Health professionals from African countries highly affected by HIV/AIDS can and must provide strong national and international leadership to promote sound HIV/AIDS funding, prevention, treatment and care policies.  They are at the center of the AIDS pandemic and response, and are uniquely positioned to work with People Living with AIDS (PLWA) to monitor, report, advocate, educate and lead national efforts to end the pandemic. In addition to direct involvement in clinical care, African health professionals can be critical resources to policymakers and donors to assure that decisions about resource commitments and the programs and policies that accompany them reflect the best knowledge of medicine, nursing and public health.

Participants discussing health rights issues:

Health professionals can also promote health, civil society empowerment, good governance and human rights by ensuring that citizens have a voice in how their government is run and how policies are formulated and enforced, all within a human rights framework. By virtue of their skills, expertise, education, and social capital, health workers have incredible potential to both influence health policy and build a movement that holds governments and donors accountable for policies, programs and funding in the health sector and beyond.