THE ELECTRONIC BULLETIN OF THE SWISS PLATFORM FOR HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION July/ August 2007

Very often on a sunny summer day, the train station is crowded with elderly people gathering and ready to spend the day together travelling: grandmothers and grandfather in a good mood, enjoying their free time. They bear their years well, they are full of vigour, healthy and financially secured.

What a differed picture is drawn on the photos of grandmothers and grandfathers at the exhibition on Africa’s grandmothers fighting HIV/AIDS. They are old and indispensable: they have to care for their sick and dying daughters and sons, and they raise the grandchildren on their own and support them emotionally and financially. They themselves, however, are left without any psychosocial support or financial security.

aidsfocus.ch, in partnership with Kwa Wazee, is taking up the issue of older people in the era of HIV and AIDS. What are the new challenges that older people are faced with? Is paying pensions to older people in developing countries a promising and effective approach? What are the challenges for international development organisation that are faced with a growing number of older people left to themselves? Are the needs and interests of older people taken into consideration sufficiently when designing HIV support programmes? These are some of the questions that will be raised and discussed at the forum “Die Zukunft ist grau. Alte Menschen in der Aidskrise: Opfer und HoffnungsträgerInnen” on 23 November in Berne (in German only). These aidsfocus.news also put the focus on these issues.

Helena Zweifel Coordinator aidsfocus.ch

INTERNATIONAL NEWS - MEDICAL WORKERS SENTENCED TO DEATH IN HIV INFECTION CASE ARRIVE IN BULGARIA - SOUTH AFRICA: POSITIVE MOTHERS, CHILDREN NEED MORE TO REACH MDGS - IAS: WORLD MUST ACT TO ACHIEVE COMMITMENTS TO PROVIDE UNIVERSAL ACCESS - BOTSWANA: ANTI-AIDS MEASURE BACKFIRES IN AFRICA - AT THE CUTTING EDGE - MALE CIRCUMCISION AND HIV - WOMEN VOW TO LEAD CHANGE IN RESPONSE TO AIDS - GLOBAL FORUM FOR WOMEN WITH HIV - SRI LANKA: LOW AIDS FIGURES DESPITE YEARS OF CONFLICT - RETHINKING HIV TESTING POLICY - LEADING AIDS EXPERTS CALL FOR MAJOR SCALE-UP OF HIV PREVENTION PROGRAMS - PLANTING TREES FOR AIDS IN CHINA

NEW RESOURCES - MSF: UNTANGLING THE WEB OF PRICE REDUCTIONS - HEALTH REPORTER: FOCUS ON LINKING TUBERCULOSIS AND HIV SERVICES - ENGAGING WITH THE GLOBAL FUND TO FIGHT AIDS, TUBERCULOSIS AND MALARIA - A PRIMER FOR FAITH-BASED ORGANIZATIONS

EVENTS 27.08.2007 | AIDSFOCUS.CH: PEER REVIEW GROUP MAINSTREAMING HIV/AIDS 23.10.2007 | AIDSFOCUS.CH ANNUAL MEETING 01.12.2007 | WORLD AIDS DAY 2007: FOCUS ON LEADERSHIP

The forum „The future is gray. Old people in the AIDS crisis”, taking place in Bern on 23 October 2007, is jointly organized by aidsfocus.ch and Kwa Wazee (only in German). The event is organized in the context of the photo exhibition “Africa’s grandmothers fighting HIV/AIDS” in the Kornhausforum in Bern.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

In Tanzania there is no such thing as a state-guaranteed pension for old people. Instead, children have traditionally supported their parents when they get too old to provide for themselves. However, this social system has been shattered by the consequences of the ASIDS pandemic with its millions of casualities, wherein numerous old people have lost their children and with them their social security. To make matters worse, the elderly suddenly find themselves having to look after the orphans left behind by their own deceased children. What’s more, the precarious and often catastrophic plight of these old people has been practically unnoticed until now. Indeed an entire generation of grandmothers and grandfathers seem to have been largely forgotten, as the majority of international aid, which first targeted the AIDS crisis a decade ago quite understandably continues to focus on medication, prevention and maybe programs for orphans.

Kwa Wazee started in November 2003 providing a small pension to old people. The experience on the ground is most encouraging, as feedback from the elderly beneficiaries, as well as by observers in their neighbourhoods, clearly shows that even the modest pension provided by Kwa Wazee makes a significant difference in the lives of the supported grandmothers as well as the children in their care.

http://www.kwawazee.ch

HIV and AIDS are having devastating and under-reported economic, social, physical and psychological effects on older women and men. They are caring and providing for those who are ill and orphaned, and they are also susceptible to HIV infection themselves. HelpAge International undertakes a range of programmes to support older people who are affected by AIDS, whether as carers, educators or at risk of HIV infection themselves. Their interventions are community-based and take an intergenerational approach.

