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3 October, 2009
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we call on ICEM affiliates to get involved in activities on World AIDS Day (1 December) and report, among others, on the International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific and the road towards an ILO instrument on HIV/AIDS and the world of work.
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 HIV/AIDS Consultant
World AIDS Day 2009 – Call on ICEM Affiliates to be Active
As every year, World AIDS Day will be held on 1 December. ICEM affiliates must plan their participation in national activities now.
The theme of this year’s World AIDS Day is Universal Access and Human Rights. Campaign material is designed with the “I AM” theme, adopting the key slogans: I am accepted; I am safe; I am getting treatment; I am well and I am living my rights.
Supporting material – four posters and two postcards – has been made available by the World AIDS Campaign. These can be downloaded from their website www.worldaidscampaign.org. Hardcopies, which are available in English, Spanish, French, and Russian, can also be ordered from the ICEM. Please send an email to [email protected] indicating language and number of copies (deadline 23 October).
HIV/AIDS and the World of Work – ILO Consultations
The ILO has recently transmitted to Governments the text of the proposed new Recommendation on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work. The text is contained in the Third Report and it has been prepared by the ILO on the basis of the first discussion at the 98th Session of the International Labour Conference (ILC) in June 2009. The Governments are now requested to inform the ILO about amendments to suggest, or comments to make, and to inform the ILO whether they consider that the proposed text provides a satisfactory basis for the second discussion by the Conference at its 99th Session in June 2010. The deadline for reply is 19 November 2009.
A Government is supposed to contact and consult national trade union centres before finalizing its reply (pursuant to Article 39, paragraph 6, of the Standing Orders). ICEM affiliates are urged to get involved in the inputs from their national centres. The ILO document, the so-called Brown Report (because of the colour of its cover), Report V (1), ILC 99th Session 2010 can be found here.
(Source: ITUC Circular no. 55 of 25 September)
International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP)
The 9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific took place in Bali, Indonesia, in August under the theme, “Empowering People, Strengthening Networks.” It brought together more than 3,000 participants, including representatives from the Global Unions and local unionists.
In the workplace, stigma and discrimination are the major barriers for workers infected with HIV. They are often blamed for their condition, discriminated in employment and fired because they are living with HIV/AIDS. During a satellite session on workplace intervention, Dr Syed Asif Altar, Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator of the International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), spoke on the role of trade unions in reducing risky behaviour among transport workers – transportation having been identified, together with mining and the fisheries industry, as the most vulnerable sectors in Asia. In the symposium on the impact of the financial crisis on labour migration and HIV, Christopher Ng, APRO Regional Secretary of UNI Global Union called on governments to utilize various types of overseas workers’ funds to assist migrant workers and their families including access to HIV services in the country of origin and country of destination.
A UNAIDS report released at the Congress, claimed that an estimated 50 million women in Asia are at risk of contracting HIV from male partners who engage in risky sexual behaviour. The report, “HIV Transmission in Intimate Partner Relationships in Asia,” states that of the 1.7 million women now living with HIV in Asia, more than 90% have acquired the virus from their husbands or long-term boyfriends.
(Source: Information from participants, the ILO website and Jakarta Post of 15 August)
Global Fund Meeting on Public/Private Partnerships and Co-Investments
In an effort to re-establish a dialogue between the Global Fund and organisations involved in public/private partnership co-investment projects, the Global Fund organised an inter-agency meeting on 14 September.
Such projects benefit from input of the private sector such as clinics, medical staff and management expertise. The private sector in turn can expand HIV/AIDS interventions and services with GF grants channelled through the public sector or as direct recipient of such grants. In remote areas, which is especially the case for mining, with an insufficient public health service, companies can close the gap by extending HIV/AIDS and other health services to the wider community in which they operate in.
The ICEM welcomes this re-engagement. One of the objectives of the meeting was to discuss ways in which employer and employee organisations can access Global Fund grants. The fact that employee organisations are included is a step forward. The ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant, who was the only unionist participating in the meeting, insisted that in future considerations of co-investment projects, unions be given their rightful role. He stressed that for the ICEM, as a Global Union Federation, the private sector is business and organised labour comprises trade unions. HIV/AIDS interventions that are only management driven are not likely to succeed.
Treatment Time Bomb
The goal of achieving universal access to treatment by 2010 has preoccupied the global AIDS community in recent years, but a new report warns that not preparing for the changing treatment needs of people living with HIV will doom the sustainability of treatment programmes in developing countries. Over the next decade an increasing number of patients on inexpensive first-line antiretroviral (ARV) drugs in low-income countries will need second-line ARVs, which currently cost at least seven times more.
"The Treatment Timebomb," released this month by the All Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on AIDS, a group of UK MPs, argues that action is needed now to bring down the price of second-line and less toxic first-line ARVs if a crisis later is to be averted.
Low-income countries can afford to buy older-generation ARVs largely because multiple manufacturers are producing generic versions of them at a fraction of the original cost, but most of the newer drugs are being produced under patents that prevent generic manufacture. The AAPG report points out that safeguards in the World Trade Organization's Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) allow countries to override patents - for public health purposes - by issuing "compulsory licenses" that enable the generic manufacture of drugs still under patent. However, few developing countries have exercised this right.
The Clinton Foundation announced that it had reached agreements with two major drug companies to bring the cost of second-line ARVs to under US$500 per person annually. As an example, at present, second-line ARVs in Kenya cost around US$1,000 per person per year, while first-line ARVs cost under US$100.
(Source: IRIN PlusNews, 28 July and 7 August)
Canadian Labour Congress Signs Agreement with ITUC Africa
The Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) signed an HIV and AIDS advocacy agreement with the African regional organisation of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC Africa). The agreement, for an initial period of two years, creates a partnership approach to addressing HIV and AIDS and promotes universal access to prevention, treatment, and care of infected workers and their families.
The accord is not limited to training and education but includes joint political lobbying on HIV/AIDS at international bodies, such as the G8, which will be hosted by Canada in the summer of 2010. It covers strengthening of workplace initiatives and reaching agreements with employers. As these are within the domain of industrial and sectoral unions affiliated to national centres, the partnership contains a provision for other sectors to join the exercise.
(Source: CLC Press Statement, 1 September)
Global Fund Five-Year Evaluation Completed
Launched in November 2006, when the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria was approaching its fifth anniversary, the Five-Year Evaluation has been completed after more than two years of work. It would go beyond the scope of this e-bulletin to go into the findings of all three study areas of the evaluation, of which the third one – Health Impact – alone cost US$11.7 million.
Not surprisingly, the main finding is that the rapid increase in funding from all partners for the three diseases has resulted in a major expansion in access to services in these countries and has improved coverage of interventions, which will likely impact disease burden.
More specifically, on HIV/AIDS the evaluation found a dramatic increase in the coverage of antiretroviral treatment. That was to be expected as the major thrust of Global Fund grants in the first years was treatment. Other findings include major gaps in basic requirements, such as trained personnel, guidelines, medicines, and equipment, which negatively impact on the quality of services. The evaluation also found that there was little evidence of behaviour change among the most at risk.
It has to be noted that the impact study extended to only 18 countries of the 136 which had received grants at the time of the evaluation.
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 106, 19 August. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (mailto:www.aidspan.org). To receive GFO, send an email to receive-gfo-[email protected].
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