(from left) Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations and UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, UN HQ New York, 2 March 2009.
Credit: USUN

On 2 March 2009 UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé met with Ambassador Susan Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

During their meeting Mr Sidibé thanked Ambassador Rice and the US Government for their continued support to UNAIDS and shared his thoughts on how an effective HIV response will support the achievement of the other Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

Mr Sidibé also spoke on the need to address the obstacles to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support services. These include addressing stigma and discrimination, human rights and gender inequality as well as specific support for key populations including people who inject drugs and men who have sex with men.

Permanent U.S. Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Susan E. Rice, shared her Government’s priorities and reaffirmed its continued commitment to the global AIDS response.

Ambassador Susan Rice was confirmed to the position of U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations by the U.S. Senate on January 22, 2009.

L to R: Craig McClure, Executive Director of the International AIDS Society, Dr Gennady Onischenko, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being, Chief State Sanitary Physician of the Russian Federation, Michel Sidibé UNAIDS Executive Director, Urban Weber, Team Leader Eastern Europe and Central Asia, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

The co-chairs of the 3rd Eastern Europe and Central Asia (EEAC) AIDS Conference gathered today in Geneva to discuss the forthcoming event to be held in Moscow, 28-30 October 2009.

The meeting took place at UNAIDS Secretariat and was hosted by Michel Sidibé UNAIDS Executive Director with the participation of Dr Gennady Onischenko, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being, Chief State Sanitary Physician of the Russian Federation and Craig McClure, Executive Director of the International AIDS Society. The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (Global Fund) was represented by Urban Weber, Team Leader, Eastern Europe & Central Asia. Alena Peryshkina, Director, AIDS Infoshare, Russia also participated.

Discussions were held on key topics to be featured during the conference, the importance of regional collaboration and of building strong partnerships with civil society and others.

As conference co-chairs UNAIDS, the International AIDS Society and the Global Fund offered their support to the Government of Russia in the preparation of the event.

The October conference will be co-chaired by UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé, Dr Gennady G. Onishenko, Head of the Federal Service for Surveillance of Consumer Rights Protection and Human Well-being, Chief State Sanitary Physician of the Russian Federation, Craig McClure, Executive Director of the International AIDS Society and Dr Michel Kazatchkine, Executive Director of the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

Dr Jean Ramjohn-Richards, wife of President George Maxwell Richards, presents Brent Benjamin, winner of the Caribbean Coalition on Women, Girls and Aids (CCWA) regional  Logo Competition, with a cheque of US $500 at the launch of CCWA launch on 4 March 2009, Port-of-Spain.
Credit: UNAIDS

Violence against women is increasing women and girls’ vulnerability to HIV in the Caribbean region. This is the stark message which emerged from the launch of the Caribbean Coalition on Women, Girls and AIDS (CCWA) hosted on 4 March by the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team at the National Library, in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

Sexual violence against women and girls in the Caribbean is pervasive. According to a regional study, 47% of adolescent girls’ first sexual experience was “forced” or “somewhat forced” (Halcon, L. Beuhring T and Blum, R.: 2000). Violence or the threat of violence increases women’s vulnerability to HIV by making it difficult or impossible to negotiate safer sex and condom use. It also affects women’s expectations in relationships and can also stop women from accessing HIV prevention, care and treatment services.

The CCWA, a broad coalition of women from a diversity of backgrounds pledged to vigorously challenge not just violence against women but all aspects of female vulnerability to HIV. The First Lady of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Her Excellency, Dr. Jean Ramjohn-Richards, who is a member of the CCWA, was in attendance as well as Yolanda Simon, Director of Caribbean Regional Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS (CRN+), founding member and advocate of the CCWA.

According to Roberta Clarke, Regional Programme Director of UNIFEM, much more needs to be done to transform unequal and harmful gender relations between women, men, boys and girls; as this culture of inequality is a root cause of women’s vulnerability to HIV.

