Affiliated Independent Events

Are you organizing an event you would like to affiliate with AIDS 2022, the 24th International AIDS Conference? If so, why not apply for Affiliated Independent Event status and benefit from your event being visible and promoted to the large and diverse network of IAS Members and AIDS 2022 delegates? All accepted Affiliated Independent Events will be published on the conference website, and might be promoted on AIDS 2022 social media channels.

Affiliated Independent Events, held by external organizations or individuals, will take place around AIDS 2022. They should address HIV and AIDS, co-infections and/or issues faced by people living with and affected by HIV or organizations responding to the HIV epidemic. They may be population or issue specific, and they can take various shapes: workshops, pre-meetings, forums, art exhibits, theatre and so much more. The IAS encourages event submitters to be creative when developing their events to address HIV and AIDS in new and original ways.

Applications are now closed.

Your event must meet the following criteria to be approved as an AIDS 2022 Affiliated Independent Event:

  • It must take place between 1 May and 15 August 2022.
  • It must take place outside the official AIDS 2022 programme hours. These are:
    • Friday, 29 July 2022: 09:00-12:45
    • Saturday, 30 July to Tuesday, 2 August 2022: 09:15-17:30

Please note that the IAS reserves the right to approve or reject any Affiliated Independent Event and is not responsible for the organization or final content of any such event; the content and management of the event is the sole responsibility of the event organizers. There is no cost involved in applying for an affiliated status.

For more details on the format or the application process, please refer to the terms and conditions for AIDS 2022 Affiliated Independent Events or contact the Affiliated Independent Events team at [email protected].

This year’s Affiliated Independent Events

Rapture

Format: In-person performances

Location: Le Monastère

Organizer: Dave St-Pierre, Fierté Montréal, and Gilead

When: 27 July – 6 August, 7pm (EDT)

The show, “Rapture”, will showcase 10 performers in an atypical contemporary dance work evoking societal hostility towards members of the 2SLGBTQIA+ communities and people living with HIV (2SLGBTQIA+ stands for two-spirit, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and/or questioning, intersex, asexual and other affirmative ways in which people choose to self-identify). It is a tribute to the millions of people who have died due to AIDS, intertwining accounts by people who continue to counter serophobia (the fear or disdain of people living with HIV) and the HIV epidemic.

Pride Montréal Executive Director Simon Gamache reminds us that AIDS 1989, the 5th International AIDS Conference, also held in Montréal, “was marked by a social mobilization that, on the floor of the Palais des congrès, initiated a transformation of the relationship between medicine and society”. Scientists could no longer ignore the voices of people living with HIV.

“Rapture blends commemoration, pain and resilience and aims to remind us of the remarkable advances of the past 33 years,” Simon explains. “Dave St-Pierre and many talented artists are joining forces with Montréal Pride to present conference delegates and Montréalers with events inspired by the pain of those affected, the mobilization of activists, and the dedication of researchers.”

Presented by Gilead, 10 performances will take place from 27 July to 6 August at Le Monastère at 19:00. Tickets are on sale at https://www.thepointofsale.com/tickets/rapture

Exhibition: “Art, Activism and Resilience”

Format: Hybrid

Location: Online at Gallea and in person in Village Montréal

Organizer: Gallea and Fierte Montreal

When: 28 July 2022, 08:30-19:30 (EDT)

As part of AIDS 2022, the Montréal Pride Festival is once again partnering with Gallea, Canada’s largest online art gallery, to present “Art, Activism and Resilience”, an exclusive collection of original works that will highlight visual artists from 2SLGBTQIA+ communities from around the world. This inspiring and educational exhibition aims to explore HIV and AIDS through the activism and resilience in 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, as well as sexual health. Visitors will be invited to discover 100 works in the online gallery on the same site; 22 of these works will be physically displayed on outdoor panels in Village Montréal, an inclusive district where everyone is respected and has access to the same opportunities, from 13 June to 1 September 2022.

INVERSE/THE FUTURE IS OFTEN A STEP BEHIND

Format: In person

Location: PHI Center

Organizer: Nicolas Jenkins, Fierte Montreal, and PHI Center

When: 30 June to 28 August 2022

The Montréal Pride Festival and the PHI Center will present INVERSE/THE FUTURE IS OFTEN A STEP BEHIND, an experimental documentary exhibit in three tableaus. The exhibit questions the prevailing assimilation of 2SLGBTQIA+ identities and is on display at the PHI Center from 30 June to 28 August. Admission is free.

