Sted: Eldorado Bokhandel, Torggata 9A, Oslo.
Tid: kl. 12.00-15.30 (lunsj serveres fra kl. 11.30-12.00)
Påmelding: response.questback.com/hivnorge/cpkhcz7m8w

The seminar is a part of a bigger event – check out the full programme

Background
Despite great progress in the number of people accessing medication and a stagnation in the prevalence rates in many countries, every day around 5600 people are infected and 3000 people die from HIV. HIV is still a virus that affects millions of people’s lives, communities, and countries all over the world. Executive Director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, recently stated that: «Young women are facing a triple threat, they are at high risk of HIV infection, have low rates of HIV testing, and have poor adherence to treatment. The world is failing young women and we urgently need to do more.» At the International AIDS Conference in Durban in July, the complexity of the HIV-pandemic was made clear, with a complexity of responses like; increased access to treatment, improved health systems, legal provisions, a focus on key-populations, innovative research and continued funding.

The seminar will highlight a few of the innovative ways of responding to the pandemic, with a particular focus on young women and key-populations, in relation to strategies and financing of the future efforts to reach zero new infections.

Programme international part
Opening remarks by Truls Wickholm (Ap),
Member of the All Party Parliamentary Group on SRHR at Stortinget.

Innovative alternatives for women.

Derek Bodell, International Partnership for Microbicides (IPM) Consultant Europe, will present their very promising results of an HIV-prevention vaginal ring.

Can a vaginal ring be the future solution to prevent HIV-infections in women? Do women want to use it and will it be affordable? Will women be empowered to use the ring?

Globally, young women ages 15-24 are twice as likely to be infected as young men of the same age. This is often compounded by cultural, legal and political factors that impede a woman’s ability to protect herself from HIV. Due to these disparities, many women and girls are often powerless to abstain from sex, or to persuade their husbands or partners to use condoms. Neither option is realistic for women who are at risk of sexual violence or who would like to have children. Marriage is often no protection. Many new HIV infections occur in women who are married or in long-term relationships with one partner.

Ending the epidemic will require multiple prevention options that meet women’s needs, which can change throughout their lives. The ring is the first long-acting and discreet self-initiated HIV prevention method designed for women that has been shown to safely offer protection.

The sustained end to HIV?

Ardi Voets, International AIDS Vaccine Initiative will speak to these questions and give an insight into how vaccine research is carried out with a community and development perspective.

What role does vaccine research play in addressing the complexity of the pandemic? And what will be needed to develop an efficient and accessible vaccine?

Efforts and initiatives around effective treatment and the range of proven prevention options so far have led to a staggering of the pandemic in many countries. The sustainable end to the HIV-pandemic can only be reached with an HIV-vaccine. This was the common message at the International AIDS Conference 2016 in Durban this summer. Researchers have worked tirelessly since the beginning of the epidemic to develop efficient vaccine candidates. Progress is made, but the perfect and globally effective candidate is still to come.

Funding the end of the HIV pandemic
Øyvind Eggen, Norwegian researcher, will share analysis on issues related to funding and results within development aid.

Are different funding modalities enabling different results? How can we ensure with a mix of different funding modalities the support to a balanced portfolio of innovative research projects and other public health initiatives that speaks to the complexity of the HIV pandemic?

Speech by Laila Bokhari, State Secretary Ministry of Foreign Affairs

Dialogue between the speakers
Looking into the future – where do we need to go and how will we get there?

Tore Godal, Special Advisor, Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Sigrun Møgedal, medical doctor, and Norway’s previous HIV/AIDS ambassador
Derek Bodell, IPM Consultant Europe
Ardi Voets, IAVI Resource Mobilisation Specialist
Øyvind Eggen, Norwegian researcher

Questions from the audience