UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met UNDP Administrator Helen Clark, 3 June 2009.
Credit: UNDP

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with UNDP Administrator Helen Clark at UNDP headquarters in New York on 3 June 2009. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is a Cosponsor of the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

Mr Sidibé and Ms Clark discussed maximising UNDP’s comparative advantage at the country level in support of national efforts to achieve universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support as described in the UNAIDS Outcome Framework (2009-2011). The Framework calls for optimizing partnerships between the Secretariat and Cosponsors and leveraging respective organizational mandates and resources to work collectively to deliver results.

UNDP's response to AIDS stems from its human development, poverty reduction and governance mandates. Substantial progress on a number of Millennium Development Goals—including poverty, gender, education, and child and maternal mortality—can be achieved by integrating the AIDS response with efforts to achieve broader human development and the goals of health and social justice.

UNDP helps countries put HIV at the centre of national development and poverty reduction strategies. It also assists countries build national capacity to mobilize all levels of government and civil society for a coordinated and effective response to the epidemic; to protect the rights of people living with HIV as well as women and vulnerable populations.

Watch the THINK WISE Public Service Announcements.
Featuring Sri Lankan Batsman Kumar Sangakkara, England international Isa Guha, international cricket stars and local South African children, South African captain Graeme Smith and Indian international Virender Sehwag.

Leading cricketing stars are launching THINK WISE, a new global AIDS awareness campaign designed to provide young people with information about how to protect themselves from HIV.

The players will champion the campaign during the International Cricket Council (ICC) World Twenty20 2009, which begins in London on Friday 5 June. This leg of the campaign will aim to improve education and awareness about HIV and eliminate the stigma associated with the disease.

Around 10 million people living with HIV live in Test playing countries. This accounts for over a quarter of people across the world living with the virus.

Graeme Smith, captain of the South African cricket team and THINK WISE Champion said: “I have seen firsthand the impact that HIV has had in my country. I hope that cricket fans and youngsters around the world can respect the disease and also those living with HIV. By making informed decisions we can help reduce new infections and develop strong communities.”

Five new Public Service Announcements featuring messages from the Sri Lankan cricket captain, Kumar Sangakkara, Graeme Smith, one of India’s leading batsmen, Virender Sehwag, and England women’s cricket star Isa Guha, will be shown during the tournament on big screens in stadia and aired by broadcasters across the globe. Players will also wear red ribbons to show their support during the semi-finals and finals of the tournament.

The THINK WISE initiative builds on a long-term partnership between the ICC, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS Initiative, that for more than five years has reached out to the cricketing community to respond to the global AIDS epidemic.

The THINK WISE partnership seeks to educate cricket players, coaches, commentators, broadcasters, volunteers and spectators about the AIDS epidemic, particularly around prevention, and deliver these messages at major ICC events and through broadcast which reaches an audience in excess of 200 countries.

The THINK WISE partnership will expand later this year to include a new cricket for development initiative that will deliver HIV messages to young people. An announcement is expected to take place during the ICC Champions Trophy 2009, hosted by South Africa at the end of September.

A version of this story was first published at UNICEF.org

With the picturesque backdrop of Speyside, northern Tobago, in the distance, Kalifa Martin and her colleague Kerlan conduct a UNICEF-supported 'Kicking Aids Out' workshop. Credit: UNICEF Trinidad and Tobago/2009

A UNICEF-supported programme called 'Kicking AIDS Out' (KAO) has recently begun in Speyside, northern Tobago, by the Trinidad and Tobago Alliance for Sport and Physical Education (TTASPE). The new programme uses sports and games to teach young people and adolescents about HIV. Speyside is a small community that is best known as a destination for fishermen and divers. In 2007, UNICEF and TTASPE, along with the Red Cross of Trinidad and Tobago, teamed up to conduct a youth-led Vulnerable Community Assessment. Based on this assessment, Speyside was selected as the first area to initiate 'Kicking AIDS Out'.

Training for adolescents

Soon after the assessment, UNICEF and TTASPE began conducting workshops to train adolescents to become KAO peer facilitators. Kalifa Martin, 15, is one these young trainees.

