PNG
A delegation from Igat Hope attended the Adelaide Napwa Conference, and at a “reflections meeting” there were many ideas that the Group had taken from their visit and which they intend to implement in PNG.
A successful Healthy Living Peer workshop was held in Port Moresby on December 9th and 10th with a preparation day for local facilitators on the 8th. The subject matter included a strong component on HIV and treatment, as well as a session on HIV nutrition by Jenny McDonald (TON). Gabe McCarthy and John Rule led the workshop. This workshop was coordinated through Brent Beadle and with the support of the Aids Treatment Project Australia (ATPA).
A visit was made by Gabe McCarthy and Tim Leach to continue our work with Igat Hope in February. This was in fact funded out of the last of the PNG NHASP Project grant. That project has now been completed, and reports and acquittals submitted. Further work on governance was undertaken during this visit and a practical workshop on developing proposals for funding was conducted. The next step for Igat Hope will be to appoint a staff coordinator, and to find a permanent and suitable office space in Port Moresby.
The need to have more consistent on-going support for Igat Hope than we can provide by visits from Australia requires the involvement of a local partner who is able to provide technical assistance. Jo Watson has made two visits, in March and then again in the first week of April, to meet with external agencies in country with a view to identifying appropriate local partners and establishing appropriate communication supports for NAPWA between trips.
East Timor
Two visits were made during the period, one in December by John Rule and John Rock, and one in February by Suzanne Lau Gooey and John Rock. The visits have in part been to develop the concept of a “Wednesday Lunch Club” where a small group of positive people is encouraged to meet informally with a view to moving towards establishing a formal PLWHA Group. The visits have also coincided with the two parts of the HIV/AIDS Congress which has seen the writing of and adoption of a new East Timorese Strategic Plan on HIV/AIDS for 2006-2010. This plan now includes a significant involvement at all levels of PLWHA.
The stigma and discrimination is such that no positive person was willing to make a public statement at the Congress, and is a major factor in the ability to meet the objectives of the Strategic Plan with respect to positive involvement. We facilitated the writing of a statement that was read on their behalf by a positive woman from Indonesia. The second Congress was also an opportunity to talk to other NGO’s working in HIV about Napwa’s work in East Timor and the involvement of PLWHA in East Timor.
NAPWA continued to develop relationships intended to support PLWHA and assist in their confidence to be public enough to get involved, including with our in-country partner Timor Aid. A series of activities including the continuation of the Wednesday Club, two workshops to be held in Dili and a visit by East Timorese PLWHA to Bali+ are planned.
There are now two PLWHA working in the offices of CWS, one in the resource centre and the other in outreach.
Asia Pacific Network of Positive People (APN+)
Tim Leach, as a NAPWA consultant, made a visit late in 2005 to BKK as part of the agreed workplan with APN+ to produce a document to be used by APN+ as a promotional tool, explaining the history, charter and operation and successes so far of APN+. This was launched at the AGM on February 6th to general acclaim.
A new Steering Committee was elected at the AGM, and the appointment of a new coordinator was announced.
Prior to the AGM, with funding from Ford Foundation Susan Paxton held a two day women’s meeting, and a decision was made to form a women’s group within APN+ called WAPN.
On February 7th and 8th APN+ held a Strategic Planning process meeting. John Rock facilitated one of the four strategic theme groups.
On February 9th after the AGM Napwa funded a one day workshop on Positive Life Skills. Over 40 people from 17 countries participated, and guidelines and hints which were developed from the outcome were circulated to APN+. The workshop was conducted by John Rule and John Rock.
A commitment was made that Napwa would assist APN+ in the finalising of reports required during the next few months and before the new coordinator takes up his appointment. A further commitment was made to work with the new steering committee on governance and operational issues and support their next meeting in July 2006.
AHAPI Review Meeting
On 21st March a meeting of the NAPWA AHAPI resource group was held in Sydney. This included an overview of current AHAPI projects, and recognised the challenges of working in resource-poor settings. There was examination of how practice could be improved and what support is needed to continue to work effectively. The day was facilitated by Susan Paxton.
IAC AIDS 2006 Toronto
An abstract was submitted by John Rock together with Gabe McCarthy, and two skills building proposals were submitted by John Rock. John Rock also reviewed 117 skills building abstracts for Toronto (but not his own!).
ITPC Work
In this period we have contributed to the work of ITPC (International Treatment Preparedness Coalition) mainly through the Collaborative Fund and the Regional Advisory Committee. There was no attendance at meetings during the period but a lot of email involvement. Questions surrounding second line regimens in developing countries are emerging, as well as issues with trials.