Condomize at ICASA: Using coffee flavored condoms?

Patrick Byam, 

Program Manager, Yale Global Health Leadership Institute 

I just returned from attending the 16th International Conference on HIV/AIDS and STDs in Africa (ICASA) held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from December 4-8th, 2011. One of the highlights of the conference was a listening to a passionate and controversial speech given by a fellow Canadian and HIV/AIDS activist Stephen Lewis during one of the plenary sessions. Lewis lambasted the Global Fund for cancelling Round Eleven of funding thereby undermining the monies for enumerable HIV/AIDS programs across Africa (Click here to read more on Mr. Lewis' Yale visit). And, he further antagonized the AIDS community for waiting five years to implement the new “Treatment as Prevention” protocol. Lewis invigorated the audience in a call to action to change the status quo of AIDS funding and to speed the scale-up of new and effective AIDS treatment and prevention methods. 

Another inspirational speaker was Dr. Tedros Adhanhom Gebreyesus, the Ethiopia Federal Minister of Health, who spoke on how vertical funding for HIV/AIDS was used for broader health system strengthening efforts. This topic resonated with me and my current work on the Ethiopian Millennium Rural Initiative (EMRI), the project on which I presented two posters on at the conference. It highlighted how efforts to strengthen the primary health care system of Ethiopia can simultaneously improve HIV/AIDS services while also impacting maternal and child health, malaria, TB and other pressing challenges facing Ethiopian communities. This was the approach of the EMRI program and it was exciting to see the alignment of the project with the Dr. Tedros’s vision for Ethiopia.

One fascinating aspect of the conference was the promotion of condom use. The slogan: Condomize! was used as a public health campaign to encourage condom-use. One non-governmental organization called DKT, had a traditional Ethiopian coffee ceremony during which they promoted the use of coffee flavored condoms, which I found quite clever! It made for a memorable AIDS prevention campaign and ICASA conference.

Global Health Seminar: AIDS at 30 with Stephen Lewis

Shatreen Masshoor
(Yale College, 2012) GHLI Intern

December 1st, 2011, marks the thirtieth anniversary of World AIDS Day. In honor of this hallmark, Stephen Lewis, co-founder and co-director of AIDS Free World, an NGO that works to promote a more effective global response to HIV/AIDS, spoke at the Global Health Seminar on Monday, November 28th. However, the tone of his presentation was far from laudatory. Lewis utilized the forum to focus on the recent setback in fighting the HIV/AIDS pandemic, with the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria forced to cut funding for new programs due to lack of donor support.

Reading from a text he prepared for World AIDS Day, Lewis launched a strong criticism against donors who reneged on their pledges to the Global Fund. Emphasizing the Global Fund’s position as “the most important and effective financial facility addressing the pandemic of AIDS,” Lewis castigated the donors’ decision to cut funding. “It’s not just the fact that people will die. It’s the fact that those who have made the decision know that people will die,” he stated.

He further called for rerouting of funds to support the Global Fund. Referencing the amount of money spent on recent conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Libya, and also enumerating the profits of various multinational corporations. “Why is war the only surefire call on the public purse?” Lewis asked. He noted the vast amounts of money available for pursuits other than global public health and the ability to suddenly find money to assist with disaster relief, like hurricanes and tsunamis.

Lewis’s presentation was a sobering examination of the international community’s lack of commitment to the HIV/AIDS pandemic. On the thirtieth anniversary of World AIDS Day, the pandemic still looms, with millions of new infections occurring each year. During a time when war and stimulus packages can summon up large amounts of public money, HIV/AIDS still remains low on the priority list of the international community. Lewis encouraged the audience to contact their representatives in Congress, and to have a voice in ensuring that HIV/AIDS is not shifted to the bottom of the priority list.

To see the full text, click here.
Click here to link to related article in the Yale Daily News.
Click here to link to article in the New Haven Register.