Proceedings from the Third USAID HIV / AIDS Prevention Conference August 7-9 1995 Washington D.C.

In August 1995 in Washington D.C. 750 people from 52 developed and developing countries participated in the Third USAID HIV/AIDS Prevention Conference to share lessons learned about HIV-related interventions. The eight central themes were: prevention and care; protecting respecting and strengthening human rights; pros and cons of merging HIV and/or STD (sexually transmitted disease) services into other health and family planning services; measurement of HIV/AIDS interventions; community participation and sustainability; building bridges among communities to introduce new HIV/STD products; HIV counseling for behavior change; and behavior change communication. These themes served as the basis for the eight roundtable sessions. The oral sessions revolved around issues cutting across the prevention and care continuum communities and the context of interventions and specific strategies and components of behavior change. Speakers were from the US government international organizations nongovernmental organizations and private voluntary organizations. Nine themes emerged from the three-day conference. One of these themes was that decision makers policy planners donors and the public must better understand how prevention interventions depend on effective national HIV/AIDS policies. Another one of these themes was that persons affected by HIV/AIDS have inalienable human rights thus a core of basic ethical principles must form the basis of all policies programs and interventions. The report of this conference provides summaries of the roundtable and oral sessions the agenda list of roundtable and conference participants roster of oral sessions and an appendix containing abstracts of the oral sessions.