Stress is a silent killer of persons living with HIV. Studies have shown that chronic stress decreases the CD4+ T-cell count of HIV+ individuals and predisposes them to mental disorders. The WHO recommends that psychosocial care like mindfulness practices be integrated into standard HIV therapy. This workshop aims to put the spotlight on mindfulness meditation as a useful adjunct to antiretroviral therapy and to teach participants how to practice this form of mindfulness in their daily lives.

This workshop will address the intersecting aspects of DV and HIV. Participants will receive an overview on DV and how perpetrators of violence use HIV status to exert power and control. The session will provide attendees with trauma-informed promising practices to implement when working with individuals that disclose DV, as well as tips and resources to assist in building partnerships with local DV program(s).

This audio performance focuses on the manifold practices of discrimination encountered by transgender (TG) youth existing with HIV. The show is performed by transgender community members, intending to create a pathway for inclusion of young PLHIV in both transgender communities and wider society. The eight participants are from the transgender-Kothi-Hijra community in small-town and rural areas of West Bengal, India. The show illustrates a young transgender woman who has been facing continuous physical assaults by her cis-gendered male partner. She also has also faced unremitting ostracization by her family and society upon her disclosure of being HIV positive. As the drama unfolds, she gets support and moral encouragement from others in her TG community, seven of whom unite and resist the violence against her in order to protect her. Through their solidarity, they succeed in reintegrating the victimized transgender person with her family and neighbors. The program concludes with a celebratory dance on the song of poet Rabindranath Tagore’s mellifluous lines, “pothe ebar nabo sathi”, which means "let's come together and realize our shared struggles".

This slideshow featuring historic photos, archival video footage and safer sex educational memorabilia chronicles the birth and growth of an international sex workers AIDS movement, and it's rocky relationship with the World Health Organization and UNAIDS. This presentation by sex-worker activist and historian Andy Sorfleet features pivotal moments that have had a profound impact on HIV prevention program for sex workers today. This historical narrative is created for anyone with a keen interest in sex workers' grassroots activism. Not to be missed!

Stigma is one of the biggest drawbacks in the bid to end HIV&AIDS by 2030! This stigma has an even greater negative impact when it is happening in the places where people living with HIV are supposed to seek help and hope, the places people living with HIV cannot do without. Our session will enlighten people on what the ideal situation should be like, what their rights are and how together, we can put an end to stigma in the healthcare setting through proactive advocacy in order to achieve our goals and live healthier lives.

Male sex workers (MSW) who sell/exchange sex for money or goods comprise an extremely diverse population across and within countries worldwide. Information characterizing their practices, contexts where they live, and their needs is very limited, as these men are generally included as subsets of larger studies focused on gay men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) or even female sex workers. There is growing evidence of a sustained or increasing burden of HIV among some MSW. Shinners will tackle the biological, behavioral, and structural determinants in relation to MSW in this session.

This will be a very open and candid collaborative conversation of three very distinct organizations with similar but unique responses to the HIIV epidemic as it affects specifically Black America with emphasis on the South. The panelist will delve into specific problems in the Black community and discuss in detail how they have addressed these issues. By offering best practices and unique models, participants will walk away with not a toolbox but a tool trunk of new and innovative ideas and programs to implement in their communities. The primary objective will be to nurture a new conversation about the response to the epidemic in the Black community. Each presenter will discuss barriers and successes as it relates to the black population. Although specific to the South, the models and solutions discussed can be applicable to other regions where Black folks and people of color are prevalent. Participants will learn in detail about the "DIRT" Advocacy movement. The objectives and measurable outcomes will be to give participants the language and specific tools to address getting the Black Church to take a more meaningful stance in the fight against HIV, how to implement programs in rural areas that are inclusive of Black women, intentionally.

There is an urgent need to promote a conversation that explores how Parliamentarians and political leaders can advocate confidently and effectively on the HIV response. As we enter the "Decade of Delivery" of the SDGs, the political context in key donor countries remains turbulent and the financial trends in the response highlight huge gaps that will only be closed with increased political commitment. Join this session to hear directly from Parliamentarians and advocates about their experiences as political champions in the response working to change laws and budgets, influence policies and hold governments to account on their commitments.

In Ghana, the notion that HIV/AIDS is no longer deadly is facilitating its spread; due to significant reductions of global funding for awareness creation in HIV prevention. This puts the largely youthful population at high risk of acquiring HIV. Consequently, many young people engage in risky sexual behavior, which has resulted in high rates of new infections. Participants will learn how young people in the Youth Leaders Fellowship Programme of UNFPA Ghana, used innovative approaches and partnerships to reach other young people with information on HIV and AIDS through the creation of safe spaces which encouraged testing by removing fear and stigma.

Join activists, artists, and organizers from around the world to discuss the role culture plays in saving lives, and making lives worth living. Learn about The HIV Howler: Transmitting Art and Activism, an art newspaper by and for artists living with HIV; find out about WHAT YOU DON’T KNOW ABOUT AIDS COULD FILL A MUSEUM, a special curatorial journal issue; and hear about an art show at Taipei MOCA that focused on international and intergenerational experiences of living with HIV. Everyone is welcome! Looking forward to sharing with artists, curators, and culture workers from around the world.

Desiree Alliance is a United States national coalition of current and former sex workers working together with supporting networks for an improved understanding of sexual policies and its human, social and political impacts of criminalization’s surrounding sex work. This presentation is a candid conversation between Desiree Alliance leadership discussing the systemic inadequacies between the HIV/AIDS movement and the exclusion of sex workers in policies, politics, funding, and strategies. Join us as we discuss the history of exclusion and going forward in finding solutions to bring our voices to the table.

This session will include topics on sexuality and AYALHIV in Nigeria, understanding sex and gender, sexual risk perception, access to sexuality education, access to SRHR and SGBV services in Nigeria, preparing for sexual partner disclosure, motivations for sexual partner disclosure among PLHIV, discordant couple support, sexual partner disclosure, gender, intimate-partner violence, access to care, partner testing and HIV prevention.