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

June 2012

On June 5, 2012 the Swiss National Council approved with a two-thirds majority the new message on international cooperation 2013-2016 and thus voted for an increase of foreign aid. The new message acknowledges the relevance of health for global development and the necessity of a stronger commitment by Switzerland in this field. Hence in healthcare issues, Switzerland intends to focus on supporting health systems. HIV and AIDS, Malaria and other communicable diseases as well as maternal and child health and non-communicable diseases will be at the centre of efforts. A statement annexed to the message emphasises that Switzerland intends to „substantially increase“ its contribution to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

On the occasion of opening the exhibition of the Swiss Malaria Group in Geneva, Federal Councillor and Head of the Department of Foreign Affairs Didier Burkhalter stated on May 15, 2012: „In this message, the Federal Council stresses the fact that in the field of development cooperation, health is an issue of global concern and a priority of our actions. It is an essential approach, as it is still a long way to go before achieving the Millennium Development Goals.“

Switzerland’s increased commitment in the field of international health and combatting AIDS is sorely needed. In order to effectively meet the MDGs and the Commitments on HIV and AIDS renewed in New York a year ago, we need to double our efforts, emphasised UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week in New York.

This is true for all countries and in particular for Switzerland. As regards international health cooperation and AIDS-response, Switzerland lags behind when compared to other European countries. In the year 2011, Switzerland only contributed with 0,027 per cent of the gross national income (GNI) for international health and with 0, 007 per cent for the HIV response. This puts Switzerland even behind Spain and Germany and just ahead of Italy – it does not give a good impression for the prosperous country that has been largely spared from the economic crisis.

Together with the members of the Network Medicus Mundi Switzerland, aidsfocus.ch got actively involved in the process of working out the message and strongly advocated for an increased commitment of Switzerland. In the future, we will continue to actively fight for the right to health and universal access to comprehensive HIV-prevention, treatment and care – in order to be able to say in 2016: In relation to other European countries, Switzerland is first in financial contributions for international and global health. And in so doing, it consistently and effectively commits itself for more justice and health for all.

Helena Zweifel Executive Secretary Medicus Mundi Schweiz Coordinator aidsfocus.ch

Interviews with Yvonne Gilli (MP Switzerland), Nonkosi Khumalo (TAC South Africa), Joshua Mavundu (BHASO, Zimbabwe), Andreas Loebell (SDC), Luciano Ruggia (BAG) and others are available on video as part of the documentation of the aidsfocus.ch conference on HIV, AIDS and Advocacy of 17 April 2012. The papers presented at the conference as well as additional papers will be published in the reader of the conference, the Bulletin of Medicus Mundi Switzerland No. 125 (August 2015).

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http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Cape Town, 15 June 2012 - With recent amendments to its patent laws, China becomes the latest in a string of countries to promote access to medicines through an enhanced compulsory licensing (CL) framework. South Africa must move to develop more effective CL laws of its own. Yet, despite massive health challenges, South Africa has not seen any progress on CL. While CL is technically provided for in our laws, it has rarely been entertained, and never been granted. South Africa’s low uptake is partly due to a lack of political will, but also due to a sub-optimal legal framework for granting CLs… We can move to a more efficient, user-friendly CL system by changing our Patents Act in two important ways. 1. By setting up an administrative procedure for hearing applications for CL, and 2. by expanding the grounds for granting a CL to include public health reasons.

http://www.fixthepatentlaws.org

New York, 11 June 2012 - At the 66th session of the General Assembly in New York, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon introduced the 2012 report on the progress made in the implementation of the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the Political Declarations on HIV/AIDS. Mr Ban highlighted the bold targets included in the 2011 Political Declaration adopted by countries during the last high level meeting on AIDS as well as the intensified efforts made by all partners in the AIDS response over the past year. The Secretary-General underscores that achieving the 2015 goals will require a redoubling of efforts from all stakeholders and that if smarter and more efficient ways of working are not applied to the AIDS response, the goals will not be met.

http://www.unaids.org

London, 11 June 2012 - The number of people eligible for antiretroviral treatment will grow by around six million as a result of recent World Health Organization recommendations on the use of antiretroviral drugs to prevent HIV transmission. Scale-up of a combination of effective prevention interventions remains urgent, and antiretroviral treatment must play a central role in the prevention of new infections, Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, head of the WHO’s HIV department said, following last year’s release of the results of the HPTN 052 study, which showed that early antiretroviral therapy for the HIV-positive partner reduced the risk of HIV transmission by 96% in serodiscordant partnerships. WHO is already incorporating treatment as prevention into normative guidance through a sequence of incremental updates.

http://www.aidsmap.com

Geneva, 7 June 2012 - If the vision of zero new HIV infections is to be achieved, a reinvigoration of HIV prevention is urgently needed. This will be most effective if a combination prevention approach is adopted, where multi-faceted and tailored programmes are implemented. Despite its importance, HIV prevention is still not getting enough attention. In 2008, for example, only 20% of AIDS spending was allocated to HIV prevention. Encompassing biomedical, behavioural and structural interventions, combination prevention strategies need to be multi-layered, context-dependent, adaptable and harmonized to have maximum impact. Addressing the behavioral and structural components of an epidemic is not simple and that there has been a tendency to focus on the more straightforward biomedical interventions.

http://www.unaids.org
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

1. May 2012 – After his first official visit to Zimbabwe, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé commended the collective efforts made by the Government of Zimbabwe for having maintained community engagement and service provision to expand access to HIV prevention and treatment services during a difficult period. Zimbabwe has achieved one of the sharpest declines in HIV prevalence in Southern Africa, from 27% in 1997 to just over 14% in 2010. With 10 times fewer resources for AIDS per capita than other countries in sub-Saharan Africa, Zimbabwe has expanded coverage of antiretroviral treatment among adults, from 15% in 2007 to 80% in 2010. At the end of 2011, nearly half a million people in the country were receiving lifesaving HIV treatment and care.

