Read this article in:
16 December, 2011
In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on the ICEM World Congress and ICEM’s involvement in ICASA, as well as the problems the Global Fund is facing.
ICEM World Congress
HIV and AIDS featured prominently at the 5th ICEM World Congress held in Buenos Aires from 24-26 November.
The Congress publication of Global Info highlighted the ICEM’s HIV and AIDS work in a two-page spread. The Action Programme, which was unanimously adopted by delegates, makes repeated reference to the importance of the role of trade unions in fighting the pandemic at the workplace. With the adoption of the Action Programme delegates expressed their full support for the merger with the International Metalworkers’ Federation (IMF) and the International Textile, Garment and Leather Workers’ Federation (ITGLWF). HIV and AIDS work will take a prominent place in the new organisation which will come into existence in June 2012.
At the Congress, the ICEM HIV/AIDS Consultant maintained a command post that contained HIV and AIDS material and he talked to many delegates on the ICEM’s work on HIV and AIDS, as well as on the importance of the ILO Recommendation No 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work, which was distributed at the Congress in print form.
ICEM at ICASA
The ICEM and its affiliate in Ethiopia, the National Industrial Federation of Energy, Chemical and Mine Trade Unions (NIFECM), made a great impact at the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa when the NIFECM President, Firew Bekele Afework, gave the oral presentation of an abstract on the HIV and AIDS work in the mining sector in Ethiopia, which is supported by the Danish LO/FTF Council.
The abstract, entitled “HIV and the Workplace, Awareness and Prevention in the Mining Sector in Ethiopia – Trade Unions Take their Responsibility,” raised much interest among participants and drove home the message of the importance of workplace HIV and AIDS interventions, and the role of trade unions, whose potential is often underestimated.
ICASA was held in Addis Ababa from 4-8 December under the theme “Own, Scale up and Sustain”.
Global Fund Cancels Round 11
The Global Fund Board has cancelled Round 11 in light of the Global Fund’s financial difficulties. This difficult decision was made at a two-day Board meeting in Accra, Ghana, 21-22 November. The wording for the resolution did not include the word “cancel” or anything implying it. Instead, the Board resolved “to convert Round 11 into a new funding opportunity in 2014.”
The original decision to launch Round 11 in August 2011 was made at a Board meeting in December 2010. At its meeting in May 2011, the Board did not make any changes to its plans for Round 11 as an estimated US$1.6 billion would be available for that round. But the estimate of funds available for Round 11 declined to US$0.8 billion in September 2011, and then to a negative amount in November.
The Global Fund has long had a policy that the financing of Phase 2 renewals of existing grants has a higher priority than the financing of new grants. As a result, the Board concluded that almost all of the US$8.2 billion in revenues that is now projected to arrive by the end of 2013 will be needed for renewals, leaving no money for Round 11. The next replenishment period will be 2014–2016. Given that there is no money for Round 11, the next opportunity for countries to apply for new grants will be during the 2014–2016 period.
Why was Round 11 launched and then cancelled? And what does the decision to cancel Round 11 tell us about the Global Fund’s financial condition? Unlike what some news reports suggest, the Global Fund has billions of dollars in the bank, with billions more expected to arrive during the next two years. The problem is that most of that money is needed for the current and renewal phases of existing grants. In addition, the Fund has introduced a more cautious methodology for estimating how much funding it will receive in future.
Primarily because of these two factors, the Global Fund now estimates that until 2014, it will have almost no money for new grants. Hence, the need to cancel Round 11. It is not accurate to say that Round 11 was cancelled because of decisions by donors since May to cancel, reduce or delay their pledges, because that is not happening, although the Fund has serious problems with a few donor countries.
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issues 167 and 170 of 23 November and 9 December respectively. GFO is a free service of Aidspan www.aidspan.org; to receive GFO send an email to [email protected])
Global Progress in HIV Response
Global progress in both preventing and treating HIV emphasizes the benefits of sustaining investment in HIV and AIDS over the longer term. The 2011 joint report by the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and UNAIDS Report on the Global HIV/AIDS Response indicates that increased access to HIV services resulted in a 15% reduction of new infections over the past decade and a 22% decline in AIDS-related deaths in the last five years.
Advances in HIV science and programme innovations over the past year add hope for future progress. In times of economic austerity, it is essential to rapidly apply new science, technologies and approaches in order to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of HIV programmes in countries.
While there are successes in increased access to testing of pregnant women and subsequent treatment to prevent mother-to-child transmission, as well as an expansion of antiretroviral therapy (ART) in general, a lot still needs to be done. More than half of the people who need antiretroviral treatment are still unable to get access to it (and many do not even know that they are infected).
Worldwide, the vast majority (64%) of young people aged 15-24 living with HIV today are female. The rate is even higher in sub-Saharan Africa where girls and young women make up 71% of all young people living with HIV - essentially because prevention strategies are not reaching them.
