ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 39 December 2008

In this issue, we report on World AIDS Day, the sub-regional HIV/AIDS workshop in Windhoek and the Global Fund grant approvals for Round 8.

This e-bulletin is also available on the ICEM Website here.

The ICEM Calls on its Affiliates to Contribute to this e-bulletin

ICEM affiliates are already engaged in a wide range of HIV/AIDS activities. To spread the information on new agreements, awareness, and prevention campaigns, and educational activities, affiliates and project coordinators are invited to send news and information to [email protected]. Any feedback on the format and contents of the e-bulletin is also welcome.

Editor: Hans J Schwass, ICEM Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator

1 December 2008 is the 20th Anniversary of World AIDS Day. To mark the day, the ICEM issued a campaign leaflet which was distributed to all affiliates. The role of trade unions is critical in the struggle against the pandemic. Unions demonstrate leadership by advocating testing and prevention methods at the workplace, in homes and communities.

“The fight to eliminate the scourge of the pandemic is far from finished and more must be done”, said ICEM General Secretary Manfred Warda. “We are proud to recognise the 20th Anniversary of 1 December, but even prouder to mark this day with commitment to wage this fight until the disease is gone.”

Germany’s ICEM affiliate IG BCE held information meetings and raised additional funds for an HIV and AIDS project in Tanzania in cooperation with the mining and industry affiliates there.

On the occasion of World AIDS Day, the Global Union AIDS Programme issued a press statement appealing to governments, the international community and other actors to make Universal Access for HIV/AIDS services an urgent priority for the next two years, to reach the 2010 target.

The International Transport Workers’ Federation ITF continued its efforts and published Campaign Guidelines for the planning and implementation of World AIDS Day activities by its affiliates. At the ILO, the Sector department and ILOAIDS together with the ITF and the employers’ organisation IRU were holding a training course for managers and workers in the transport sector based on a new toolkit. Education International has targeted teachers in its “One Hour on AIDS” campaign at schools.

The World AIDS Campaign supports, strengthens and connects campaigns that hold leaders accountable for their promises on HIV and AIDS. “Stop AIDS – Keep the Promise” is the slogan for the campaign to 2010. “Lead – Empower – Deliver” is the theme for 2008.

UNAIDS, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS, published a new report, AIDS Outlook 2009, which calls on countries to realign HIV prevention programmes through understanding how the most recent HIV infections were transmitted. Even though the number of new infections has fallen in several countries, there are five new HIV infections for every two people put on treatment. An estimated 33 million people are living with HIV worldwide; 2.7 million people were newly infected and 2 million died of AIDS in 2007. The report can be downloaded at www.unaids.org.

ICEM Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Review Workshop in Windhoek

Unionists from Botswana, Namibia, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda and Zambia came together in Windhoek, Namibia from 24 to 26 November, for a sub-regional workshop to review progress in their HIV/AIDS work. Working groups dealt with constraints in their HIV/AIDS work and possible solutions; considered new proposals; discussed the role of women and young workers and argued in favour of mainstreaming HIV/AIDS in all union activities; and explored the idea of making HIV/AIDS an organising tool for unions.

Above all, participants discussed future sustainability in view of the expiry of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project. While funding from employers and national and international organisations, and cooperation with NGOs and faith-based organisations are all important, commitment by union leadership is crucial in the fight against the pandemic. Unions should also develop technical competence in proposal writing and project management.

Presentations on HIV/AIDS workplace policies, the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work, and collective bargaining for HIV/AIDS were made by representatives of the Chamber of Mines of Namibia, the ILO/GTZ project and NUM of South African. The AIDS Law Clinic in Windhoek dealt with special challenges facing women and youth.

Women in Namibia Call for Efforts to Improve Sexual Rights

A group of women in Namibia recently called for efforts to improve their sexual rights in an attempt to curb the spread of HIV in the country. A workshop, organised by the group Sister Namibia, examined sexual rights, culture and HIV/AIDS.

“Everyone talks about the need to change behaviour to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, but there is hardly any discussion on the need to change harmful sexual cultural practices that are often the drivers of the disease”, said Sister Namibia Director Liz Frank. Women are not able to make choices about sex. They do not have the power to negotiate condom use.

(Source: Medical News Today, 7 October from www.kaisernetwork.org)

Global Fund Approves Round 8 Grants

The Global Fund Board approved 94 Round 8 grants that will cost up to USD 2.753 billion over the first two years and USD 5.840 billion over five years – a record amount. The decision was made at the Fund’s 18th Board Meeting, held in Delhi, India.

The Board decision was rendered particularly difficult because the unusually large average size of the proposals meant that there was not enough money to pay the full cost of the proposals recommended for approval by the Technical Review Panel (TRP). After extensive negotiation, the Board handled this by calling for various budget cuts, and by delaying by six months the date at which Round 9 grants will be approved.

