- Barnes, Nielan. U.S.-Mexico Collaboration: The Role of Transnational Networks in Shaping Community-Based Responses to HIV/AIDS. 2006 ISA Conference. pdf

- Burchardt, Marian. Western Science vs. Local Moralities? Foreign Aid in the Struggle against HIV/AIDS and its Impact on Moral Orders. ISA 2006. pdf

- de Mello e Souza, Andre. Drugs for All: The Policy and Politics of AIDS Treatment in Brazil. ISA 2007. pdf

- Dietrich, John W. U.S. International AIDS Programs: A New Model of Humanitarian Initiatives? ISA 2006. pdf

- Huckel, Carmen. Global Governance Institutions Managing Global Public Health: Opportunities and Challenges. ISA 2006. pdf

- Kravtsov, Vlad. HIV/AIDS Regime Participants, Their Norms and Blocked Cooperation in Response to HIV/AIDS. ISA 2006. pdf

- McInnes, Colin. An immaculate construction? The securitisation of HIV/AIDS. ISA 2006. pdf

- Vieira, Marco Antonio. The Securitization of the HIV/AIDS Epidemic as a Norm: A Contribution to the Constructivist Scholarship on the Emergence and Diffusion of International Norms. 2006 ISA. pdf

- Youde, Jeremy.Ideology’s Role in AIDS Policies in South Africa and Uganda. 2006 ISA conference pdf

This symposium, featured as part of the December 2006 issue of Perspectives on Politics, contains articles that explore the complex politics, history, and social dynamics of the world with HIV/AIDS.

Today, more than 40 million people are living with HIV/AIDS, and well over 20 million more have died since the first case was diagnosed in 1981. When we include families and loved ones in the raw demographics, HIV/AIDS has touched a population at least equal to that of the United States. This collection of essays examines the complexity of the mobilization against HIV/AIDS, from the perspective of social action on one hand and the state on the other.
We thank Andrea Densham, Jeff Edwards, and the anonymous reviewers for their dedication and critical engagement. We also extend our gratitude to those AIDS activists and their friends and loved ones whose open participation makes
research of this kind possible.

Meredith L. Weiss and Michael J. Bosia, Editors

“Introduction: Politics as a Cause and Consequence of the AIDS Pandemic”
Andrea Densham

“Written in Blood: AIDS Prevention and the Politics of Failure in France”
Michael J. Bosia

“Roadblocks on the Road to Treatment: Lessons from Barbados and Brazil”
Jamila Headley and Patricia Siplon

“Framing AIDS Mobilization and Human Rights in Post-apartheid South Africa”
Krista Johnson

“Rejection as Freedom? HIV/AIDS Organizations and Identity”
Meredith L. Weiss

• programme effort is relatively high in the areas of political support, policies, and planning with average scores above 70% of the maximum effort
• prevention programmes and the legal and regulatory environment are the next most highly rated components with scores between 60% and 70%
• the human rights component received the lowest score
• respondents reported that legal structures are in place to protect human rights but that resources and enforcement efforts are lacking
• resource availability and mitigation effort also received low scores
• by region, Eastern and Southern Africa has the highest overall scores
• West and Central Africa and Asia also scored relatively high, with Latin America and the Caribbean and Eastern Europe somewhat lower
• the average score for all countries increased slightly from 56% in 2000 to 61% in 2003
• the largest increases were for political support, resources, and care and treatment

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