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5 November, 2007No. 26, November 2007
World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007
Leadership is the theme for World AIDS Day 2007. The ongoing campaign slogan of the World AIDS Campaign is “Stop AIDS – Keep the Promise”.
Unions can demonstrate leadership at every level – in the workplace, in their own governing bodies, in women’s committees, in health and safety committees, in negotiations with companies, in the community and at the national policy level.
Any union member, shop steward, union official, committee member, gender representative who takes action on HIV/AIDS is a leader in the fight against the deadly disease.
At the end of October, the ICEM has sent out its own campaign leaflet together with material from UNAIDS/World AIDS Campaign. The leaflet in English, French, Spanish, German and Swedish is also available on the dedicated section on HIV/AIDS at /72-HIV-AIDS.
Further campaign material and ideas can be found at www.worldaidscampaign.org, the website of the World AIDS Campaign. You can also find resources on the website of UNAIDS, the joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS, www.unaids.org and at ILOAIDS www.ilo.org/aids.
Union leaders, gathering in Bangkok, 22-24 November for the 4th ICEM World Congress, will pledge to fight HIV/AIDS anywhere in the world.
ICEM calls on its affiliates to take the lead in campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December.
Report back to the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator [email protected]. Send campaign materials and pictures. This will be published in the e-bulletin.
ICEM Regional Workshop on Medical Insurance
All the coordinators from 12 sub-Saharan African countries participated in an ICEM regional workshop in Johannesburg in October.
The purpose of this 5th workshop for national coordinators was to explore the role of medical insurance schemes in covering treatment of HIV/AIDS for workers and dependents.
Participants examined the funding of schemes, aspects of the coverage of medical insurance schemes, employer-provided schemes, relationship and effects on public health systems and the role of unions in negotiating health insurance schemes and their participation in the governance of these schemes.
Participants highlighted the need for Know-your-Status campaigns as the key to prevention. Voluntary counselling and testing (VCT) can, however, only be encouraged if universal access to treatment is in place and where human and labour rights such as job security, non discrimination and non stigmatisation were strong.
Large companies, especially in the mining sector, had generally good schemes which included HIV/AIDS services for workers and also for dependents. Gaps were identified in the coverage of contract workers and in the lack of schemes at small and medium-size enterprises. Limitations of the schemes were also highlighted. These challenges included the cost to members as a proportion of their wages and that coverage often did not cover workers once they were no longer employed.
While private company schemes provide coverage and, in remote areas, often are the only health services available, participants acknowledged that, as unionists, we must also advocate the strengthening of the public health sector.
News from Affiliates
ICEM’s affiliates in Tanzania, TUICO and TAMICO, have finalised their VCT Counsellors’ training programme. From 30 July to 26 August, seven unionists followed an intensive programme at the Muhimbili Health Information Centre. The course, with a total of 160 hours on 20 training days, included lectures and practical training sessions at the hospital, a practicum in the field and advanced skills training following the experience from the practicum.
A similar programme was run for affiliates in South Africa.
With the financial support from the project for national programmes, several countries implemented new activities (see also e-bulletin 23/24 of August/September).
In Nigeria, NUPENG and PENGASSAN conducted a successful mobilisation for voluntary counselling and testing at the Warri Refinery and Petrochemical Company among workers and members of the community. The campaign over four days in July resulted in 677 people being tested.
In Uganda, UMMAWU organised a training workshop for union representatives and a peer educators’ course in September.
MUZ and NUCIW of Zambia held two three-day peer educators’ workshops in July and August.
Very encouraging developments can also be reported from Sierra Leone where the United Mineworkers’ Union took the initiative to submit a programme and was included in the project. So far UMU conducted two peer educators’ training workshops for shop stewards and community leaders in Daru Town and Tongo Field.
UMU is also actively engaged with the social partners in the drafting of an HIV/AIDS policy for the mining sector.
