ELECTORNIC BULLETIN OF THE SWISS PLATFORM ON HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

June/ July 2013

Dear Reader,

South India: Late at night, a young pregnant mother, who just lost her husband, is thrown out of the house by her parents-in-law. They had learned that their daughter-in-law was HIV-positive. Neighbours took the young woman in and the village women’s group looked after her and henceforth made sure that she received the required medical treatment to prevent the HIV-transmission to her child. Only during the traditional ceremony to greet the new born into the community, the parents-in-law reconciled with the young mother.

Tanzania: A HIV-positive woman whose husband died of AIDS, was accused of witchcraft and killed. Unfortunately, any support possible came too late to save her. Due to the local NGO’s persistent activities in informing and advising women on the issues of food, farming and health one can see how things are slowly changing. Today, women look after those that are HIV-positive and sick and they also speak with the children about HIV.

These are two stories that were shared by South partners of the platform aidsfocus.ch and the network Medicus Mundi Switzerland on the occasion of the Meeting Point on April 15, 2013 in Basel. The stories illustrated their work with AIDS-affected women in Tanzania und India. Stigmatisation, social outlawing, misinformation and misbelief are stumbing blocks that get in our way towards a future free of Aids.

Not only far away in Africa or India but also in Switzerland, stigmatising people living with HIV is still an issue, despite the fact that we consider ourselves to be enlightened and rationally thinking. Many HIV-positive people who are open about their HIV-infection are discriminated in their job; and HIV-positive mothers and their children are often shunned on the playground.

It is quite sobering to see that despite having the know-how and the required technologies to stop AIDS, we still have to fight against stigmatisation and exclusion of people living with HIV. Hence it shows that in all our endeavours for a future without AIDS we not only have to curb an epidemic but also have to work for social justice and for the implementation of human rights.

For UNAIDS executive director Michel Sidibé, respecting and promoting human rights is a core issue: “Human rights must remain at the centre of the response. Human rights can transform HIV and societies, if hard work, commitment and funds are behind them.” The commitment for universal access to HIV-prevention, treatment and care based on human rights should remain on the international development agenda also beyond 2015. In order to make sure that everyone in the whole world has access to HIV-services without any stigma or discrimination.

Helena Zweifel Coordinator aidsfocus.ch Executive Director Network Medicus Mundi Switzerland

Geneva, 30 June 2013 - New HIV treatment guidelines by WHO recommend offering antiretroviral therapy (ART) earlier. Recent evidence indicates that earlier ART will help people with HIV to live longer, healthier lives, and substantially reduce the risk of transmitting HIV to others. The move could avert an additional 3 million deaths and prevent 3.5 million more new HIV infections between now and 2025. The new recommendations are presented in WHO’s "Consolidated guidelines on the use of antiretroviral drugs for treating and preventing HIV infection".

http://www.who.int
http://www.aidsmap.com

Kuala Lumpur, 30 June 2013 – The IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention (IAS 2013) attracts leading scientists, clinicians, public health experts and community leaders to see and discuss presentations of the latest data on HIV prevention, pathogenesis and care. Some 4,700 AIDS people attended and welcomed the rejuvenation of HIV science in recent years but have expressed concern that the scientific optimism for ending AIDS is not even translating into reduced infections amongst key affected populations in many parts of the world. Daily updates and analyses of leading reports at IAS 2013 at the aidsmap site:

http://www.aidsmap.com
http://www.iasociety.org

1. June 2013 - Some of the world’s most prominent leaders, thinkers, and activists in the AIDS response are convening in Lilongwe, Malawi for two days of dialogue focused on defining the role of the AIDS response in the post-2015 agenda. The Commissioners, participating in the first meeting of the UNAIDS and Lancet Commission: From AIDS to Sustainable Health will also identify lessons learned from the AIDS response for the future of global health and development. They debate how these lessons should inform efforts to promote both global and domestic investments in health as driver of human well-being, ensure innovation and access to medicines, and generate demand for and equitable access to health services.

