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Abstract
Dissemination of findings about the HIV epidemic at international conferences has been dominated by researchers from developed countries working in well-resourced and supported institutions. This has led to exclusionary practices where community healthcare workers and practitioners working in under-resourced contexts have had limited opportunities to share their own experiences. A low focus on research in their working contexts and lack of capacity to produce ‘acceptable’ research for dissemination at international audiences have exacerbated the exclusion. This article describes how early career researchers and abstract submitters in resource-limited developing countries, particularly in Africa, received online help from experienced volunteer mentors in the Abstract Mentor Programme (AMP), enabling them to share their work at international conferences on the issues of preventing and managing HIV and AIDS.
Acknowledgements
The author who, as the coordinator of education and professional development for the International AIDS Society, led this project, thanks all International AIDS Society staff who participated in the programme review, design, implementation, monitoring, and evaluation – Emily Blitz, Shirin Heidari, Helena Mansson, Joris Bruchet, Helen von Dadelszen, Annabelle Jolivalt, Laetitia Leinart, Nadia Kharoua, and Betsy Muia. Thanks are also due to the Coalition for Children Affected by AIDS for providing the abstract writing toolkit, and the mentors who volunteered their time to review and provide feedback to the abstract submitters for the AIDS 2008, IAS Citation2009, and AIDS 2010 conferences. This article contains the views of the author only and does not represent the decisions or the stated policies of the International AIDS Society.