ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 61, October 2010

In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the great success of a project by the German IGBCE women in Tanzania, on the South African government’s failure to provide promised female condoms at the World Cup games, and on the mining house AngloAmerican’s ongoing campaign to stem the spread of the HIV virus in South Africa.

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IGBCE Women Sponsor Successful VCT campaign in Tanzania

The second leg of the campaign for voluntary counselling and testing took place in Mwasa, the second largest town in Tanzania, in August. The campaign was sponsored with donations from the women unionists of the German ICEM affiliate, IGBCE. The African Medical Research Foundation (AMREF) gave technical assistance.

A total of 875 people were tested, among them 800 workers, members of the ICEM affiliates TUICO and TAMICO in Tanzania. Four percent tested positive, with a marked difference between men (3.1 percent) and women (6.9 percent). All who tested positive were referred to the government hospital in Mwasa.

A dancing troupe of people living with HIV and AIDS provided entertainment, and members of the group also gave testimonies to encourage workers and members of the public to get tested.

Female Condoms Missing During World Cup

Female condoms have been widely celebrated as an answer to putting reproductive health and HIV protection in the hands of women. Yet, the South African government fell far short of its promise of distributing 7.5 million female condoms during the World Cup games in June, with only one million finding their way into the hands of consumers. On the other hand, male condoms were available in high numbers - 565 million - though even these were 20% fewer than expected.

Many women’s organisations, who had pressed for the condoms, expressed disappointment that the female versions were largely missing in action, thus offering women less choice of how to protect themselves. Tian Johnson of Thohoyandou Victim Empowerment Trust is frustrated at the situation, referring to messages communicated by the organisation to 2010 visitors, “Coming to South Africa soon? Bring your own condoms; we certainly don’t have enough to share!”

(Source: www.genderlinks.org.za, as reported in Pambazuka, 23 July)

Note by the Editor: The Coordinator of the ICEM HIV/AIDS Project is campaigning for wider access to female condoms. During the Sub-regional HIV/AIDS Women’s Workshop in May, she found that female condoms were not commonly available.

World AIDS Day 2010: Universal Access and Human RIghts

First observed in 1988, World AIDS Day (WAD) on 1 December has served to raise awareness about the epidemic, focus attention on issues that are key to a successful response, and to inspire positive action. The WAD theme for 2009-2010 is “Universal Access and Human Rights.”

In cooperation with the World AIDS Campaign and other organisations, this year UNAIDS is organising a global “Lights for Rights Commemoration” in 100 cities. This campaign aims to highlight the linkages between HIV vulnerability and Human Rights around the world, especially of people living with HIV, women and girls, men who have sex with men, sex workers, people who inject drugs, and transgender people.

The “Lights for Rights” campaign began on 1 December 2009 in the US, when the lights were turned off and later turned back on, illuminating New York City landmarks. The darkness represents how stigma, discrimination, and criminalization forces people to die alone in fear and shame, while switching the lights on symbolizes the human rights of all people, which allows one to walk in the light of information, treatment, care, and health.

(Source: UNAIDS website www.uniaidstoday.org. UNAIDS has produced a toolkit which can be accessed on this site

Zimbabwe: Patients Forced to Pay for ARVs

Rampant corruption in the provision of life-prolonging antiretroviral (ARV) drugs and other HIV services is threatening Zimbabwe's national AIDS response, according to a recently released report by a local human rights group.

Commissioned by the Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR) in March 2010, the report - Corruption Burns Universal Access to Treatment - found that 73% of HIV-positive respondents had been asked to pay bribes by health workers. Most of those unwilling or unable to pay were turned away or given inadequate services.

The findings were based on interviews with 1,024 people living with HIV in the provinces of Masvingo, Harare, Bulawayo, and Manicaland. Most of the respondents lived in urban areas and 89% had a family income of less than US$100 a month.

HIV patients were often asked to pay for services that were supposed to be free. About a third of the respondents who were asked for bribes refused to pay them, mainly because of poverty; as a consequence, 63% were denied the service and had to pay for drugs or diagnostic tests in the private sector, or on the black market, or go without.

(Sources: Plus News, Harare, 5 October)

Kenya: Minister Condemned for Promoting Gay Inclusion

A Kenyan minister who expressed her opinion in support for HIV and Aids mitigation programmes for gays and lesbians has come under sharp criticism from church and Muslim leaders who said her remarks were “satanic” and contrary to “African culture.”

Esther Murugi, the special programmes minister in the Kenyan government, while addressing a Gays and Commercial Sex Workers HIV and Aids Symposium held at the Kenya Coastal City of Mombasa, challenged the government, in which she serves to help the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and inter-sex (LGBTI) community efforts in war against the scourge.

The seminar, titled “Most – At-Risk Populations (MARPs),” was targeted at Men having Sex with Men (MSM), sex workers, and Injecting Drug Users (IDUs), believed to be at the greatest risk of HIV infection.

Politicians attacked the minister over her remarks and called on Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki to dismiss her for advocating for the recognition of gays and lesbians. The symposium was partly sponsored by the National Aids Control Council (NACC) which is the government national agency that designs and implements policies on the fight against HIV and AIDS.

(Source: BTM correspondent, 6 October)

Global Fund: Donor Governments Pledge Record Amounts

Donors are expected to give the Global Fund about US$11.7 billion over the three-year period, 2011-2013. This is 20% more than was pledged three years ago for the 2008-2010 period; but it is still less than the Global Fund says that it needs.

More than 40 countries, together with the European Commission, faith-based organizations, private foundations and corporations attended a pledging session in New York on 5 October chaired by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon.

The Fund says that its total needs over the three years 2011-13 will be between US$13 billion and US$20 billion. Over the past few months, donor government studied the Fund's needs and effectiveness and deliberated over how much each would commit to for the three years in question. They then came to New York to announce their decisions.

The four countries that pledged the most for 2011-13 are the US, US$4 billion, 40% more than its pledge for the previous three years; France, US$1.48 billion, a 20% increase over the previous three years; Germany, US$822 million, no change; and Japan, US$800 million, a 28% increase. The three countries that pledged the largest percentage of their Gross National Income (GNI) are Norway and France (0.018% each) and Canada (0.013%).

(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 131 of 8 October. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to [email protected])

AngloAmerican’s Campaign against HIV/AIDS

AngloAmerican is the largest private sector employer in South Africa and the effects of the HIV/AIDS pandemic have ravaged its business. However, over the years the situation has become more manageable. By its own estimates, approximately 12,000 of its 71,000-workforce in South Africa are HIV-positive.

The group’s medical consultant, Dr Brian Brink, who is also the Global Fund Board member for the private sector, says that the big turning point came when treatment became available and effective. In negotiations with the union, the company agreed to pay for antiretroviral treatment (ART), but the real obstacle to getting things done was the stigma, fear, and distrust surrounding the disease. Agreement with the union also included guarantees that the jobs of HIV-positive workers were safe.

From the economic point of view, giving out ART free of charge also makes sense. The fully-accounted cost for treatment is US$126 per HIV-positive worker per month. Against this, the total savings from reduced absenteeism and declining health care costs, as well as reduced staff turnover and benefits payments are US$219.

(Sources: Daily Telegraph London, 2 August, with additions from the editor)

News from the Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme

The Swedish Workplace HIV/AIDS Programme (SWHAP) is a joint initiative by the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers’ Union (IF Metall), an affiliate of the ICEM.

In the latest newsletter of SWHAP, there is a report on the Swedish programme’s Sub-regional Conference in Zimbabwe related to the development of its South Africa Peer Educators Network and new HIV/AIDS workplace programmes in cooperation with unions and Swedish companies in Southern and East Africa. The SWHAP programme in Namibia has commenced with the adoption of workplace policies by Auto Sueco, Atlas Copco, and ABB, and the training of peer educators.

(Source: SWHAP Newsletter August 2010)

News from Global Unions

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF), www.itfglobal.org, reports in its latest HIV/AIDS update No. 93 of 1 October on its HIV/AIDS capacity-building workshop for the Asian region and the publication of a new seafarers directory that includes information on practising safer sex and advocacy of condom use.

The August Newsletter of PSUFASA (Public Sector Unions Fighting AIDS in Southern Africa) reports on the projects activities in Zimbabwe. The project, which is supported by the UK Department for International Development, is in its last year of the three-year project cycle. The project is coordinated by Tsitsi Mariwo from the PSI Southern Africa office in Johannesburg.

Five Years Ago: ICEM’s HIV/AIDS e-Bulletin was Born

The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In future issues, we will refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments.

In October 2005, we reported on the Global Fund replenishment meeting in London in September 2005. Governments then pledged US$3.7 billion, which was short of expectations as the total needs of the Fund had been estimated at US$7 billion. As the article on the replenishment meeting in New York above shows, the amounts pledged have trebled but so have the needs to cover all approved grants and sustain service delivery.

In the October 2005 issue we wrote: “The relatively low level of support raises questions about the G8 commitment (at the Gleneagles Summit in July 2005) to place on antiretroviral treatment by 2010 all HIV patients who need it.”

That sadly has become true. As the year 2010 comes close to ending, various estimates say that only half of the HIV positive population who needs treatment still has not access to it.

(The source of the article in October 2005: Global Fund Observer, Issue 50 of 7 September 2005)

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