The [him] moderator posted a slide about Australian involvement in the HIV response in Myanmar. He received the following email.

The [him] moderator has posted the link to the entire presentation so that the slide can be seen in context. Here is the link for the entire presentation.

[him] moderator

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Oh dear, to be cited completely out of context. The slide comes from a presentation I was invited to give in Australia last year, to Australians who had formed a "Consortium on HIV", which they did on invitation of Ausaid, which now funds them to build the capacity of civil society groups in countries of Asia and The Pacific. The main point I was making through the presentation is that no Australians should assume that what we do in Asia and The Pacific is the only thing Australians do, nor that Ausaid funded NGO programs are the only things that Australians work on, but that they are all part of a much bigger picture.

Hence, my conclusion was along the lines of "Let's have a bit of humility about each of our own roles, while still being proud of what Australians contribute overall". So I think it is unfair to have my slide appearing in this completely different context, along with the snide remarks as though I was boasting. I do, of course, feel proud of the range of things that Australians contribute to responses to HIV. We did, after all, work with many other partners in Myanmar to produce what was a reasonably good strategy, for the first time including harm reduction for drug users in that country's responses to the epidemic. And advocated to our own government to fund lots of it. Sorry if this saved lives. How arrogant of us. By the way, Burnet Institute is not part of the Australian HIV Consortium.

Now that I read my reply it's too long and waffly, but that's what happens when I write in a emotional space

Bruce Parnell
Burnet Institute