All posts by William Hawk

International Indigenous AIDS Group Announces Lineup of Speakers for Durban AIDS Pre-Conference

Durban, SA (June 21, 2016) – The 6th International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS (IIPCHA) is proud to announce the programme lineup that supports this year’s theme Reclaiming Indigenous Voices: Our Lives, Our Health, Our Future in Durban. The pre-conference will run prior to the International AIDS Conference at Umhlanga Ridge, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on July 16-17, 2016.

Expected Guests/Speakers:

  • Honourable Canadian Minister of Health, Jane Philpott
  • Provincial Minister of Health KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. Sibongiseni Maxwell Dhlomo
  • Mayor of Durban, James Nxumalo
  • Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Luiz Loures

International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS (IIWGHA) is the host of the pre-conference and will lead daily interactive sessions on:

  • Traditional Medicine, Care, Treatment, Support & Prevention – traditional medicine, cultural practices and innovative programming.
  • Indigenous Identities, World Views and HIV – discussions around “Indigeneity” in the South African context.
  • Meaningful Engagement of Women and Girls – involvement of women and girls living with HIV and women working in HIV.
  • Leadership, Advocacy and Policy: Social and Structural Drivers of HIV – decisions that create barriers for Key Affected Populations most at risk of HIV.

Keynote Speakers:

  • Ebenezer Durojaye, African Commission of Human Rights
  • Earl Nowgesic, Waakebiness-Bryce Institute for Indigenous Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto
  • Marama Pala, International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS
  • Delme Cupido, Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa (OSISA)
  • Zodwa Masinga, University of KwaZulu-Natal
  • John Meletse, Hearing Impaired HIV Activist

“The International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS is an opportunity for Indigenous peoples from all over the world to share wise and promising practices, learn from each other and build relationships across continents, cultures, traditions, and languages,” said Ken Clement, IIWGHA Co-Chair Canada.

Indigenous people living with HIV and AIDS, service providers, researchers, policy-makers, funders, and community leaders from all over the world, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous will come together in Durban, South Africa to celebrate, strategize and network on an Indigenous-led response to HIV AIDS.

For more information or complimentary registration, visit: http://bit.ly/iipcha2016

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About IIWGHA iiwgha.org
For over two decades Indigenous peoples and leaders around the world have worked together to form the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS to build a unified voice for Indigenous peoples in collective action against HIV and AIDS by creating partnerships with governments, Indigenous leaders, research bodies, and AIDS organizations. IIWGHA provides Indigenous leaders an outlet for sharing, exchanging, and gaining experiences and knowledge on HIV and AIDS to promote hope and change within their own communities.

Media Contact:
Shelley Mantei, Mediatonic PR
1.604.649.2893 shelley@mediatonicpr.com

 

International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS
July 21-22, 2018, Amsterdam
The International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS is an opportunity for Indigenous Peoples from all over the world and their allies to share wise and promising practices, learn from each other and build relationships across continents, cultures, traditions, and languages.

> IIPHCA 2018 Event Summary

> International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS
> IIPCHA PDF (venue notice)

More Information – COMING SOON

Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network Heads to South Africa

International Indigenous AIDS Pre-Conference on HIV and AIDS 2016

Vancouver, BC (May 25, 2016) – The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) will represent Canada this summer as community activists, researchers, doctors and policy-makers from around the world gather in Durban, South Africa for the 6th Annual International Indigenous Pre-Conference on HIV and AIDS (IIPCHA) July 16-17, and the biennial International AIDS Conference (IAC) July 18-22, 2016.

IIPCHA Expected Guests/Speakers:

  • Honourable Canadian Minister of Health, Jane Philpott
  • Provincial Minister of Health KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. Sibongiseni Maxwell Dhlomo
  • Mayor of Durban, James Nxumalo
  • Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, Dr. Luiz Loures

This AIDS 2016 affiliated pre-conference is an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to share wise and promising practices, learn from each other and build relationships across continents, cultures, traditions, and languages. 2016 highlights Indigenous peoples from Southern Africa to explore Indigeneity in Africa and HIV in their communities.

For over two decades, CAAN has held a prestigious leadership role with the International Working Group on HIV and AIDS (IIWGHA) that will be hosting IIPCHA followed by their participation at the Indigenous Networking Zone in the IAC Global Village.

