OUT ATTENDS VIENNA AIDS CONFERENCE

A group from OUT, the Pretoria-based LGBT well-being organisation, will attend the 18th annual International AIDS Conference in Vienna, which begins this coming Sunday.

Jacques Livingston, OUT’s Health and Well-being Manager, has been accepted in the conference’s poster exhibition, and will be taking part thanks to funding from the Schorer Foundation

Dawie Nel, OUT’s Director, and the organisation’s Advocacy Manager, Steve Letsike, will also be attending the conference.

OUT is the co-organiser for the LGBT Networking Zone which, through various discussion groups, will highlight HIV and health issues affecting LGBTI people. OUT will primarily focus on bringing an African perspective to the discussions, along with other human rights defenders from around the African continent.

The slogan for the LGBTI Networking Zone is “LGBT rights are Human Rights. Right to Be. Right Here. Right Now”.

Livingston’s poster presentation, titled ‘Multidimensional approach to STI/HIV prevention among gay and lesbian people’ will showcase OUT’s working model on STI/HIV prevention as well as the various programmes developed and refined by OUT in the last two years.

“I have also been requested to co-facilitate a workshop provided by Schorer during the conference. The aim of the workshop is to present and discuss the ‘Schorer Approach’ to STI/HIV prevention,” said Livingston, who will further be attending the MSM Global Forum pre-conference meeting.

The conference, under the theme of “Rights Here, Right Now”, is expected to draw more than 25,000 delegates from around the world, including scientists, politicians and activists.

The event is an opportunity to share and assess the latest developments in the global fight against HIV and AIDS.