Landmark HIV/AIDS
summit for women begins

The first international conference on women's leadership in the battle against HIV and AIDS opened Thursday to a crowd of 1,500 men and women that included leading experts on the subject.

Activists, scientists, and politicians gathered in Nairobi, Kenya, for the International Women's Summit: Women's Leadership Making a Difference on HIV and AIDS. The conference is sponsored by the Young Women's Christian Association. Organizers hope to increase awareness of the vital role women play in combating the pandemic while providing a forum for networking and discussion.

"This conference places women's leadership in focus. This is extremely important as it is always women who are hardest hit by the epidemic," Anne Marie Helland, the special adviser for social and political rights of Norwegian Church Aid, told the Christian Post. Her group is helping sponsor the event.

"Women are infected more easily than men, and they are the ones that carry the burden of caring for the sick," Helland explained to the Post. "This is why it's so important that women are involved in the process to decide the direction in which we shall continue in the fight against HIV and AIDS."

Conference speakers include such prominent activists as Peter Piot, executive director of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, and Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organization.

As a prelude to the conference a Positive Women's Forum took place on Wednesday. Exclusively for women living with HIV, the forum was designed to create a space for HIV-positive women to network and build a sense of community.

The conference is taking place concurrently with the July 1-11 World YWCA Council. (The Advocate)