On October 11, 2016, five DC CABs came together to hear from and engage with DC participants to the 21st International AIDS Society conference that took place this past July in Durban, South Africa. The five CABs represented were the DC CFAR; George Washington University Prevention Trials Network; Whitman-Walker Health (WWH) ACTG, the Washington Veterans Affairs ID Section; and the DC Cohort Study CABs. The meeting, held at Whitman Walker Health, was organized as a way to engage the various CABs in issues of common interests and to disseminate information to the community from the premier HIV/AIDS global meeting, held bi-annually.
The panelists who presented were Vanessa Johnson, Director of Ribbon Consulting Group, A DBA of Just Cause Consultings LLD; Aurnell Dright, Senior Research Associate, GWU HIV Prevention Trials Network CAB; and David Hardy, MD, Senior Director of Evidence-Based Practices at WWH, who serves as the WWH Institutional Representative of DC CFAR Executive Committee. They provided a comprehensive view of their experiences at the conference, including interacting with the large number of participants from the Africa region and around the globe, learning about the activities and activism in the Global Village, the HIV and community landscape in and around Durban, and some of the important scientific findings presented at the conference.
Specifically, Ms. Johnson spoke about her participation in the Women NOW Pan African Women’s HIV, Sexual, and Reproductive Health and Justice Summit that convened to assess the IAS focus on the inclusion of women’s health and equity issues, while Mr. Dright shared his excitement about learning best practices, networking, and being inspired by global stories of challenge and hope on the way to ending the epidemic. Lastly, Dr. Hardy presented some of the scientific studies and updates that provoked rich discussions around ART injectibles vs. oral pills, the vaginal ring, oral PrEP for adolescent MSMs, HIV/HCV co-infection studies and Cure research. The scientific study findings, as well as the issue of HIV criminalization, raised by the other panelists, were of great interest to those in attendance.
Community members in attendance expressed their interest in having more opportunities to remain current on scientific findings from NIH and industry studies, learn from fellow advocates who have the opportunity to attend such conferences, and for a forum like the Inter-CAB and larger community meetings to provide their own input and important insights that might not always be available to the research community.
The DC CFAR CAB would like to thank the team that organized and supported the event, NIH for its support of community/investigator engagement, all of the CABs for their ongoing important work, and to Whitman Walker Health for their warm hospitality.