11 February, 2010
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the results of the questionnaires on strength and weaknesses of the ICEM HIV/AIDS project; on treatment in earthquake devastated Haiti; and the call for union participation in the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, Austria, in July 2010.
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ICEM affiliates are 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.
Annual Questionnaires Reveal Strength of ICEM HIV/AIDS Project
Last year, the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project introduced year-end questionnaires in addition to the reporting of activities. The objective was to better assess the results compared to the objectives and to find out more about success stories and difficulties encountered in project implementation.
The questionnaires show an increased focus not only on training of peer educators and counsellors but also their deployment in follow-up activities which reach more and more workers, their families, and the community. They also reveal more cooperation with employers, NGOs, and service providers. VCT campaigns in some countries were an overwhelming success, revealing how much can be done by unions when government agencies fail to respond.
The introduction of a small budget allocation for material production was well accepted with the result that ICEM affiliates in the majority of project countries now have their own leaflets for use in awareness and prevention work.
Difficulties encountered included the lack of time off granted by employers for peer educators to perform their duties and for meetings during working time; the lack of incentives for peer educators; the lack of resources to produce more campaign material and inadequate resources to cover more workplaces, especially in countries with a poor infrastructure and failing transport systems.
What is still lacking, with a few exceptions, is the negotiation of HIV/AIDS workplace policies or collective bargaining agreements with HIV/AIDS clauses. In almost all countries, there is at least one employer with good practices on dealing with HIV/AIDS. Unions must become more active to build on good practices in their own country or in countries of a region to convince employers, who are lagging behind, to do more in the field of HIV/AIDS.
Global Union AIDS Programme Calls for Union Participation at the International AIDS Conference
The Global Union AIDS Programme (GUAP) has called on Global Union Federations (GUFs) to sponsor unionists to participate in the International AIDS Conference (IAC), Vienna, Austria, 19 –23 July 2010.
The last IAC took place in Mexico City in August 2008, and several GUF representatives attended the Conference, as well as the two-day Labour Forum. As a result of their participation and the efforts of ILO/AIDS, GUAP made significant progress in securing recognition of HIV/AIDS as a workplace issue and ensuring that the world of work was on the agenda.
In Vienna, GUAP needs to do even better. The year 2010 is a significant year for the global HIV/AIDS response and for the world of work in particular. This year is the target year for the G8 commitment to achieving universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care made in 2005, and for achieving the second target of Millennium Development Goal 6, universal access to treatment. What is more, the new ILO instrument on HIV/AIDS in the world of work will be discussed and hopefully adopted at the International Labour Conference in June. The IAC will be an important forum to disseminate the instrument, explain its significance, and promote its use
GUAP calls on GUFs to earmark funds to enable representatives to participate in the IAC so that labour’s voice will be heard.
(Source: GUAP Circular, 2 February)
Combating AIDS through Workplace Action in Uganda
TUC Aid – the development arm of the British trade union movement – is working in partnership with the National Organisation of Trade Unions (NOTU) in Uganda in a two-year workplace initiative to combat AIDS. The activities planned for the second half of 2009, under the Workers' AIDS Project (WAP) launched in July 2009, with a view to reducing stigma and discrimination associated with workers living with HIV/AIDS and negotiating for treatment, care, and support for such workers through collective bargaining arrangements with employers were successfully completed.
The Project, funded by the Bill Morris Testimonial Fund for HIV/AIDS in Africa through TUC Aid, has contributed to greater awareness of risks of infection and of the potential for effective action through workplace.
(Source: TUC website www.tuc.org.uk, with contribution from Robert E. Lovelace, GUAP HIV/AIDS Consultant, Washington, D.C.)
Global Fund Ensures AIDS Treatment in Haiti
As Haiti begins the process to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake that hit on 12 January, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is focusing its effort to ensure that the thousands of people living with AIDS will be able to access the drugs they need to stay alive.
Haiti has the highest HIV infection rate outside southern Africa, and 36,000 people are currently receiving antiretroviral treatment to stay healthy, 13,000 of these depend on programmes financed by the Global Fund. With many health centres destroyed and health workers killed, people moving away from their home areas and with transport difficult, there is an acute danger that many people will run out of the drugs they need. This would not only lead to many deaths, but the disruption of treatment would also lead to a high chance of drug resistance among those who stop and start their treatment.
The Global Fund is making an emergency provision of US$800,000 for a supply of six months of stocks of antiretroviral medicines. The Global Fund is working closely with the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), and UNAIDS to ensure an uninterrupted flow of life-saving AIDS medicines to these patients.
