MENACAB 2021 – 2022 REPORT : TREATMENT ACCESS IN TIME OF PANDEMICS
Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, Community Advisory Boards (CABs) constituted an effective tool to link communities as real partners with researchers and drug manufacturers; educate people living with HIV and their advocates, disseminate information about research and drug development, and to discuss access strategies.
The first meeting of MENACAB took place in 2014. Today, the CAB is hosted by ITPC-MENA and run by a new steering committee appointed in 2017.
The objectives of the MENACAB are to:
- Improve access to strategic information for people living with HIV and/or HCV to equip them to advocate for Universal Access at the country and the MENA regional level.
- Develop and strengthen a network of treatment advocates.
- Provide expert training on current treatment issues and opportunities to meet with doctors, researchers, and pharmaceutical companies for effective
In December 2021 two first MENACAB sessions were held online with participants to accommodate current circumstances and travel restrictions put in place by many countries due to the pandemic. The meeting with pharmaceutical companies took place 6 months later in face to face in Marrakech Morocco from 13th to 15th June 2022.
