EATG and UK African organizations put ethnic communities on the treatment agenda

"Migrants are getting a worse deal from doctors" said Lisa Power, whose organization is working on issues about compliance, "but, for now, we have only anecdotal proof in the UK." Power’s comment echoes those of other AIDS activists throughout Europe for whom it has become obvious that the deep inequalities which have put Third World communities last in line for health care and treatment are now even more

Two international conferences held under the auspices of the European AIDS Treatment group (EATG)will set the stage for renewed struggle over access to treatment for Third World communities.

The 29 August in Rotterdam will discuss the issue of compliance in HIV therapy. "We want to work on possible solutions, not only discuss the problems of adherence to the current HIV therapies," explained EATG spokerperson Stefan Mauss. Experts will focus on the real-life experience of compliance in different settings.

Several community workers from UK-based African AIDS organizers plan to attend the Rotterdam meeting.

A working group of UK organizations brought together by EATG is also preparing another international conference to take place in Antwerp, Belgium, in October.

"The EATG has growing input into how drugs are developed and used to treat HIV/AIDS," explains EATG member Raffi Babakhanian. "So far there has been only a little input from ethnic minorities and this is something EATG wants to address." Therefore, EATG set aside some funds late last year for a conference as a way of "getting non majority communities involved in the process of developing drugs."

Conference organizers from a range of African, Asian, and other UK minority HIV groups set a broad but somewhat vague set of aims for the conference. Intended to be an "on-going process," the conference should "explore the possibility of creating new networks or focusing existing networks on treatments for ethnic minorities," and "create a voice" for communities’ concerns and needs about treatment.

For more info about these conferences, contact MAHA.