aids2031

aids2031 Request for Abstracts

aids2031 is hosting a small workshop in early February 2009 for invited scholars and practitioners to examine how factors like social capital, culture and religion are shaping and are shaped by the nature, locale, and momentum of the HIV and AIDS pandemic. Read the entire Request for Abstracts. This workshop will seek to identify a conceptual approach to social capital, culture and religion relevant to policies and programs addressing AIDS in the context of the turbulence, instabilities, and environments of risk shaping the lives of individuals and groups in marginalized communities. The goal of the workshop is to elicit innovative thinking and break new ground for ways to address the complex social and political obstacles to the successful prevention of HIV and AIDS. The workshop will examine existing data and analyses to develop recommendations for a long-term sustainable response to AIDS, which address the social, political, and economic factors shaping risk and vulnerability. Participants in this workshop will have opportunity to contribute to cutting edge analyses of the ways in which cultural attitudes and practices, religious beliefs and institutions, and diverse forms of social capital have affected and will affect the pathways taken by AIDS in various parts of the world.

Abstracts of approximately 300 words should be sent in PDF format to Sheela Pradhan by September 30, 2008. Submissions will be reviewed and applicants notified regarding acceptance for the workshop by October 31, 2008. Completed papers are due to the conveners by January 10, 2009. Direct travel expenses as well as room and board will be covered by the workshop host. Exact dates and the venue for the 3 day workshop will be finalized soon.

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“The theme of global health and social justice is important because the two are inextricably linked. Global health problems can be a symptom of underlying problems that reach far beyond disease—poverty, environmental issues, access to clean water, and societal stress. A closer look at global health issues will inevitably uncover social injustices. This offers researchers the opportunity to address these injustices through the universal window of health. Some injustices are too sensitive for exploring in certain cultures—such as sex workers and gay communities—but a killer disease like AIDS demands the voices of marginalized groups to be heard.”
Heidi Larson, IDCE research professor and aids203 project director

Fighting AIDS on a Global Scale

As one of nine partners worldwide, Clark University, represented by the Department of International Development, Community, and Environment (IDCE) and the George Perkins Marsh Institute, is collaborating in a new global consortium, aids2031. The initiative, currently underway, will reshape how people in the development and medical fields think about the next 25 years of AIDS.

aids2031 is a commission of UNAIDS. It is a consortium of partners who have come together to look at what we have learned about the AIDS response, as well as to consider the implications of the changing world around AIDS in order to chart options for the long term response.

Professor Heidi Larson, aids2031 Director, says, “aids2031 is a two-year project which will revisit some of the assumptions that were made about AIDS when it was first identified in 1981. A lot has changed in the medical and technology fields as well as in the geo-political environment, so we want to investigate what new approaches we need to take. We aim to generate new evidence to inform our response to AIDS during the next 25 years. With a critical look at past and current responses and in light of world changes, we hope to learn how we can influence the state of AIDS at its 50-year mark, in 2031.”

The project, says Larson, will take a special look at youth because today’s teens are entering critical stage in their sexual and social lives. Identifying and encouraging young emerging leadership will be another key part of the initiative. The responsibility of the global AIDS response is changing hands.

Clark University Hosts aids2031 Management Unit
UNAIDS has selected Clark University to host the aids2031 Project Management Unit.  The Project Management Unit coordinates the work of nine working groups—including economists, epidemiologists, biomedical, social and political scientists—to question conventional wisdom, stimulate new research, encourage public debate, and uncover new evidence.  Each working group will explore different aspects of the future of AIDS.

Social Drivers Group
Clark University, represented by IDCE and The George Perkins Marsh Institute is hosting the Social Drivers Group in collaboration with the International Center for Research on Women. The working group is co-convened by IDCE Director William Fisher and ICRW Director Geeta Rao Gupta.  

Together, in collaboration with additional partners throughout the world, we examine the “social drivers” of HIV/AIDS—the underlying social, political, and cultural injustices that allow AIDS to thrive in certain areas of the world. These vulnerabilities include gender inequity, economic marginalization, stigma and discrimination—all things that fuel the spread of AIDS and other health crises. The group endeavors to understand the social changes brought about by the impacts of HIV/AIDS on societies. At the same time, it looks at the potential of positive social change to redress inequalities and imbalances in power to slow the pace of the epidemic and mitigate its negative impacts. 

UNAIDS Executive Director Visits IDCE
Clark’s role in aids2031 evolved following Dr. Peter Piot’s visit to Clark campus in September 2006. Dr. Piot is the UNAIDS Executive Director and Undersecretary General of the United Nations and recipient of an honorary doctorate from Clark University at Commencement 2007. Piot delivered a Clark Talk on Global Health and Social Justice, “AIDS: From Exposing to Overcoming Injustices,” which was co-sponsored by the President’s Office and IDCE.
Read Peter Piot's speech delivered to the Clark University community on September 16, 2006.

aids2031 & IDCE
Within the last year, members of Clark University have been involved with building aids2031 energy, knowledge, and public presence. This project helped to launch Clark’s thematic investigation of Global Health and Social Justice. Over the course of the 2006-07 academic year, Clark hosted a series of talks and presentations related to the topic. Then, over summer 2007, Clark hosted two Social Driver Group meetings on campus: on May 15-16, and June 19-20, 2007.  These meetings involved multiple partners from all over the world.

In fall 2007, a team of multi-disciplinary IDCE faculty taught a graduate level research seminar on aids2031, which explored various aspects of HIV/AIDS. During the course of the project, we expect that IDCE faculty and students will have the opportunity to contribute to the project through additional courses, events, and practice-oriented research.