International alert series: The BIG Issues
Fighting HIV and AIDS
What's required to achieve an HIV and AIDS free world
Tuesday 4 April 2006 - 5.30pm Adelaide Town Hall
Presented by
World Vision Australia and AusAID
and supported by
The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA
A series of bi-monthly forums, for dialogue, discussion and questions, on key international development issues involving and affecting the Australian community: July 2005 - October 2006
Fighting HIV and AIDS
What’s required to achieve an HIV and AIDS free world?
HIV and AIDS are not going away. More than 40 million people are infected
with HIV around the world and the number is increasing. In the Asia –
Pacific region, countries such as Papua New Guinea are now experiencing a
generalised epidemic. And the number of women newly infected with HIV now
far outstrips that of men. This is a global disease that continues to infect
young people in western countries as well as in developing nations. Speakers
will provide a snapshot of where and how HIV and AIDS is affecting
communities- particularly in the Asia-Pacific region and what types of
educational and health intervention programs are making a difference.
Fighting HIV and AIDS: unedited audio transcript available here (16Mb mp3 file)
Speakers
-
Ms Annmaree O'Keeffe, Australia's Special Representative on HIV/AIDS
-
Sister Patricia Pak Poy, Sisters of Mercy, Adelaide [presentation]
-
Dr Susan Paxton, Director, Positive Response
Ms Annmaree O'Keeffe, Australia's Special Representative on HIV/AIDS
The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Alexander Downer, appointed
Australia's first Special Representative for HIV/AIDS, Ms. Annmaree
O'Keeffe, in July 2004.
The role of Australia's Special Representative for HIV/AIDS is to encourage the region's political, business and community leaders to provide the direction and support needed to meet the HIV/AIDS threat. The position is also intended to strengthen the Australian aid program's partnerships with individuals, organisations and institutes working on HIV/AIDS issues.
Ms O'Keeffe has more than 20 years experience in development and is well placed to promote further cooperation with Australia's regional partners. She is a steering committee member of the UNAIDS Asia-Pacific Leadership Forum and a consultative council member of the Australian National University Centre for Democratic Institutions. Ms O'Keeffe is also part of the external reference group for the International Pacific Asia Centre at Flinders University.
Ms O'Keeffe is concurrently Deputy Director General at Australia's Agency for International Development (AusAID) and is responsible for its Global Programs division. She oversees a wide variety of programs including multilateral organisations, health, population and gender, and humanitarian and emergencies issues.
Sister
Patricia Pak Poy, Sisters of Mercy, Adelaide
[presentation]
Sr Patricia Pak Poy is currently the Honorary President, and was the
founding National Coordinator of the Australian Network of the International
Campaign to Ban Landmines, a Network comprising most of the humanitarian,
development and aid organisations in Australia, and includes professional
groups, unions, religious and community groups. The Network supports a
global ban on antipersonnel mines, the clearance of land of mines, and the
rehabilitation of survivors and of mine-affected communities.
Currently she chairs Hope Adelaide Inc. which supports local groups working
in development and in HIV/AIDS basic education in parts of Asia. She is
Patron of Catherine House Inc established for the care and accommodation of
women in need of shelter and housing in Adelaide. She is a member of the
newly constituted Government National Consultative Committee on
International Security and Peace, and of the Human Rights Council of
Australia
Sr Pak Poy is a Sister of Mercy and was involved in the leadership teams of
her Congregation for 15 years. She is a graduate in Arts and Education of
the University of Adelaide was a teacher and principal at St Aloysius
College Adelaide. She has served on the Catholic Commission for Justice and
Peace, and on the national committee of Australian Catholic Relief (now
Caritas Australia). She has kept up an association with the Mercy and Jesuit
Refugee Services, and with the United Nations Association of Australia. She
received a Ford Fellowship to undertake the Refugee Studies Programme in
Oxford, with a special focus on refugee law.
Her community work in the Campaign has been recognised by her appointment as
a Member of the Order or Australia, by the RSL 1998 ANZAC Peace Prize, and
by awards from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission and the
Medical Association for the Prevention of War. More recently she was granted
the ACFOA 2002 Human Rights Award by the Australian Council for Overseas
Aid, (now the Australian Council for International Development) and an
Australian Centenary Medal. She was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of
the University by the Australian Catholic University in 2003.
Dr Susan Paxton, Director, Positive Response
Dr Susan Paxton is director of Positive Response, an
independent HIV/AIDS consultancy. She holds honorary positions at
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health & Society, La Trobe University;
Burnet Centre for International Health; and APN+ (the Asia Pacific Network
of People Living with HIV).
She is an openly HIV-positive activist, passionately committed to training
other positive people throughout the Asia Pacific region, particularly young
women.
Her research indicates the significant impact of positive people as AIDS
educators, as well as the challenges to meaningfully involving HIV-positive
people in the response to AIDS. She was responsible for the first
documentation of AIDS-related discrimination in Asia.
Susan carried the Olympic Torch on behalf of HIV-positive people for the
Sydney 2000 Olympic Games.
Summary: Dr Susan Paxton
HIV infections are increasing globally and women bear the brunt of
the epidemic; they are infected at younger ages, carry the burden of care
and face significantly more AIDS-related discrimination than men do.
People living with HIV know what programs fail them and can be the key to
creating effective strategies to reduce HIV infection rates and provide
improved treatment and care to people already infected. Women living
with HIV significantly impact on young people’s attitudes to HIV & AIDS, but
their unique expertise has rarely been effectively employed.
A successful public health response to AIDS requires the involvement of
young women living with HIV in the design and implementation of policies and
programs, and their active engagement as counsellors, educators and policy
makers. Women in the Asia Pacific region have begun to speak with a
united voice and advocate for their peers. International NGOs need to
support nascent HIV-positive women’s support groups and commit to building
the confidence and capacity of positive women so they are able to
participate meaningfully in the HIV sector.
Other International Alert Series forums
All events will be held at the Adelaide Town Hall from 5.30pm - 7.00pm. Schools Alert will be held from 4.00pm - 5.00pm.
Free and Fairer Trade
Can trade be both free and equitable in a global economy?
Tuesday 6 June 2006
Water Lessons
Defending ecosystems and resurrecting community rights
Tuesday 1 August 2006
Keeping the peace
Avoiding the cost of conflict in humanitarian aid
Tuesday 3 October 2006
Previous events
- Beyond Tsunami Tuesday 19 July 2005
- Make Poverty History Tuesday 6 September 2005
- Women's Rights in Development Tuesday 7 February 2006
While the views presented by speakers within the Hawke Centre public program are their own and are not necessarily those of either the University of South Australia or The Hawke Centre, they are presented in the interest of open debate and discussion in the community and reflect our themes of: strengthening our democracy – valuing our cultural diversity – and building our future.