SAHARA's 4-day conference from 30 November - 3 December 2009 at Gallagher Estate in Midrand, Gauteng province, South Africa went off like a well-oiled machine.

The conference was held in collaboration with major partners including the HSRC, the UNFPA, UNAIDS, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, CDC PEPFAR and UNDP.

The 2007 SAHARA conference held in Kisumu, Kenya highlighted the fact that there are vastly different opinions on issues such as male circumcision and homosexuality. The 2009 conference thus had the theme “socio-cultural responses to HIV” in order to explore these controversies.

The SAHARA network succeeded in drawing over 400 conference goers despite competing with the many World AIDS Day commemorations all over the country. Participants came from countries as far as India, Pakistan, the USA, Germany, and Australia, and from 26 African countries, including Uganda, Togo, Ghana, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, Senegal, Gambia, Ethiopia and Kenya. The conference was chaired by Prof. Geoffrey Setswe, of the SAHA research programme at the HSRC.

Why this conference?

The SAHARA conference has a very specific focus, the social aspects of HIV – that is the social and cultural aspects of the epidemic (as opposed to the bio-medical ones).

An important feature of the conference is its strong Africa focus. So often, Africa is analysed and spoken about by people outside the continent. A real effort is made to provide a forum for African voices, and for local responses to be highlighted.

The networking opportunities at this conference are thus unique in that it provides a platform for African scholars to interact.

Highlights

Highlights of the conference followed up on some of the burning issues raised for the first time at previous SAHARA conferences, namely male circumcision. Barely two years later, several countries have started rolling out a programme of male circumcision as part of a package of preventative measures.

Other highlights were presentations on the conflict between scientific discourse and cultural traditions and the need to identify cultural practices that might be beneficial o HIV prevention. Prof. Cheick Niang of Senegal pointed out that the cultural interpretation of HIV was more complicated than generally assumed as culture plays an important role.