The documentary presents a multigenerational portrait of queer communities through the daily lives of participants in New York City. It highlights fluidity and change, both in gender and sexuality and our understanding of them. This work by Nicolas Jenkins is also a reminder that we have not moved beyond racism, sexism, misogyny, transphobia, homophobia and the stigma of HIV and AIDS.

Strategies to end the HIV and AIDS epidemics: A course at the McGill Summer Institutes in Global Health

Format: Virtual

Organizer: McGill University Summer Institutes in Global Health  

When: 6-8 June 2022, 9:00-13:00 (EDT) each day  

This course will introduce the up-to-date key concepts and methodologies that are currently being implemented in efforts to halt and end the HIV epidemic. Students will learn about the HIV care cascade that forms the basis of the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) 95-95-95 targets to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030. Topics will revolve around understanding and responding to the HIV epidemic using biobehavioural surveillance, HIV phylogenetics, targeted population research, HIV eradication and HIV testing, treatment and prevention interventions.

The objectives of the course are to:

  • Understand the HIV care cascade, the global targets to end the HIV epidemic and how to measure success.
  • Identify the major barriers to success in reaching global targets.
  • Understand HIV biobehavioural surveillance as part of second-generation surveillance.
  • Learn about phylogenetics to monitor the HIV epidemic in real time.
  • Learn about HIV transmission in targeted populations.
  • Learn about the up-to-date HIV testing technologies, HIV treatment and prevention strategies.
  • Learn mathematic modelling and other research methods to understand HIV transmission and epidemics.
  • Learn the main HIV cure strategies aimed at eradicating HIV.

Course Directors

Chen Liang, PhD
Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University
Director, McGill Centre for Viral Diseases

Marina Klein, MDCM, MSc
Professor, Department of Medicine, McGill University

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Annual HIV cure meeting

Format: Hybrid

Location: Centre Hospitalier de l’Université de Montréal (CHUM) and virtual

Organizer: International AIDS Society Towards an HIV Cure

When: 28 July 2022, 08:30-19:30 (EDT)

Through its Towards an HIV Cure programme, IAS – the International AIDS Society – in partnership with the Canadian HIV Cure Enterprise (CanCURE) and the FRQS – AIDS and Infectious Diseases Network (Réseau sida-MI), invites you to join the annual HIV cure meeting, an AIDS 2022 Affiliated Independent Event.

Titled “Pathways to an HIV cure: Research and advocacy priorities”, the event will reflect the “Research priorities for an HIV cure: International AIDS Society Global Scientific Strategy 2021”, published in Nature Medicine. The sessions will highlight cure advances globally and promising research strategies while explaining the latest science and incorporating diverse perspectives on an HIV cure.

The meeting is open to anyone interested in learning about the HIV cure field. A dedicated scholarship programme will engage researchers and advocates working in countries with limited resources for an HIV cure.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Multi-sectoral stakeholders’ engagement workshop

Format: In person

Location: Hotel Monville Montreal, 1041 Rue De Bleury, Montreal, QC H2Z 1M7

Organizer: OUR HOPE Community Based Organization/NGO

When: 29 July 2022, 15:00-17:00 EDT

This workshop will bring together stakeholders in the HIV response and provide a platform to learn new, innovative stakeholder engagement skills. Participants will be able to discuss and share experiences of how best to use a multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement approach to improve and sustain HIV prevention, care and treatment services to achieve the UNAIDS target of ending the HIV epidemic by 2030. Workshop outcomes will strengthen multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement and motivate institutions to act in ways that protect and sustain the services they offer people Living with HIV and AIDS and their caregivers. The workshop will cover funding opportunities for donors to fund sustainable HIV and AIDS programmes implemented by OUR HOPE and partners.

The workshop will focus on:

  1. How to sustain stakeholder engagement at community level
  2. How to mobilize resources to support multi-sectoral stakeholder engagement at community level
  3. Engaging donor institutions and governments to promote multi-sectoral engagement at community level

This will be an open forum gathering, and it will feature group work, plenary discussions and role play. Its duration will be 90-150 minutes.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Storytelling and drag in solidarity with people living with advanced HIV

Format: In person

Location: Centre Phi, 315 Rue Saint-Paul O, Montréal, QC H2Y 2M3, Canada

Organizer: Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF)/Doctors Without Borders (Canada)

When: 29 July 2022, 17:00-19:00 EDT

Join Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) for a storytelling reception that highlights experiences supporting people living with advanced HIV around the world. The event will include stories from MSF and other organizations on advancing access to HIV and AIDS care, a photo exhibit and a live performance by Montreal drag queen Barbada. Informal networking will follow, with a cash bar offering both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages. MSF is complying with the appropriate Canadian public health guidance and provincial orders related to COVID-19 in the planning of this event. Venue capacity will be capped at 75% to allow for comfortable social distancing, and mask wearing will be highly encouraged during the event when not consuming beverages.

For more information, please contact: Bobbi Jo Hart, Public Engagement & Events Officer, Médecins Sans Frontières(MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, [email protected]

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

Register for the event.

AIDS 2022 edutainment (re-engage and follow the science): Cementing the message through entertainment

Format: In person  

Location: Hotel Monville Montreal, 1041 Rue De Bleury, Montreal, QC H2Z 1M7  

Organizer: OUR HOPE Community Based Organization/NGO  

When: 29 July 2022, 19:00-21:30 EDT  

OUR HOPE will entertain participants using drama and dance while delivering HIV and AIDS messages through its community department. It wishes to encourage HIV programme implementing partners and organizations to adopt entertainment as a way to create demand for HIV, AIDS and SRHR services. Through its entertainment, OUR HOPE will also provide a chance for participants to learn how cultural and traditional practices are key in contributing to sustained HIV and AIDS service interventions.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Clinical Monday

Format: Virtual

Organizer: Aurum Institute, Pop Inn Programme  

When: 1 August 2022, 11:00-12:30 CAT (05:00-06:30 EDT) 

Clinical Monday, “your way to begin a healthy week”, is a Facebook livestream that takes place every Monday, hosting clinicians and experts on various health-related issues and topics. On 1 August, the event will be hosted by Vee kaNkosi, its Brand Ambassador. It will look at best practices that Clinical Monday’s five clinics have come up with to curb transmission of HIV among men who have sex with men and trans women. It will feature a panel of clinicians from the five clinics and will connect the livestream to Facebook, Instagram and Twitter Spaces.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Exhibitions at the McCord Museum

Format: In person

Location: McCord Museum, 690 Sherbrooke Street West, Montréal (QC) H3A 1E9

Organizer: McCord Museum

When: March to September 2022, 10:00-18:00 EDT

The McCord Museum is holding three exhibitions in addition to its permanent exhibition under the banner, “Indigenous Voices of Today: Knowledge, Trauma, Resilience”.

Piqutiapiit: Exhibition by Niap –  Although one might imagine that the traditional Inuit lifestyle in the far north consisted solely of surviving a harsh, forbidding environment, the Inuit created refined objects and clothing that illustrate a highly developed aesthetic sense. Using simple tools like scrapers, needles, thimbles and ulus, the indispensable all-purpose “women’s knives”, women constructed practical objects that artist Niap also considers exquisitely beautiful. In this exhibition, Niap presents a piece that pays tribute to the work of Inuit women of the past. She acknowledges and celebrates Inuit women’s expertise and artistic talent by revealing the finesse and refinement of the traditional objects that she found in the McCord Museum’s collections and how they reflect and relate to women’s lives.

JJ Levine: Queer Photographs – This exhibition invites you to discover the work of Montreal photographer JJ Levine via a selection of portraits drawn from three series. In staged photographs of queer subjects in intimate, domestic settings, Levine questions the representation of traditional binary gender roles. Composed of 52 large-format photographs, including several that have never been exhibited, the compelling exhibition is complemented by a video illustrating the artist’s creative process. This is a retrospective of Levine’s portraiture work that he began in 2006 and it borrows from the studio portrait tradition to celebrate people who self-identify as queer.

Alexander Henderson – Art and Nature – “Alexander Henderson – Art and Nature” is the first major exhibition devoted to the photographer, Alexander Henderson (1831-1913). Captivated by the majesty of the territory’s wilderness, Henderson became one of Canada’s leading landscape photographers. Discover 250 original prints and reproductions of photographs, as well as archival documents relating the life of the photographer. Travel through the great outdoors and urban scenes. Embark on his astonishing journey, from his first excursions around Montreal , through the regions of Quebec, in particular, the Outaouais, the Gaspé, the North Shore and the majestic Saguenay Fjord, and then all the way to Western Canada.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View exhibition page

Launch: “Investing in Healing, Health, and Hope”

Format: Virtual  

Location: N/A

Organizer: Stephen Lewis Foundation

When: 26 July 2022, 10:00-11:30 EDT   

Join the Stephen Lewis Foundation for the launch of “Investing in Healing, Health, and Hope”.

Community-based organizations (CBOs) in sub-Saharan Africa remain drastically underfunded. They have strong track records as leaders on the frontline of the HIV and AIDS response, where they provide diversified and dignified care to members of the most marginalized community. However, systemic and oppressive barriers prevent CBOs from achieving their full impact. Join the foundation on the eve of the 24th International AIDS Conference to discuss concrete funding principles that would increase and strengthen support of CBOs and recognize the critical role they play in ending the HIV and AIDS pandemic as a threat to global health by 2030.

The foundation will share a call to action for the philanthropic community and talk with funders and community leaders about what anti-colonial support looks like in practice.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Reaching the undiagnosed: Establishing a global community of practice to share best practices and innovations in HIV self-test implementation

Format: Hybrid  

Location: The W Hotel, 901 Square Victoria, Montreal, QC, Canada  

Organizer:  REACH Nexus  

When: 29 July 2022, 13:00-16:30 EDT 

REACH Nexus at the MAP Centre for Urban Health Solutions, in partnership with the Canadian Foundation for AIDS Research (CANFAR), invites you to this event to work towards democratizing self-testing, reaching undiagnosed people with HIV and connecting them to care. The event will bring together a broad spectrum of stakeholders, including scientists, community members, industry, policy and decision makers, healthcare providers and persons with lived experience to explore HIV self-test innovations and implementation programmes that are happening around the world. The goal of this inaugural meeting is to set up a steering committee that will build and support a global community of practice to consolidate, facilitate and disseminate best practices and lessons learned from HIV self-test programme implementation in global settings. These settings should ensure low barrier access to HIV self-tests so that individuals and their partners can make the best decisions about when and where to access help.

Seating is limited. Pre-registration by response to the invitation is required for in-person and virtual attendance.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

Contact organizer to register

Tools and strategies for successful scale up of TB preventive treatment

Format: Virtual 

Location: N/A 

Organizer: World Health Organization

When: 26 July 2022, 06:00-07:30 EDT (12:00-13:30 CEST) 

Tools and strategies for successful scale-up of TB preventive treatment is an AIDS 2022 Affiliated Independent Event.

Webinar objectives

1. Galvanize global efforts in scale-up of TB preventative treatment (TPT) and uptake of the new WHO-recommended shorter regimens as preferred options.

2. Provide high TB/HIV-burden countries and a broader audience with an overview of the countries’ experiences, challenges, bottlenecks and enablers for scaling up TPT services towards a target of saturation of people living with HIV.

Countries that have accelerated TPT rollout will share successes and challenges, and partners will give an overview of valuable tools, strategies and information for scale-up.

The session will include a global overview of global data and WHO recommendations and tools from WHO Global TB Programme and the HIV, Hepatitis and STIs Programmes, a look at a Global Fund Strategic Initiative on TPT and a presentation on leveraging short-course TPT regimens by IMPAACT4TB/AURUM Institute. There will be presentations from Uganda, Kenya and Indonesia sharing effective tools and resources for successful scale-up. The Q&A session will allow participants to actively engage in the event.

Target audience: This session will interest Ministry of Health representatives, national TB and HIV programme managers, partners and stakeholders working on TB prevention in people living with HIV in high-burden countries

Register for the event

Latina and interregional forum on emerging topics in HIV

Format: In person

Location: Vogue Hotel Montreal Downtown – 1425 Rue de la Montagne, Montréal, QC H3G 1Z3, Canada

Organizer: Fundación Huésped

When: 28 July 2022, 14:00-19:30 EDT 

Fundación Huésped will host a one-day interregional meeting with speakers from Latin America and emerging-economy countries. They will present the hottest topics in HIV management and long-acting parenteral drugs that are considered key innovations for HIV treatment and prevention, based on recent results from the ATLAS and HPTN 083 trials. The programme will be structured around plenary sessions and lectures with time for questions and answers and group discussions. Active audience participation will be encouraged. Participants will strengthen their skills in clinical care and treatment of people living with HIV.

Attendants will improve their knowledge of the latest topics on HIV from a multidisciplinary point of view. This knowledge will be applicable in their daily clinical practice. They will gain an overview of the use of long-acting antiretrovirals for PrEP and treatment, the current status of PrEP in emerging-economy countries, the role of HIV resistance in 2022 and how it impacts dual therapy, the combination of inflammation and ageing among people living with HIV, and the role of reservoirs when talking about cure. In addition, there will be a special lecture regarding the future of the epidemic from a Middle Eastern point of view. For the seventh consecutive year, this meeting will be aimed at professionals who are directly involved in HIV care to offer them better management skills to identify, prevent and treat HIV and co-morbidities in emerging-market countries.

Organizers believe that discussing the situation in the various emerging-market countries will allow for identifying and correcting gaps and directing resources to where they are most needed, including investing in data collection, reducing the turnaround time from testing to treatment initiation, prioritizing adherence and retention in care, increasing access to affordable viral load testing, and the meaningfully engaging civil society to reach people currently being left behind.

Target audience: Healthcare workers will benefit from this event.

Event fully booked!

ATLAS DOCS 2022, 1st International HIV Documentary Festival, Montreal, Canada

Format: In person

Location: Cinéma du Musée and Cinéma du Parc, Montreal, Canada 

Organizer: Les Enfants Terribles

When: 28 July-2 August 2022  

ATLAS DOCS 2022 is a documentary festival being held during AIDS 2022 in Montreal.

The festival will show documentaries from Les Enfants Terribles and many short and feature-length HIV-themed documentaries, filmed all over the world. Each day will focus on a different continent (Canada, Europe, Africa, Asia, North America) and on a great diversity of people. Most screenings will end with a question and answer session. All movie screenings are free and open to everyone.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

“The Migrant Route of AIDS”

Format: Hybrid  

Location: Mixed: Santiago de Chile, Chile and Montreal, Canada  

Organizer: Regnum

When: 22 July 2022, 18:30 CLT, for the screening in Chile | 28 July 2022, TBC  

The first two activities will take place at Cine CCC in Santiago, Chile, on Friday, 22 July. First, the film, “The Migrant Route of AIDS”, will be screened. A conversation forum will follow to discuss the issues addressed in the film. This will invite HIV activists, press, Indigenous peoples and immigrants to talk about the issues that Chile and Latin America is facing regarding the migration crisis. The Director of the film will be present. The film will be available on the national film streaming platform, “Onda Media”, for Chile on Sunday, 24 July.

The third activity will take place in Canada, during IIPCHA 2022. Discussions will take an Indigenous approach, focusing on the importance of Indigenous peoples living within the borders of South America to migrants living with HIV in terms of getting shelter and access to treatments; these migrants face a shortage of antiretroviral drugs in their countries.

The event closes with an online premiere after AIDS 2022. Organizers will make the film available worldwide, with free access at Regnumideas.com/La-Ruta-Migrante and on YouTube on 9 August.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

AIDS 2022 panel discussion and drinks reception: Harnessing political leadership to end AIDS by 2030

Format: In person 

Location: GFAN Meeting Space at Embassy Suite, 208 Rue Saint-Antoine, Montreal 

Organizer: STOPAIDS and UNITE Network

When: 29 July 2022, 17:00-18:45 EDT 

Join STOPAIDS and the UNITE Network for an interactive panel discussion and drinks reception that will explore how we can harness political leadership to advance the target to end the AIDS epidemic by 2030. The event will bring together key stakeholders in the HIV response, including parliamentarians, people living with HIV and community activists, donors and government representatives. Please note that you must ask to register for the event to gain entry as space is limited.

There is an urgent need to debate the role that parliamentarians can and should play in the HIV response. As we work to deliver the Political Declaration on HIV and build back better from the catastrophic impact of COVID-19, it is clear that the global HIV response must harness political leadership.

Parliamentarians play a key role in ensuring that global partnerships for the elimination of AIDS as a public health threat do not face de-prioritization. They are at the interface between governments and can change laws and budgets and hold governments accountable. However, there remains a pressing need to explore how we can strengthen the partnership between MPs and communities in the response to AIDS.

Leading parliamentarians and HIV campaigners will: debate how we can further harness political leadership and strengthen partnerships; consider how parliamentarians can be more accountable to affected communities; and identify key opportunities for action. This will be followed by a drinks reception, networking, photo opportunity and a joint call to action to highlight attendees’ support for a fully funded HIV response.

Speakers include: Florence Eshalomi, Member of UK Parliament and Vice-Chair of APPG on HIV; Ricardo Baptista Leite, Member of Portuguese Parliament and Founder & President of UNITE; and Mike Podmore, STOPAIDS Director (moderator).

Target audience: Activists, donors, media and policy representatives will benefit from attending this event.

Contact organizer to register

No Pants No Problem: The final edition

Format: Hybrid 

Location: Théâtre Fairmount (5240 Ave. du Parc Montréal)

Organizer: No Pants No Problem 

When: 30 July 2022, 21:30-31 July 2022, 02:30 EDT  

After 18 years, the infamous No Pants No Problem (NPNP) will be hosting its final party during AIDS 2022 in its birthplace, Montreal. This party was started and hosted by artist and activist Jessica Whitbread. It is bound to be as outrageous, sexy and scandalous as previous International AIDS Conference NPNP events in Washington (2012), Melbourne (2014), Durban (2016) and Amsterdam (2018), not to mention the 40+ other parties that have taken place in New York City, Toronto, San Francisco, New Orleans, Bangkok, and elsewhere. NPNP is about creating community and connections, and if you’ve never been to an event, this is your last chance. Celebrate the diversity of the HIV movement, without your pants, in your most fabulous outfit. You will not regret it.

Performers include Glam Gam Productions! (Montreal), Taka Taka from The House of Hopelezz (Amsterdam), Mikiki Burino (Toronto), Tristan Ginger (Montreal), Enshantay (Montreal), Erik the Drag King (Amsterdam), DJ Cozmic Cat (Toronto), DJ AWWFUL (Montreal), and DJ Alexander McClelland (Ottawa). Come see who will be crowned the best kisser at AIDS 2022 and other surprises to say the final goodbye.

NPNP extends  special thanks to its supporters and friends: Blue Skies Turn Black, Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+), International Community of Women Living with HIV, Y+ Global, COCQ-SIDA and sponsor ViiV Healthcare.

NPNP highly encourages friends with the means to buy tickets to donate at the door; a ticket costs CAD 25. If you need support in purchasing a ticket or would like to be on the list for a donated ticket, please contact NPNP.

All proceeds go towards global micro grants for women living with HIV for #LovePositiveWomen.

**NPNP acknowledges that this event takes place on the traditional territory of the Kanien’kehá:ka. The Kanien’kehá:ka are the keepers of the Eastern Door of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy. The island called “Montreal” is known as Tiotia:ke in the language of the Kanien’kehá:ka, and it has historically been a meeting place for other Indigenous nations, including the Omàmiwininì or Algonquin people.

View event’s page

Migrant worker’s vulnerabilities to HIV & AIDS and barriers to accessing healthcare (workshop)

Format: Virtual 

Location: N/A 

Organizer: CARAM Asia 

When: 12 August 2022, 08:00 EDT (20:00 MYT) 

Remittances by migrant workers constitute a significant chunk of countries’ gross domestic product and contribute greatly to foreign reserves. When a home country goes through an economic slump, foreign remittances play a crucial role in adding to the economy. Similarly, migrant workers contribute to the economy of receiving countries through cheap labour and overcoming labour shortages. However, migrant workers face many challenges when they are living abroad. For example, due to loneliness and homesickness, they become susceptible to behaviours and activities that could expose them to health risks. These behaviours, lack or limited knowledge and awareness of STIs and limited access to prevention services contribute to vulnerability to acquiring and possibly transmitting HIV and AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs).

Despite migrant workers’ contributions, their health needs are not given adequate attention or consideration. Therefore, the organizers would like to use this platform to spotlight migrants’ vulnerabilities and the insufficiency of government budget allocation for HIV and SRHR interventions, policies and outcomes for migrant workers. They also wish to recognize the remaining obstacles in the protection of migrants’ health rights, specifically towards migrants who are living with HIV.

Experts will present on:

  1. Migrant workers’ vulnerabilities to HIV & AIDS
  1. Barriers to accessing health services for migrant workers in sending and receiving countries
  1. Budget allocations by governments for migrant workers’ health rights

Each presentation will be followed by questions and answers from participants.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

Register for the event

(Other) cultural responses: AIDS and video in Montréal (1984-1990)

Format: In person 

Location: Salle Fernand Séguin, Cinémathèque québécoise, 335 Boul. De Maisonneuve E, Montreal, QC H2X 1K1, Canada 

Organizer: Vidéographe 

When: 1 August 2022, 18:00 EDT  

To coincide with AIDS 2022 in Montreal, Vidéographe invited Vincent Bonin, Conal McStravick and Maria Nengeh Mensah to discuss HIV- and AIDS-related video practices that emerged between 1984 and 1990. Since the mid-1980s in Montreal, several activists, including artists, advocated against governments’ neglect of the crisis and disinformation in the media. However, the city really become a place of convergence of struggles during AIDS 1989, the 5th International AIDS Conference, in Montreal. The event is remembered for being the scene of an uprising led by members of ACT UP (New York and Montreal), AIDS ACTION NOW and Réaction SIDA.

These groups released a manifesto, Le manifeste de Montréal, bringing together clear demands for human rights to be acknowledged in research protocols for new medications. For the first time, a cultural component, in which video played an important role, was programmed alongside presentations of specialists, mainly from the medical field. The presentations by McStravick and Bonin will address this wider context of video activism of the 1980s and early 1990 through a reading of two works presented in Montreal during this period: the video installation by British artist Stuart Marshall, “The Journal of the Plague Year” (after Daniel Defoe) (1984), an early manifestation of AIDS-related video activism; and the single-channel work by Esther Valiquette, “Le récit d’A” (1990), an indirect outcome of AIDS 1989 and considered one of the first work about HIV and AIDS made in Francophone Quebec.

The videos, each 20 minutes long, will be screened before the presentations, also lasting about 20 minutes. Researcher Maria Nengeh Mensah will moderate a discussion between McStravick, Bonin and the audience.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

View event’s page

Achieving sustainable virologic treatment success while ensuring access and equity among people living with HIV

Format: In person 

Location: Marriott Chateau Champlain Salle de Bal Champlain ballroom (1050 Rue De La Gauchetière O, Montréal, QC H3B 4C9, Canada 

Organizer: Gilead Sciences, Inc 

When: 30 July 2022, 18:00-19:30 EDT 

The objectives of this 90-minute scientific exchange are to: discuss the long-term clinical data for successful oral ART optimization in diverse populations living with HIV; review the current principles of oral ART management in persons living with HIV, including considerations of co-morbidities and ageing, rapid start and resistance development as part of long-term ART management; and discuss successful implementation strategies that address the potential of staff stigmatization and bias towards clients to ensure equitable ART treatment access and improve client engagement in healthcare settings.

The programme will focus on the landscape of current oral HIV treatment and considerations for long-term success, client co-morbidities and useful strategies for sustained client engagement in care. This programme will serve as a learning activity and scientific dialogue between healthcare providers on current standards of care in oral ART regimens and engagement in care.

The programme will include four panellists. A moderator will provide an overview of the programme, facilitate discussions and summarize key take aways. Two healthcare provider speakers will discuss oral ART optimization and management and a local, community-based organization leader will focus on recent successful implementation science and community-based organizations’ treatment engagement initiatives.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

Register for the event

Mother Elle Barbara’s AIDS 2022 Vogue Ball

Format: In person 

Location: Parc Charles-S. Campbell, Rue Gareau, Montréal, QC H2L 2V2, Metro station Papineau

Organizer: House of Barbara & Taking What We Need

When: 30 July 2022, 19:00 EDT

The storming of the 5th International AIDS Conference held in Montreal in June 1989 brought some of the work and demands of people living with HIV and AIDS to the front and centre of the political agenda. Hundreds of people broke through security and took the microphone from then Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney. Until then, the conference was a members-only event, mainly catering for the AIDS establishment, and the narrative power was in the hands of outlets that framed the story based on “abstractions” presented by power players of the medical-industrial complex.

More often than not, the particular experiences and struggles of people living with HIV and AIDS get left out of the conversation. This is something activists in the late 1980s were quick to denounce; they were facing insurmountable silencing and gaslighting. Still today, not enough focus is put on Black and Indigenous community outreach, resulting in a lot of ignorance and misinformation about HIV in those communities. People living with HIV (unlike other sexually transmitted illnesses) can still be convicted of serious criminal offences for not disclosing their HIV status even when there is no risk of transmission.

Elle Barbara and House of Barbara in collaboration with Ballroom 4 Community & ASTTeQ present a ball to commemorate the watershed events of 1989.

Target audience: All delegates will benefit from attending this event.

Register for the event