2 May, 2007May 2007
ICEM Gives Priority to Global Union G8 Campaign
A special issue of ICEM InBrief, published prior to 28 April – International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers – deals with global union efforts to press the United Nations to recognise 28 April as an Official Day. It also reports on national trade union centres’ events, as well as on plans of ICEM affiliates for 28 April.
InBrief gives priority to the global trade union campaign to create a permanent high-level G8 Working Group on HIV/AIDS as a major part of the G8 programme to combat the pandemic. The ICEM has urged its affiliates to send letters to the German embassy or consulate in their countries, requesting the creation of such a Working Group. Germany is to host the G8 Summit this year.
The ICEM strongly believes that such a Working Group is needed to guarantee that there is progress on prior G8 commitments, including achieving universal access to HIV/AIDS treatment and care by 2010 and developing a vaccine to prevent HIV infection. The ICEM further believes that a more sustained political commitment and commitment of resources by the world’s richest nations must occur to reverse the pandemic, which hits workers and their families in the developing world hardest.
Leadership: The World AIDS Day Theme for 2007 and 2008
The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “leadership” This theme will be promoted with the campaign slogan “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise”.
Since the beginning of the epidemic, experience has clearly demonstrated that significant advances in the response to HIV/AIDS have been made when there is strong and committed leadership. Leadership must be demonstrated at every level to get ahead of the disease – in families, in communities, in trade unions, in countries and internationally.
We have to start early. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator will keep affiliates informed on materials available and will give guidance on campaigning on World AIDS Day, 1 December 2007.
We should also bear in mind that the leadership of ICEM affiliates will meet for the World Congress in Bangkok, 22 – 24 November, just one week before World AIDS Day.
(Source: World AIDS Campaign website www.worldaidscampaign.org)
Mining Sector the Focus at Ghana Health Conference
The Ghana Health Conference brought together a wide range of private and public sector participants. The ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator was invited to speak at the roundtable on “Mobilizing the Mining Industry in Ghana and West Africa”.
At the roundtable and in plenary sessions, he had several opportunities to intervene and emphasise the role of organised labour in workplace programmes and co-investments projects.
He urged the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, TB and Malaria, a co-sponsor of the Conference, to set targets for the conclusion of workplace agreements with union participation in all mining companies in Ghana and West Africa by the end of 2007; to start massive VCT – Know Your Status Campaigns; to provide anti-retroviral treatment and to form public/private partnerships to bring HIV/AIDS services, including ART, to the wider community around mining sites.
A major development in Ghana is the inclusion of a private sector representative in the Country Coordinating Mechanism. This development is an outcome of the joint ICEM/Global Fund mission to Ghana in May 2006. The Manager of the AngloGold Ashanti Malaria Control Programme is a member of the CCM. A proposal for a public/private sector co-investment project for malaria is being prepared for Round 7 of the Global Fund.
ICEM Feasibility Study on HIV/AIDS Services in Mining Areas in Ghana
While in Accra, the ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator also had an opportunity to discuss the recommendations and follow-up action to be taken of the recently completed feasibility study of HIV/AIDS services in Obuasi and Tarkwa, two major mining areas in Ghana where HIV prevalence rates are higher than the country’s average.
The study was prepared by the Credible Technical Forum, Accra, in cooperation with the Ghana Mineworkers’ Union (GMWU) and some major mining companies in order to identify gaps in HIV/AIDS services in these areas. Work will continue with the GMWU, companies and local health authorities to close these gaps.
Priorities will be the conclusion of workplace policies where they do not yet exist, hiring of full-time HIV/AIDS coordinators, training of VCT counsellors and the extension of VCT and ART to those members of the community who are not able to secure this for themselves.
Thailand: Strategic Plan to Reduce HIV Prevalence among Youth
Thailand’s National AIDS Prevention and Control Committee recently approved a three-year plan to reduce the alarmingly increasing HIV cases among young people in the country. The plan will focus on educating youth about HIV prevention and promoting social values with the involvement of local civil society organisations.
About 17,000 new HIV cases occur annually in Thailand, about half of them among young people aged between 18 and 19.
(Source: Medical News Today, 23 April 2007, www.medicalnewstoday.com)
Bangladesh: Awareness for HIV/AIDS Prevention
According to UNAIDS estimates, only 7,500 people are infected with the virus in Bangladesh. At a recent workshop, however, a warning was sounded that the number is on the rise. If hard measures are not taken now, HIV/AIDS could reach epidemic proportions in the country soon.
The closeness to India and Thailand, two major HIV/AIDS afflicted countries, widespread poverty, illiteracy, high practice of pre and extra marital sex are reasons to spread awareness about prevention methods. Of great concern are also the large number of private blood banks without facilities for screening blood and the multiple use of syringes and needles.
(Source: New Nation, Dhaka, online edition 29 April 2007, www.nation.ittefaq.com)
Global Fund Board Meeting Makes Progress on Many Fronts
At its meeting in Geneva at the end of April, the Board of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria reached agreement on a number of issues.
Board members agreed on a new Chair from the private sector (Rajah Gupta, formerly CEO of McKinsey & Co); a new Vice-Chair from an African NGO (Elizabeth Mataka from Zambia); an ambitious new target for fundraising; a new concept that each grant should normally have one Principal Recipient from government and one from outside government; a new method whereby countries can obtain financial support for well-developed national strategies for tackling HIV/AIDS, TB or malaria; a new approach to appointing Local Fund Agents; and more.
The Board recommended (but did not require) that, starting with Round 8, each proposal submitted to the Global Fund should specify both a government Principal Recipient (PR) and a non-government PR. The Fund refers to this concept as "dual-track financing". If a proposal does not include both types of PR, it should contain an explanation for this.
The Board noted that the possible benefits achieved through dual-track financing include increased absorption capacity (from taking full advantage of the implementation capacity of all domestic sectors, both governmental and non-governmental), accelerated implementation and performance of grants, and the strengthening of weaker sectors.
The Board meeting took place just two days after Dr. Michel Kazatchkine, the Fund's new Executive Director, took office.
(Source: Global Fund Observer Issue 75, 30 April 2007. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org. To receive GFO, send an email to [email protected])
News from the Global Union Programme and Global Union Federations
The Steering and Advisory Committees of the Global Union AIDS Programme met in Geneva, 2 – 4 April to assess progress in the programme and discuss a work plan for 2007 and 2008. The meeting was addressed by Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director and Sophia Kisting, Director of ILOAIDS.
A delegation of the Steering Committee met the Director of External Affairs of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, Christoph Benn, and its Civil Society Officer, Mick Mathews, to discuss the way forward for a greater involvement of workers organisations in Global Fund structures, such as the Board and national Country Coordinating Mechanisms (CCM). The delegation also met the focal point of the Global Business Coalition (GBC) at the Global Fund, Barbara Bulc.
In its most recent HIV/AIDS updates (no. 18 and 19 of 1 and 15 April) the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) reports, among others, on efforts to develop an HIV vaccine, on increases in HIV infections in Korea and on producing more affordable antiretroviral drugs in Zimbabwe www.itfglobal.org.
Education International (EI) has published an interview with Clementine Dehwe, the Global Union HIV/AIDS Coordinator, http://www.ei-ie.org/en/news/show.php?id=455&theme=hivaids&country=global. EI launched its new website of the EFAIDS programme in April www.ei-ie.org/efaids.