The Middle East and North Africa Harm Reduction Association (MENAHRA) and The Regional Arab Network Agianst Aids (RANAA) conducted a meeting for the MENA Civil Sociaty Organizations (CSO’s) Position Statement on HIV/AIDS with the support of UNAIDS MENA to claim a unified position for Middle East and North Africa for HIV and harm reduction. The meeting took place in Beirut, on 1 April 2016 in Padova Hotel and was attended by representatives of national/regional network including CSO’s, Key Populations (KPs) and People Living with HIV (PLHIV).
This meeting came in the context of the preparation for the participation of civil society organizations whom will be heard by the United Nations hearing session on April 6 2016 and the high-level meeting on HIV, which will be held in New York in June 2016, during which will be concluded to issue a universal declaration for the coming years about the virus.
The statement aims to unite the voice of CSO’s and KP’s in the region, in addition to the positioning of the Middle East and North Africa in terms of their Specificities and needs to be included within the Universal Declaration of the United Nations.
This meeting comes following to the consultation organized by MENAHRA and RANAA in the support of the Joint United Nations Programme on AIDS, where the representatives of civil society organizations, Key Populations, regional/national people living with HIV and youth representatives discussed the main challenges facing the region in addition to the needs that were listed during the listening session.