http://www.unaids.org

1. June 2013 - On May 30, 2013, the UN Secretary-General's High-Level Panel of Eminent Persons on the Post-2015 Development Agenda published its eagerly anticipated report. The unequivocal conclusion of the report is that the “unfinished business” of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) cannot be swept aside. In a similar process of critical self-reflection, the global AIDS community is identifying features of the AIDS response that we wish to protect, enhance, and extend as we move into a different era of global health and development. The principles that are fundamental to the success of the AIDS response must remain at the heart of the new agenda.(By Michel Sidibé and Kent Buse, The Lancet)

http://www.thelancet.com
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Geneva, 27 June 2013 - The response to HIV, tuberculosis and malaria in three pilot countries - El Salvador, Myanmar and Zimbabwe - has been dramatically enhanced with multimillion dollar grants from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The new funding model maximizes available resources and ensures that investments are strategically focused. Representing a shift in the Global Fund’s business model, it features new central elements such as a multi-partner country dialogue; followed by a focused concept note that summarizes the national context. The request for funding—an iterative application process— now includes increased engagement of technical partners.

http://www.unaids.org

Berlin, 19 June 2013 - In a tribute to John F. Kennedy's famous "Ich bin ein Berliner" speech, Barack Obama addressed gay issues and AIDS prevention throughout the world. “I’ve come here, to this city of hope, because the tests of our time demand the same fighting spirit that defined Berlin a half-century ago,” Obama said. “When we stand up for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters and treat their love and their rights equally under the law, we defend our own liberty as well. We are more free when all people can pursue their own happiness. And as long as walls exist in our hearts to separate us from those who don’t look like us, or think like us, then we're going to have to work harder, together, to bring those walls of division down.”

http://www.advocate.com

1. June 2013 – “New research shows that a highly effective way to control and defeat infectious diseases like AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria is by focusing on the most vulnerable populations. That has big implications for human rights… The people most vulnerable to disease often don't have access to health programs due to lack of information, discrimination, and the fear of arrest… We are building human rights concerns into the grant cycle of our work. We are taking specific steps including human rights training for our fund portfolio managers, establishing a human rights reference group, and setting up systems to explicitly track funding spent on rights-based interventions to reach our public health goals.”

http://www.theglobalfund.org

1. June 2013 - Last July, a high court sentenced the Namibian state for the forced sterilization of three HIV-positive women. In Uzbekistan, authorities continue to deny reported cases. AWID looks into forced sterilizations in both countries and what it means for women’s reproductive rights. Though sterilization can be an effective family planning option for many women, when performed without their prior and full informed consent, it is a serious violation of women’s human rights. As the women’s movement struggles to maintain existing agreed upon rights, it is important to pay careful attention to policies and practices that undermine such rights.

http://www.trust.org

Brussels 29 May 2013 - HIV as a human rights issue was the main theme of a high-level meeting co-organized by the European Commission and UNAIDS held from 27-28 May in Brussels under the overarching theme: right to health, right to life. Participants focused on the need for sustained and sufficient investment in HIV, including in programmes that challenge stigma, discrimination and punitive legal barriers. All agreed that tackling HIV as a human rights issue in the European Union and neighbouring countries is the key to turning the regional epidemic around, setting Europe on the path to ending the epidemic.

http://www.unaids.org

April 2013 - HIV/ AIDS is one of our largest global taboos with huge consequences for health and economy. How should teenagers be able to take responsibility if there is no information available? Taboobreaker developed Love Land, a playful tool, in which students explore the world of condoms, safer sex and further relevant knowledge around the HIV/ AIDS prevention. After a successful pilot phase in Switzerland, Karin Stierli of Taboobreaker did projects in South Africa. Students feel safe in a team and no individual is blamed or directly confronted with a delicate question. They become able to discuss and to learn from one another in a relaxed and familiar atmosphere.

http://www.taboobreaker.com
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