"I heard there was an HIV workshop at the community centre and decided to go and learn more about HIV, because I knew it was important to get the right information," Kalifa says. "What I wasn't expecting was that I would learn about it through games and fun activities. I liked this and invited my sisters to attend and we are now all involved in the programme."

Growing up in Speyside, Kalifa saw firsthand how AIDS can have a ripple effect.

"When something happens to one person, it affects the whole community," she says. "I want more people to get tested and start making wise choices. I would like Speyside to be an example to other communities."

Increasing the level of knowledge of HIV among young people in Trinidad and Tobago is an important step. According to a recent UNAIDS/WHO/UNICEF country report, in 2007 56% of young people aged 15-24 had correct knowledge of, and rejected myths about, sexual transmission of the virus. A significant minority, 12%, in this group had also had sex before the age of 15. The same report suggests that the situation is especially serious for young women as they are over three times more likely than their male counterparts to be living with the virus (0.3% of boys compared to 1% of girls aged 15-24).

'I want to help people'

Since her training, Kalifa has conducted many ‘Kicking AIDS Out’ workshops – where lectures are replaced by educational games that resonate with young people. One such game is similar to dodgeball, except that in the KAO version, being hit with the ball symbolizes being exposed to HIV. The message is that anyone who doesn’t protect themselves is vulnerable to infection.

"It is through projects such as KAO that UNICEF hopes to empower young persons such as Kalifa to actively re-create their communities as places where young persons make informed choices," explains UNICEF Trinidad and Tobago HIV Officer Marlon Thompson.

There are currently about 20 peer educators like Kalifa in the KAO programme. And she knows that the initiative is having positive results. She has seen her peers in Speyside become more knowledgeable about AIDS and then readily share their knowledge with their family members and friends.

The programme has also changed Kalifa, who now dreams of becoming a doctor. "I want to help people living with HIV and even find a cure for it," she says.

Credit: ILO

Some four thousand representatives of governments, workers’ and employers’ organizations from 183 states around the world are meeting in Geneva for the annual conference of the International Labour Organization. Challenging the AIDS epidemic is high on the agenda and the development of a new international labour standard on HIV and the world of work is one of the key issues for discussion during the Geneva conference which runs from 3-19 of June.

The new labour standard, ground-breaking in its scope and reach, is designed to address the global threat of HIV in the world of work and is an international human rights instrument aimed at extending and strengthening the role of the workplace in the AIDS response.

The virus affects the most economically active age range in every population and the majority of the 33 million people living with HIV worldwide are workers. Many are still subject to stigma and discrimination and the threat, or reality, of losing their jobs due to their status. Although some progress has been made, prevention and care strategies also need bolstering. The international labour standard aims to help change this situation and would be the first global human rights instrument to focus specifically on HIV and the world of work.

According to Dr Sophia Kisting, ILO/AIDS Director, in an interview with ILO Online, “The existence of an instrument focusing solely on HIV and the world of work will give new impetus to anti-discrimination policies at national and workplace levels. It will strengthen the contribution of the world of work to countries’ achievement of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and encourage information-gathering and reporting.”

The journey towards the international standard began when a first report, entitled HIV/AIDS and the world of work, Report IV (1), was sent to all ILO members in January last year. It contained a detailed and wide-ranging questionnaire concerning all aspects of the challenge to AIDS in the workplace. A second document, Report IV (2) , synthesized and summarized the nearly 250 responses received from governments, workers, employers and other partners, most of whom agreed with the need to focus greater attention on HIV through a new international instrument. It is the draft conclusions from this report that will be discussed in depth at the 2009 conference. A second discussion will take place next year and it is expected that the formal adoption of the labour standard will occur at this point. At present the proposal is for an autonomous Recommendation, but the final decision on its form and content rests with the Conference.

ILO Recommendations are not legally binding but serve as guidance for policy and law. If adopted, the new standard would be submitted to national authorities “for the enactment of legislation or other action” and would reinforce the impact of the existing ILO Code of Practice on HIV and the world of work which was adopted in 2001.

