11 May, 2011
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on how the HIV/AIDS project in India includes women, on ART adherence in Ethiopia, and reflect on the UN’s efforts to match commitment and declarations with concrete results.
Indian Mineworkers’ Federation Involves Women
In the framework of the HIV/AIDS project in India, which is sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF) organised a training programme for women peer educators and counsellors in Kolkata. Twenty-one participants from five different coal companies, most of them para-medical staff from company clinics, attended the two-day course.
Participants discussed the basics of HIV and AIDS, voluntary counselling and testing services, perspectives of people living with HIV and AIDS and behaviour change. The ILO Delhi office sent a resource person to talk about the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work and the new Recommendation No. 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. Participants also elaborated an action plan for activities in their workplaces and communities.
On International Women’s Day, 8 March, two one-day programmes on HIV/AIDS and the workplace were organised in Dhanbad and Asansole. A total of 63 women attended the programmes which were organised by two master trainers who had received training in earlier stages of the project.
US Confirms Pledge to Global Fund, Other Donors Backtrack
The US Congress agreed on 15 April that the US will give US$1.05 billion to the Global Fund during the fiscal year that ends on 30 September 2011. This is the same amount that the US committed for the previous year.
After Republicans took control of the House, they moved to cut this to US$0.6 billion. Eventually, after much backroom negotiation, agreement was reached on the US$1.05 billion figure. Congress passed the legislation, and President Barack Obama signed it.
However, one standard aspect of such legislation is that the US will give no more than 33% of the total given by all countries to the Global Fund. Thus, if all other donors do not give twice as much as the US commits, the US contribution will be reduced.
It is not yet known whether other donors will give twice as much as the US has promised. One problem is that a new trend has emerged whereby a few donors do not live up to their commitments. The most notable example of this is Italy, which has not paid any part of its 2009 and 2010 pledges of US$ 183 million per year. In addition, Spain has only paid US$134 million of the US$250 million it pledged for 2010, and Ireland has only paid US$11 million of the $48 million it pledged for 2010.
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 144 of 20 April. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to [email protected])
Ethiopia to Boost ART Adherence
Patients taking their antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs irregularly risk developing drug-resistant strains of the virus. A three-month campaign by Addis Ababa's health bureau hopes to boost adherence to ARVs in the Ethiopian capital by improving communication between patients and health service providers.
A 2009 study by the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) found that on average, 72.3% of patients on ARVs were still on first-line medication one year after starting treatment. The remaining people are lost.
Insufficient food, high transport costs to drug collection points, and stigma-related issues such as fear of disclosure are some of the main reasons why HIV-positive Ethiopians fail to stick to ARVs. Such failure can hasten progress from HIV to AIDS; patients taking their drugs irregularly also run the risk of developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, requiring significantly more costly second- and third-line ARVs.
Addis Ababa's health bureau is partnering with the national AIDS Resource Centre (ARC) on the three-month campaign, launched in March and funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Through a mass-media campaign and the use of toll-free telephone HIV/AIDS information services, it seeks to promote "astewai" (responsible patients), and "tagash" (tolerant service providers) as part of its efforts to improve adherence.
Some 26 state-run health centre, five state-run hospitals and 13 private facilities that provide ART in Addis Ababa will participate in the campaign, with a plan to roll it out to the rest of the country should it prove successful.
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Addis Ababa, 13 April)
Global Fund Selects Co-Chairs for Expert Panel on Corruption
The Global Fund has selected two prominent people to co-chair the panel of experts that will be conducting an independent review of the Fund’s financial safeguards. They are former President of Botswana, Festus Mogae, and former US Health and Human Services Secretary, Michael O. Leavitt.
The panel is part of a broader set of measures that the Global Fund is implementing to strengthen the Fund’s financial and risk management systems. Some of these measures, including the panel, were in response to the recent media coverage of corruption in the administration of Global Fund grants in a few sub-Saharan African countries, and to the reaction of some donors to the corruption revelations.
Festus Mogae, Michael O. Leavitt
The co-chairs will select a small group of eminent persons and experts to join the panel. The Global Fund says that the panel will assess the Fund’s current practices in financial oversight, and will make recommendations to help strengthen the Global Fund’s fiscal controls and anti-corruption measures.
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 142 of 17 March. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to [email protected])
Burundi: ‘Die-in’ Protest over Lack of HIV Care
NGOs fear the erratic drug supply could lead to the deaths of people living with HIV. Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV/AIDS recently staged a demonstration in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a lack of treatment.
Men, women, and children lay on the ground for 10 minutes to "show the government that if nothing is done rapidly - this week, this month – we will all die," said Jeanne Gapiya, a leading Burundian HIV activist.
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Première Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people – about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi.
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Première Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people – about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. According to Gapiya, despite funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2010, organizations caring for HIV-positive people had not signed agreements with the National Council for HIV/AIDS Control (CNLS) to access the cash.
The Global Fund approved about US$35 million to fight HIV in Burundi under its eighth round of grants. An estimated 150,000 Burundians are living with HIV; the pandemic has left more than 20,000 orphans in the central African country.
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Bujumbura, 4 April)
News from Global Unions
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 104 and 105 in April, reports on HIV training courses for Burmese migrant workers, mainly fishermen, in Thailand and on a Southern Africa workshop on HIV/AIDS and TB in the transport sector, organised in cooperation with the ILO and UNAIDS.
Dr Syed Asif Altaf, the ITF Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator has published, together with Robert Lovelace, Senior Fellow for the Trade Union Sustainable Development Unit, an article in the upcoming issue of the UN Chronicle on Labour, HIV and the Workplace – Working to Get the Job Done.
The EFAIDS (Education for All and HIV and AIDS Education) project of the Education International (EI) is ending after five successful years. Life saving skills training has been implemented by 80 member organisations in 48 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. An independent evaluation of the five-year programme is being conducted and the findings will be shared at the EFAIDS closing conference in mid-May.
The Building and Wood Workers’ International (BWI) reports that its affiliate in Zambia reached out to hundreds of workers through HIV/AIDS workplace education. During the educational activities, workers were trained in the usage of condoms and care and support while at the same time linking the training to health and safety.
The latest issue of the SWHAP (The Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme) Newsletter can be accessed at www.swhap.org. The website also gives useful links to a Peer Educators’ Monitoring Booklet and How to Start a Workplace Programme. SWHAP is a joint programme of the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers’ Union (IF Metall). It is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA).
Five Years Ago: From the May 2006 Issue (No. 8)
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.
In the May 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the comprehensive review the UN General Assembly undertook on the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). UNGASS adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. This Declaration provides a comprehensive framework to halt and reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2010 and includes specific and measurable milestones for 2003, 2005, and 2010. Few of the targets have been met.
Interestingly enough, the Declaration says in chapter 49: “By 2005, strengthen the response to HIV/AIDS in the world of work by establishing and implementing prevention and care programmes in public, private and informal work sectors, and take measures to provide a supportive workplace environment for people living with HIV/AIDS.”
The General Assembly in 2006 adopted a Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, without setting new targets but reaffirming the targets of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment. The Millennium Development Goals still stand. They say in Article 6.A: “Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS” and 6.B: “Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.” As stated in various UN and UNAIDS documents, targets for “universal access” do not necessarily require 100% coverage.
In June 2011, the General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realising the Declaration of Commitment and the Political Declaration in High Level Meeting (UNGA-HLM, see e-bulletin 67, April 2011).
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