A new report from the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF, Global update on HIV treatment 2013: results, impact and opportunities, shows a huge acceleration in the roll out and uptake of antiretroviral therapy since 2011. A record 9.7 million people living with HIV were accessing treatment in 2012 compared to just over 8.1 million in 2011 – an increase of 1.6 million in one year alone. By making strategic efficiencies in HIV programming, UNAIDS estimates that expansion of treatment can be accelerated within the existing resource needs of between US$ 22-24 billion for 2015. (30 June 2013)

http://www.unaids.org

UNAIDS reports more than 7 million people now on HIV treatment across Africa – with nearly 1 million added in the last year - while new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS continue to fall. The number of people in Africa receiving antiretroviral treatment increased from less than 1 million in 2005 to 7.1 million in 2012, with nearly 1 million added in the last year alone. AIDS-related deaths are also continuing to fall––reducing by 32% from 2005 to 2011 as are the numbers of new HIV infections which have fallen by 33% from 2001 to 2011. The report attributes this success to strong leadership and shared responsibility in Africa and among the global community. (May 2013)

http://www.unaids.org

A new report on the Global Plan towards elimination of new HIV infections among children by 2015 and keeping their mothers alive (Global Plan) has revealed a marked increase in progress in stopping new infections in children across the Global Plan priority countries in Africa. The report outlines that seven countries in sub-Saharan Africa — Botswana, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Namibia, South Africa and Zambia—have reduced new HIV infections among children by 50% since 2009. The report also shows that access to treatment remains unacceptably low for children – only 3 in 10 children in need of treatment have access in most of the ‘Global Plan’ priority countries. (25 June 2013)

http://www.unaids.org

Physical or sexual violence is a public health problem that affects more than one third of all women globally, according to a new report “Global and regional estimates of violence against women: Prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence” released by WHO. The report represents the first systematic study of global data on the prevalence of violence against women – both by partners and non-partners. Some 35% of all women will experience either intimate partner or non-partner violence. The study finds that intimate partner violence is the most common type of violence against women, affecting 30% of women worldwide. (June 2013)

http://www.who.int

Sexual minorities, sex workers and people who use drugs who are at a higher risk of HIV than the general population, but in Tanzania, they face widespread police abuse and discrimination in health facilities, according to the new report by Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the Wake Up and Step Forward Coalition (WASO). The report, “Treat Us Like Human Beings”: Discrimination against Sex Workers, Sexual and Gender Minorities, and People Who Use Drugs in Tanzania, documents abuses against lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people, men who have sex with men (MSM), sex workers, and drug users. Abuses include denial of health services, violations of confidentiality and denial of freedom of association, as well as verbal harassment, arbitrary arrest, extortion, assault, torture, rape and murder.

http://www.irinnews.org

Despite the Global Fund’s progressive policies on the inclusion of gay men, other men who have sex with men and transgender individuals (GMT) in programmes supported by the Fund, only a tiny fraction of the money spent by the Fund in six countries in Southern Africa has targeted this population. This is one of the conclusions of a new study from the Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) and the Center for Public Health and Human Rights at the John Hopkins University School of Public Health. The study examined funding from the Global Fund, the US government and national governments in Botswana, Malawi, Namibia, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. (Juni 2013)

http://www.aidspan.org

To support India's National AIDS Control Programme (NACP), ICRW with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) has adapted an existing global HIV stigma reduction framework for the Indian context and pilot tested the framework in five settings in India. This report synthesizes the lessons learned from the process, including the feasibility and relevance of the framework for use by the NACP and other global stakeholders in informing stigma reduction interventions and measurement. Five case studies are presented. (ICRW, STRIVE, UNDP, 2013)

http://www.icrw.org

The world population is faced with a dramatic increase in the prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). In looking at the risk factors contributing to disease, disability and deaths, alcohol is ranking number 1 in Eastern Europe. Excessive alcohol use also increases the risk for chronic infections, most importantly HIV due to risky behaviour (e.g. promiscuity, unsafe sex), AIDS (e.g. inadequate treatment, poor compliance with treatment), and tuberculosis (e.g. increased risk of infection; poor living conditions). The rates of HIV infections are undergoing dramatic increases in some countries in the region. (Bulletin of Medicus Mundi Schweiz Nr. 128, June 2013)

http://www.medicusmundi.ch

Partner organisations: AIDS & Child, Caritas Switzerland, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, IAMANEH Switzerland, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, missio, mission21, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss Catholic Women’s League, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (SwissTPH), Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch