August 23, 2011
Dear Advocates,
AVAC, in collaboration with the
International Rectal Microbicide Advocates
(IRMA) is pleased to announce a call for
scholarship applications to attend a strategy
meeting of Project ARM (Africa for Rectal
Microbicides).
Project ARM was formed in 2010 to convene
and mobilize rectal microbicide advocates in
Africa. The strategy meeting will take place
2-3 December in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Up to 30
Africa-based advocates will receive a full
scholarship to attend the meeting. The
scholarship covers all costs associated with
attendance at the ARM meeting only. The meeting
is an official satellite session of the 16th
International Conference on AIDS and STIs in
Africa (ICASA), 4-8 December.
Click
here to download the
application.
Completed scholarship applications
should be submitted by 15 September to
Marc-André LeBlanc, IRMA Secretary, at maleblanc27@yahoo.ca.
To learn more about this issue,
please join the webinar, “Does Africa
Need a Rectal Microbicide?” on Tuesday, 27
September at 10am New York / 4pm Johannesburg /
5pm Nairobi and Addis. Leading South
African researcher and CAPRISA principal
investigator Salim Abdool Karim will join AVAC
and IRMA to participate in this interactive
webinar, which will also provide background on
Project ARM.
Click
here to register for the
webinar.
More information on Project
ARM
Project ARM is a newly launched, long-term
project aiming to develop community capacity
around rectal microbicide advocacy in Africa.
The project was created to help ensure broad
participation in research activities and
well-informed community input into the
development of an African rectal microbicide
agenda. The first year of project funding is
provided by the Office of AIDS Research of the
United States National Institutes of Health and
the New Venture Fund. This support goes
directly to the ARM strategy meeting and its
follow-up, where an agenda will be developed to
achieve the end goal of enhanced rectal
microbicide advocacy in Africa, as well as the
planning and implementation of trials and the
eventual rollout of rectal microbicides on the
continent. Project ARM is coordinated by IRMA,
in partnership with AVAC.
ARM Meeting
The objectives of the December strategy meeting
are:
- To promote a common understanding of how
rectal microbicide research and advocacy is
proceeding, the potential role that African
research and advocacy could play, and the
various African contexts within which rectal
microbicides would be introduced
- To enhance the capacity of African
community advocates participating in
agenda-setting, research and mobilization
efforts
- To stimulate strategies for African
community mobilization around rectal
microbicides; to put rectal microbicides on the
research agenda in Africa; and, to develop an
African rectal microbicide research agenda,
with ongoing support from ARM, that is part of
a global rectal microbicide research
agenda
As always, we look forward to your
engagement.
Best,
AVAC
