Being an NGO delegate gave me a direct experience of global health diplomacy, where simple distinctions between policy and politics don’t apply. I had to quickly move from being the NGO outsider to finding myself very much part of reaching an agreement across significant divides: public health science, national and cultural interests, and a global rights-based approach to health, all within a context of intense multi-stakeholder lobbying and advocacy. Being an NGO delegate at the PCB is both exhilarating and exhausting. What makes it worthwhile is knowing that you are contributing even a little to ending AIDS and ensuring health for all. 

The most recent face-to-face meeting on the Inter-Agency Task Team (IATT) on addressing HIV in Humanitarian Emergencies began with the acknowledgement of a major challenge. Both the global development and HIV agendas are undergoing speedy changes at the very same time.

For the NGO report of 2014, the NGO Delegation has chosen the topic of how intellectual property (IP) regulations impact the access to HIV treatment and what role civil society plays in addressing IP barriers to essential treatment.