Scope & Purpose
HIV/AIDS Ask and act - it's your health! Campaign Development MeetingTurku, Finland - 13-14 June 2005
WHCA and the WHO Collaborating Centre for Healthy Cities and Urban Health in the Baltic Region in Turku, Finland, are convening this meeting to review progress to date on the HIV/AIDS Ask? & Act! - It's Your Health Campaign concepts elaborated at the Scoping Meeting held in Copenhagen on 12 December 2004.
The Campaign is a globally-supported, locally-applied set of activities aimed at catalyzing a broader demand for HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment information (and supportive policies) and strengthening the capacity of health leaders and information mediators to respond effectively. The Campaign aims to strengthen existing HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programmes by engaging relevant stakeholders in identifying and addressing information-related obstacles to uptake of treatment, especially issues of stigma and discrimination.
Six high-risk HIV/AIDS cities affiliated with the WHO Healthy Cities Network - Izhevsk (Russian Federation), Jurmala (Latvia), Kaliningrad (Russian Federation), Kiev (Ukraine), St Petersburg (Russian Federation), and Tartu (Estonia) - have been conducting media audits in their information marketplaces as a first step to launching city-based model campaigns. This meeting convenes all principal municipality-based organisers to share the results of their audits and explore next steps.
Building on the outcome recommendations of the Copenhagen meeting, relevant stakeholders from each of the participating cities, including health professionals (identified through WHPA (World Health Professions Alliance) contacts), representatives of patient organisations (identified through IAPO (International Alliance of Patient Organisations) and EATG (European AIDS Treatment Group)), young people (identified through IFMSA (International Federation of Medical Students' Associations)), industry representatives and relevant journalists, are invited to attend. A key focus of the meeting will be for participants to explore how the HIV/AIDS Ask? & Act! campaign and its various stakeholders can work together to support and enhance ongoing HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention programmes - and `fill in the gaps' (particularly in the area of information). Opportunities to link with ongoing WHO Euro, UNAIDS, Global Fund, EU and other relevant donor projects will be explored.
A new WHCA generic HIV/AIDS Media Guide will be introduced at the Turku meeting. Participating cities will identify ways in which data collected through the media audit can be used to customise and adapt this Guide as a tool for their own use. Additionally, all participants will agree prevention, treatment and policy questions which `high-risk' populations and people living with HIV/AIDS in the participating cities should be asking.
The meeting will be held in English with informal Russian interpretation and all materials developed as a result of the meeting will be available for translation into national languages.
Expected outcomes
- Reporting on media audits conducted by participating HIV/AIDS high-risk cities in Eastern Europe;
- The development of a generic HIV/AIDS Media Guide for Eastern Europe, with plans drawn up to customise it for participating cities;
- Agreed list of key questions which 'high-risk' populations and people living with HIV/AIDS in the participating cities should be asking;
- Agreed cooperative activities between relevant stakeholders under the banner of the HIV/AIDS Ask? and Act! Campaign; and
- Identification of links with ongoing HIV/AIDS activities and funding sources.
WHCA would like to acknowledge the support of Johnson & Johnson and the WHO Healthy Cities Network Baltic Centre for this meeting.