Intellectual Property Week -Kenya 22nd-25th April 2013

Twelve years ago, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) created the “World Intellectual Property (IP) Day” as an event intended to “raise awareness of the role of intellectual property in our daily lives, and to celebrate the contribution made by innovators and creators to the development of societies across the globe”.

The Aids Law Project (ALP) have lined a number of interesting events to mark World IP Day 2013:
On Thursday 25th April 2013, you are invited to Strathmore University (Room 7 -MSB Building, 2nd Floor):

9:00-9:30:
Welcome Address by Jacinta Nyachae of Aids Law Project (ALP) & Isaac Rutenberg of Strathmore Law School Centre for IP and Information Technology Law (CIPIT)
9:30-10:00:
Key Note Address by. Mr. David Njuguna, Chief Patent Examiner at Kenya Industrial Property Institute (KIPI).
10:00-11:00:
Inter-university IP Debate
Debate Topic: “How do the Novartis and Patricia Asero court decisions affect public health in developing countries”
Moderators: Paul Ogendi, Sarah Ochwada
11:00-12:00:
Closing Remarks – Anne Gathumbi
On Friday 26th April 2013, you are all invited to Railways Club for a World IP Day Picnic organised by ALP:
9:00-9:30:
Arrival and Registration
9:00-9:30:
Welcome Address by Jacinta Nyachae of Aids Law Project (ALP)
9:30-9:45:
Brief of the activities of the day by Kate Kiama (ALP)
10:00-12:00:
Games and Activities
12:00-12:30:
Snacks and Q & A
12:30-12:45:
Closing Remarks and Award Ceremony

All are invited. Please spread the word!

HIV & AIDS in the Kenyan Context

Before I started working at the Aids Law Project-Kenya; a non-governmental organization which works exclusively to promote equal rights and justice for people living with HIV and AIDS; I thought I knew all there was to HIV & AIDS. Like many people, I rightfully knew that the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV )can lead to the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome(AIDS).I knew the common modes of transmission of the virus and of course the familiar methods of prevention of the same. I also had a vague idea on what ARVs are but did not know for certain the combinations or even the most common drug names. Neither did I have a precise knowledge of the talk of CD4 counts nor option B+ or even viral loads….

The Aids Law Project (ALP) focuses on using legal strategies to advance health rights for people living with and affected by HIV and AIDS.As such, I had to bring myself to speed with the facts, figures and terminology used around issues to do with the pandemic and more so in the Kenyan milieu.

Kenyan’s HIV epidemic has been categorized as being generalized-this means that the disease affects all sectors of the population. It is of paramount importance to note that the HIV prevalence rate tends to differ according to location, gender and age. In a nationwide survey conducted in 2003, a quarter of women aged between 12 and 24 had lost their virginity through force. These statistics translate to the prevalence of HIV among women being twice as high as that of men at 8% and 4.3% respectively. This means that young women in Kenya aged between 15-24 are four times more likely to be infected with HIV than men of the same age. Adult HIV prevalence in urban to rural areas is at 8.4% to 6.7% respectively. However 75% of the Kenyan population lives in rural areas; therefore the number of people living with HIV is higher in rural settings at approximately 1 million adults as compared to 0.4 million adults in the urban settings.

Experts are confident and hopeful that HIV in Kenya can be a generation disease by the turn of the next decade. This means that new infection rates will decrease significantly. This looks very possible if we adopt the treatment for prevention strategy quickly countrywide. The aims of the approach is to get all patients with CD4 count below 500 on treatment immediately.ARVs will also be issued to all discordant couples, pregnant HIV mothers and most at risk populations regardless of their CD4 count. Costs, funding and sustainability of the projects are the most pressing challenges to getting this very realistic goal done but we must not lose sight nor hope especially in regards to recent precedent set by the Indian Supreme Court and the Patricia Asero case (Kenya )which address issues to do with access to medicine, patent and Intellectual property issues, compulsory licensing and generic medication. There is also a flicker of light at the end of the tunnel with the current pre-license qualification that has been issued to Universal Corporation a local company that may soon be making ARVs for the local and regional demand.

 

 

I DON'T WAIT ANYMORE ...

 Adopted by http://gracefortheroad.com/2012/02/03/idontwait/
  
When I was 16, I got a purity ring.

And when I was 25, I took it off.

I didn’t tell anyone I was doing it — it wasn’t a statement or an emotional thing. I just slipped it off my finger that day and, before tucking it away in a box, ran my finger around the words on the familiar gold band.
“True Love Waits.” Waits.
What’s it “waiting” for, anyway?
*****

I had my reasons for deciding not to wear it anymore. Other people might have other reasons. It’s a graveyard of hearts, this place where single church girls crash into their late 20s and early 30s. Churches see the symptoms. They scramble to reach out to the ever-growing young adult singles crowd who feels alienated by family-oriented services.

But there’s something bigger behind it than that.
Much bigger.

There are a lot of girls out there who don’t know who God is anymore – the God of their youth group years just isn’t working out. Back then, that God said to wait for sex until they are married, until He brings the right man along for a husband. They signed a card and put it on the altar and pledged to wait.
And wait they did.
*****

And waited and waited and waited.

Some of them have prayed their whole lives for a husband, and he hasn’t shown up. They’ve heard the advice to “be the woman God made you to be, focus on that, and then the husband will come.” They’ve read “Lady in Waiting,” gotten super involved in church and honed their domestic skills.

And still they wait.

More than a decade ago, a youth leader handed them a photocopied poem in Sunday School written to them from “God” that said, “The reason you don’t have anyone yet is because you’re not fully satisfied in Me. You have to be satisfied with Me and then when you least expect it, I’ll bring you the person I meant for you.”
And the girls see it posted on their bulletin boards from time to time.

“You’re right, God,” they say. “We’re not satisfied in you yet. We will put you first and then you can bring us a husband in your timing.”

But many of them – if they’re honest – will tell you that time has passed, and it’s wrecking their view of God.
If this is who God’s supposed to be, then He’s tragically late.
So some decide to chuck “Lady in Waiting” out the window … and possibly their virginity with it. Church goes next. God might go next, too. If He doesn’t answer these prayers after they’ve held up their end of the bargain, why would He answer any others?

Whether it was the fault of the leaders, the fault of us girls, or both, a tragedy happened back then.
A lot of girls were sold on a deal and not on a Savior.
*****

I had that poem on my bulletin board all through high school – the one where “God” was telling me to fall in love with Him first and then I would be able to fall in love with a husband later.
Who wrote that poem anyway?
Pretty sure it wasn’t God.

When Jesus was here on the earth, the crowds would follow Him because they saw He gave good things. But that’s not what He wanted. He wanted their hearts for Himself. So He would turn to them and say things like, “If you don’t love Me so much that every other relationship in your life looks like hate by comparison, you can’t follow Me.” (Matthew 10:34-39, paraphrase)

That sounds a lot different from the poem.

Christ is the source of everything we need and the giver of all good gifts … but in telling people about Him, it’s possible we’ve sold them on a solution for life’s problems and not life itself.

What if we as girls had learned early on that having Him was everything, not a means to the life we think He would want us to have.
If we had learned we don’t abstain from sex because we’re “waiting.” We abstain because we love Him.
If I’d had on my bulletin board, “Fall in love with Jesus.” That’s it. Bottom line. That’s everything you need to know, to work toward, to put your hope in.
If I’d learned who He is, what He wants, how to give Him everything, not “wait” so that one day I could give my everything to someone else.
If I’d learned that it’s not bad to pray for a husband, but that my greater prayer should be for Him to spend my life as He chooses for His glory.

If we as believers make that our message, things could be drastically different for a lot of girls wondering why the God they think they learned to follow doesn’t compute. It doesn’t necessarily stop the desire for a husband or end all feelings of loneliness, but it does show a God who provides, loves and gives infinite purpose even to our singleness rather than a God who categorically denies some who pray for husbands while seemingly giving freely to others.
It shows that while marriage is good, He is the greater goal.
*****

Don’t think I’ve done this perfectly.
I’d be deceiving you if you thought that. I’ve had relationships where I made major mistakes. I’ve gone through angst-ridden phases where I met with friends to plead together with God to bring us husbands. I’ve planned major life decisions around possibilities.

I lived like I was waiting for something.

And that’s why I slipped off my ring that day. It wasn’t that I wanted to sleep with people – I haven’t. It wasn’t a slap to True Love Waits, or to anyone who wears a purity ring – saving sex for marriage is good and is His design.
I just didn’t want to wait anymore – didn’t want to live like I was waiting on anyone to get here.
I already have Him … and He is everything.

“Follow Christ for His own sake, if you follow Him at all.” – J.C. Ryle

Apply for WSYA!

TAKE A CHANCE, SHOW WHAT YOU HAVE ACHIEVED AND BE HEARD

AND SEEN ON AN INTERNATIONAL STAGE !

To apply for the WSYA 2013 click HERE.

Important Information about WSYA Contest:

• The WSYA Contest is open to young people under 30 (born after January 1, 1983) coming from a UN Member State.
• Applicants must submit their projects within April and July 2013 in one of the following 6 categories:
  
• If you are coming from a EU Member state, your application will automatically be selected for the regional Award European Youth Award (www.eu-youthaward.org). The registration process for the EYA and WSYA is common, you only need to register your project once!
• All winners will be invited to the Winners´ Event . The date and location will be confirmed soon!

If you are are not sure what type of projects are eligible, have a look at the winning projects of the previous years for a better understanding of the outstanding e-content projects which can be submitted!

Don´t forget to click through the subcategories of this page to learn more about the award such as the contest rules, categories, timeline and much more.

Timeline 2013

April 8th > July 1st                   Call for Registration / Online Application

July > August                            Jury

October / November                 Winners´Event (Location TBC)