Ninth NAPWA conference to explore diversity of positive lives

The ninth biennial conference of people living with HIV/AIDS is set to take place in Cairns later this year.

The conference, which will bring together HIV-positive people, advocates, carers and service providers from across the country, will feature guest speakers, discussions and workshops covering a diverse range of subjects affecting PLWHAs, from the medical to the cultural.

The theme of the conference, “Art of Living,” expresses the diversity of positive lives and of positive living.

Organisers hope the event will build on the success of the last NAPWA conference, “Positive Voices,” in Melbourne in 2001. One of the attendees expressed the upbeat mood of many participants at the end of the three-day event: “The entire experience has been quite overwhelming,” he wrote. “I had no idea there were so many HIV-positive people who are happily carrying on their lives, fighting for their rights and helping stamp out the stigma and discrimination that has affected many of us.”

Speaking at the opening plenary session in Melbourne, the then Federal health minister Dr Michael Wooldridge underlined the importance of NAPWA’s conferencesm not just for participants, but for the medical community and government as well. “In our shared quest to minimise the harm from HIV/AIDS, ‘positive voices’ — your voices — are a necessity,” he said.

The 2003 NAPWA Conference takes place at the Cairns Hilton on 27, 28 and 29 October. Further information including the full program of events and registration details will be available on the NAPWA website (www.napwa.org.au [1]) later in the year.