NPR: Dispatch from Mexico: A Global Village

Dispatch from Mexico: A Global Village

A collection of German public health posters sprayed along walls is an example of the strong public relations efforts underway at the conference.

Douglas Hopper, NPR

Douglas Hopper, here. I'm blogging from the International AIDS Conference in Mexico City. I'll be bringing you more about what's taking place here - with 25,000 people from around the world, there's no shortage of things to mention.

Thanks, Michel.

Finally, I scored a computer with Internet access! I think the hundreds of journalists in this room are jamming up the connection. ... I suppose that's a good thing.

I just returned from the what's being branded as a Global Village. It's a huge space full of non-profits and advocacy groups attending the conference from around the world.

I'll admit I was first skeptical about whether there would actually be a diverse representation of organizations here. (And I sometimes cringe whenever the word "village" is used to describe an event, but I'd say it might be the right description in this case.)

Hundreds of cultures are represented at this gathering. The diversity in the crowd is overwhelming. There are organizations here that most of us know, like Act Up, formed in the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic. But I'm finding that most of the groups here are new to me.

An LGBT-rights organization in Kyrgyzstan?

Though they don't know it, but their group has become the symbol of everything I don't know about the world.

Nearly every group has its best posters and PR campaigns on display ... an explosion of public health messages. One of the most popular messages I've seen yet is on a bumper sticker made by a women's rights organization:

More Boobs in Public Spaces, Less Boobs in Public Office.

I'll have more later from the Global Village and from other sessions.

Next up: a session about HIV transmission along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Douglas Hopper

5:13 PM ET | 08- 5-2008 | permalink

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