Working Groups

aids2031 partners are organized around nine key areas of work to examine a series of key questions. The outcome of each group's work will contribute to the final report, An Agenda for the Future.

The following questions, though not exhaustive, represent some of the questions being asked by the different working groups:

1. Modelling the Epidemic

Convener: Geoff Garnett, Imperial College, United Kingdom

What evidence is needed to understand the spread of the virus and how might this change as responses to the epidemic unfold?
What are the impacts of migration, internal disruption, urbanisation?
What are the impacts of HIV directly and indirectly on other diseases?
What will be the Impact of new prevention technologies and treatments?

2. Social Drivers

Co-conveners: William Fisher, Dept of International Development, Clark University, USA and Geeta Rao Gupta, International Center for Research on Women, USA.

What are the true underlining drivers of the epidemic?
What is the likely role of young people in a movement to mobilize change?
How are new communication technologies and new forms of trans-local and trans-national civil society networks pushing change on the one hand, and, on the other, refusing changes which are perceived to be imposed from “outside.”

3. Programmatic Response

Co-conveners: Michel Sidibe, Deputy Executive Director, UNAIDS, and Sigrun Mogedal, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway

What are the obstacles being faced in current AIDS programs?
Where have responses gone wrong? What are they missing?
What is working, and what will remain viable for the long term?
How can programs be better contextualized in the broader development agenda?
What are the current and possible future challenges?

4. Leadership

Co-conveners: Zackie Achmat, Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa and As Sy, UNAIDS

Who is really setting the agenda, formulating the focus areas and deciding on how/where the money is spent?
What kind of leadership will there be in the future? Who will be influencing the choice of investments/research development?
How can we foster new, longer term visions beyond the electoral cycle and stimulate sustainable, informed leadership – both locally and globally?

5. Financing

Convener: Callisto Madavo, Georgetown University; David de Ferranti, Brookings Institution; Robert Hecht, Results for Development Institute

What are the long-term resources required and how should they be distributed acros regions and countries? What are the most important cost drivers a the regional, national and local levels?
Are there certain "game-changers" that could dramatically affect the price tag for fightig AIDS? If so, what actions can we take today so that future resource needs are moderated downward?
How can we use the resources in the most effective manner and mitigate the social repercussions of the epidemic at the household, community and national levels?
What financing scenarios are most likely to be feasible and equitable? What shares of the burden should be borne by donors, developing countries, employers, households and others?
Are there new and innovative financing approaches and mechanisms that should be considered for the future? If so, how can they be put in place in a timely manner?

6. Science and Technology

Co-conveners: Mike Merson, Director, Duke University, Global Health Institute, and Chris Elias, Program for Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH)

What is in the pipeline and what will be the programmatic and financial implications?
How can local communities be more engaged in efficacy and effectiveness trials and in building demand for newly available interventions and technologies?
How can programs better anticipate and prepare for the introduction of new technologies and interventions?

Other working groups that will be taking a cross cutting look at the above issues through the lens of hyper-endemic areas, countries in rapid transition and a changing communication environment are:

7. Communication

Convener: Denise Gray-Felder, Communication for Social Change Consortium

How does communication about AIDS need to change?
What strategies can be harnessed to embed communication in the social and medical responses as we go forward?
What is the epidemiology telling us about the impact of AIDS and what can we learn from the epidemiology about the successes and failures of AIDS communication?
How can a communication response be developed that takes into account the deep-seated social determinants of health?
What role can new communication technologies play in the fight against AIDS as we move forward?
What are the challenges and opportunities to be taken into account with respect to the new communication technologies?

8. Hyper-endemic areas: A special look at Southern Africa

Convener: Achmat Dangor, Nelson Mandela Foundation

9. Countries in rapid transition

Co-Conveners: Myung-Hwan Cho, Konkuk University, Korea, and Prasada Rao, UNAIDS

The conveners of the above working groups constitute the steering committee for the aids2031 initiative, chaired by Stefano Bertozzi, National Institute of Public Health, Mexico. Peter Piot (UNAIDS), Robert Hemmer (Government of Luxembourg), and Todd Summers (Gates Foundation) have ex-officio seats on the steering committee. The aids2031 coordinator is Heidi Larson, Clark University (United States) and Harvard Center for Population and Development Studies. Clark University hosts the aids2031 coordinating unit, which also maintains offices in New York City.