Background: I realise it is very very late in the game, but I would like to find support to cover the upcoming South African AIDS Conference in Durban South Africa.
Reasons for covering the meeting: This is an important regional meeting that takes place every two years near the eye of the storm for the HIV epidemic. South Africa has the largest burden of HIV, the largest ART programme in the world, and the global HIV community has much to learn from how South African’s are responding to the challenges scaling up to universal access. Note: I realise there are local writers who will be covering the meeting (at much less cost), but I believe my track record of covering this meeting in the past (as evidenced by my work with HIV and AIDS Treatment in Practice (http://www.aidsmap.com/HATIP-178-July-1st-2011/page/1856368/ and http://www.aidsmap.com/HATIP-179-July-14th-2011/page/1878808/) and placing South Africa’s work in a global context, justify my attending the meeting.
As an added bonus, if I can make it to South Africa, I already have a flight from Johannesburg to Kuala Lumpur, where I will be able to cover IAS 2013 (see Project#2).
A concern that I have however, is that, because of the short time between the two meetings, the South African conference may not receive the in depth coverage that it deserves, and so I would ask for the time to do so properly.
Date of the conference: 18-21 June, 2013
Conference website: http://www.saaids.co.za/
Costs Involved:
1) Expenses:
Transport: ~$2400 flights
Hotel & per diem: ~4 x $150 = $600
2) Production costs:
Time writing articles/report $2000
Total amount sought: $5000*
Deliverables: At least 6000 words of news articles, analysis, and interviews, published here or freely on another news site, with all materials submitted by 26 July, 2013
Ways to support this project:
1) Contact the writer if you are a publisher wishing to license this work
and/or
2) Contact the writer with pledges to support the project. Pledges will only be accepted if the expenses and at least half of the production costs are met.
*Or amount to be negotiated with to another HIV-related website or publisher willing to license and publish the material).