A new regional civil society cooperation network for the Americas and the Caribbean to support nongovernmental organizations working to end AIDS was launched on 30 October in Quito, Ecuador. Launched by Coalition PLUS, the initiative will support coordination and capacity-building among community organizations involved in the AIDS responses of North, Central and South America and the Caribbean.

 “Although we have HIV services available, people do not have access because they are criminalized and stigmatized. The community movement is helping us to end the conspiracy of silence about discrimination. We need civil society to increase efforts to achieve the progressive policies that will clear the way for us to end AIDS,” said Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director.

Since 2014, Coalition PLUS—an international alliance of more than 100 nongovernmental organizations contributing to the AIDS response—has been building and strengthening mechanisms for regional collaboration. Such networks already exist in western Africa, central Africa, the Middle East and North Africa, the Indian Ocean and Europe

The President of Coalition PLUS, Hakima Himmich, said that the network will increase access by organizations to /new resources and approaches /relevant to their local contexts. She noted that it was especially important / to strengthen civil society’s capacity around addressing the needs of the most vulnerable.

 “We have huge challenges around stigma and discrimination against entire populations. In order to achieve epidemic control, we must also address human rights,” said Ms Himmich.

UNAIDS data show that in 2017 key populations and their sexual partners accounted for three quarters of new HIV infections in Latin America and two thirds of new infections in the Caribbean. Gay men and other men who have sex with men and transgender women are disproportionately affected, with a few countries reporting HIV rates of above 15% among those communities.

The activities of the network in the region will be coordinated by the Kimirina Corporation, an Ecuadorian organization focused on people-centred combination prevention and advocacy. Amira Herdoiza, Director of the Kimirina Corporation, explained that the platform will place strong emphasis on coordinated research, skills-building and advocacy, particularly around issues affecting young people and key populations. 

 “We need more multicountry research to show the nuances of our epidemics,” Ms Herdoiza said. “Through this network our organizations’ capacities to share and analyse data will be strengthened. We will also focus on sharing experiences and planning joint programmes.”

At present, there are three other members of the regional network: the Coalition of Quebec Community Organizations against AIDS in Canada; AIDES in the French Caribbean; and the Institute for Human Development in the Plurinational State of Bolivia. Other regional organizations are invited to be part of the initiative.

Antiretroviral therapy coverage has been relatively high and AIDS-related mortality relatively low in Latin America for many years. However, little progress has been made towards the region’s 2020 HIV prevention milestone, and there is evidence of rising incidence of HIV among young people within key populations. Brazil is playing a key leadership role in the reinvigoration of HIV prevention, but political commitment in the region is inconsistent. Latin America has made notable progress in safeguarding the human rights of LGBTI people. National and regional networks of key populations and people living with HIV are monitoring human rights abuses. National and local governments have established mechanisms for addressing human rights issues. Sixteen countries in the region have national human rights institutions that include sexual orientation in their mandate.

Our answer: the community approach

"Nothing for us, without us!": This key principle has been driving our member organizations for decades and continues to fuel the political positioning and operation of Coalition PLUS at all levels. We advocate for the recognition of the expertise of those infected, affected or particularly vulnerable to HIV, and for their communities to be systematically involved in the decision-making, development and implementation of HIV programs. This community approach gives everyone the means to take care of themselves and others: thus, the effectiveness of actions is multiplied.

Our functioning: renewal of North-South relations and promotion of sub-regional dynamics

With decades of experience working hand-in-hand with communities affected primarily by HIV / AIDS and viral hepatitis, our member associations are in the best position /to make the strategic decisions needed /to stop these deadly epidemics. . From Paris to Bamako, via Quito, Montreal or Bobo-Dioulasso, each of them makes its voice heard in the political bodies of our union and plays its full role in its governance.

Our ambition: social transformation

Our associations are not only health operators: they also aim to change the way societies look at people living with HIV, HCV or those most exposed to these viruses (sex workers, men who have sex with men). All the actors of the fight at the international level affirm it : as long as the stigmatization, the discriminations, even the criminalization, of the people infected, affected or vulnerable to HIV and viral hepatitis, the efforts towards the elimination of these epidemics will be in vain.