AIDS in Asia: Changing Dynamics in Iran, India, and China
Co-sponsored by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS and the International Women's Health Coalition
NEW YORK, Nov. 28, 2007 - Since the onset of the HIV/AIDS pandemic several decades ago, many successes have been documented in terms of behavioral change, national responses, and increasing access to prevention, care, and treatment. Despite some notable achievements, the overall response to the epidemic to date has been nowhere near adequate.
Listen below to an audio webcast of Asia Society's fifth annual World AIDS Day program, which brought together a group of prominent experts to discuss the evolving dynamics of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Asia, with a special focus on Iran, India, and China. While participants recognize that progress in containing this epidemic is improving, they also underscore the importance of a sustained political commitment and advocate in support of a more effective global response to the pandemic.
Panelists:
Kaveh Khoshnood, Professor, Yale School of Public Health
Rema Nanda, Director, Public Health-HIV/AIDS Program, American India Foundation
Jia Ping, Executive Director, China Global Fund Project Watch Initiative (via teleconference)
Joelle Tanguy, Senior Vice President, Global Programs and Partnerships, Global Business Council on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Moderator)
Listen on Demand (1 hr., 50 min.)
Kaveh Khoshnood, a Professor at the Yale School of Public Health, is an infectious disease epidemiologist and his primary research interests are the epidemiology, prevention and control of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis among drug users, prisoners and other at risk populations in United States and in resource-poor countries. His other areas of interests are the examination of the links between health and human rights, the role of health in international relations and the ethical dilemmas in research involving vulnerable populations. Dr. Khoshnood conducts research and mentors researchers from China, India, Russia, South Africa and Iran and teaches courses on HIV/AIDS, infectious disease and research ethics.
Rema Nanda is the Director of the Public Health-HIV/AIDS Program at the American India Foundation (AIF), responsible for developing strategy and programs. In that capacity, she has mobilized significant resources in support of the Foundation's newest program in India. Ms. Nanda honed her skills in international aid and development through a distinguished career at the United Nations and with non-governmental organizations in the United States and in India. During her tenure with United Nations, her work focused on advancing human rights, education, governance and women's rights in African and Asian countries. She left the UN to apply social entrepreneurship and private-public partnership approaches to poverty alleviation in India. Ms. Nanda holds a Doctorate in International Education and divides her time between AIF's offices in New York and New Delhi.
Jia Ping is Chief Executive Director and Founder of Global Fund Watch (China Initiative), a watchdog non-governmental organization focused on AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. He is also the Chief Lawyer for the Project of Friends, which is the leading MSM Network on the Chinese Mainland and just received the UNAIDS award for its contributions to fighting AIDS. He served on the experts' committee for HIV/AIDS of China's Center for Disease Control. Mr. Ping is a tireless advocate for the rights of people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS, including sex workers, migrant people, drug users and homosexuals. He previously served as the executive director of Tsinghua University's Human Rights and Constitutional Law Center, and as the lawyer responsible for health education at the Beijing Ai Zhi Xing Institute. He graduated from the Ren Min University and East China Law School, and was a visiting scholar at Columbia University's Center for the Study of Human Rights in 2005.
Joelle Tanguy is Senior Vice President for Global Programs and Partnerships of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GBC), a coalition of almost 200 international companies committed to the fight against AIDS and supported by offices in New York, Paris, Geneva, Johannesburg, Nairobi, Beijing, Kiev, and Moscow. In this capacity, Ms. Tanguy leads the GBC's programmatic and strategic initiatives worldwide to harness the core strengths of business to stop the AIDS pandemic. She also oversees the GBC's role as focal point of the private sector at the Global Fund to fight AIDS, TB, and Malaria. Ms. Tanguy is a Visiting Professor at Bard College's Program on Globalization in New York and has contributed to numerous publications on global health and human rights. She previously served as the U.S. Executive Director of Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), the international humanitarian organization that was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.
Links:
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS):
International Women's Health Coalition
American India Foundation
Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria