ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 67, April 2011

In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM World Women’s Conference, on the HIV/AIDS project in Ethiopia, and on preparations for the UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS.

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

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.

ICEM Women Make Female Condoms Their Campaign Theme

Co-hosted by two of ICEM’s Spanish affiliated trade unions, FIA-UGT and FITEQA-CC.OO, the ICEM World Women’s Conference brought together over 230 delegates from 47 countries in Seville, Spain, on 23-25 March.

Two campaigns launched by the conference included: a campaign to put a stop to violence against women in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and a campaign for wider use of female condoms to prevent HIV infection. A commitment to continue ICEM’s HIV/AIDS work and the campaign for wider use of female condoms is also included in a motion to be submitted to the Fifth ICEM World Congress in Buenos Aires in November 2011.

Ethiopia: Progress in HIV/AIDS Project

The Project Advisory Committee (PAC), held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from 9-11 March could register good progress in the HIV/AIDS project, which operates in four mining sites in Ethiopia. The PAC meeting assessed activities since its last meeting in November 2009 and mapped the way forward until the end of 2011 when the project will end. Focus during the remaining months of the project will be campaigning at the four project sites.

The project is sponsored by the Danish Solidarity Support Organisation LO/FTF Council and implemented by the ICEM-affiliated National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical, and Mine Trade Unions (NIFECM). The ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant participated in the PAC as ICEM representative. The project is very timely as foreign and local investment in mining in Ethiopia is increasing.

Since its inception at the beginning of 2009, workshops in cooperation with NIFECM have laid the foundation for a solid approach to HIV and AIDS at the workplace and in surrounding communities. The strength of the project has been the thorough development of a union and a workplace policy on HIV and AIDS.

Subsequent training of peer educators and instruction in negotiation skills, based on the ICEM Training Manual for Collective Bargaining on HIV/AIDS, which was translated into Amharic, have created a pool of unionists who have carried the message of HIV and AIDS awareness and prevention to workplaces. These worksites are located in remote areas of the country. Local authorities, farmers’ associations, and traditional and religious leaders have also been reached in the surrounding communities.

The Federation also reported a rise in membership and an increased visibility of the Federation and its affiliated unions due the implementation of the HIV/AIDS project. The work has been supported by material, such as a leaflet and a toolkit for peer educators.

Social dialogue with employers has improved considerably since HIV awareness and prevention has been introduced on the agenda. An important element for the sustainability of the project is convincing employers that small investments in HIV work reap large benefits. Members of the PAC had a first hand experience of cooperation with management when they visited the Abijata Soda Ash Share Company. They were also impressed by the solidarity of workers and management who collected funds for the support of their HIV-positive colleagues.

UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS

Thirty years into the AIDS epidemic, and ten years since the landmark UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS, the world will come together to review progress and chart the future course of the global AIDS response at the 2011 UN General Assembly High Level Meeting on AIDS (UNGA-HLM) from 8-10 June in New York. Member States are expected to adopt a new Declaration that will reaffirm current commitments and commit to actions to guide and sustain the global AIDS response.

According to the report released by the United Nations, investments in the AIDS response are yielding results. Titled “Uniting for universal access: towards zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero AIDS-related deaths,” the report highlights that the global rate of new HIV infections is declining, treatment access is expanding, and the world has made significant strides in reducing HIV transmission from mother to child.

But despite the recent achievements, the report underscores that the gains are fragile. For every person who starts antiretroviral treatment, two people become newly infected with HIV. Every day, 7,000 people are newly infected, including 1,000 children. Weak national infrastructures, financing shortfalls, and discrimination against vulnerable populations are among the factors that continue to impede access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services.

The trade union movement is engaging through civil society hearings for which input is being prepared in a strategic message. The process is also fed by UNAIDS Universal Access regional consultations in which some labour participation was secured. Furthermore, Trade unions should also demand inclusion in their countries’ national delegation to the UNGA-HLM. Governments have already been encouraged by the UNGA to include civil society, including labour representatives.

(Source: UNAIDS website, UN Press Release, 31 March, communications Global Unions AIDS Programme)

Global Fund Reacts – UK Will Increase Contribution

The establishment of a panel of international experts to review the Global Fund’s financial management systems is one of the new measures announced by the Fund to address the issue of corruption on the part of organisations implementing grants (see ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin No. 65 of February 2011).

This is one of the new measures announced by the Global Fund in response to media coverage – starting with an article by the Associated Press on 23 January 2011 – of corruption unearthed by the Fund's Office of the Inspector General (OIG) and announcements from some donor countries that contributions to the Fund will be delayed or possibly reduced.

The other new measures announced on 4 February involved: (a) ensuring that a portion of each grant is used to assess and strengthen financial controls at country level; and (b) increasing the number of the Fund’s staff responsible for financial management.

The government of the UK has announced that it will increase its contribution to the Global Fund because the Fund has “an excellent track record for delivering results.”

An in-depth review of 43 multilateral organisations conducted by the Department for International Development (DFID) found that nine of the organisations, including the Global Fund, were assessed as giving very good value to the UK taxpayer. According to the review, the Global Fund “is a results-focussed organisation; the quality and depth of reporting is very high, and allows donors to hold the Fund to account. Standards for financial management and audit are very high.”

The announcement was welcome news for the Global Fund because three countries – Sweden, Ireland, Germany – had recently announced that they were putting their contributions on hold because of concerns about corruption on the part of organisations implementing Global Fund grants.

(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 141 of 7 March. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to [email protected])

Kenya: Civil Society Defends Access to Generic Drugs

Access to affordable medicine for millions of people in the South could be at risk if the production and distribution of generic medicine from India is restricted. Campaigners say both Kenyan legislation and a European Union-India trade agreement to be concluded this year will block access to affordable drugs.

Counterfeit goods are seen as a threat by government and industry alike. As in many other developing countries, a heavy reliance on generic medicine in Kenya is held responsible for the permeation of counterfeit drugs. Unscrupulous traders are believed to fraudulently mislabel various products as legal generic drugs which are sold to unsuspecting consumers.

The problem, according to Dr Onyango Opiyo, the Executive Director of the Nairobi Network of Post-Test Clubs (a community-based organisation that supports people living with HIV/AIDS), is that legitimate generic medicines are being caught up in the net. "The concern is over the EU-India Free Trade Agreement and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement which have provisions whose impact will be to delay production of affordable, quality generic versions for up to ten years. This would inevitably drastically reduce access to life-saving generic drugs."

The European Union is expected to sign a trade agreement with India this year; campaigners in Kenya, India, and in Europe are concerned that the new agreement will hamper the manufacturing of generic anti-malaria and anti-retroviral drugs that are widely used in Africa.

It is estimated that 1.4 million Kenyans are living with HIV/AIDS – according to the Kenya AIDS Indicator Survey – 400,000 patients are already receiving free anti-retroviral treatment. The number will rise by an additional 70,000 in the next two months in a government bid to increase access to life-sustaining drugs, in accordance with the Millennium Development Goal of curbing HIV, TB, and malaria.

(Source: Inter Press Service, ipsnews.net, Nairobi, 28 February)

Warning of Drug-Resistant HIV

Countries need to take steps to monitor and prevent the spread of drug-resistant HIV. This was the warning from researchers at the annual conference on retro-viruses in Boston. Evidence presented to the conference showed that people who had never taken antiretroviral (ARV) medicine were increasingly being infected with HIV that was resistant to common ARVs.

They were probably infected by people who had either stopped taking ARVs or their ARV treatment had failed. Countries where ARV programmes have been running for a long time were most likely to report drug-resistant HIV. In parts of Brazil, for example, almost 20% of people tested positive had HIV that was resistant to at least one ARV.

In a study of almost 2,500 people in six African countries, drug resistance was highest in Uganda, which introduced ARVs earlier than the other countries surveyed. At three Ugandan sites, almost 12% of people who had never been on ARVs before were infected with drug-resistant HIV.

A World Health Organisation (WHO) survey identified a number of factors that could drive the spread of drug-resistant HIV in Africa, including patients dropping out of ARV programmes, picking up their medication late, and clinics running out of ARVs.

(Source: allafrica.com as communicated by World AIDS Campaign, 7 March)

Africa - HIV a Challenge in Religion

Hundreds of religious leaders across the globe are living with HIV, yet are afraid to come out because of the stigma attached to it. The International Network of Religious Leaders, who are living with or are personally affected by HIV/AIDS (INERELA), is a network of religious leaders across the globe which gives support to faith-based communities who are afraid to talk about HIV due to the stigma. HIV/AIDS affects everyone and the religious community is no exception.