http://www.unaids.org

1. May 2012 - Fund the medicines or fund the programs that support people to go on treatment? That's the choice countries are now facing amid Global Fund shortfalls. With money tight, countries are slashing civil society-led HIV and TB programs in an attempt to maintain basic and essential services, according to preliminary research being conducted by the Open Society Foundations. The programs most frequently on the chopping block are efforts to reach highly vulnerable populations. To ascertain the civil society impacts of Global Fund shortfalls, the Open Society Foundations conducted research in three countries that had planned to apply for Round 11: Swaziland, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. Civil society activities are the first to go: all three countries are cutting the kinds of complementary, civil society-led activities identified as "critical enablers" in the UNAIDS Strategic Framework. (Laura Lopez Gonzalez, Open Society Foundation)

http://blog.soros.org

This report examines the impact of the cancellation of Global Fund Round 11 funding and subsequent changes in Global Fund policies and practices relating to HIV and drug use programmes. This issue has particular significance for Eastern European and Asian countries where HIV epidemics are largely shaped by injecting drug use. The sharing of injecting equipment is a major driver of HIV transmission globally. Yet historically resources have been very low for HIV and harm reduction programmes targeting people who inject drugs, with the underfunding of needle and syringe programmes and opioid substitution therapy being especially notable. The result is insufficient coverage to halt or reverse HIV epidemics and, worse, the continued spread of HIV epidemics in some regions due to unsafe injecting practices. (Mai 2012)

http://www.aidsalliance.org

Structural factors such as poor education, poverty, and gender and power inequalities are important determinants of young women's vulnerability to HIV infection. However, until now, no rigorously assessed intervention targeting this group has significantly reduced HIV infection and no intervention that targets structural factors has directly affected HIV infection. In The Lancet, Sarah Baird and colleagues report the results of a randomised controlled trial done with adolescent girls in rural Malawi, examining the effects of a cash transfer programme on risk of HIV infection. The investigators report that schoolgirls who received monthly cash payments of varying amounts were significantly less likely than girls who did not receive payments to be infected with HIV. (Lancet. 15 February 2012)

http://www.thelancet.com
http://www.thelancet.com

The recent issue of EQUAL Treatment Magazine, the publication of the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) focuses on treatment literacy. Over the past decade the backbone of the work in the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) has been the treatment literacy programme. The focus of this programme is to teach the science of HIV and HIV treatment in communities across South Africa. The treatment literacy programme allows everyone to understand the science of HIV and how to manage the disease. It has changed the perception that ‘AIDS equals DEATH’ into the awareness that although you might have HIV, you can still lead a normal and productive life. Teaching community members about HIV also helps to bridge the gap between doctors and patients. As patients learn, the programme empowers them to understand why they need treatment and why some people experience side effects. (EQUAL Issue 42: May '12)

http://www.tac.org.za
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

This document provides guidance for health care workers (HCWs) on how to support children up to 12 years of age and their caregivers with disclosure of HIV status. This guidance is intended as part of a comprehensive approach to ensuring child wellbeing following the child’s own diagnoses of HIV or that of a parent/caregiver. There is evidence of health benefit (e.g. reduced risk of death) and little evidence of psychological or emotional harm from disclosure of HIV status to HIV-positive children. Disclosure to children of their diagnosis is not an isolated event but rather a step in the process of adjustment by the child, caregivers, and the community to an illness and the life challenges that it poses. (WHO December 2011)

http://www.who.int

This guide contains information, strategies and resources to help HIV programmers implement family-centred HIV programming for children. The guide concludes that a family-centred approach acknowledges that a child’s quality of life is entwined with the life and experience of the family in which they live. It is important to assess the possible effects of the community to which a family belongs when programmes are planned in order to build on the positives and the minimise the negatives. When developing programmes for children, an adequate assessment should focus on the capacities and needs of all family members rather than looking only at the needs of individual children. (2012)

http://www.eldis.org

Treatment as prevention (TAP) is one emerging issue that is causing great debate. The International HIV/AIDS Alliance has conducted a partnership-wide consultation on the topic in order to inform its own programming and advocacy messages. This briefing draws on the results of that consultation and on an extensive desk review of the available literature. This briefing paper highlights some of the key questions that communities most affected by HIV and the organisations that support them are currently discussing. Community groups and civil society are eager to find answers to questions such as: What is the optimal time to initiate ART? Will TAP work in real life situations and what will be its costs and impact? What are the optimal TAP communication and implementation strategies and service delivery models?

http://www.aidsalliance.org

Washington DC | The official program of AIDS 2012 is now online. World’s leading scientists, President Bill Clinton, South African Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi, philanthropist Bill Gates and humanitarian Sir Elton John will address the Conference. The conference will bring together scientists, public health experts, policy-makers and the HIV-affected community to translate recent scientific advances into action that will address means to end the epidemic, within the current context of significant global economic challenges. The conference theme, “Turning the tide together”, reflects a unique moment in time, emphasizing that the HIV epidemic has reached a defining moment. By acting decisively, we now have the potential to end the HIV epidemic. The aidsfocus.ch coordinator will participate in the Conference.

http://www.aids2012.org
http://www.unaids.org

Partners: Afro-European Medical and Research Network, AIDS & Child, Caritas Switzerland, cinfo, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, missio, 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 and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch