Dr. Pagwesse Pavirenyatwa
The Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA) has held its first International Steering Committee meeting to kick start preparations for the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), scheduled to take place in Accra, Ghana next year.
The two-day meeting afforded participants the platform to deliberate and select an appropriate ICASA 2025 logo, finalise ICASA 2025 theme and objectives, agree on the key dates and road map, and review ICASA abstract titles and sub-titles.
The meeting, attended by representatives of 25 member countries also identified the best strategy for resource mobilisation, ratify the marketing and communication strategy for ICASA 2025, and propose ICASA 2025 draft plenary session topics and speakers.
President of the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa, Dr. Pagwesse Pavirenyatwa, speaking with the media on the sidelines called for increased domestic funding for the health sector.
“What we have always said as Society for AIDS in Africa is that our dependence on external support is dwindling and it is our duty now as African governments and as organisations on the African continent to be able to look at resources within our own African countries and being able to mobilise those resources towards the health system. And therefore, if we can do that effectively, we’ll look at diseases like HIV as diseases of the past by 2030,” he suggested.
According to Dr Pavirenvatwa, “If we continue looking outside our continent, we’ll therefore depend on the agenda of those who are donating aid to us. So, I think it’s high time that Africa just wakes up and takes its own resources, diamonds, gold, oil and invest it into the health systems of their own countries.
Director General of the Ghana AIDS Commission, Dr. Atuahene Kyeremeh said 44,000 cases have been newly diagnosed between January to September, 2024, with the youth recording the highest cases adding that ICASA 2025 will have a special focus on the youth.
“A special session on young people and the programme for the special session will be developed with active involvement of young people between the ages of 15 and 24. So young people are very critical, and we prioritise all the issues about them, and we make sure that the programme actually addresses the needs of young people so far as health issues are concerned,” he said.
Touching on the readiness to host ICASA 2025, Dr. Kyeremeh said, “the Commission is ever ready and well prepared to host the conference. We are already setting up a national planning committee in conjunction with the organizers and so they will be driving all the activities in terms of planning.”
A Daily Guide Report