Global Fund: Debt2Health Initiative
The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria has launched a "Debt2Health" initiative that could generate substantial funds. The initiative is a form of debt conversion, in which Western governments that are owed money by developing countries agree to cancel a portion of the debt on condition that the developing countries in question invest money in Global Fund-approved programmes.
In the first Debt2Health implementation, the German government forgave 50 million Euros in debt by Indonesia, and Indonesia committed to investing the local equivalent of 25 million Euros in Global Fund programmes in Indonesia. Over the next four years, Germany plans to generate a total of 200 million Euros for Global Fund programmes through this initiative. The Global Fund hopes to enter into future Debt2Health agreements with Kenya, Pakistan and Peru. Further details are available here.
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 77, 30 September 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org. To receive GFO, send an email to [email protected])
Still Losing the AIDS Fight
Excerpts from an article by Richard Holbrooke, President of the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria:
“On the day you read this column, an estimated 12,000 people worldwide will contract HIV. Ninety percent of them will not learn that they are infected until full-blown AIDS hits them – in 2015. Until then, those people will unintentionally spread the virus that lies silently within each of them.
But on Dec 1, the 19th annual World AIDS Day, political leaders and international health officials will, once again, tell the world that although the fight is far from over, progress is being made. The fight is indeed far from over – but don’t believe the second half of such statements.
It is heartening that more than 2 million HIV-positive people are on lifesaving antiretroviral drugs. But real progress must be measured by the only criterion that ultimately matters: Is the number of people who are HIV-positive declining? The answer is a resounding no. As a strategy to defeat HIV/AIDS, focusing primarily on treatment will never succeed. The only way to reverse the spread of HIV is to focus on prevention.
Here is my challenge to the international health community: This year, tell the truth on World AIDS Day. Admit that we are still losing. Advocate strategies that emphasise prevention and detection, based on the successful “opt-out” testing systems being tried in Botswana, Lesotho and Malawi.”
(Source: Washington Post, 9 October)
New Technical Support Publication by the GTZ BACKUP Initiative
The German GTZ BACKUP Initiative has published a guide on where technical support for capacity development of Global Fund recipients is most needed, who is able to provide it, and how to make best use of it.
The guide, entitled "Accelerating action: A technical support guide to develop capacity and to benefit from global health financing," is intended for use by professionals working on HIV, TB and malaria projects that are financed by the Global Fund, World Bank, and other such mechanisms. The publication is available at www.gtz.de/backup-initiative.
(Source: gtz website)
Botswana Continues Anti-AIDS Efforts
As far back as 2001, at the Special Session of the UN General Assembly, President Festus Mogae stated that his nation was threatened with extinction. Almost 40% of the population were infected with the virus and people were dying at a chillingly high rate.
A year later, Botswana became the first country on the continent to provide antiretroviral drugs free of charge. 270,000 people are infected. Today, over 90,000 patients are receiving treatment. This is close to the figure of all of those infected for whom treatment is medically indicated.
While Botswana, with an adult prevalence rate of 24%, is still among the most affected countries, the trend has been downward for many years. A programme for the prevention of mother-to-child transmission has been expanded; voluntary counselling and testing is encouraged as a critical entry point for all HIV/AIDS response programmes.
Botswana now channels most of the international assistance it is receiving into prevention efforts.
(Source: VOA, 9 October)
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 30 and 31 of 1 and 15 October) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) www.itfglobal.org reports, among others, on its World AIDS Day Campaign for which a 16-page brochure was produced with guidelines for campaign activities.
In September the ITF organised a planning workshop in Kolkata to extend its project in South Asia for another three years beyond the end of 2007. South Asia is facing a fast growing pandemic.
In its most recent newsletter on EFA and HIV/AIDS Prevention at Schools, the Education International (EI) introduced its new World AIDS Day Initiative called “One Hour on AIDS”. Learners around the world will benefit from lessons on AIDS on the same day, 30 November. EI is putting together a kit specially designed for teachers - www.ei-ie.org/efaids.