In 2010, HIV epidemics and responses in different parts of the world vary with shifting trends, progress rates and outcomes. Sub-Saharan Africa has reached an ART coverage rate of 49%. But prevention is still lacking with 1.9 million new infections in the region, where 22.9 million people, two thirds of the world’s total, are living with HIV. Asia shows a stabilizing epidemic overall, but new infections are very high in some communities. Of the 4.8 million people living with HIV in Asia, nearly half (49%) are in India. Eastern Europe and Central Asia presents a dramatic growth in HIV, with new infections increasing by 250% since 2001. Middle East and North Africa records the highest number of HIV infections ever in the region (59,000) in 2010, which represents a 36% increase over the past year. Latin America and the Caribbean have a stabilizing epidemic with 1.5 million living with HIV in Latin America and 200,000 in the Caribbean.
The report is also critical about the decrease in funding in the wake of the financial crisis.
Echoing these developments and figures, UNAIDS released a separate report called “2011 UNAIDS World AIDS Day Report.”
(Source: UNAIDS Press Release, 30 November)
Botswana: Mogae in Call to Legalise Homosexuality, Prostitution
Botswana should decriminalise homosexuality and prostitution to prevent the spread of HIV, said Festus Mogae, former President of Botswana. Mogae, who heads the government-backed Botswana AIDS Council, said it was difficult to promote safe sex when the practices were illegal. He also called for condoms to be distributed in prisons.
Mogae said that Botswana should not regard homosexuals as criminals. Similarly, arresting prostitutes does not help to protect them or their clients from being infected. He also said that the government’s failure to give prisoners condoms has worsened the pandemic. “If people go to prison HIV negative and come out of it HIV positive, it means that prisons are one of the sources of infection,” he told the BBC.
Botswana has one of the highest infection rates in the world – 17% of the population are HIV positive. When Mogae was President, it became the first sub-Saharan country where antiretroviral drugs were widely available for free.
(Source: BBC News, 19 0ctober)
Burundi: ‘Die-in’ to Protest Lack of HIV Care
Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV and 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 ten 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.
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. Global Fund grants to Burundi are channelled through a coordinating body called the Intensification and Decentralization Programme for the Fight against HIV/AIDS (PRIDE), which funds CNLS, which in turn pays for HIV-positive people’s healthcare.
(Source: IRIN/PlusNews, Bujumbura)
Health Effects of Financial Crisis: A Greek Tragedy
Greece has been affected more by the financial crisis than any other European country. There are signs that budget cuts in health care have led to worsening health outcomes, especially within vulnerable groups.
A significant increase in HIV infections occurred in late 2010. The latest data suggest that new infections will rise by 52% in 2011, compared to 2010, with half of the currently observed increases attributable to infections among intravenous drug users. Budget cuts in 2009 and 2010 have resulted in the loss of a third of the country’s street work programmes. Many new HIV infections are also linked to an increase in prostitution and associated unsafe sex.
Overall, the picture of health in Greece is disturbing. It reminds us that, in an effort to finance debts, ordinary people are paying the ultimate price: losing access to care and preventive services, facing higher risk of HIV and in the worst cases losing their lives.
(Source: www.thelancet.com, volume 378, 22 October)
News from Global Unions
The International Transport Workers’ Federation (ITF – www.itfglobal.org), in its latest HIV/AIDS updates 115 and 116 of 1 and 15 November, respectively, reports on a week-long organising and VCT campaign in the road transport sector in Togo, UNESCO’s new AIDS strategy, on education sessions for Cambodian fishermen and on the effects of austerity measures in Europe, especially on infections by drug users.
On 30 November, on the occasion of World AIDS Day 1 December, the ITF launched the report on a comprehensive and cross-regional HIV and AIDS survey in the port sector. The survey examines the impact of HIV and AIDS among port communities and illustrates the need for union action and support. It also highlights the importance of ILO Recommendation 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work.
Five Years Ago: From the December 2006 Issue (No. 15)
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 December 2006 e-bulletin, we reported on the initial HIV and AIDS workshop in India in Puri, Orissa, in November. The objectives of the workshop included the achievement of a solid knowledge about the HIV/AIDS epidemic; the introduction and advocacy of the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work; the development of workplace policies and of a work plan of activities with sustainable funding sources. From this initial workshop the Indian National Mineworkers’ Federation (INMF) in cooperation with the ICEM developed a comprehensive programme which has been running from 2008 to the end of 2011. Corporate partnership with funding from the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim made this project possible.
We also reported on the latest HIV and IADS figures published in the UNAIDS/WHO 2006 Epidemic Update. An estimated 39.5 million people were living with HIV. There were 4.3 million new infections in 2006 with 2.8 million (65%) of these occurring in sub-Saharan Africa and important increases in Eastern Europe and Central Asia, where in some countries infection rates have risen by more than 50% since 2004. In 2006, 2.9 million people died of AIDS-related illnesses. The 2010/2011 look a bit better (see article above).
This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter – How to Subscribe
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to [email protected]. Please put “subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin” in the subject line.