The network is spread all over Africa in close to 20 different countries. Acting Executive Director at INERELA, Reverend JP Mokgethi-Heath, says the organisation’s interventions differ according to the needs of individual faith-based communities. “A more general intervention would be to say we have a support group of people living with HIV/AIDS in this congregation and we wish to find ways to support them. There may be a nutritional garden project, income generation programme, maybe a sustained drive to VCT within the congregation.”

Reverend Mokgethi-Heath is an Anglican priest and is HIV-positive himself. He has been living with HIV for 11 years. He says one of the major challenges that religious leaders face is stigma and discrimination. He believes that it is unfortunate that society still thinks that religious leaders can't get HIV infection.

The Muslim community is no exception to the challenges raised by Reverend Mokgethi-Heath. Positive Muslims is an NGO based in Cape Town, South Africa, and services the people of the Western Cape who are either infected or affected by HIV/AIDS. Director of the organisation, Raoul Swart, says society puts a lot of pressure on the Muslim community about family values. “This is where the denial comes in because there are a lot of strict guidelines on family values and morality. Often, people think that as Muslim community they would not be placing themselves at risk of HIV because of this.”

Reverend Mokgethi-Heath says stigma is the main cause for people dying in communities. He has emphasised the importance of faith-based communities to talk about HIV/AIDS. “Particularly in South Africa, how can we not be involved when 20% of the country is living with HIV and 80% of the country is vulnerable to HIV? So, that is 100% of our people. How can we not be involved in HIV? Too frequently, our faith communities have become social clubs rather than coal-faces for engagement with humanity and HIV is a very uncomfortable factor that highlights many of those short-comings for us.”

(Source: The full article by Ayanda Mkhwanazi was forwarded by World AIDS Campaign Cape Town on 2 March)

News from Global Unions

The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – www.itfglobal.org) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 102 and 103 of 1 March and 15 March, respectively, reports on an HIV/AIDS conference in cooperation with the Timor Leste national trade union centre KSTL and the ITF affiliate in Timor Leste. Recently Timor Leste received funding from the Global Fund to implement a HIV/AIDS programme for the next five years, in which a behaviour change communication (BCC) programme for transport and other migrant workers will be an important component. The conference served to consolidate and strengthen the relationships between different stakeholders so that all can collaborate on a workplace response.

Five Years Ago: From the April 2006 Issue (No. 7)

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

On International Women’s Day, 8 March 2006, ILOAIDS emphasised that there is more and more evidence about the susceptibility of women and girls to HIV transmission due to both gender inequalities and biological differences between men and women: 60% of new HIV infections occur to women, with even higher proportions for women under 25 years.

The ILO drew attention to the Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work. Principle 3 of the Code states, “The gender dimension of HIV/AIDS should be recognised. Women are more likely infected and more often adversely affected by the HIV/AIDS epidemic than men due to biological, socio-cultural and economic reasons.”

The joint WHO/UNAIDS report stated, “While the report found no systematic bias against women in access to antiretroviral treatment, rates of coverage for women varied. One notable area of concern is access to therapy to prevent mother-to-child HIV transmission, which remains unacceptably low.”

The then U.N. Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa, Stephen Lewis, said at a news conference on 17 March that a recent government study showed that 56% of pregnant women in Swaziland between ages 25 and 29 are living with HIV/AIDS. An estimated 43% of HIV-positive people ages 15 to 49 in Lesotho are men, and about 57% are women. The rate of HIV-positive women in Swaziland is “the highest prevalence I have ever encountered in the last five years,” Lewis said.

Unfortunately, in April 2011 the situation has not improved much.

In that issue, we also reported on a study on sexual attitudes and practice of employees in call centres and business-process-outsourcing firms in India. The study found that there is an alarming rise in the percentage of respondents who have multiple sexual partners and unprotected sex – as opposed to an earlier study of the general population.

The boom in IT-related outsourced industries has challenged traditional society and has created social conditions and new life-style practices among upward-mobile workers that can promote HIV transmission. The Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS (GBC) has launched its HIV/AIDS Call Centre Initiative, which includes a comprehensive prevention programme and access to testing and support services.

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