Sub-Saharan Africa needs new direction in its battle against AIDS, said experts attending an international conference in Nairobi, Kenya, this week.

The conference, which opens Wednesday, is comprised of representatives from 32 grassroots movements, chiefly from Africa, seeking new strategies in addressing the AIDS epidemic as it approaches its 30th year. Some experts questioned the effectiveness of aid programs, most of them funded by Western sources.

"There are a lot of resources in HIV/AIDS programs, but not much of that reaches the community. What is it that we should radically change?" challenged Leonard Okello, an ActionAid International expert in HIV/AIDS.

The fact that "90 percent of those living with AIDS do not know their status and 70 percent who need treatment are not getting it" means "there is something we're not doing right," said Wasai Jacob Nanjakululu, an HIV/AIDS expert with the UK-based charity Oxfam.

The conference comes at a time when progress against the disease is mixed. In some, but not all, countries of east Africa, HIV prevalence has dropped to about 6 percent. At the same time, in Swaziland, Botswana, Lesotho, and South Africa, the HIV infection rate among pregnant women is above 30 percent.

Denial is one of the explanations given for the slow progress in Africa's response to the pandemic. "We were too slow; even when we had evidence staring at us, we buried our heads in the sand," said Miriam Were, head of Kenya's National AIDS Control Council.