The 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP) was held at Bali, Indonesia from the 9th- 13th August, 2009. The main theme of the Conference was “Empowering People and Strengthening Networks”. This year too, APACHA team had been proactively engaged with the ICAAP team on various grounds from the very beginning to strengthen solidarity between APACHA and ICAAP. At the initial stages, APACHA members were engaged as a part of the Abstract Review Team.

On 11th August, APACHA in collaboration with Actionaid International hosted a Satellite Session on “Need of Social Movement and Multi-sectoral Approach to end AIDS in Asia.” The meeting was chaired by Mr. Mohammad Abdus Sabur from Asian Muslim Action Network (AMAN) Bangkok. Dr. Joe Thomas, Chair of APACHA presented how APACHA has been engaged with different sectors and Christy Abraham from Actionaid India presented a paper on the Global Citizens Summit held at Kenya. During the Satellite session, representatives from APACHA country chapters Dr. Noor Ul Rafiq from Pakistan, Dr. Ashok Rau from India and Mr. Kamal Hassan from Bangladesh shared their experiences on how they have been able to bring different organizations together for a common interest and how they formed APACHA country chapters.

Speakers at the APACHA Satellite Session

Solidarity Launched

APACHA Stall

During the satellite session, APACHA newsletter Solidarity was formally launched by the Chief Guest Kuntal Krishna, a Political Leader (National Students Union) of India together with Lt. General (Retired Bhopinder Singh, President of MAITRI of India. This issue focuses on APACHA’s activities, statements and a brief insight on how APACHA is engaged with diverse sectors and platforms which we believe is a milestone for us.

APACHA and Actionaid jointly managed an exhibition stall which aimed to create a space for all the APACHA members to meet and discuss. Stall was open to all its members to display their banners, IEC materials, posters and pamphlets. The Solidarity newsletter, hard copy as well as copies in CD along with the APACHA pamphlets were also distributed.

Capitalizing the presence of some of the key members of APACHA Board, a meeting of the Executive Board was also held in Bali itself to discuss on some key issues of APACHA. Our members have already expressed their interest to be a part of the team for the 10th ICAAP to be held at Busan, Korea.

Overall, the 9th ICAAP provided a strategic space for APACHA to maintain its visibility. APACHA will continue to explore, involve and engage at the regional, national and international forum.