“South Africa plays an important role as the host country because it is experiencing the biggest HIV epidemic in the world with 6.19 million people living with HIV. And as in Canada its Indigenous population is over-represented,” said Ken Clement, CEO of Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network. “In Canada, First Nations, Métis, and Inuit continue to experiencing epidemic proportions 2.7 times higher than other Canadians.”

IIPCHA will host the world premiere of CAAN’s new documentary, “Nothing About Us, Without us – Promising Practices in Saskatchewan First Nation Communities”. The film highlights Indigenous communities in rural Saskatchewan that are experiencing HIV and AIDS rates among highest in the world, and with innovative, culturally appropriate practices are taking ownership of their health and addressing the epidemic.

Indigenous and non-Indigenous are invited to come together in Durban, South Africa to celebrate, strategize and network on an Indigenous led response to HIV AIDS.

To support or register, visit: www.aids2016community.org/tag/iiwgha Or contact indigenoushiv@gmail.com

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About IIWGHA iiwgha.org
For over two decades Indigenous peoples and leaders around the world have worked together to form the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS to build a unified voice for Indigenous peoples in collective action against HIV and AIDS by creating partnerships with governments, Indigenous leaders, research bodies, and AIDS organizations. IIWGHA provides Indigenous leaders an outlet for sharing, exchanging, and gaining experiences and knowledge on HIV and AIDS to promote hope and change within their own communities.

About CAAN www.caan.ca
The Canadian Aboriginal AIDS Network (CAAN) is a not-for-profit
 coalition of individuals and organizations which provides leadership, support and advocacy for Aboriginal individuals living with and affected by HIV and AIDS, regardless of where 
they reside. Their philosophy is that all Aboriginal Peoples deserve the right to protect themselves against infectious disease and thrives on providing the Aboriginal community with accurate and current information about HIV including risks of contracting the virus, issues of care and treatment, and support for families and those living with the disease.

Media Contact:
Shelley Mantei, Mediatonic PR
1.604.649.2893 shelley@mediatonicpr.com

International Indigenous AIDS Conference Opens for AIDS 2016 in South Africa

International Indigenous AIDS Pre-Conference on HIV and AIDS

 Durban, SA (May 24, 2016) – The International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS (IIWGHA) announces it will host the 6th International Indigenous Pre-conference on HIV & AIDS called Reclaiming Indigenous Voices: Our Lives, Our Health, Our Future in Durban right before the International AIDS Conference at Umhlanga Ridge, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa on July 16-17, 2016.

IIPCHA Expected Guests/Speakers:

  • Honourable Canadian Minister of Health, Jane Philpott
  • Provincial Minister of Health KwaZulu-Natal, Dr. Sibongiseni Maxwell Dhlomo
  • Mayor of Durban, James Nxumalo
  • Deputy Executive Director of UNAIDS, Luiz Loures

This AIDS 2016 affiliated pre-conference highlights Indigenous peoples from Southern Africa to explore Indigeneity in Africa and HIV in their communities. It is an opportunity for Indigenous peoples to share wise and promising practices, learn from each other and build relationships across continents, cultures, traditions, and languages.

Canada, America, Mexico, Bolivia, Chile, Guatemala, Australia, and New Zealand are countries represented by IIWGHA. They all have a history of colonization and are now rediscovering their traditions to value a collaborative, culturally appropriate response to HIV and AIDS. Responses that incorporate traditional healing, medicines, ceremonies and holistic practices alongside scientific medicines.

“South Africa is an important host country because it is experiencing the biggest HIV epidemic in the world with an estimated 6.19 million people living with HIV,” said Ken Clement, IIWGHA Co-Chair Canada. “And as in many of the countries represented by IIWGHA, South Africa’s Indigenous population is over-represented.”

Added Marama Pala, IIWGHA Co-Chair New Zealand, “We have first-hand understanding of the importance of the Indigenous connection to a traditional land base, displacement from that land, and how laws displacing Indigenous people result in them being left behind.”

Indigenous people living with HIV and AIDS, service providers, researchers, policy-makers, funders, and community leaders from all over the world, both Indigenous and non-Indigenous will come together in Durban, South Africa to celebrate, strategize and network on an Indigenous-led response to HIV AIDS.

