A fly on the wall at M2010

The 2010 international microbicides conference (M2010), held in Pittsburgh, USA, May 22-25 2010, was at the time the first scientific conference of its magnitude that I attended.

I have previously attended and presented papers at national and regional conferences as well as local and international workshops, but none of them was anywhere near gathering more than 1,000 participants of such a great professional diversity from nearly 50 countries that converged at the Westin Convention Centre for M2010.

Infant feeding a nightmare for Uganda’s HIV-positive mothers

Martha (not her real name), 42, is HIV-positive and heads an HIV/AIDS advocacy NGO. She is not the typical Ugandan woman because she is educated, and has a job and a regular income. And because of that, she was able to attend antenatal care (ANC) and deliver at a well-equipped private hospital in Kampala, and feed her baby on infant formula milk. Her son is now two years old and HIV-negative.

Despite her’s being one of Uganda’s rare success stories of prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission (PMTCT), Martha would not advise any HIV-positive mother to opt for formula feeding.

Health is not among the 2009/10 budget winners

The health sector has been named among the winners of the 2009/10 budget for claiming the “third largest” share of planned expenditure (11%), after works and transport (17%) and education (16%), (“Roads, education and health top budget spending”, The New Vision, Friday, June 12, 2009).

By determining “winners” and “losers” on the basis of only changes in taxes and budget share, this analysis ignores the importance of examining the priorities, policy pronouncements, new allocations, addressed needs, and percentage increases.

HIV prevention advocacy fellowship gains momentum

HEPS-Uganda’s HIV/AIDS work is set to expand following a new partnership with the AIDS Vaccine Advocacy Coalition (AVAC), a global HIV prevention advocacy organisation based in New York.
Under the one-year partnership, HEPS is hosting an AVAC prevention research advocacy fellow and is jointly implementing a fellowship project that aims to contribute to a better understanding and appreciation of biomedical HIV prevention research and advocacy among the civil society and media.