The global threat of HIV for workers is inextricably linked with the overarching theme of the International Labour Conference; the growing impact of the world financial crisis on employment and social protection. The ILO has organized a ‘Summit on the Global Jobs Crisis’ scheduled for 15-17 June, involving a number of Heads of State to examine this issue. The forecasts of rising unemployment and poverty have potentially grave implications for the successful response to the AIDS epidemic, given the connection between poverty and HIV.

The ILO highlights the fact that the crisis may lead to cutting of AIDS programmes. Increased poverty may also bring greater risk of HIV as some are forced into unsafe behaviour to support themselves. A recent World Bank report also stressed that funding for AIDS drugs is under threat as the crisis hits the health sectors in a number of countries in Africa, the Caribbean, Europe and Asia. The International Labour Conference is committed to trying to ensure that the many gains that have been made in the challenge to the epidemic in the workplace are not lost or reversed due to current, stark economic realities.

His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco; Her Serene Highness Princesse Stéphanie; UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé. Monaco 29 May 2009.
Credit: Gaëtan Luci/Palais Princier

Strengthened cooperation between UNAIDS and Monaco was the aim of Michel Sidibé, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on his first official visit to the Principality.

Mr Sidibé met with representatives of the government and civil society and had a private audience with His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco and his sister, Her Serene Highness Princess Stéphanie of Monaco.

This visit was an opportunity to renew the existing funding agreement between UNAIDS and Monaco for another two years until 2011. Mr Sidibé met with senior government officials including Mireille Pettiti, Directeur Général, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Monaco and Mr Frédéric Platini, Director of the International Cooperation Directorate of Monaco.

Cooperation between UNAIDS and Monaco has grown in recent years as has the country’s financial contribution to AIDS response in priority countries including Madagascar and Burundi. The role played by Her Serene Highness Princess Stéphanie as Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS has also reinforced this partnership.

Her Serene Highness Princess Stéphanie (centre) and Jean-Jacques Campana, Conseiller de Gouvernement des Affaires Sociales et de la Santé (Minister of Health, Monaco) (right) met Michel Sidibé, UNAIDS Executive Director, 29 May 2009. Credit: Charly Gallo (Cdp) and Nicolas Saussier (Fight AIDS Monaco).

In his audience with the Prince Albert and Princess Stéphanie, his first in his role as UNAIDS Executive Director, Mr Sidibé emphasized the importance of their respective leadership in environmental protection and the response to the AIDS epidemic. Although Monaco is a country small in size, through their worldwide advocacy outreach, the leadership of the Prince and the Princess reach beyond its borders.

The Executive Director’s visit included a meeting with the association “Fight AIDS Monaco” of which HSH Princess Stéphanie is the founder and president. She introduced Mr Sidibé to the Board members as well as some of its members. Mr Sidibé emphasized the importance of having people living with HIV at the centre of the initiative in order to carry forward the movement they have created. He also explained the necessity of implementing the principle of greater involvement of people living with HIV, or GIPA.

Princess Stéphanie has been working with UNAIDS since 2006, focusing on HIV prevention and raising awareness on the negative impact of discrimination against people living with HIV. Through her personal engagement and work, she has become an important role model and significant UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador.

The princess represented Monaco at the High Level Meeting on AIDS in New York in June 2006 where she expressed her personal commitment to the AIDS response.

She has twice visited Madagascar in 2007 and 2008 in order to raise awareness around HIV-related stigma and to support the local authorities and associations actively engaged in the AIDS response in their country. In 2008 HSH Princess Stéphanie renewed her commitment as UNAIDS Goodwill Ambassador for another two years.

The press conference which closed the visit was an opportunity to raise visibility for Monaco’s activities at national and international level with regard to HIV and show a strong sign of renewed commitment towards UNAIDS and the response to the epidemic.

Participants at Global Citizens Summit to End AIDS which took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 27 to 29 May 2009. Credit: Global Citizen Summit 2009

Leonard is the father of five daughters, one of whom, recently turned 14, was born HIV positive. In addition to juggling with the responsibility of raising a family of girls, Leonard is becoming very concerned about the new challenges he’s facing with having a positive teenage girl at home. “She is growing and as a father, I must help her grow into a mature and responsible woman. How should I talk to her about sex given her HIV positive status without instilling a sense of guilt? I do not find the guidance to help me respond to her needs,” he said.