For more information or to register, visit: www.aids2016community.org/tag/iiwgha

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About IIWGHA iiwgha.org
For over two decades Indigenous peoples and leaders around the world have worked together to form the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS to build a unified voice for Indigenous peoples in collective action against HIV and AIDS by creating partnerships with governments, Indigenous leaders, research bodies, and AIDS organizations. IIWGHA provides Indigenous leaders an outlet for sharing, exchanging, and gaining experiences and knowledge on HIV and AIDS to promote hope and change within their own communities.

Media Contact:
Shelley Mantei, Mediatonic PR
1.604.649.2893 shelley@mediatonicpr.com

 

clive2Dr. Clive Aspin is a public health researcher who completed his public health training in New Zealand where he is affiliated to Ngati Maru in his tribal area of Hauraki. He has been a leader of IIWGHA since its inception.

Clive has an extensive background in research management, governance as well as Maori and Indigenous public health research. His research has focused on issues related to the Maori health and disability workforce, as well as Indigenous sexuality and the resilience of Indigenous communities. He also has a strong research interest in the impact that HIV has had on Indigenous communities.

He was the lead New Zealand investigator on a collaborative project with Australia and Canada that investigated the impact of HIV on Indigenous communities in the three countries, and examined the role of resilience in responding to HIV.

Clive has extensive governance experience gained from membership on a number of boards, most notably the Health Research Council of New Zealand. He held the inaugural position of Executive Research Officer at Nga Pae o te Maramatanga, New Zealand’s Maori centre of research excellence at the University of Auckland and played a key role in setting up the infrastructure of the centre. He was also the Founding Editor of AlterNative, an international peer-reviewed journal of Indigenous scholarship.

Clive lives in Wellington, New Zealand and teaches Maori and global health at Te Herenga Waka – Victoria University of Wellington.

Ms. Elisa Canqui Mollo, is Aymara from Bolivia. As an Indigenous activist, she has been involved in the struggle to recognise Indigenous peoples rights since 1997. She was appointed as a Member of UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (2008/2010) where she addressed HIV/AIDS and TB in the agenda of UNPFII doing advocacy in many international scenarios. She is currently an independent consultant on Indigenous issues and works for NGOs, International Cooperatives, Indigenous organisations and government in such areas as health, rural development, Indigenous leadership and municipal development. Elisa is currently working on her PhD in Development Management and Public Policy.

Juana is a community educator, with a Masters in Management of Development with Identity. Ms. Cheuquepan Colipe is a leader from the Indigenous Association Kiñe Pu Liwen, originally from Lautaro, 9th Region of Temuco in southern Chile. She has played a diverse role in community education and HIV and AIDS advocacy in Chile. She has worked as a Traditional Educator in local schools and in the Mapuche community, in La Pintana, corresponding to the Pikunche Territory (People of the North). In 2011, she developed innovative HIV educational materials for the International Labour Organization (ILO) from the perspective of the Mapuche worldview. She also lent her voice to the first translation into an Indigenous language (Mapudungun) of the ILO’s Recommendation concerning HIV and AIDS and the working world.

michaelMichael Costello is Arrente of the Central Australian Arrente Nation; his family’s country is Titjikarla. He was raised in Alice Springs; however, he has spent most of his adult life living in the city with his partner Corey and 3 dogs. Michael still has very strong connections to his country and returns regularly. Michael’s involvement with the Anwernekenhe movement began in 1998 at Anwernekenhe 2, where he was elected to the Anwernekenhe Steering Committee. Soon after Michael accepted a position with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), in the role of Senior Policy and Programs Officer with the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV/AIDS Project, a position he held until December 2011. In December 2011, Michael was extremely honoured to take on the role of Executive Officer of the ANA with an 18 month contract. As Executive Officer Michael was charged with securing ongoing funding for the ANA, development and implementation of our first ever strategic plan and establishing our secretariat office. Michael upholds a strong commitment to self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, ensuring that we maintain and continue to build an effective community response to HIV.

amaranta2Amaranta Gómez Regalado identifies as Muxhe, Zapotec of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec, in Oaxaca, Mexico. Amaranta has been a social activist for more than 20 years at the local, regional and international level in areas of health, sexuality, human rights and cultural promotion. They were the first Muxhe/trans Mexican candidate to a federal deputy for the former Mexico Possible Party, recognized by the Federal Electoral Insititute.

