artHivism, a new concept created by visual artist Adriana Bertini, is an innovative multidisciplinary reflection tool aimed at discussing the response to the epidemic through the arts and youth leadership. In partnership with filmmaker André Canto, this session aims to talk about art as an act of resistance and subversion in order to to solve social problems around HIV/AIDS world-wide.

Sex workers, especially representatives of oppressed communities of color, transgender people and immigrants, are often considered hard to reach and hard to organize with. In this “meet the experts” session we bring together leaders of three sex worker organizations who will share their methodologies on how to establish and build sex worker organizations that advocate for HIV/AIDS related programming in the most effective way. Attendees will learn how to ally with different communities of sex workers as well. The session will include both cisgender speakers and important figures from the movements for the rights of transgender people who may also be sex workers. Attendees will learn what the primary barriers facing sex worker representation in challenging HIV/AIDS policy environments and the kinds of organizations that have proven effective as sex worker led organizations. Participants will also learn about issues relating to disability and community engagement for the rights of sex workers.

Indigenous youth sharing our resilience and our knowledge gained through lived experiences with HIV/AIDS to help overcome barriers in the fight of getting to zero.

Enhancing the diversity of the biomedical research workforce is a key priority for the United States. Undergraduates from minority backgrounds who are underrepresented in the fields of public health and HIV prevention research may be inspired to consider these career paths by participating in highly applied mentored research experiences. This 45-minute interactive panel discussion, moderated by Dr. John Sauceda, will enlist three alumni scholars from the San Francisco Department of Public Health and UCSF Summer HIV/AIDS Research Program (SHARP). Panelists will reveal how the program influenced their current training and work trajectories.

The Robert Carr Research Award celebrates Robert's vision of collaboration between community organizations, academic researchers and advocates, to advance human rights-based policies and practices in countries where communities are disproportionately affected by HIV continue to face discrimination, social rejection, violence and imprisonment, often by government officials and agencies. Robert's commitment to translating findings from research collaborations between community and academic partners into tangible policy development and advocacy efforts is the driving force behind this prize, which is announced at the International AIDS Conference, and has been presented at AIDS 2014, AIDS 2016 and AIDS 2018.

The session will highlight two successful experiences in prevention in Brazil, explore the concept of prevention popcorn carried out by GAPA-Bahia, and the International Youth and HIV / AIDS prevention seminar: Forming Advocacy in PrEP, carried out by the NGO Vida em Movimento.

In the current "post-truth" world, facts appear to matter less and less and the decisions concerning key populations, such as young and vulnerable people, are made without consulting the affected parties. As such, there is a disjunction between the policies implemented and the reality on the ground. In order to change this, we need to break down existing silos and have those in political positions working alongside those affected by the decisions they make. The purpose of this workshop is to help Youth advocates/activists better target their message to the communities affected and the relevant policymakers, in a contextually-relevant manner, taking into account cultural differences and adopting a common language familiar to those in the community, addressing their identities and values.

Grandmothers have been central to the response to HIV and AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa. Having lost their adult children to the pandemic, grandmothers have developed resilience and strength while raising their orphaned grandchildren. With the support of community-based organizations, grandmothers are gathering to support each other and discuss their work to advance grandmothers’ rights to property, health, and pensions and to live lives free from violence and discrimination while building movements to advocate for their human rights. Over the past 14 years, grandmothers from Canada, Australia, Great Britain, and the United States have come together to learn from grandmothers across sub-Saharan Africa, strategize, and mobilize support and awareness in a growing international grandmothers’ solidarity movement. In this workshop, grandmothers from Uganda, Tanzania, South Africa, Zimbabwe, and Canada will share stories, discuss lessons learned, and explain how grandmothers are leading movements to claim their human rights. The workshop will focus on the ways that grandmothers from the African region have been affected by HIV and AIDS, their role in providing holistic support for their communities and each other, the centrality of grandmothers’ human rights to truly ending the AIDS pandemic and rebuilding communities devastated by HIV and AIDS, and the role of the international grandmothers’ solidarity movement in supporting the movements for grandmothers’ human rights in sub-Saharan Africa. Participants in the workshop will be given the opportunity to ask questions, share their experiences, and help to shape the plan to advance grandmothers’ human rights across sub-Saharan Africa.

WORLD has a desire for participants to laugh, cry and understand that a change starts with us in real, yet down to earth ways for those local and abroad, emphasizing the fact that we are more alike than different and can accomplish so much more with a collective approach. WORLD desires for participants to have memorable and life changing experiences through this workshop and will offer diverse perspectives. The information to be covered will include ways of increasing knowledge and conversations among the generations, an overview of current statistics, policy updates and initiatives on HIV/ AIDS/ STIs in the Bay Area among Black and Latina women and girls. There will also be discussion around the STI Network, why it is needed, what it is all about and how to get involved. The workshop will culminate with a call to action for all participants that will reach beyond AIDS2020.

Stigma limits the effectiveness of responses to HIV and has a profound impact on access to healthcare services across all points in the HIV care cascade. Getting to the heart of stigma is essential to ensure personal and structural barriers are overcome for all clients and in particular key populations (sex workers, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs and transgender people) who often experience increased and compounded stigma, whether internalized, in community or healthcare settings. Innovative ways to reduce stigma by building resilience need to be found and researchers, activists and healthcare workers have a key role to play in making a tangible difference. This workshop gives an opportunity to discuss hot topics around stigma and examples of good practice from healthcare providers providing stigma free services. The workshop will assist in better understanding the realities of people living with HIV, and specifically key populations and how to integrate these realities into more effective and stigma free approaches. Central messages/objectives of the workshop are: Know the difference between stigma and discrimination. Have the confidence to start difficult conversations. Be inspired by examples of good practice and ideas from peers in the session.

Stigma and discrimination are significant challenges in reaching and maintaining treatment success and self-management for adolescents and youth living with HIV (AYLHIV). Stigma-related challenges infiltrate home, school, clinics, friendships and relationships; finding a way to discuss and combat stigma is a vital step in the HIV response. The Committee of African Youth Advisors (CAYA), the internal youth engagement mechanism of the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation (EGPAF), developed a set of cartoons specifically to address stigma. CAYA members (AYLHIV under 30 years old) developed four scene cartoons on various case studies of stigma and discrimination within their own contexts and countries. These, accompanied by discussion questions, allow AYLHIV in support groups to have guided, informative, and productive conversations about scenarios made by fellow youth living with HIV. Cartoons are used in 10 countries and have been translated into French.

Based on our success with our monthly Women's Empowerment Art Therapy workshops funded by the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation, we will host an art therapy workshop for both women and men living with HIV. The workshop will use the power of art-making to reduce stigma, build community, and empower women and men living with HIV.