http://www.helpage.org

These briefing notes produced by the International HIV/AIDS Alliance and HelpAge International explain why programmes designed to support orphans and vulnerable children need to pay more attention to the needs of the older people who care for them, and to find ways of supporting their efforts and improving their quality of life. The strategies in this briefing note include some that have already been implemented, as well as suggestions for other strategies based on the experience of people working with older people caring for children. (2004)

http://www.helpage.org

The United Kingdom UK-based organisation Help the Aged launched an advocacy campaign using information and community technology (ICT) as a tool to engage citizens around the world in protecting the rights of ageing people to freedom from poverty. The purpose of Pensions Not Poverty is to get citizens involved by demanding that their world leaders give older people living in the economically poorest countries state pensions as a basic human right.

http://www.helptheaged.org.uk

Due to the spread of HIV, often the middle generation of families is completely absent, leaving the old and young to support each other. The case studies featured in this HelpAge International report describe innovative ways of dealing with some of the difficulties faced by older-headed households. These community-driven programmes demonstrate the impact that minimal additional resources and appropriate technical support can have. Case studies from South Africa, Zambia and Vietnam. (HelpAge International, 2003)

http://www.helpage.org

This paper explores the coping strategies of households in rural South Africa, where HIV/AIDS morbidity and mortality are having profound effects on household resources. The paper focuses specifically on the potentially crucial role older women's pensions play in multi-generational households both during crises and day-to-day subsistence. Results are based on interviews with women between the ages of 60-75. (IBS 2005)

http://www.colorado.edu

In developing countries, older persons are often called upon to be primary caregivers for their children who contract HIV. Consequently, according to the authors, elderly people's understanding of the disease and willingness to provide care is critical for AIDS sufferers. In this resource, this issue is examined among men and women aged 60 or over in Cambodia, a country with pervasive poverty. The resource ends with a discussion on the implications for efforts to deal with the epidemic in Cambodia. (2007)

http://www.unescap.org

1. July 2007 - Six medical workers who were imprisoned for more than eight years in Libya for allegedly intentionally infecting hundreds of Libyan children with HIV on Tuesday were pardoned by Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov after arriving in the country. The five Bulgarian nurses and one Palestinian doctor in May 2004 were sentenced to death by firing squad for allegedly infecting 426 children with HIV through contaminated blood products at Al Fateh Children's Hospital in Benghazi, Libya. They also were ordered to pay a total of $1 million to the families of the HIV-positive children. The Libyan Supreme Court in December 2005 overturned the medical workers' convictions and ordered a retrial in a lower court. (kaisernetwork)

http://www.kaisernetwork.org
http://data.unaids.org

1. July 2007 - The world cannot celebrate advances in HIV diagnosis and treatment until global commitments to provide HIV-positive people in developing countries with universal access to treatment by 2010 are reached, delegates attending the opening of the 4th IAS Conference on HIV Pathogenesis, Treatment and Prevention in Sydney said. The International AIDS Society ahead of the conference released the Sydney Declaration, which calls for increased research funding to fight HIV/AIDS worldwide. The declaration proposes that donors allocate 10% of their HIV resources to research. Daily updates on kaisernetwork:

http://www.kaisernetwork.org

Johannesburg, 23 July 2007 - Paediatric AIDS and the prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) are still stumbling blocks as South Africa hits the halfway mark in its race to meet the 2015 deadline for the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The National Consultative Health Forum, which concluded on Friday 20 July, in Johannesburg, brought members of civil society and various government departments together to review progress on the MDGs and discuss specific interventions for hitting the 2015 mark. (PlusNews)

http://www.plusnews.org

Nkange, 22 July 2007 - Doctors noticed two troubling things about the limp, sunken-eyed children who flooded pediatric wards across Botswana during the rainy season in early 2006: They were dying from diarrhea, a malady that is rarely fatal here. And few of their mothers were breast-feeding, a practice once all but universal. After the outbreak was over and at least 532 children had died

20 times the usual toll for diarrhea -- a team of U.S. investigators solved the terrible riddle. A decade-long, global push to provide infant formula to mothers with the AIDS virus had backfired in Botswana, leaving children more vulnerable to other, more immediately lethal diseases, the U.S. team found after investigating the outbreak at the request of Botswana's government.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Johannesburg, 20 July 2007 - Is mass male circumcision the new big thing in HIV prevention, or is it a risky social experiment that threatens to divert funding from tried and tested interventions? UNAIDS is careful in its assessment: "Without question, we absolutely have to ensure that men and women are aware that male circumcision is not a magic bullet." The caution is a response to the excitement - and debate - triggered by the results of three randomised trials in South Africa, Kenya and Uganda in 2005 and 2006, which seemed to demonstrate that circumcision reduced the risk of HIV infection among men by between 50 percent and 60 percent. (IRIN In-Depth)

http://www.plusnews.org

Nairobi, 11 July 2007 - Vowing that “we can lead the change we wish to see in the world”, participants at the World YWCA’s International Women’s Summit on HIV and AIDS concluded their meeting with a call to action demanding individual and collective responsibility. “This call to action is not just words on paper” Dr Musimbi Kanyoro, General Secretary of the World YWCA told. “It is a personal pledge each of us at this summit is making in our hearts and with our hands… Where one woman acts, more will be inspired, more will be committed, more will take action until there is no power that can stop us.“