Amaranta is Regional Secretary for the International Secretariat of the Indigenous and Afro-descendants working Group on HIV/AIDS, Sexuality and Human Rights (SIPIA) and a Leader of the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV & AIDS (IIWGHA) and holds a degree in social anthropology, specializing in gender studies, sexuality and human rights. Amaranta is undergoing studies at the University of Veracurzana in Veracruz, Mexico. Ms. Gómez was the former regional secretary of ILGA-LAC, for Latin America and the Caribbean from 2014 to 2016 and the former Co-director of the International Fund for Trans People from 2014-2017. Amaranta was also technical secretary of the First Municipal Council against Discrimination in Xalapa, Veracruz from 2016-2017. They are a current citizen assembly member of the National Council to Prevent and Eliminate Discrimination (CONAPRED) and coordinator for Latin America of TGV’s TvT project.

Jose-picJose Martin Yac Huix, a Maya Kiché, is a Political Scientist and International Relations specialist, with 10 years of experience strengthening children’s and adolescents’ skills on issues of sexuality, from a Human Rights perspective, with the goal of reducing the cases of STDs, HIV and AIDS; generating policy approaches which can become part of the national response system by proposing routes that respect the Human Rights of nations, their cosmology, Land and Identity Rights, and the wise practices of Indigenous people of Guatemala.

deniseDenise Lambert shares her life with five children, ages 11 to 21. She resides in the Summer Village of Sandy Beach, Alberta. Her formal involvement in HIV/AIDS prevention and support began inside correctional facilities in 1987. She currently works with the Kimamow Atoskanow Foundation, a rural based service organization providing mobile education and support throughout Alberta. As a member of the National Aboriginal Council on HIV/AIDS, Denise brings the perspective of Métis and First Nations communities into HIV and related policy discussions. A graduate of the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation, Denise is completing her MSc at the University of Alberta in Health Policy research focusing on Indigenous populations.

elton-newElton is of the Near to the Water People Clan, born for the Edge Water People Clan, his maternal grandfather’s clan is of the Mexican People, his paternal grandfather’s clan is of the Tangle People, this is how he is Navajo, Dine. He is originally from Whitehorse Lake, New Mexico, and grew up in Window Rock, Arizona on the Navajo Reservation.

Currently, Mr. Naswood is an Independent Consultant. He was most recently a Senior Program Analyst in the Capacity Building Division at the Office of Minority Health Resource Center with the Office of Minority Health, U.S. Health and Human Services. He previously was a Capacity Building Assistance Specialist at the National Native American AIDS Prevention Center and was formally the Founder and Program Coordinator for the Red Circle Project, AIDS Project Los Angeles.

He is currently a member of the Southwest Indigenous Women’s Coalition LGBT Advisory Council; member of the Community Advisory Panel for NMAC and the U.S. Representative Leader for the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV/AIDS.

Mr. Naswood received his Bachelors of Arts Degree in Sociology and American Indian Justice Studies from Arizona State University and attended the graduate degree program in American Indian Studies at the University of California, Los Angeles.

maramaMarama Pala (Ngatiawa ki Kapiti Iwi), BML, BMA, AdvDip Business systems, was infected with HIV in 1993; her status was highly publicised as the first New Zealand/World HIV court case. She is the Executive Director of INA, an organization that provides education, advocacy and support services to culturally and linguistically diverse communities. Marama is also a New Zealand representative on the International Indigenous Working Group on HIV/ AIDS (UNAIDS). She was appointed as one of seven Global community representatives on the Community Programme Committee (CPC) for the XIX (19th) International AIDS Conference 2012 (AIDS 2012), held in Washington. Marama is a keynote speaker at numerous conferences on HIV in Australia, New Zealand, South Pacific Islands, Canada and Europe. Marama is married to Tony Pala who is from Papa New Guinea and has two children who are HIV negative.

