THE ELECTRONIC BULLETIN OF THE SWISS PLATFORM FOR HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

January 2010

Theoretically, I wanted to start the aidsfocus.news in the year 2010 with positive, pleasant information. However, the tremendous earthquake in Haiti with its disastrous after-effects makes it impossible to do so.

Two years ago, I facilitated a workshop on Memory and Life Work with HIV-positive women in Haiti. Since that time, I feel a special closeness to that country. It was a very moving week – working together with twenty women and three men, and I experienced a lot of sadness, but also cordiality, hope and vitality. The women and men not only have to live with the diagnosis of being HIV-positive but also with poverty, violence, exclusion and – as it was a current issue then – with the aftermaths of the hurricane. And even prior to the earthquake, living conditions in Haiti were simply miserable. The maternal death rate is one of the highest worldwide, 3,2% - 6,7% of women live with HIV and Aids and over 200 000 children have lost their parents due to Aids.

Nonetheless, or maybe because of it, I very much felt the women’s strong will to live – and I am convinced that they have the potential to rebuild Haiti.

„The solidarity of the heart is thousand times more for us now as material aid”, was the answer to my e-mail to Rose-Anne August, highly committed human rights activist and consultant with ActionAid International Haiti Dominican Republic. „Haiti needs all the positive vibrations to be reborn in harmony so that social justice prevails for once in my entire country. Haiti requires that others perceive them today from a different view and it was this vision that we care the most. I know we can hope on you and Claudia for the cultivation of this new vision.”

Helena Zweifel Coordinator aidsfocus.ch Executive director Medicus Mundi Switzerland

Nairobi, 19 January 2010 - More than two-thirds of African countries have laws criminalizing homosexual acts, and despite accounting for a significant percentage of new infections in many countries, men who have sex with men tend to be left out of the HIV response. "They are going underground; they are hiding themselves and continuing to fuel the epidemic," UNAIDS executive director Michél Sidibé told IRIN/PlusNews recently. "We need to make sure these vulnerable groups have the same rights everyone enjoys: access to information, care and prevention for them and their families." (PlusNews)

http://www.plusnews.org

Nairobi, 11 January 2010 - Unconventional health workers and new technologies will be a vital part of the ongoing effort to "virtually eliminate" mother-to-child transmission of HIV, says Michél Sidibé, executive director of UNAIDS. "We cannot wait for the highest cadre of health professionals to be trained before expanding our capacity to prevent mother-to-child transmission," he told a press conference in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi. "We have to tap into non-conventional capacity to help expand access to health services." (PlusNews)

http://www.plusnews.org

Geneva, 14 December 2009 - UNITAID's Executive Board made a landmark decision to establish a Patent Pool for AIDS medicines. The pool, scheduled to start operating in mid-2010, aims to make newer medicines available in patient-adapted form, at lower prices, for low- and middle-income countries. UNITAID has committed to provide start-up funds of up to US$ 4 million over the next year. Expected savings exceed one billion dollars a year, which will make more medicines available for more people.

http://www.unitaid.eu

1. December 2009 - The red ribbon is a global symbol in the movement to address AIDS. The Red Ribbon Award, presented every two years at the International AIDS Conference, is designed to honor and celebrate community based organizations for their outstanding initiatives that show leadership in reducing the spread and impact of AIDS. The award is a joint effort of the UNAIDS family and as such, this year it will place particular emphasis on the organization's newly approved global priority areas of action. Nominations are accepted until February 28th, 2010.

http://www.redribbonaward.org

December 2009 - Cordaid and partners reward and encourage leadership around the strengthening of home based care in responding to HIV and AIDS in the “global South”. The Award recipient 2009 organisation is the National Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda (NACWOLA). “NACWOLA has displayed unwavering commitment, vision and leadership. They have done this by ensuring that through a rights-based approach they not only address care and psychosocial issues but also hygiene and sanitation. NACWOLA is the perfect example of how women living with HIV in communities have displayed exceptional leadership and responded to the needs of their community – ensuring that their communities are supported through care work.” (Cordaid)