Some of the highlights of Round 8 approvals were as follows:

Ninety-four Round 8 proposals were approved, with a total two-year requested amount of USD 3.1 billion, up from USD 1.1 billion in Round 7, the previous largest round. The average Round 8 approved proposal has a two-year requested amount of USD 33 million, up from USD 15 million in Round 7.
54% of eligible proposals submitted in Round 8 were approved, up from 49% in Round 7, the previous highest percentage. Malaria proposals in Round 8 were particularly successful. 68% of them were approved. Although HIV/AIDS proposals in Round 8 were less successful than were malaria proposals, they were still significantly more successful than they had been in any previous round. The percentage of HIV/AIDS proposals that were approved in Rounds 5, 6, 7 and 8 respectively was 38%, 39%, 41% and 49%.

Regarding Round 9, the Board decided to extend the date by which applications must be submitted from 21 January 2009 to 31 May 2009, and to make final grant approvals for these proposals at the November 2009 board meeting rather than the May 2009 board meeting.

(Source: Global Fund Observer, GFO, Issue 98, 9 November 2008. The GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org, a Kenya-based NGO that serves as an independent watchdog of the Global Fund. To receive the GFO send an email to receive-gfo-[email protected])

Global Fund Adopts New Gender Equality Strategy

At its meeting last month, the Global Fund Board adopted a new Gender Equality Strategy, the full title of which is “The Global Fund’s Strategy for Ensuring Gender Equality in the Response to HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.” The strategy is available under “Addendum to Report of PSC: The Gender Equality Strategy” here.

The strategy says that the Global Fund will champion and fund proposals that: scale up services and interventions that reduce gender-related risks and vulnerabilities to infection; decrease the burden of disease for those most at risk; mitigate the impact of the three diseases and address structural inequalities and discrimination.

(Source: Global Fund Observer, GFO, Issue 100, 3 December 2008).

South Africa: Miners Face Huge HIV/Aids Challenge

By virtue of the physical nature of their jobs, South African miners receiving treatment for HIV/AIDS are vulnerable to discrimination when they are not at peak performance, because of the drugs' side effects.

This is one of the challenges that workers in the mining sector have to deal with, as HIV/AIDS rips through the industry. It is estimated that about 16%-30% of mineworkers are infected with HIV/AIDS. Experts also say stigmatisation and discrimination are common in many mines.

It is difficult at the moment to determine the exact HIV/AIDS prevalence figures because the majority of the workers were resistant to participating in HIV voluntary testing programmes. Among those who have tested HIV positive, there is a low uptake of antiretroviral treatment (ART) as most workers are afraid of being subjected to discrimination by managers and supervisors.

Mineworkers were most vulnerable because of the apartheid-inherited migration labour system through which workers spend many months away from their families. They remained the most affected group. The single-sex hostel systems still exist in many mining companies. These hostels mean that miners cannot be with their partners.

Eric Gcilitshana, National Union of Mineworkers health and safety secretary, says 60% of mineworkers are still living in same-sex hostels. "We are saying the hostel system must be abolished and be replaced by family units, where workers will live with their families," he said. The union is engaging with mining companies on the victimisation of infected workers and treatment available to them. These remained some of the biggest challenges towards the ultimate emancipation of mineworkers.

(Source: Business Day, South Africa, 11 November)

India Loses out on 100m Euros Funding to Combat Diseases

India's fight against the world's three most devastating diseases - AIDS, TB and malaria - has received a serious setback, with the country losing out funding worth over USD 100 million for two years from the Global Fund for its programmes to combat these deadly scourges.

The bad news for India came in the middle of the annual board meeting of the Fund, held in Delhi. The Board rejected Indian proposal for its anti-malaria programmes, the proposals on TB and on HIV/AIDS. The rejection means India has lost out on funds worth USD 255 million for the next five years. The country can, however, re-submit the proposals again next year for Round 9. At the moment, India is the largest recipient of Global Fund grants in Asia with grants worth USD 490 million and based on performance of existing grants will get another USD 250 million to total USD 740 million.

In India, one million people are receiving antiretroviral treatment, 400,000 people have got anti-malaria treatment and 375,000 have got DOTs treatment for TB with Global Fund money. The ongoing programmes will not be affected by the setback India got at this year's funding meeting.

(Source: Times of India, 10 November)

Botswana: HIV Practice Code Released

The Ministry of Labour and Home Affairs has released a National Code of Good Practice with emphasis on HIV/AIDS in the workplace. The Code’s primary objective with respect to HIV/AIDS is to provide guidelines for employers and trade unions on how to manage HIV/AIDS in the workplace.

The Code includes the following principles: creating a safe working environment, developing procedures to manage occupational incidents and claims for compensation, introducing measures to prevent the spread of HIV, developing strategies to assess and reduce the impact of HIV/AIDS and supporting those individuals who are infected or affected.

(Source: Mmegi/The Reporter, Gaborone, 16 October)

Infections Going up in Switzerland

Although small in comparison to other countries, new HIV infections have been going up in Switzerland since 2005 to reach an estimated 800 in 2008. The increase affects to a great majority men, heterosexual as well as homosexual. Whereas a few years ago new infections among men and women were almost equal, in 2008 73% of the newly infected were men.

In another development, the national NGO Aids-Hilfe Schweiz condemned new criteria of the Swiss army which declare HIV-positive soldiers who undergo ARV treatment unfit for active service. It called on the Department of Defence to revise these rules.

(Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 28 October and 12 November)

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