This question was one of many others at the core of the Global Citizens Summit to End AIDS which took place in Nairobi, Kenya from 27 to 29 May.

The Citizen’s Summit was organized by a determined group of civil society, including Africa CSO Coalition against HIV&AIDS, Asia People’s Alliance for combating HIV&AIDS, Africaso, Eanaso, Heard, Cegaa, OXFAM, ActionAid, the UN Millennium Campaign, Healthlink World Wide, Panos and Pamoja. The idea stemmed from the observation that there is a growing gap between the needs of the people at the forefront of the epidemic and the response that is offered at the global level.

(from left) Leonard Okello of ActionAid, Salil Shetty, and Alloyce Orago of NACC during the official opening of the 2009 Citizens Summit Credit: Global Citizen Summit 2009

Addressing an audience of over 250 front line practitioners, Leonard Okello, who heads ActionAid’s HIV and AIDS unit, said: “We are meeting here at a time when the world is witnessing an increasing sense of AIDS fatigue, and witnessing serious global crises: food, climate, financial and emerging epidemics. A time when there is a big global debate on AIDS funding versus health funding and we, the people at the frontline of the AIDS response, are not on the debating table”.

During the three days meeting, the participants from grass root communities, networks of people living with HIV, faith based groups and other civil society groups came together under the umbrella of the Summit’s title “Reclaiming our Role in Universal Access” to share their experience at the front line of the response to AIDS. Their objective was to learn from their peers how they can better support people living and affected by HIV in their communities and where they can find support and guidance. The Summit was also an opportunity for them to consolidate in a roadmap the challenges that communities are facing on the road to universal access and how they could contribute to overcome them.

Representing UNAIDS at the Summit, Elhadj Amadou Sy, Deputy Executive Director ad interim, spoke of the importance of the communities’ role in scaling up towards universal access and reaffirmed UNAIDS commitment to support them in their constant and tireless efforts in the AIDS response. Referring to UNAIDS Outcome Framework for 2009-2011, he reiterated UNAIDS commitment to stand by people living and affected by HIV and to enable them to demand change in governance, legislation and policy to support a response that works for them.

Building on their previous advocacy experience in 2005 which led to the G8 commitment made in Gleneagles to move as close as possible to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support by 2010, ActionAid is planning to use the Summit’s roadmap to create a new impetus for demanding the right to universal access to prevention, treatment, care and support. At the Summit, ActionAid also launched STAR, a human rights based social mobilization methodology aiming at enabling and empowering communities to protect themselves from HIV infection and to demand their rights to prevention, treatment and care.

A version of this story first appeared at unicef.org

‘Loud and Clear’, the Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS video, shows how early infant diagnosis of HIV can save lives

Many infants across the world are dying needlessly because they are not being tested early enough for HIV and treated if they have the virus. Without treatment, half of all HIV-positive babies will not live long enough to see their second birthday; a third will not see their first.

To help address this situation, the Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS campaign has launched a new video vividly highlighting the importance of early testing and treatment to save the lives of infants who have HIV.

As the video, known as ‘Loud and Clear’, shows infants who are diagnosed and treated early have a far higher chance of survival than those who go untested and untreated. Research demonstrates that if newborns are tested at the age of six weeks and on treatment by 12 weeks there can be a dramatic 75% reduction in infant mortality due to AIDS.

However, according to a report published last year by UNICEF, UNAIDS and WHO, in 2007 only 8% of children born to HIV-positive mothers were tested before they were two months old. Mothers can also help prevent HIV transmission – and protect their own health – by being tested and treated themselves during pregnancy.

Access to care and treatment

Since the launch of the Unite for Children, Unite against AIDS global campaign in 2005, there has been significant progress in scaling up prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV – and in the provision of paediatric treatment for babies born with the virus.

In 2007, a third of HIV-positive pregnant women received antiretroviral drugs, or ARVs, to prevent transmission to their children, compared with only 10 per cent in 2004.

Still, far too few pregnant women in the developing world know their HIV status, and too few are tested and treated: both are essential for mother and child. However, most pregnant women who have been diagnosed with HIV do not have access to essential care and treatment, including ARV therapy.

“Mothers should be able to access the tests and drugs necessary to ensure they can protect their babies and themselves,” said UNICEF Senior Advisor on HIV and AIDS, Dr Doreen Mulenga. “Antiretroviral drugs can substantially reduce the risk of a baby getting the HIV virus from his mother.”

Children at risk

Children bear a heavy burden of the virus. UNAIDS and WHO estimates show that in 2007 alone some 370,000 young people under the age of 15 were newly infected, that’s around 1,000 a day; and 270,000 died, the majority under the age of 5. In the same year, fewer than 200,000 young people living with HIV received antiretroviral treatment. Further, those on ARVs often receive it too late for optimal benefits to be gained: recent studies report that the median age at which children begin such treatment is between five and nine years old.

Great strides in Zambia

In Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, the Chelstone Clinic provides vital programmes to treat pregnant women living with HIV and to prevent mother-to-child transmission. The country has made great strides in expanding such programmes, which include HIV testing during pregnancy, ARV regimens for HIV-positive pregnant women, prophylactic antibiotics and ARVs for infants exposed to HIV in utero, and early infant diagnosis and treatment.

Maureen Sakala, who was diagnosed with HIV while pregnant, practices preparing prophylactic antiretroviral medicine for her newborn son, Christopher, held by midwife Grace Kayumba at the Chelstone Clinic in Lusaka, Zambia.
Credit: UNICEF/NYHQ2009-0307/Nesbitt

Christopher was recently born at the clinic. His mother, Maureen Sakala, lives with her mother, siblings and 12 orphaned children – including the children of her brother, who died of AIDS-related illness.

Ms Sakala learned that she was HIV-positive during an antenatal check-up. She participates in the prevention programme at the clinic, where she learned to administer ARVs to Christopher for the first seven days after his birth as a prophylactic measure against HIV infection. His chances of survival are much improved because of Zambia’s success in strengthening maternal, newborn and child health services.

Preventing mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with HIV has been identified as one of the eight priority areas UNAIDS and its Cosponsors will focus on for the period 2009–2011 under the Joint action for results: UNAIDS outcome framework, 2009 – 2011.

By providing greater access to HIV testing and treatment, partners around the world are working to protect babies like Christopher, and their mothers, from the devastating impact of AIDS.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé participated in the Forum on African Dialogue where he delivered a presentation on the challenges of pandemics for Africa’s development. Credit: UNAIDS

Africa Day, the official day of the African Union, is observed every 25 May. It is an opportunity to celebrate African diversity and success, but also a time to reflect on the challenges remaining in Africa’s road to development.

To mark the 46th anniversary of Africa Day, the African Union Permanent Representation in Geneva organized the First Forum on African Dialogue which took place on the 27 May 2009, under the theme “Africa’s Development: Whose Responsibility?”

The Chairperson of the African Union Commission (AUC), Mr Jean Ping, officially launched the dialogue forum. The Dialogue brought together representatives of the Swiss government, Ambassadors of permanent missions in Geneva, United Nation Organizations, private sector and other development organizations including the African Development Bank.

UNAIDS Executive Director Mr Michel Sidibé also participated in the forum where he delivered a presentation on the challenges of pandemics for Africa’s development. Mr Sidibé highlighted the role that infectious diseases play in Africa’s underdevelopment. Africa is the region where 11% of the world population live, and is home to 60% of people living with HIV. More than 300,000 children are born every year with HIV when vertical transmission (transfer of HIV from mother to child) has virtually disappeared from most European countries.

“If Africa is to progress with its development, we need to transform health from being Africa’s greatest challenge into being its greatest resource,” said Mr Sidibé. “But we desperately need a pan-African vision on how to get there. We need to engage all partners, from governments to civil society, and development partners, to make a decisive contribution to the health of current and future generations” he added.

Mr Sidibe pointed out that AIDS has shown the need for an institutionalized response in Africa, that is owned and lead by national partners from government and civil society.

