What is DREAM | DREAM centres | DREAM figures | The campaigners’ association | PHOTOS AND VIDEOS

During the International Conference the press will provide data, tables, stories and updates on the state of the fight against AIDS in Africa and in the South of the world. Africans and people from all over the world who are responsible for the policies of the fight against AIDS will be present. The results of the programme that has achieved the greatest results at an international level in contrasting the pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa will be provided.

At the end of the morning the public and the press will be presented with the agreement, which will be officially signed, to lower the costs of the molecular biology clinical tests regarding the study of viral resistance to the drugs, which are essential tests that make it possible for the patients who have been in treatment for years to be treated successfully. The agreement also makes it possible to extend the therapy, at a compatible cost, to the whole of the African continent and the South of the world.

Programme

At 9.00
Chairmen

Marco Impagliazzo – President, Community of Sant’Egidio
Mario Marazziti – Community of Sant’Egidio

Opening remarks

Franco Pasquali – General Secretary – Coldiretti
Vincenzo Paglia – Bishop of Terni, Narni, Amelia
Livia Turco – Health Minister of Italian Republic
Patrizia Sentinelli – Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs (Italy)
Corrado Passera – Chief Executive Officer –“Intesa Sanpaolo”
Kevin De Cock – Director of the WHO Department of HIV/AIDS

Presentations

Maria Cristina Marazzi, Leonardo Palombi – DREAM Programme - Community of Sant’EgidioSant’Egidio
Karin Nielsen – Department of Pediatrics, Infectious Diseases, UCLA – Los Angeles
Percina Jorge Quefane Nassone – “Mulheres para o DREAM”

Scheduled presentations

Joy Phumaphi – Vice President and Network Head, Human Development – World Bank
Marie Odile Waty – Responsible of Health Division, AFD, France
Stefano Vella – Director Drug Department – Italian National Institute of Health
Brian Thompson – Nutrition Program officer – FAO
Sangare Maimouna Bah – Minister of Health, Guinea Conakry

Conclusions

The following Health Ministers, or their Representatives, will attend the Conference:

Angola, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, CRA, Chad, Congo Brazzaville, Ivory Cost, Gabon, Guinea Bissau, Guinea Conakry, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mozambique, Nigeria, RDC, Senegal, Tanzania, Togo, Uganda.

The signature of the agreement between the DREAM Project and SIEMENS for using laboratories in Africa to determine the viral genotype and viral resistance, makes DREAM one of the first experiences in Africa in the field of advanced diagnostics.

The agreement between SIEMENS and the Community of Sant’Egidio intends to create permanent structures in Africa, where it is possible to monitor the progress of the cure.

We are still far from the real request for treatment that Africa expresses in terms of coverage in the fight against the disease. At the same time in Africa the largest group in the world is being formed of people in therapy with antiretroviral drugs.

The objection to the use of the viral load, because it is too expensive, loses validity faced with the large number of patients: when the market opens the prices fall visibly and become available, which is what happened through the previous agreement between DREAM and BAYER SIEMENS.

The vial load analysis is the only instrument able to immediately understand when the organism is creating resistance and therefore makes it possible to modify the therapy in time and at the same time maintain the effectiveness of the drugs, thus avoiding full therapeutic failure.

Piazza di S. Egidio, 3/a - 00153 ROMA - Tel +39.585661 - Fax +39.58566331
www.santegidio.org - Email com@santegidio.org