http://www.worldywca.info

Nairobi, 5 July 2007 – “AIDS does not only travel with truckers along African highways; it flies business class with men in dark suits, crawls into marriages and lurks in playgrounds. It smiles at you every day at work and, disproportionately, affects African women and girls because of gender inequalities.” With these words activist Deborah Williams, from Tobago, opened the one-day Forum for Women Living with HIV and AIDS in Nairobi, Kenya, on Wednesday - the largest gathering ever of HIV-positive women from all corners of the world. (PlusNews)

http://www.plusnews.org

Colombo, 29 June 2007 - Asia's longest-running conflict has created the perfect environment for an AIDS epidemic to flourish in Sri Lanka, but surprisingly, decades of war have brought only a slow spread of the disease in vulnerable groups. Twenty years after the first case of the disease was detected here, the island still has a low HIV prevalence rate. AIDS affects less than 0.1 percent of the general population, and less than one percent of high-risk groups. (PlusNews)

http://www.plusnews.org

1. June 2007 – “In September 2006, the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommended opt-out HIV testing as part of routine healthcare for all individuals aged between 13 and 64. To help remove potential barriers to HIV testing, the CDC also proposed that an individual risk assessment, pre-test counselling and specific informed consent for an HIV test would no longer be required… In South Africa there have been recent calls to move beyond opt-out HIV testing, and to make regular HIV testing obligatory for citizens in order to obtain access to public services. The move may sound radical, but some South Africans believe it is the only way to break the cycle of denial that dominates attitudes to HIV.” (Editorial aidsmap hiv news update)

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

1. June, 2007 – In a new report, released by the Global HIV Prevention Working Group, a panel of leading AIDS experts calls for a major scale-up of global HIV prevention programs, citing new data projecting that expanded access to prevention could avert 30 million of the 60 million HIV infections expected to occur by 2015. The report warns that prevention efforts are not keeping pace with the gains being made in treating people. For every person who began antiretroviral therapy in 2006, six people were newly infected.

http://www.kff.org

1. June 2007 - Two issues of global importance, AIDS and the environment, were highlighted during a symbolic tree planting event led by organisations of people living with HIV in China. The event forms part of a year-long initiative to greater involve people living with HIV in important public events, highlighting their contribution to Chinese society and in particular to the city of Beijing prior to its hosting of the 2008 Olympic Games.

http://www.unaids.org

A new report by Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shows dramatic price reductions for second-line antiretroviral treatment over the last year, largely stimulated by a compulsory license issued by Thailand. But the report also identifies a worrying trend: using the newer, less-toxic first-line combination, now recommended by the World Health Organization, raises the cost for patients by nearly 500 percent, from US$99 to up to US$487.

http://www.msf.org

Tuberculosis (TB) is the major cause of illness and death for people living with HIV, and in sub-Saharan Africa, the HIV epidemic is undermining attempts to control tuberculosis through the directly observed treatment strategy (DOTS). Given this, the World Health Organization (WHO) emphasises the importance of planning and managing collaborative TB and HIV activities. Linking these activities can facilitate quick diagnosis of dual TB-HIV infection, provide beneficial interventions and coordinate complex treatment issues that might arise. (Eldis Health Reporter 10 July 2007)

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Three organisations have jointly launched a new manual on how faith-based organisations (FBOs) in developing countries can interact with the Global Fund. It was produced by Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria; World Vision; and Christian Connections for International Health. Although FBOs have historically played a central role in the provision of healthcare in the developing world, including 40 percent of all health services in Africa, FBOs do not know enough about the Global Fund and have a hard time engaging with Fund structures. (2007)

http://www.theglobalfight.org

Bern | The Swiss Red Cross is inviting partners of aidsfocus.ch to the next peer group meeting. The focus will be on sharing of experiences and information on monitoring and evaluation of mainstreaming HIV and AIDS. Participants preferably have participated in the SDC training module or studied one of the toolkits in order to make sure that we share a common basic understanding of the concepts.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Bern | The annual meeting of aidsfocus.ch, the Swiss platform on HIV/AIDS and international cooperation, is an important forum for the sharing of information and experiences. Besides the annual report and accounts, there will be a window open for sharing of information and experiences.

www.aidsfocus.ch

worldwide | The theme for World AIDS Day 2007 and 2008 is “leadership”. This theme will continue to be promoted with the campaigning slogan, “Stop AIDS. Keep the Promise.” Leadership as a theme follows and builds on the 2006 theme of accountability.

http://www.worldaidscampaign.info

aidsfocus.ch is a project set up by Medicus Mundi Switzerland. aidsfocus.ch is sponsored and shaped by 30 partner organizations who support the aims and activities of the platform through their financial contributions, expertise and commitment.

Partners: AIDS & Child, Bethlehem Mission Immensee, Caritas Switzerland, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, Doctors without Borders, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, International Federation of the Blue Cross, INTERTEAM, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, 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.