During his intervention, Mr Sidibé emphasized the need for a continental vision on how Africa will lead in the response to its epidemics. According to Mr Sidibe, the actions required to transform approaches to health and development are to improve systems for resource management; use human resources effectively; redefine and reorient programmes for research and development to make sure they address Africa’s health priorities; and address trade issues, between Africa and the rest of the world, and within Africa so access to commodities is permanent and sustainable. He called for a greater leadership and mutual accountability to expand universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support to all in Africa.

Cover of Swaziland report.
Credit: UNAIDS

If national HIV prevention strategies are to succeed, countries must understand the character and drivers of their epidemic and focus on proven need through sustained and effective interventions. However, there is often a mismatch between HIV prevention efforts and the actual factors driving new infections. This can lead to significant resources being invested in programmes of limited effect which do not reach those most at risk. To address this situation in five African countries, National AIDS Authorities, UNAIDS and the World Bank have produced a series of detailed reports that aim to characterize the true nature of the respective epidemics and their drivers, the existing HIV prevention response and the allocation of funding for prevention.

Drawing on new and existing data, final synthesis reports from Kenya, Lesotho, Swaziland and Uganda look at the expected distribution of new infections over the next 12 months. (Mozambique, the fifth country, will release its study soon and Zambia is also preparing a report). On the basis of all the data, the reports assess the alignment between this evidence and the HIV policies and interventions in the countries. The four reports then offer recommendations to improve national HIV prevention strategies. Already, they have begun to feed into existing national planning and policy deliberations, in some countries going as far as informing development and review of prevention strategies and policy guidance.

“AIDS continues to undermine every effort and investment towards human development in this region. Countries, therefore, cannot afford to ignore the pressing need to review national HIV prevention strategies to ensure greater efficacy,” said Mark Stirling, Director of UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa. He added, “The leadership demonstrated by the countries that have undertaken this analytic work is a first and important step towards building effective prevention strategies.”

The studies give very specific illustrations of challenges emerging from the relative lack of evidence-based policies and programmes, while acknowledging that all of the countries have made considerable progress in addressing HIV and that several have seen their epidemics stabilize.

In Lesotho, for example, which has the third highest adult prevalence in the world, the study shows that there is an “exceptionally high” number of multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships before and during marriage. The bulk of new infections in 2008 were likely to occur in those reporting a single-partner (35-62%) and people in multiple partnerships. Yet, according to the report, national prevention strategies do not explicitly address concurrent partnerships and no activities are designed specifically for adults, married couples and people in long-term steady relationships.

The Kenya report describes a mixed epidemic that varies considerably across the country, requiring interventions planned and implemented at local level. However, strategies were found to be “general and overarching” and not specifically aimed at most-at-risk populations, which include those in certain mobile occupations such as the fishing community and truck drivers. Even where the evidence shows a clear need for it, Government funding aimed at other most-at-risk groups, such as sex workers, their clients, men who have sex with men and injecting drug users is “negligible or non-existent”.

It emerges, therefore, that across the countries significant resources are invested in a range of prevention interventions that are not rigorously evaluated for their “impact or quality” and, for some, spending on prevention is considered simply too low. (Spending in this area varied from 13% of the national AIDS budget in Lesotho where adult HIV prevalence is 23.2%, to 34% of the AIDS budget in Uganda with adult prevalence of 5.4%).

According to Debrework Zewdie, Director of the World Bank’s Global HIV/AIDS Unit, "The current global economic situation has made it more important than ever to get the most impact possible from our investments in HIV prevention. These syntheses use the growing amounts of data and information available to better understand each country's epidemic and response, and identify how prevention might be more effective. They are guiding the programmes we support."

The reports give concrete recommendations on how to move towards a more efficient use of resources through more evidence-informed prevention strategies. For example, Uganda recommended the establishment of clear policies, standards and guidelines to improve counseling and testing services, IEC and behaviour change interventions for married and long-term sexual partners, people living with HIV and at risk groups. Swaziland also recommended that married, cohabiting and steady couples be acknowledged as a priority population and, further, that stronger political leadership for HIV prevention be exercised in order to build widespread engagement to address the complex norms underlying the level of vulnerability to infection in the country.

