Welcome to the
2nd African Conference on Key Populations in the HIV Epidemic
December 16 - 18, 2015
Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS), in collaboration with the University of Oslo (UoO), the Tanzania Commission for AIDS (TACAIDS), and the National AIDS Control Program (NACP) in Tanzania, is organizing the 2nd African Conference on Key Populations in the HIV Epidemic from the 16th to the 19th of December, 2015. The conference will take place in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
The theme for this second pan-African conference is “Key insights, key advances, key partnerships” in the work to address the HIV epidemic in previously neglected groups, and to further develop the key population agenda in Africa.
UNAIDS currently promotes the terms ‘key populations’ and ‘key populations at higher risk of HIV exposure’ to refer to members of societal groups that are the most likely to be affected by HIV. While some key populations are rather specific for particular points in space and time, others are faced with HIV-related vulnerabilities in almost all countries and settings. Among these are men who engage in sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), and persons who sell sex (PWSS)
The purpose of the conference is to bring together key population (KP) researchers, those involved in KP interventions and programming, community actors, and health service providers from across Africa in order to share experiences, lessons learnt, and research findings regarding HIV and key populations. Through such sharing, advances and shortcomings in research, programming, advocacy and policies can be identified, disseminated and discussed. An equally important additional aim of this conference is to broaden and strengthen contact, collaboration and partnerships between all actors involved in the ongoing work to address the crucial issue of HIV and key populations in the HIV epidemic.
It is anticipated that the conference will be attended by researchers, policy makers, health personnel, government agencies, NGOs and CBOs involved in work on HIV and HIV-related programming among persons who sell sex, persons who use drugs, men who have sex with other men, and other key populations in the HIV epidemic across Africa. Indeed, this will be a major opportunity to address advances towards, and challenges relating to, “the three zeros” (zero new infections, zero deaths and zero discrimination) for key populations in the HIV epidemic.
Conference sub-themes:
The theme for this second pan-African conference is “Key insights, key advances, key partnerships” in the work to address the HIV epidemic in previously neglected groups, and to further develop the key population agenda in Africa.
UNAIDS currently promotes the terms ‘key populations’ and ‘key populations at higher risk of HIV exposure’ to refer to members of societal groups that are the most likely to be affected by HIV. While some key populations are rather specific for particular points in space and time, others are faced with HIV-related vulnerabilities in almost all countries and settings. Among these are men who engage in sex with men (MSM), people who inject drugs (PWID), and persons who sell sex (PWSS)
The purpose of the conference is to bring together key population (KP) researchers, those involved in KP interventions and programming, community actors, and health service providers from across Africa in order to share experiences, lessons learnt, and research findings regarding HIV and key populations. Through such sharing, advances and shortcomings in research, programming, advocacy and policies can be identified, disseminated and discussed. An equally important additional aim of this conference is to broaden and strengthen contact, collaboration and partnerships between all actors involved in the ongoing work to address the crucial issue of HIV and key populations in the HIV epidemic.
It is anticipated that the conference will be attended by researchers, policy makers, health personnel, government agencies, NGOs and CBOs involved in work on HIV and HIV-related programming among persons who sell sex, persons who use drugs, men who have sex with other men, and other key populations in the HIV epidemic across Africa. Indeed, this will be a major opportunity to address advances towards, and challenges relating to, “the three zeros” (zero new infections, zero deaths and zero discrimination) for key populations in the HIV epidemic.
Conference sub-themes:
- Key insights from epidemiological and social science research: What is the state of the HIV epidemic and related issues among key populations?
- Key advances in policy, advocacy, prevention and service delivery: Lessons learnt from across Africa
- Key partnerships in key population work: Experiences, best practices and challenges in collaboration between researchers, policymakers, health personnel, and community actors
- Key Sustainability issues in responding to HIV and AIDS among Key Populations: What are the remaining issues t which need to be considered to sustainably built strong key population response