(Source: Global Fund website)
ILO Announces Strategy to Fight the Pandemic in Ghana
Over a period of two years, the ILO/AIDS Workplace Programme will train about 195 senior officers from 20 trades associations on the removal of stigmatization and discrimination at the workplace, reaching out to more than 55,400 vulnerable people in the informal economy. In addition, 390 Peer Educators will be trained to assist some 100 companies with formulating and implementing HIV/AIDS workplace policies. The programme will also distribute two million condoms.
Mrs. Akua Ofori-Asumadu, ILO/AIDS Workplace HIV National Programme Co-ordinator, announced this at the ILO/HIV and AIDS Programme Advisory Board meeting in Accra, which was attended by the Ministry of Employment and Social Welfare, Ghana AIDS Commission, Ghana Employers Association, Ghana Business Coalition against AIDS, and Ghana Trades Union Congress.
She also said that the programme would develop kits and user guides necessary for workplace representatives to build comprehensive HIV/AIDS workplace programmes.
(Source: Ghana News Agency, posted on www.peacefmonline.com on 13 January)
Lack of Resources Could Undermine HIV Response in Pakistan
Pakistan’s capacity to effectively respond to the HIV epidemic could be hindered due to the lack of resources to implement its National Strategic Framework. A priority is to address the increasing levels of HIV infections among injecting drug users (IDUs).
Despite having an HIV prevalence rate of less than 0.1% among its general population, Pakistan’s HIV epidemic has transitioned from low to a concentrated one, as the prevalence among IDUs has steadily increased from 10.8% in 2005 to nearly 21% in 2008.
Following the model seen in other countries in Asia, also known as the Asian Epidemic Model, the epidemic in Pakistan is characterised by high prevalence among IDUs and potential spill-over into other risk populations such as commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men.
Lack of financial resources and constraints in the health infrastructure could jeopardise an effective and timely response.
(Source: UNAIDS website www.unaids.org, Feature Stories, posted 5 February)
Spotlight on the Middle East and North Africa
The HIV epidemic in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, while seldom highlighted, is steadily growing. In 2008, there were an estimated 310,000 people living with HIV, up from 200,000 in 2001. Approximately 35,000 people became newly infected.
Stigma and discrimination remain key barriers to an effective regional response. In many countries, the criminalisation of higher risk behaviours pushes affected communities, such as men who have sex with men, underground thereby limiting access to HIV prevention, treatment, and care and support services.
UNAIDS works closely with government and civil society partners in the region to advocate the removal of punitive laws and policies that block an effective response.
(Source: UNAIDS website www.unaids.org, Feature Stories, posted 27 January)
Zimbabwe: HIV-positive People Want Constitutional Rights
AIDS activists in Zimbabwe have launched a major drive to ensure that the rights of people living with HIV are enshrined in the new constitution.
The Global Political Agreement, signed in September 2008 between Zimbabwe's political rivals, which gave rise to the coalition government in February 2009, includes writing the new constitution expected to be introduced in 2010.
The Zimbabwe National Network of People Living with HIV and AIDS (ZNPP+) and the Southern Africa AIDS Information Dissemination Service (SAFAIDS), a regional non-profit AIDS organisation, call for a meaningful involvement of HIV-positive people in the constitution-making process. They note that the current constitution did not have any explicit reference to the right to healthcare and was "silent on HIV.”
SAFAIDS and ZNNP+ are calling for a bill of rights that would promote better access to health services. The estimated two million people who are living with HIV and AIDS in Zimbabwe, one of the countries hardest hit by HIV/AIDS, have never before been actively involved in such legislation.
(Source: PlusNews, 4 February)
A Beginner’s Guide to the Global Fund
AIDSPAN recently published a beginner’s guide to the Global Fund. The purpose of this guide is to provide a broad introduction to the Global Fund for people who have little or no prior experience of the Fund – ranging from new CCM members, to NGOs, to trade unions, to government officials, to new sub-recipients, to journalists who have to write about the Fund. This guide comes in three versions: the full guide (about 60 pages), an eight-page summary, and a two-page summary.
All three versions of this guide are available at www.aidspan.org/guides in English, French, Spanish, and Russian.
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 114 of 19 January. GFO is a free service of Aidspan (www.aidspan.org); to receive GFO send an email to
http://[email protected])
News from Global Unions
The latest Newsletter of Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa (PSUFASA) gives a full summary of the many HIV/AIDS activities organised by the project. The project office is based in Johannesburg and the project is now coordinated by Tsitsi Mariwo. The project is sponsored by the Department for International Development (DfID, UK) and the British affiliate of Public Services International, UNISON. The website of PSUFASA is www.psufasa.org.
(Source: PSUFASA Newsletter January 2010)
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