Harlan Pruden (nēhiyaw/ First Nations Cree) is a co-founder of the NorthEast Two Spirit Society. Within his current position, Harlan works to organize the Two-Spirit (LGBT Native) community locally, nationally and internationally. Harlan is one of the lead organizers of the National Confederacy of Two-Spirit Organizations; serves as the principal Two-Spirit consultant to the University of Iowa’s National Native American and Alaskan Native Addiction Technology Transfer Center; and serves as an Honorary Committee Member of the Institute for Sexual Minority Studies and Services at the University of Alberta, Canada. After committing himself to sobriety 27 years ago, Harlan was the first person in his family to attend college and now devotes his life to First Nations community organizing.

temoTemo Sasau (I-taukei) is married with one child (son) whose birthday is also on World AIDS Day. He had worked with Fiji Red Cross for over 10 years. Diagnosed with HIV in December 2006, Temo was discreetly demoted from his job to a casual staff position. Temo joined Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation (PIAF), a regional organisation that focuses solely on improving the quality of life of people living with HIV. Through PIAF, he has become one of their regional PLHIV advocates, coordinating the regional AIDS Ambassadors work and working towards the development of support groups in Fiji for people living with HIV. As an Advocate, Temo does outreach and peer support in most of the Pacific Island countries, especially with Ambassadors in Vanuatu, Samoa, Kiribati, Fiji and Solomon Islands. He is involved in the development of support groups specifically for people living with HIV and is currently conducting a weekly support group meeting for people living with life-threatening illness. Temo recently joined Empower Pacific (formerly known as Pacific Counselling & Social Services) as the National Manager Clinical Services after the closure of PIAF in early 2013. He is currently the PLHIV representative for the Pacific Response Fund Committee (PRFC) and the Pacific Islands Multi-Country Coordinating Mechanism (PIRMCCM).

Temo has almost 20 years of hands on experience working with people at the grassroots level, including marginalised and stigmatised groups. For 5 years he specifically focussed on high-level advocacy with government leaders and organisations. Temo is passionate in peer treatment adherence support for those taking prescribed medicines for the rest of their lives such as antiretroviral therapy (ART).

Temo Sasau is proud to be a Fijian living with HIV and continues to look for ways to support others who are living with HIV and their families.

Maritza is an Ecuadorian mestiza, with Indigenous and Afro-Ecuadorian ancestry. She has her Doctorate in Psychology with a specialty in Psychoanalysis and working with groups. Maritza is an anthropologist (FLACSO-Ecuador).

Maritza has twenty years of work experience around themes of human rights, gender, sexual and reproductive health and prevention of violence against women. In the last 8 years, she has worked in the prevention of HIV in Indigenous communities.

chrisChristopher Montlhante Mumba was born on 11th July, 1964 in the copper mining town of Luanshya on the Copperbelt Province in Zambia. His parents were Mr. Christopher Antonio Mumba, a miner of the San minority group in Namibia and Prosperina Selita Mwewa, a Zambian national. Mumba attended junior high school at St. Charles Lwanga Catholic Junior Seminary in Mansa, Luapula Province and completed his high school at Mwense Boys Secondary School in the same province in 1982. He later entered the Evelyn Hone College of Applied Arts and Commerce in Lusaka where he graduated with a diploma in journalism, public relations and advertising. He then joined the Zambia News Agency (ZANA) where he worked as a senior reporter and was later elevated to the rank of sports editor. He resigned, however, after the plane he was expected to board to cover a 1994 World Cup qualifier game between the Zambia National team and Senegal crashed off the coast of Libreville in Gabon on 28th April 1993, killing all 32 people on board. That included Mumba’s deputy news editor, Joseph Bwalya Salimu, a former sports editor who was hurriedly assigned to cover the game after Mumba was given a week off after his home was raided by robbers who got away with his personal and household belongings. The unprecedented robbery saved Mumba’s life!

A few weeks after Mumba suffered from herpes zoster attacks on his left hand and on advice from his close friend, Winstone Zulu (late), an AIDS activist who became the first Zambian to go out in the open about his HIV serostaus in 1990, Mumba decided to walk in for voluntary counseling and testing at Kara Counselling and Training Trust in March 1994. He was diagnosed with HIV. That turned his career from that of journalism where he was editor for a daily tabloid newspaper into an AIDS activist with the aim of using media to sensitize people about HIV and AIDS in a country where HIV infection was treated as a disease for affluent foreigners or Zambians who had travelled abroad, and towards which stigma was rife. Mumba joined a Winstone Zulu led community outreach education group of AIDS educators that was operating at Hope House under Kara Counselling and Training Trust and was captured on several radio and television stations as well as in newspaper publications to speak about his experiences and testimonies of living with HIV. He was the first journalist in Zambia and perhaps in the whole southern, central and east African region to do so.