The National AIDS Authorities and the UNAIDS and World Bank teams who have produced these wide-ranging and rigorously researched reports see them as an initial round of synthesis work which will form part of ongoing AIDS-related evaluations aimed at strengthening and sharpening national responses to the epidemic.

Note: The Analysis of Prevention Response and Modes of Transmission Study series is part of a programme of work led by National AIDS Authorities and UNAIDS Country Office teams with support from the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Eastern and Southern Africa, UNAIDS Geneva and the World Bank's Global HIV/AIDS Programme.

By Eric Sawyer, veteran AIDS activists and cofounder of Housing Works.

appeared at a screening of Outrage at the Tribeca Film Festival in New York in May 2009.
Credit: Getty Images/Andrew H. Walker

This week, I got the unexpected news that my friend, the legendary AIDS activist Rodger McFarlane had taken his own life. I was in shock and deeply saddened.

Roger was a terrific friend, not only to me as an individual and countless others around the world but a terrific friend to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) and HIV communities as well. Rodger was a co-founder of ACT UP New York. He was a mentor to countless activists and employees at numerous AIDS organizations and a critical supporter, both intellectually and financially of advocacy for gay and lesbian and HIV causes. Rodger was a hero!

Rodger was critical to the development of many of the largest and most effective organizations that would lead the fight against AIDS. He started the first AIDS hot line on his own home phone; he was the first executive director of GMHC (Gay Men’s Health Crisis) and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS (he combined the two organizations). Rodger was also the President of Bailey House and later the executive director of the Gill Foundation.

An accomplished athlete, Rodger had no physical fear and his quick mind made him a brilliant strategic activist; Rodger always could construct a plan to rectify any problem and was able to find the clever media hook to draw public attention to the problem. He never reacted with anger and haste. He preferred a planned response, crafted with a cool hand. He was insightful, never flustered and always had a “we can lick this approach” to overcoming any challenge.

“Tell me what's going on," would be followed by, "That outrageous!" and then, "Here's how we fix this thing." He would then ask "What do you think?" He was always ready to hear suggestions to refine his ideas.

Rodger takes on Guantanamo Bay

When ACT UP and others were fighting to close the HIV detention camp at Guantanamo Bay, I went to Rodger and asked for help planning a high profile press event and civil disobedience action. Again it was: "Tell me what's going on, -that's outrageous!” followed by, “Let's kick their motherf***ing asses!" and, "Here's what we do..."

And here is what he did: Rodger hired young ACT UP member and fledging producer David Binder (now a Tony nominee for “33 Variations”) to produce a rally and press conference at Rockefeller Center near the immigration programs passport office. We managed to get Dennis DeLeon (then the New York City Commissioner of Human Rights), Jessie Jackson, Susan Sarandon and director Jonathan Demme and other high-profile AIDS community members involved in a coalition planning effort, and before we knew it, 40 boldfaced names had been arrested on Fifth Avenue for blocking traffic while demanding medical parole for the sickest and the closing of the camp.

Jessie and Rodger insisted that we all go through the system and stay over night in jail to keep the TV cameras on the issue. They both agreed it would have optimal benefit to keep our issue in the media for as long as possible.

Within a few hours Mayor Dinkins was dispatched to the jail, at US President Clinton's request, to talk Jessie and the rest of us into a quick quiet release. He did not want negative attention about what was becoming an increasing public black eye to his fledgling Presidency.

Jessie was told that the Clinton Administration would look favorably on our demands if we took desk appearance tickets and left jail quickly to turn the press heat off. We were warned that to stay in jail over night would have a less favorable response. Jessie said that David had asked him personally as well, as a good Democrat, to leave with him right away.

We caucused and decided that we were likely to get some of our demands met if we left, ultimately helping the HIV-positive detainees in Guantanamo. We felt that while this war was not over, the battle had been won; we had Bill Clinton dispatching Mayor Dinkins to respond to our actions. We took the desk appearance tickets and left the holding cells. Shortly thereafter all the pregnant women and people with a full-blown AIDS diagnosis were released from the Guantanamo HIV detention camp—the same camp where the terrorist are being held today.

Thank you Rodger, for all you did. Rest peacefully our fearless warrior!

Eric Sawyer is a veteran AIDS activists and cofounder of Housing Works.