UKCAB

On 14-15 October 2009, civil society organisations from around the world
came together to discuss the many issues related to ART as prevention.
Participants decided to issue a statement to the participants at the
forthcoming consultation on ART as prevention hosted by the World Health
Organisation, to be held in Geneva on 2-4 November.

 The statement welcomes the attention being given to ART as prevention, as
 a promising way to accelerate progress toward universal access to HIV
 prevention, treatment, care and support services. It highlights the
 importance of addressing underlying human rights violations as well as
 clinical and health-systems challenges in order to make the most of this
 intervention and ensure scale up of voluntary HIV testing and treatment
 and timely initiation of treatment. It makes a number of recommendations that
 need to be taken into account in any planning and implementation of
 feasibility or pilot studies related to ART as prevention. In particular,
 it highlights the importance of supporting and strengthening civil society
 organisations and meaningful participation of communities in which studies
 are planned.

 The statement has already been endorsed by the AIDS and Rights Alliance
 for Southern Africa; AIDS Law Project, South Africa; European AIDS Treatment
 Group (EATG); Global Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+); Human
 Rights Watch; International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW);
 International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO); International
 Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC); and the Open Society Institute's
 Public Health Programme.

 Sign up by today, Friday, 30 October, by sending an email to art4prevention@icaso.org
 To read the Statement, go to http://www.icaso.org/resources/2009/ART_statementEN.pdf    (http://www.icaso.org/resources/2009/ART_statementEN.pdf)
If you would like to receive the statement by email, please write to
art4prevention@icaso.org (http://art4prevention@icaso.org)

I attach a recent CDC paper, which may be of interest.
Robert

I suggest UK-CAB signs this collectively and that unless there are numerous dissents Memorry prepares a simple letter for the Chair's signature to endorse the statement - matt

I fully agree with Matt - and never mind the last Friday deadline.