In February 1997 Mumba joined the National United Nations Volunteers (NUNV) pilot project (RAF 96/VO1) as a volunteer and was appointed assistant coordinator to the Network of Zambian People Living with HIV & AIDS (NZP+). NZP+, a network that by then only comprised 26 individuals living with HIV and AIDS, was established in May 1996 on tips from the Network of African People Living with HIV & AIDS (NAP+), which was set up on UNDP funding in Mombasa, Kenya in June 1994 and to which a Zambian who has preferred to remain anonymous became first coordinator. The NUNV pilot project was initiated by UNAIDS on joint collaboration with the UNDP and UNV Zambia country offices and was coordinated by Mrs Noerine Kaleeba, a Ugandan who at the time was Community Mobilisation Advisor for UNAIDS in Geneva.

Mumba later worked as programme manager on an OVC project for the Danish based Development Aid from People to People (DAPP) where he organized OVC committees in 64 villages in Cibombo district in the central part of Zambia to support orphans and vulnerable children living with HIV and AIDS. He also worked as editor on a regional HIV and AIDS youth magazine covering 23 countries for the Commonwealth Youth Programme-Africa Centre whose Secretariat is based in Zambia and was later on engaged as a treatment literacy and communications officer for Treatment Advocacy and Literacy Campaign (TALC). He was appointed temporary adviser on task shifting for the World Health Organization (WHO) and was also a member of the International AIDS Society (IAS). From 2011 to 2012 Mumba worked as a Commonwealth Professional Fellow at the UK Consortium on AIDS & International Development (now STOPAIDS) in London, United Kingdom. Mumba has participated in several International AIDS Conferences since the 12th International AIDS Conference held in Geneva, Switzerland in 1998 through to the IAS 7th International Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Prevention and Treatment held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in July 2013. He is currently working as a volunteer with Prisons Care and Counselling Association (PRISCCA) in Zambia where his work is centered on HIV and AIDS, TB, human rights and basic legal education. He is married to Beatrice Mwanza, a nurse in a public health centre in Zambia and they have two daughters.

paula2Paula Simonsen is a Sami from the north of Norway. The Sami People are the native people living in the north of Norway, Sweden, Finland and in the west of Russia.

She has been living with HIV since 2003, openly since 2004, and after that informing society about living with HIV, prevention and sexual health. The native view is her main focus. She is the front person of SÁMI+, a support group for Samis living with HIV in Norway, Sweden and Finland.

She grew up on a farm with cows and vegetables, within a family of traditional healers. Traditional health care is concerned with all aspects of a living human: physical, mental, emotional, spiritual and social—a holistic perspective.

She has been studying traditional handcraft, cooking (natural food and diets), and social anthropology.

As a chef her main focus has been healthy eating, and how food can strengthen both overall health and the immune system. Paula says, “Food is also our medicine.” Today she is working as a chef, making natural food from local nature, for private events and a public nursing home.

rawiriRawiri Evans is from Ngati awa ki Kapiti in New Zealand. He has been involved in mental health and addiction work for over 35 years. He has worked for his community for years supporting whanau to gain the best results possible. Rawiri completed his Master’s Degree in 2011 at Massey University, having studied under great leaders in Maori health. He did his thesis in cultural competence. He has been awarded a Civic Honour from his people for services in the community. Rawiri sits on a number of key boards with Iwi and has a wide network of people across the world that supports his work. He is a Practitioner AOD and Supervisor and has been in the sector for 37 years.

Rawiri has been chairperson of INA in Aotearoa for the last 4 years with Marama Pala. He has presented at many conferences across the world and his expansive knowledge in Addictions is widely known.

He is also a father and grandfather and is married to his wife Fiona of 38 years.

July 18-22, 2016

http://www.aids2016.org/

The International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward.

The AIDS 2016 program will present new scientific knowledge and offer many opportunities for structured dialogue on the major issues facing the global response to HIV. A variety of session types – from abstract-driven presentations to symposia, bridging and plenary sessions – will meet the needs of various participants. Other related activities, including the Global Village, satellite symposia, the Exhibition and affiliated independent events, will contribute to an exceptional opportunity for professional development and networking.

The AIDS 2016 conference will be held at the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) from 18 to 22 July 2016.