Luis Davila's Blog

sharing thoughts on life, change and innovation…

International AIDS Conference 2008 – Mexico City Day 1!

Today I attended a few sessions at the IAC 2008. The first one was a plenary discussing the different approaches to HIV/AIDS. It was very informative!

I then spent a lot of time at the conference’s Global Village. This is a huge exhibition space where a multitude of community-based organizations are sharing their experiences working with HIV/AIDS and organizing a lot of participatory activities.

I also participated in a session on how young people are using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to battle the pandemic. I’ll share some videos from this session soon.

Following this last session, I went to an event focusing on the linkage between migration and HIV/AIDS. I thought it was just going to address migration from Mexico and Central America to the US, but the conversation was much richer and included presentations on migration issues in Asia and Africa.

I ended the day with a session on the pandemic’s future. It was run by an initiative called aids2031 which is trying to create a framework for addressing HIV/AIDS in a more sustainable long-term manner.

I’ll keep reporting!

Posted by davilalu on August 6, 2008 | Posted in hiv/aids, young people, youth, youth engagement | 3 Comments

Youth Pre-Conference at Mexico International AIDS Conference

From July 31 to August 2, I was part of a youth pre-conference to the International AIDS Conference. It was great! I hung out with 200+ young people from around the world working on HIV/AIDS-related projects. The conference provided some preparation for the actual International AIDS Conference, which started last night. I helped organize the last youth pre-conference in Toronto, but feel that this one was better in many ways.
I taped some of the content from the pre-conference and hope to add it to some footage from the main conference and share it with everyone soon!

Posted by davilalu on August 5, 2008 | Posted in young people, youth, youth engagement | 1 Comment

Obama and young Latinos

Wow! Obama won Wisconsin! Now he is off to concentrating in Texas and Ohio. I think that in Ohio the key group is going to be blue collar workers, who are hurting with the current economic outlook. In Texas, however, I think that the Latino youth vote is going to play a significant role in determining who wins. 
Based on previous contests in states heavily populated by Latinos such as New York and California, Hillary seems to have an edge. However, I think that in the case of Texas the election is not going to be based on identity politics, but instead it is going to be a big generational rift. I am a strong believer that Obama gains support from young people after they get a chance to interact with him, but also when they realize how close he is to their concerns and issues.

This is a candidate who is not afraid to call on young people to make some sacrifices, to get involved in their communities, to stop with the same old politicking of always.This guy actually says let’s stop with the political crap and get things done! Young people relate to this! As we can see day after day, young people are becoming more involved in their communities, are volunteering more, and are creating social enterprises that foster the power of ideas to benefit marginalized communities. 

For all of this, I am convinced that Obama will continue to motivate young people, especially Latino youth in Texas who are eager to turn the page, continue their engagement to social change, and finally say: yes we can! 

Posted by davilalu on February 20, 2008 | Posted in latino youth, obama, youth, youth engagement | 1 Comment