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On July 21st, the day before the
opening of AIDS 2012, leaders from UNAIDS, the World Bank and the International
AIDS Society pledged concrete steps to place housing security on the global
agenda to end AIDS. These leaders joined
over 180 researchers, policy maker, service providers and people living with
HIV/AIDS for a full-day Leadership Summit on Housing, held at the Washington DC
offices of the World Bank as an Affiliated Independent Event of the AIDS 2012
International Conference on AIDS.
The Leadership Summit on Housing was
convened by the National AIDS Housing Coalition (NAHC) and the Ontario HIV
Treatment Network (OHTN), working in collaboration with Eric Sawyer, the newly
appointed UNAIDS Focal Point on Housing, and in consultation with a global
planning group convened with the assistance of UNAIDS.
Michel Sidibe, Executive Director of
UNAIDS, told participants that strong research evidence shows that housing
security improves HIV treatment compliance, reduces mortality and can help
lower the risk of HIV transmission. Mr. Sidibe stated in his Summit remarks and
again the following evening in his opening speech at AIDS 2012 that effective
global action to "get to zero" must include attention to homelessness
and housing insecurity. UNAIDS Deputy
Executive Director Dr. Paul De Lay spoke to the Summit audience of UNAIDS'
growing awareness of the HIV impact of housing instability in every region,
from denial of women's property rights in parts of Africa to high rates of HIV
among homeless youth in Eastern Europe. "Awareness [of housing need] is
fine," Dr. De Lay added, "but action is critical."
In addition to Mr. Sidibe and Dr. De
Lay, Summit speakers included U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development
Shaun Donovan, World Bank Global HIV/AIDS Director David Wilson, Stephen Lewis
of AIDS-Free World, South Africa's Deputy Minister for Women, Children and
People with Disabilities, Honorable Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu, and International
AIDS Society Executive Director Bertrand Audoin. Panelists from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean,
Eastern and Western Europe and North America described stigma, discrimination,
extreme poverty, violence and other barriers to housing faced by persons living
with HIV and those most vulnerable to HIV infection. We also heard about
effective housing interventions, innovative strategies to overcome barriers,
and grassroots advocacy for housing as a basic human right.
Action strategies proposed during
the course of the day include an increased IAS focus on housing and other
social determinants of HIV health outcomes, collaboration with UNAIDS to
elevate housing as a key component of UNAIDS' goal to advance "HIV-sensitive
social protection," and collaborative efforts to include housing in the
new set of UN millennium development goals to follow the present goals, which
expire in 2015.
Please visit: http://www.hivhousingsummit.org
in the days and weeks to come for more detailed reports of key facts and
recommendations from the Summit, to view Leadership Summit speeches and
PowerPoint presentations, and for updates on Housing and Research Summit VII,
set for September 24 - 27, 2013, in Montreal, Quebec!
The Friends of AIDS Foundation is
dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and
empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV
virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.
TOGETHER WE REMAIN STRONG!
