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African Working Group
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Who are we?
The Working Group started in 2004, as part of the UK Campaign for Microbicides.
We are a group of individuals from different HIV organisations in the UK working to accelerate the ethical development and global delivery of microbicides and other HIV prevention options.
We demonstrate the unique role that diaspora groups can play in microbicides advocacy.
More details about the members and activities of the working group can be found on the AHPN website.
What do we do?
We inform ourselves, engage with scientists, educate others using campaign materials, work with the media, develop policy responses and make our voices heard!!!
Our diary of events!
We’re an active working group. Below are some of the things we have achieved. We’re happy to share our experiences and the lessons we have learnt from doing microbicides education and advocacy. If you’ld like to get in touch, please email Mariama Kamara
Here is our diary of events with captions from the members of the working group. We begin with the latest events…
1 October 2008
Our second buzz café focused on 
youth leadership in HIV prevention. Sara Piot, Grant Manager at MTV Staying Alive, shared information about the projects they are supporting globally. These projects involve high profile individuals such as Kelly Rowland and others focus on youth leaders planning, implementing and monitoring their own projects within community settings.
‘Large media campaigns that raise awareness of HIV must be complimented with health promotion at community level. Young people clearly must contribute to developing relevant HIV prevention strategies and messages.’ Toju
3 July 2008
We held our first buzz café with Anne Philpott from the Pleasure Project. We discussed social marketing strategies for HIV prevention technologies and had the opportunity to all try to ‘sell’ products.
‘Discussing how male and female condoms are marketed is important as we think ahead for microbicides. What will we call it? How do we make microbicides sexy and appealing? Would this help with future uptake?’ Mary
24 – 27 February 2008
At the International Microbicides Conference 2008 in New Delhi, Toju, Sarah, Eunice and Georgina participated in sessions in the different tracks - Basic Science, Clinical, Social Science, and Community and Advocacy. We did lots of other things including:
- presenting posters;
Lessons Learned from Engaging African Diaspora Communities in Microbicides Advocacy 
HIV-Science in Action - Building Bridges between Science & the Community
- Eunice co-chaired a roundtable discussion on the role of HIV positive women;
- Sarah, Toju and Georgina led a discussion on building national strategies, where we shared our experience and learning from the UK Campaign;
- volunteered at the 'Advocates Corner' where we responded to questions about different advocacy groups and assisted with the logistics at the advocates corner;
- held a meeting with Dr. Chidi Nweneka and Morenike Ukpong from the African Microbicides Advocacy Group (AMAG) to discuss collaboration between the African Working Group and AMAG;
- wrote a UK Campaign blog highlighting some of the issues raised at the conference http://www.aidsportal.org/Messages.aspx?ID=71
We also contributed to a UK Campaign feedback session, which was chaired by Angelina. Over 30 people participated and feedback suggests the session was informative and the format was accessible.
19 September 2007
Our Working Group collaborated with scientists at St. George’s University to do a documentary for the BBC Inside Out [London] programme. The collaboration with the scientists was such an exciting experience for us. We can now visualise the equipment they use and we can understand the complexity of the science and why it is taking so long to develop microbicides. We didn't realise it at the time, but we later learnt that we inspired the scientists and encouraged them in their work.
The documentary is available on the YouTube www.youtube.com/user/HIVScienceInAction We also took a lot of photos when we visited the scientists at the labs, when the scientists visited us at Positively Women, and then at an event we organised at the National Gallery to celebrate our collaboration http://www.flickr.com/photos/13813795@N07/
Here was our little ad for the documentary…
Tune in to BBC London Inside Out tomorrow to see how our call for more HIV prevention options for women is being broadcast across the capital!
The new series of the regional news show is opening with a film capturing what happened when members of the UK African Microbicides Working Group met scientists at the cutting edge of HIV research.
The BBC spent four days following Angelina Namiba, Winnie Ssanyu Sseruma and Yvonne Feare and other members of the Working Group as they visited the laboratories of St George’s, University of London to observe how microbicide gels are being developed there - and invited scientists into the community to see them in action.
Expect fresh insights, feisty opinions and a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how the next generation of HIV prevention products are being developed in the show, which is screened tomorrow (September 19) on BBC1 [London region only] at 7.30pm.
21 June 2007
Angelina, Toju, Rhon, Rebekah and Georgina went up to Edinburgh and supported HIV Scotland by organising some of the key speakers, facilitating the workshops and helping out with some of the logistics at the ‘Sisters are doing it for themselves’ conference. The conference was chaired by Susan Deacon (former Scottish Minister of Health). The keynote was delivered by the current Minister of Health Rhona Brankin. Mukami McCrum, Director of the Central Scotland Racial Equality Council, gave a brilliant presentation to set the context about women and human rights. Robin Shattock and Saul Walker gave presentations specifically on microbicides research and development. Eunice from HIV Scotland will be participating in our working group meetings and activities.
‘All in all, it was a successful conference. HIV Scotland really did very well to get the minister on board and talking about microbicides. The conference also generated some press. There was an article in The Herald and on the day, Angelina was interviewed by BBC Scotland. It was a great start to advocating for microbicides in Scotland!’ Rhon
17 May 2007
Yvonne, Angelina, Badru, Toju, Wanjiku and Georgina went to St. Georges to visit the labs where Dr. Robin Shattock and his team are undertaking pre-clinical work. Dr. Shattock organised for his team (about 25 people) to meet with us to learn what we do and he said that they found it useful because they do not often know about the advocacy that is happening on the field and the kinds of questions that are being asked by African communities. Dr. Shattock gave a presentation about the science of microbicides. During the tour of the labs, we saw the equipment they use to analyse cells, to keep cells healthy for use in testing, to test the effectiveness of products in preventing the replication of cells…it was certainly a start in helping us to begin understanding what scientists are working on in labs. Dr. Shattock said that if we ever wanted any questions answered, or to visit the labs again, then we should let him know. His team were really willing to share their experiences and knowledge.
10 May 2007
We organised an event with students from the Student Stop AIDS Campaign at King’s College University. Dr. Sheena McCormack gave a talk about the research and development of microbicides. Rebekah and Arwa from the Global Campaign led us in an exercise about the ethics of the trials.
‘We had intense debates about the ethics of trials. This is important as the rights of people involved in trials must be protected. We need to continue improving ethical standards and procedures in trials in partnership with affected communities.’ Georgina
23- 26 April 2006
Lydia and Angelina attended the Microbicides 2006 conference in Cape Town, South Africa. Both said that it was a very busy event, with a large number of workshops and presentations taking place. About 1300 people attended the conference.
‘It is very encouraging to hear that so many people are dedicated to making microbicides a reality and to ensuring that the process of carrying out the research for microbicides is as ethical as possible and involves community participation. It would be good if the Working Group strengthens its links with microbicides advocates in Africa.’ Lydia
March 2006
We held our first ‘Information Day’. The evaluation forms suggest that it was a successful awareness-raising event. 36 people attended the seminar; and Angelina, Saul Walker, Lydia and Arwa Meijer provided introductory presentations about the research and development of microbicides. Click here for the seminar report!