ICAD is a coalition of approximately 100 AIDS service organizations (ASOs), non-governmental organizations (NGOs), faith-based organizations, educational institutions and labour unions. It began in 1989 as a working group of the Canadian Council for International Cooperation (CCIC) bringing together AIDS service organizations and international development organizations to address the HIV/AIDS crisis. ICAD helps Canadians contribute to international HIV/AIDS work and ensures that the lessons learned from the global response to HIV/AIDS are utilized by Canadian organizations to improve prevention, care, treatment and support work in Canada.
As the primary Canadian source of information on HIV/AIDS and development, ICAD enables Canada to become one of the most effective and influential nations in contributing to the global response to the HIV and AIDS pandemic. To date, it has achieved the following:
- Provides leadership to Canadians for creating effective global and domestic policies and programs in response to HIV and AIDS;
- Promotes communication between individuals, members, government departments and UN organizations to improve the effectiveness of Canadian responses to the pandemic;
- Delivers skills and capacity building workshops/seminars on HIV and AIDS-related issues;
- Interprets and compiles research findings related to HIV and AIDS and development to enable policy makers, organizational leaders and practitioners to access and use them;
- Supports members in their public engagement activities to raise awareness about and engagement in HIV/AIDS and development;
- Produces a quarterly newsletter on Canadian activities in AIDS and development;
- Publishes easy-to-read fact sheets on topics related to AIDS and development