7 April, 2008No. 31, April 2008
Global Fund Launches Round 8
The special issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, issued on 17 March, gives details of the Round 8 announcement by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Please contact [email protected] or [email protected] to receive a copy of that e-bulletin.
The application form and support documentation are available in six languages at www.theglobalfund.org. Proposals have to reach the Global Fund by 1 July 2008. Access the website www.aidspan.org/guides, on which a guide to Round 8 applications is available.
Colombia: Affiliates and Companies Renew Commitment to Fight HIV/AIDS
Representatives of affiliates and companies met with ICEM President Senzeni Zokwana and General Secretary Manfred Warda in Bogotá, Colombia, on 11 March for the National Conference on the Social Dialogue.
HIV/AIDS is one of the topics in the Social Dialogue Project in Colombia. Delegates expressed the view that concrete action should be developed on HIV/AIDS, and that progress should be reported back to the next meeting.
The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator, who took part in the meeting, also visited the coal mining region in the north of the country. Carbones del Cerrejón, which is owned in equal parts by Anglo American, BHP Billiton, and Xstrata, runs one of the world’s largest set of open-pit coal mines in the world with some 5,000 direct employees and an almost equal number of contract workers.
The company has co-financed a number of hospitals in the communities surrounding Cerrejón and local management works with a foundation which runs awareness and prevention campaigns. A new healthy lifestyle programme for employees and their families includes HIV/AIDS. The programme is administered by COPASO, the joint committee for occupational health, on which ICEM’s affiliate Sintracarbón is represented.
With a national prevalence rate of 0.6% and 160,000 adults aged 15 to 49 living with HIV (of a total population of 45 million), treatment is not a major problem. The challenge is to keep the infection rate low and the solution is prevention.
AIDS is Top Killer of 15-to-44 year-olds in Asia
AIDS is the most likely cause of death for Asians aged 15-44, and could kill almost 500,000 people per year across the continent by 2020. The UN-backed Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia warned that in addition to the nearly five million people across Asia who are currently living with the HIV virus, another eight million could become infected if governments do not take drastic action to curb the epidemic.
(Source: www.earthtimes.org, posted on 26 March)
COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi Speaks to Treatment Action Campaign in South Africa
In his address to the 4th National Congress of the South African Treatment Action Campaign (TAC), COSATU General Secretary Zwelinzima Vavi deplored the many years wasted in courts and on the streets fighting denial and inaction by the government.
Vavi acknowledged the role of the TAC in transforming the national response to HIV/AIDS, from denial and foot-dragging, to a united national strategic programme to drive back the pandemic. Thanks to the TAC, thousands of people now get the treatment they need to stay alive, and thousands of babies are born free of the virus.
He pledged COSATU’s support for the national strategic programme by setting up support systems at workplaces, and strengthening education and treatment components of the campaign. The aim is to train 20,000 peer educators a year. In his words, peer education remains central to any successful struggle to support people with HIV and AIDS and to reduce infection rates.
(Source: COSATU website)
Annie Lennox and Amnesty International Highlight Fate of Rural Women
Rural women living with HIV in circumstances of poverty in South Africa face discrimination in relationships and in communities because of their gender, HIV status, and economic marginalisation.
This is the main conclusion of a report released on 18 March by Amnesty International. Many women interviewed by Amnesty said that they were often unable to protect themselves against HIV infection because they felt at risk of violence when they suggested condom use. Male partners refused to be tested for HIV.
Effective treatment for HIV and AIDS requires regular visits to accredited clinics and adequate nutrition. Even if medication is free, rural women living in abject poverty can often not afford transportation.
Singer Annie Lennox is highlighting the issue with her new charity song “Sing”.
The report can be downloaded from the Amnesty International website, www.amnesty.org.
Product Red: Contributions to the Global Fund
Product Red was created by rock singer Bono and Bobby Shriver in 2006 to engage the private sector in the fight against AIDS and to deliver a sustainable flow of funds to the Global Fund.
Recently Dell and Microsoft joined Product Red, Bono’s enterprise, by supplying Dell computers powered by Windows Vista. Companies, which are partners of Product Red, are committed to channel a percentage of profits to the Global Fund.
On Valentine’s Day 2008, an auction of donated and specially created art works at Sotheby’s in New York raised US$42.6 million. The auction brought the total amount raised by Product Red to more than US$100 million since its launch.
Lesotho became the fourth country to receive funds from Product Red through the Global Fund, joining Rwanda, Swaziland, and Ghana.
(Source: Global Fund website)
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Unions
In its most recent HIV/AIDS Update (No. 38, 1 March) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) (www.itfglobal.org) reports, among other items, on the HIV/AIDS awareness and support programme implemented by the Forward Seamen Union of India, and the increasing risk of infection of Indonesian fishermen.