“We know that the Caribbean is an unsafe space for women. Several Caribbean countries have amongst the highest homicide rates and all have higher than global averages of sexual violence, with three countries having amongst the top ten highest rates,” said Ms Clarke.

The CCWA therefore has a role to play in drawing attention to the persistence of inequality and violence and in advocating societal transformations which are consistent with the full respect for human rights.

The launch event also saw the unveiling of a new logo for the Coalition. Young Trinidadian, Brent Benjamin, was the winner of the competition to design the logo and he was presented with his prize by her Excellency, Dr. Jean Ramjohn-Richards.

The CCWA has been supported by the UNAIDS Caribbean Regional Support Team, along with UNIFEM and regional civil society organizations including CRN+, Caribbean Association for Feminist Research and Action (CAFRA) and the Centre for Gender and Development Studies (CGDS) for 15 months leading up to the official launch. This support will continue in 2009 during which time the Coalition will be hosted by UNIFEM with continued assistance from UNAIDS.

The new publication, HIV and AIDS in South Asia: An Economic Development Risk, reports that the epidemic may pose a considerable danger to the socio-economic development of South Asian countries if prevention programmes are not scaled up.
Credit: World Bank

The AIDS epidemic may pose a considerable danger to the economic and social development of South Asian countries unless those at highest risk of infection are reached by scaled up prevention programmes, according to a new World Bank report.

The publication, HIV and AIDS in South Asia: An Economic Development Risk, contends that although overall HIV prevalence is low (up to 0.5%) there are concentrated epidemics among key population groups which may escalate if concerted action is not taken. These groups include sex workers and their clients, and injecting drug users and their partners who would benefit, the report says, from access to comprehensive harm reduction, including clean needle exchange, condom use, and treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Threats to economic and social development in the region are emerging not only in the form of the escalation of these concentrated epidemics, the report says, but also in terms of the costs of welfare and of scaling up of AIDS treatment.

The publication highlights the fact that AIDS frequently results in and exacerbates poverty, with a significant number of affected household losing well over half of their income. The ability to cope with the financial effects of the epidemic is strongly linked to socio-economic factors such as gender, education and wealth. Investing in effective HIV prevention, the Bank says, has a clear effect on containing poverty.

HIV and AIDS in South Asia: An Economic Development Risk also stresses the “catastrophic” health expenses associated with antiretroviral therapy in a region where most people pay out of pocket for health services, making the case for a key role for the governments of the region to ensure quality and adherence in both public and private provision of treatment.

AIDS represents a significant burden in South Asia with about 2.6 million people living with HIV, the majority of them in India, with AIDS accounting for 1.5% of all deaths in the region.

"Women and men: United to end violence against women" is the theme of this year’s International Women's Day which is observed at the United Nations on 5 March 2009 and celebrated internationally on 8 March.

Sexual violence, and the threat of violence, increases women’s vulnerability to HIV and in certain parts of the world is being used as a tactic of war.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon highlights this in his message marking International Women’s Day: “Violence against women is also linked to the spread of HIV/AIDS. In some countries, as many as one in three women will be beaten, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Women and girls are also systematically and deliberately subject to rape and sexual violence in war.”

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé is also unequivocal on the need to end this violence in his statement: “Violence, including rape and sexual abuse against women and girls should not be tolerated in any circumstances, be it in conflict or war or at home in our own communities.”

Sexual violence in conflict has not been a high priority for security institutions and is often overlooked due to stigma and under-reporting. However, the trauma and terror of rape can wound as deeply as bullets and in areas with high HIV prevalence, women are also at risk of being infected with HIV.

Leo Kenny, Team Leader of UNAIDS Security and Humanitarian Response is convinced of the pressing need to address the issue sexual violence among the uniformed services: “While soldiers and uniformed service personnel have been perpetuators of violence against women, they have also been part of the solution and are potential key agents of change if the right programmes are put in place.”

“Educating and involving peacekeepers in addressing sexual violence is important as soldiers have influence among their peers both within the service and the wider community. By changing their perceptions and behaviours it can positively impact the larger population,” Mr Kenny added.

The women who survive sexual violence need access to comprehensive health and counselling services and, where necessary, HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. However the context of civil unrest can result in barriers to universal access to these services.

There is also a need for the millions of uniformed service personnel worldwide to be integrally considered in the scale up towards universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict

"Women and men: United to end violence against women" is the theme of this year’s International Women's Day which is observed at the United Nations on 5 March 2009 and celebrated internationally on 8 March. Credit: UNAIDS

Two years ago today, UN bodies came together to form a joint initiative, “UN Action against Sexual Violence in Conflict.” The partnership now stands at twelve UN entities which seek to draw attention to the issue of sexual violence in conflict and the need to do more, to improve the quality of programming to address sexual violence, to increase the coordination of efforts for comprehensive prevention and response services, and to improve accountability as well as to respond effectively to the needs of survivors.

The UN Action initiative is designed to create greater awareness of these abuses and, ultimately, end sexual violence to make the world safer for women and girls.

Three main pillars

The first aspect of this initiative, country level action, involves country level support and efforts to build capacity and train advisers in gender-based violence programming and coordination, as well as support for joint UN programming in selected countries.

Second, “advocating for action”, raises public awareness and generates political will to address sexual violence as part of the broader campaign to “Stop rape now.” The third aspect is the creation of a knowledge hub on sexual violence in conflict and effective responses.

Stop rape now

Rape has deep roots in a historical absence of accountability and UN Action has helped catalyze a paradigm shift: insisting that sexual violence is recognized as a security threat that demands a security response, rather than simply an inevitable byproduct of war.

International Women’s Day

In 1977 the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution inviting Member States to proclaim a United Nations Day for Women's Rights and International Peace—International Women's Day—in recognition of the fact that securing peace and social progress and the full enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms require the active participation, equality and development of women; and to acknowledge the contribution of women to the strengthening of international peace and security.

For women around the world, the symbolism of International Women's Day has a wider meaning: it’s an occasion to celebrate how far women have come in their struggle for equality and an opportunity to unite, network and mobilize for meaningful change.

The President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Mr Óscar Arias signing the HIV prevention and education agreement.

Young people in Costa Rica will be receiving information on HIV prevention and healthy lifestyles from their peers thanks to a new agreement signed in San Jose by the Government of Costa Rica and the United Nations.

The agreement establishes that young people, aged 15 – 25 years, will lead in sharing sexual health information among their peers in two provinces: Limón and Puntarenas. The young leaders will provide education on a wide range of issues such as modes of HIV transmission and how to use a condom.

UNAIDS Regional Director Dr César Núñez emphasized that only timely information and HIV prevention can stop the spread of HIV. “It is urgent to provide young people with HIV information and to include sexual education in the school curriculum, as well as to develop specific strategies for the population outside schools,” he said.

The agreement was signed on 24 February 2009 by the President of the Republic Mr Óscar Arias and the Deputy Minister of Youth Karina Bolaños together with Dr César Núñez, UNAIDS Regional Director, Nils Kastberg, UNICEF Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean, Luis Mora, UNFPA Regional Adviser in Gender and Masculinities, and young people from the Limón and Puntarenas provinces.

A 2008 study carried out by UNFPA and UNICEF with support from UNAIDS showed that the majority of young people in Costa Rica were sexually active at the age of 16. The study also highlighted that there was lack of HIV information and knowledge among Costa Rican youth.

For that reason, President Arias, who received a Nobel Peace prize in 1987, emphasized on the occasion of the signing the need to speak about sexual education openly and without prejudices. “Talking about sex cannot continue to be taboo in Costa Rica,” he said.

The President of the Republic of Costa Rica, Mr Óscar Arias (centre) talking with the United Nations representatives that signed the agreement.

The study shows that in Limón only about 28% of the young people interviewed know how to use a condom correctly whereas in Puntarenas the percentage drops to about 17%. Furthermore, in both provinces, more than 50% of the adolescents find that asking a partner to use a condom could be interpreted as a sign of mistrust. Finally, 43% in both provinces think that a young girl carrying condoms in her purse is a woman with a “doubtful reputation.”

The agreement signed will look at strengthening the capacity of the health and education institutions as well as youth and adolescents in the country to promote HIV prevention. UNICEF, UNFPA and UNAIDS will provide technical and financial assistance to the programme which plans to directly benefit 73,000 adolescents.

This agreement is a direct result of the Meeting of Ministers of Education and Health to prevent HIV in Latin America and the Caribbean, that took place in Mexico in August 2008 ahead of the International AIDS Conference, when Ministers signed an historic declaration pledging to provide comprehensive sex education as part of the school curriculum in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Opening session of the meeting of the Commission on the Status of Women. United Nations, New York, 2 March 2009
Credit: UN Photo/Jenny Rockett

Equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV is the theme of the 53rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which opened today at UN Headquarters in New York.

Addressing the opening of the 53rd session, UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé called for bold, collective action to achieve universal access and to achieve gender equality.

“Gender equality must become part of our DNA -- at the core of all of our actions. Together with governments and civil society, we must energize the global response to AIDS, while vigorously advancing gender equality,” said Mr Sidibé. “These causes are undeniably linked.”

Mr Sidibé highlighted three priority actions needed to make this a reality: integrated delivery of antenatal, sexual and reproductive health and HIV services; respect and protection of human rights; and new models of development in which women and men have greater control over their lives.

Caregiving and HIV

The majority of people experiencing ill health due to HIV live in low and middle-income countries and are being cared for at home, since health services may be beyond the reach of large proportions of the population. Home and community-based care takes many forms, but typically it is provided by relatives, friends, or community volunteers.

UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé (front, right) gave a keynote address at the opening.
Credit: UNAIDS

The burden of this care-giving lies disproportionably on women because of gender norms—the widely held beliefs, expectations, customs and practices within a society define ‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ behaviours and roles and responsibilities.

Promoting a more equitable sharing of responsibilities between women and men is a practical necessity but alone is not enough to address the current inequalities, said Mr Sidibé.

“Women and girls need legislative and judiciary initiatives, policies and community-driven programmes. These are essential to ensure access to economic resources, social protection and safety nets, and access to education, skills training and employment.”

Fifty-third session

Equal sharing of responsibilities between women and men, including care-giving in the context of HIV is the theme of the 53rd session of the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) which opened today at UN Headquarters in New York.

Over the coming days, participants, including representatives of Member States, UN entities and ECOSOC-accredited non-governmental organizations from all regions of the world will explore the theme through a series of interactive sessions.

There will be a roundtable for high-level participants including ministers, deputy-ministers and principal secretaries to focus on experiences and lessons learned.

Technical experts will hold a panel to identify policy initiatives to accelerate the implementation of previous commitments and along with statisticians will hold another panel on capacity-building for gender mainstreaming in relation to care-giving in the context of HIV. This will provide an opportunity for an exchange of national and regional experiences and good practices.

Commission on the Status of Women

The Commission on the Status of Women is a commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) dedicated exclusively to gender equality and advancement of women. It is the principal global policy-making body. Every year, representatives of Member States gather at United Nations Headquarters in New York to evaluate progress on gender equality, identify challenges, set global standards and formulate concrete policies to promote gender equality and advancement of women worldwide. This year it runs until 13 March.

Sir George Alleyne, UN Secretary-General Special Envoy for AIDS in the Caribbean.
Credit: UNAIDS

The United Nations Special Envoys for HIV/AIDS are individuals specially selected by the UN Secretary-General to help advance the AIDS agenda in the regions they cover. In a series of interviews, we explore their motivation and commitment to ensuring that AIDS is kept high as a political priority within their respective regions of responsibility and operation.

Sir George Alleyne was appointed by the UN Secretary-General in February 2003 to serve as his Special Envoy for AIDS in the Caribbean Region.

A national of Barbados, Dr Alleyne entered academic medicine in 1962, and his career included research in the Tropical Metabolism Research Unit for his Doctorate in Medicine. In 1990, Dr Alleyne was made Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II for his services to medicine and in 2001 he was awarded the Order of the Caribbean Community—the highest honour that can be conferred on a Caribbean citizen. From 1995 to 2003 he served as Director of the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

Sir George, what motivates you to work on AIDS?

There was no single thing that first motivated me to work on the AIDS epidemic, no sudden epiphany. In the beginning, there were several factors: I had been concerned about AIDS when I was director of PAHO and I always had tremendous regard for Dr Peter Piot (the founding Executive Director of UNAIDS). Then the Secretary-General asked me to be his special envoy, and you don’t say no to the Secretary-General. It was only later that I realised the scale of what I’d taken on. An appreciation of the magnitude of the problem stimulates me to remain involved. HIV is one of the major health issues facing us.

What do you see as the role of a Special Envoy for AIDS?

It’s about getting access to the people who make decisions and exerting influence on them.

I have access to Prime Ministers and Ministers of Health and first I ask them to include AIDS in their public discourse. Second, I ask them to be seen publicly embracing people living with HIV. Third, I advocate for the inclusion of funding for HIV work in all ministerial budgets – not just at the Ministry of Health.

In Barbados there are now co-ordinators for HIV in every government ministry. The Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago convened a meeting of HIV co-ordinators to give him an account of what they are all doing in their ministries. It is a very healthy trend. I can’t claim to have achieved this alone, to do so would be arrogant and nothing in this area is done by one person. But what a special envoy can do is propose and advocate, but there are many factors and persons who exert influence to make sure something occurs.

What are the challenges facing the region?

In my view, the major challenge is getting the message across to politicians that preventing the spread of HIV is as important as HIV treatment and survival.

In general we are doing quite well in providing treatment to those who need it. However there is a danger of complacency about certain successes. For example mother-to-child-transmission (MTCT) of HIV is decreasing and the Caribbean has set a goal to eliminate MTCT in 2 to 3 years.

I’d like to see equal enthusiasm for HIV prevention. The time will come when it will be incredibly difficult to maintain treatment for an expanding number of people living with HIV. For all kinds of reasons, economic as well as human, it is important to spend more effort and a lot more time thinking about how to prevent people acquiring HIV.

The second main problem is the increasing incidence of HIV among young women. Many more young women are becoming infected than young men. It represents one of the more explicit manifestations of the power imbalance in our society – the inability of many women to negotiate whether they have sex, for example, and the economic disparities between the sexes.

Some years ago the Secretary-General said that education is a vaccine against HIV. It is true that in the Caribbean many of the younger girls who become infected have not reached the same educational level as their peers who are not infected. However, there are many more girls finishing high school and going to universities than boys, so education is not the only answer. The major answer lies in gender imbalance.

What do you think are possible solutions to this gender imbalance?

We are talking about something that is widespread and deeply ingrained. It is difficult to transform a societal problem with a single solution.

You can advocate about gender imbalance, expose it, discuss it and try to link up the groups working against it. You can encourage family-led education programmes in schools to be more explicit with boys and girls about their responsibilities.

You can encourage those who are like-minded to be more proactive in speaking out and encourage the kinds of educational approaches that will deal with it, for example in university gender studies.

Another solution is greater condom use and we strongly advocate this. When you talk to youngsters there is no doubt that lots of them engage in sex at an early age but some schools do not allow condom distribution. In some countries it is illegal to distribute condoms in prisons. So it’s not just about making people aware of condom use, but also establishing appropriate ways to make them accessible. These are very delicate issues. One hopes to work through channels that will allow not only debate but also acceptance.

How can you make a difference?

I’ve tried hard to play a constructive role in relations with faith-based organizations and I think I am getting somewhere. All the world’s great religions speak of inclusion rather than exclusion. My approach is to advocate a doctrine of inclusion – to think of people living with HIV as worthy of the same consideration as the rest of the flock. We enter into discussions of morality. Some groups are not enthusiastic about condom use but I argue that condoms are pro-life and not the other way round.

I also speak out openly against stigma and discrimination. For example, homophobia is very, very widespread in the Caribbean. People can be quick to assert that one should be more aggressive in the approach to politicians. But a politician who campaigns as specifically pro-homosexual would lose an election straight away in this region. So you have to look at how you can change public opinion to be less judgemental, how you can change perceptions.

This is not a moral issue – it’s about the rights of all people who are disadvantaged and discriminated against, including people living with HIV, men who have sex with men and sex workers.

Sex work has been with us since time immemorial and there are three things I would like to see change. Society should be such that men and women do not have to go into sex work to make a living. Secondly, if they do, we should make sure that they don’t have to run the risk of acquiring HIV. They need to be informed about the risks and be able to negotiate condom use, for example, be able to say to all clients: “no condom, no sex.” Thirdly, the state should provide opportunities for people who wish to stop sex work so that they can make a living in a less dangerous occupation. A woman recently told me: “If I could get another job less hazardous I would be happy to come out of sex work.”

A lot of the population close their eyes to the realities of things like this.

What is your proudest achievement as Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS?

I was very pleased to get the Caribbean Business Coalition against AIDS formed. It was something I promised the Secretary-General. Caribbean businesses have got together to see how business can respond to AIDS. For example, staff at a major bank in Guyana wear T-shirts once a week to promote HIV awareness, and businesses have been looking beyond philanthropy to outreach. One organization now provides confidential voluntary HIV testing and counselling facilities in its own establishment.

The Caribbean Association for Industry and Commerce has been a driving force in this, led by its energetic chief executive Ms Carol Ayoung and with the leadership of founding UNAIDS Executive Director Peter Piot. Karen Sealey, the current UNAIDS Regional Director for the Caribbean, has also been particularly strong at supporting this initiative.

Sir George, who or what inspires you?

The dedication, passion and enthusiasm of health workers is an inspiration. I was recently in Jamaica and met health workers setting up public information booths on street corners and chatting to passers-by about how to use condoms and protect themselves from HIV. Initially people were reluctant to engage with them but their professionalism was absolutely tremendous and people responded. You see this throughout the Caribbean.

I am also very inspired by the people I meet who are living with HIV. Their energy and commitment to improving the AIDS response on behalf of others makes you really want to be able to support them.

United Nations Economic and Social Council Special Event on Philanthropy and the Global Public Health Agenda, 23 February 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has called for “truly powerful global partnership for global health.” He was addressing over 400 executives and philanthropy leaders, representatives of UN Member States and other partners at the opening yesterday of a special event on Philanthropy at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

“Just as I am striving to ensure that the United Nations delivers as one, so do I want all partners to come together to deliver as one in the field of global health,” he said.

The Special Event of the UN Economic and Social Council on Philanthropy and the Global Health Agenda was co-convened by UNAIDS and a wide range of partners and was a discussion of the ways to strengthen partnerships towards achieving the health-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), especially in areas where progress has been slow, for example maternal and child health, and which can benefit from stronger multi-stakeholder participation. Participants noted that the AIDS response is a useful exemplary model because it mobilizes a variety of partners, including governments, communities and the private sector around a common cause.

Improving health outcomes of women and girls

Dr Purnima Mane, Deputy Executive Director of UNFPA and former Director of Policy, Evidence and Partnerships at UNAIDS noted the importance of family planning, skilled care during childbirth and emergency obstetric care to protect maternal health. She also emphasized the importance of preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Dr Mane stressed the importance of investing in MDG 4—to reduce infant mortality, and 5—to improve maternal health, while keeping up advocacy efforts on the other development goals.

There was consensus among panel members and participants on the need to strengthen the link between HIV and reproductive health in delivering care for women and girls. Progress in non-health areas for women and girls was seen as equally important including promotion of gender equality and access to education.

Gary Cohen, Executive Vice-President, Becton Dickinson (BD) described the role of corporate philanthropy in global health. He spoke of the “privilege” it is when a company offers its employees the opportunity to help others. During the past five years the company, which specializes in medical technologies, has also provided diagnostic tools and technologies for HIV. Through philanthropy outreach and community relations programmes, BD also supports immunization campaigns, promotes healthcare worker safety and raises awareness of pandemic diseases.

Neglected tropical diseases

Panel members and participants also agreed on the need to focus greater attention on neglected tropical diseases including a group of thirteen parasitic and bacterial infections that affect more than one billion people and kill 500,000 people annually.

Former US President Bill Clinton delivered the closing keynote address. President Clinton noted the timeliness of the special event during the current global economic crisis and the extraordinary need to focus on the effectiveness of public health interventions. He also highlighted the enormous contribution made by the AIDS response to AIDS in building networks for health and concluded that it is impossible to address global health without the active involvement of three key actors: governments, civil society and the private sector.

G. Kalyan, Secretary of Telugu Network for People living with HIV addressed the Andhra Pradesh Legislators Forum on AIDS on 21 February 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS

In a milestone in the political response to HIV in India, more than a 100 elected state legislators, from all major political parties in the south Indian state of Andhra Pradesh have pledged to incorporate the goal of universal access to HIV services in their political manifestos. Legislators from 15 major political parties in the state met at a special all-party function organized by the Legislators Forum on AIDS and the State AIDS Control Society on 21 February. They signed a joint declaration of intent to integrate HIV issues into their official electoral campaigning as they gear up for the state’s next election.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the states in India with a high prevalence of HIV and has some 53 million eligible voters. The state is slated to hold elections in four months time, all major political parties are currently preparing their political strategies and the gathering included members of the manifesto committees from all the major groups. The Forum’s aim is to keep HIV high in the political priorities, irrespective of whichever party comes to power in the state, and to sustain the momentum already generated.

“All political parties need to realize the importance of HIV prevention and need to incorporate points related to it in their manifestoes. We must go to the people with one voice. The political sector can influence the public and can awaken people at large,” said Dr. S. Shailajanath, the Convener of the Andhra Legislators Forum on AIDS.

The all-party pledge was preceded by several consultations and interactions between legislators and affected communities including sex workers and sexual minorities and signifies a major step forward in the political response.

“We think this is an important initiative. If political parties give priority to HIV issues then it will be a major opportunity to mainstream HIV and end the culture of silence that afflicts the epidemic,” said Kalyan Rao, Secretary, Telugu Network for People living with HIV. He said that such a show of political support will have a positive impact on reducing stigma and discrimination against the most-at-risk-populations.

The Project Director of the Andhra Pradesh State AIDS Control Society, Dr Chandravadan, stressed the significance of the political commitment to the AIDS response. “It’s the first initiative of this kind in the country and the representation from all political parties illustrates the commitment towards HIV issues.” Elaborating further, Rajeswara Rao of Telugu Desam Party said: “a special effort will be made to address the issue of children infected with or affected by HIV.” Similar pledges were also made by representatives of all political parties at the function in the State Assembly’s Central Hall.

B. Kamalakar Rao M.L.C. Co-Convener, APLFA, Congress Party Representative, addressed the Andhra Pradesh Legislators Forum on AIDS, 21 February 2009.
Credit: UNAIDS

The gathered legislators also received a toolkit on HIV designed for elected leaders and a detailed report card highlighting the gaps in achieving millennium development goals in the state. Prepared by UNICEF, the report card provides detailed information on the challenges and what they could do to achieve the targets.

UNAIDS provided technical support to the Andhra Pradesh Legislators Forum on AIDS, which was the driving force behind the pledge. It is one among 14 similar Legislators Forums in other states of India. The Parliamentary Forum on AIDS is now working towards building a similar political consensus on HIV at the national level as India heads into its 15th general election.