INTEGRATING HIV PREVENTION AND CARE IN AFRICA:
EXISTING CHALLENGES, INNOVATIVE SOLUTIONS

April 15, 2005, Kaufman Hall, Department of World Arts and Cultures, UCLA Campus, Los Angeles, CA

In the past twenty years AIDS has claimed tens of millions of African lives, left millions of orphans in its wake, depopulated villages, destroyed the social infrastructure of communities, and destabilized economies across the continent.

It is already too late to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe of unprecedented scope, but it is not too late to make a difference. The UCLA AIDS Institute is committed to making a difference, through productive partnerships with governments and non-governmental agencies, and through imaginative approaches to HIV/AIDS prevention, intervention, and care.

Sometimes the difference is a modest one—like Dr. Chandice Covington’s pilot program to provide HIV-negative wet nurses for the uninfected offspring of HIV-positive Kenyan women. And sometimes the difference is a major one—like Dr. Eric Bing’s program to enlist the entire Angolan army to promote HIV education and prevention in that war-ravaged country.

“Integrating HIV Prevention and Care in Africa: Existing Challenges and Innovative Solutions” showcases partnerships and programs that differ considerably in scale, but share the common goal of arresting the insidious spread of HIV infection in Africa. The UCLA AIDS Institute recognizes that this goal can only be achieved through the coordinated efforts of all those who have a stake in the campaign to contain the HIV pandemic. For this reason the Institute has make a particular point of inviting treatment activists, socially engaged artists, and representatives of corporations that do business in Africa to participate in this daylong symposium.

Our hope is that this symposium will engender further cross-collaborations between all of these parties—and will lead to even more efficient and effective ways of providing both prevention and care to the peoples of sub-Saharan Africa.