http://www.cordaidpartners.com

“Heroes of HIV”, the new short films launched by IRIN films, profiles people involved in the fight against HIV/AIDS. Their stories are sometimes sad, sometimes uplifting, always inspiring. Elizabeth Ngugi is a university professor and former nurse who has dedicated the last twenty years of her life to help girls and women trapped in Kenya's sex trade. Kevin Dowling is a South African Catholic Bishop, who has worked for years with the poor of Rustenburg, northern South Africa. Anuradha Koirala has been fighting the trafficking of Nepali girls to Indian brothels and Rolake Odetoyinbo tested positive for HIV in 1998 and has been an activist ever since. (2009)

http://www.plusnews.org

The Global Coalition on Women and AIDS (GCWA) is a worldwide alliance of civil society groups, networks or women living with HIV, women’s organizations, AIDS service organizations, and the United Nations system, committed to strengthening AIDS programming for women and girls. The new GCWA website is a hub that will facilitate action among GCWA partners to raise the level of advocacy we all strive for. The site will contain information fostering robust debate and exchange of knowledge that helps our partners focus on strategic action at the country level. (2009)

http://www.womenandaids.net

Half of all people living with HIV globally are now women and this figure rises to over 60 per cent in sub-Saharan Africa, where young women aged 15-24 can be several times more likely to be HIV-positive than their male counterparts. In order to offer women greater protection against the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) has designed a hands-on tool to integrate gender into AIDS programmes in the health sector. (WHO 2009)

http://www.who.int

Despite national and international commitments to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010, many people still do not have access to the HIV services they need, especially in poor, rural areas. ActionAid research has identified inadequate primary healthcare as a significant barrier to meeting the universal access target, especially in poor, rural areas. In order for all of the people affected by HIV and AIDS to have access to essential HIV, sexual and reproductive health (SRH) and gender-based violence response services, functioning health systems are required in developing countries, particularly primary healthcare facilities and services. (ActionAid 2009)

http://www.actionaid.org

This short report by UNAIDS on AIDS and Global Health examines the role that the health sector should play in helping to attain the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Over the past decade the AIDS response has played a major role in producing better health outcomes for people in developing countries and has mobilized a whole range of stakeholders in efforts to build health systems worldwide. However, much work still needs to be done. (UNAIDS 2009)

http://data.unaids.org

Funding for HIV/AIDS treatment is not keeping up with need, and appears to be shrinking. The report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) states that funding shortfalls punish the early success of the last decade of ART scale-up, and threaten to have a devastating impact on people living with HIV/AIDS as well as efforts to prevent new infections. As global health actors retreat from providing direct support for AIDS treatment, more demand is placed on the Global Fund, which is itself critically underfunded. (2009)

http://www.msf.org

Bern | The global economic crisis that has induced cutbacks in the spending of Government and international donors also threatens efforts for an effective response to HIV and AIDS. In addition, a ‘backlash’ against disease-specific initiatives can be observed in the international arena. On the other hand, HIV and AIDS with a present high of 33.4 million people living with HIV remains a serious global problem, reaching out beyond the health sector – and a united concerted effort is needed more than ever. What are the implications of these changes and debates on macro level for Swiss NGOs working in the field of HIV, AIDS and international cooperation?

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Biel | cinfo: HIV and AIDS are a sad reality in a number of countries involved in International Cooperation (IC). It affects not only every aspect of the lives of the people concerned, but also considerably impacts the life and work of IC expatriate personnel. This seminar has the objective of working with participants so that they can better manage this challenge. The participants will explore various levels of impact which the epidemic can have on the life and the work of expatriate personnel, consider various social and professional situations linked to HIV/AIDS and explore strategies that might help to effectively manage the challenges at personal, institutional, and intercultural levels.

http://www.cinfo.ch

Wien | The International AIDS Conference is the premier gathering for those working in the field of HIV, as well as policy makers, persons living with HIV and other individuals committed to ending the pandemic. It is a chance to assess where we are, evaluate recent scientific developments and lessons learnt, and collectively chart a course forward.

"Rights Here, Right Now", the theme of the conference, emphasizes the central importance of protecting and promoting human rights, including the rights of women and girls, as a prerequisite to a successful response to HIV. Vienna, 18 to 23 July 2010.

http://www.aids2010.org

Partners: Afro-European Medical and Research Network, AIDS & Child, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, Caritas Switzerland, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, Doctors without Borders, Esperanza Medicines Foundation, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, INTERTEAM, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, missio, REPSSI, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, missio, mission 21, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical Institute, Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.

http://www.aidsfocus.c