As world leaders prepare to meet in Hokkaido, Japan for the annual meeting of the G8, the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the Kaiser Family Foundation have released a new report analysing the funding available for AIDS from G8, European Commission (EC) and other donor governments in 2007.

The report shows that assistance for AIDS from donor governments to low- and middle-income countries is being driven by a subset of G8 members and notably some non-G8 members such as the Netherlands, Sweden, Australia and Ireland. In 2007, the United States was the largest donor for AIDS, followed by the UK and the Netherlands, using bilateral and multilateral channels.

Financing an effective and sustained response to the AIDS epidemic in low- and middle-income countries has emerged as one of the world’s greatest challenges. International assistance from donor governments, through bilateral aid and contributions to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, as well as other financing channels is a critical part of the response.

In 2005 at the summit in Gleneagles leaders of the Group of Eight pledged to commit US$ 25 billion per year to aid in Africa, part of which is to go to working towards the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

Some key findings of the report include:

• In 2007, international AIDS assistance from the G8, EC, and other donor governments reached its highest level ever with commitments totalling US$ 6.6 billion up from US$ 5.6 billion in 2006.
• Between 2002 and 2007, commitments and disbursements each increased by at least four-fold.
• In 2007, donor governments disbursed US$ 4.9 billion for HIV/AIDS, including US$ 3.7 billion in bilateral assistance and earmarked multilateral funds and an additional US$ 1.2 billion through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The full report is available online here or on the Kaiser Family Foundation website

The condoms factory uses natural latex
collected by local rubber tappers and it
will be able to supply the Brazilian
government with 100 million condoms a
year. Photo credit: UNAIDS/J.Spaull

The use of condoms in Brazil is preventing the spread of HIV and it might also be helping to save the rainforest thanks to a condom factory opened in April in the Amazon region. This unique factory uses natural latex collected by local rubber tappers and it will be able to supply the Brazilian government with 100 million condoms a year.

The company which runs the factory – Natex - is a joint venture between the local state of Acre, the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Health. It represents Acre’s new vision for the Amazon - “Florestania” - which seeks to increase the living standards of its inhabitants whilst also preserving the rain forest, through increasing the value of the products extracted from it.

The factory is located in Xapuri, made famous by the environmentalist and rubber tapper Chico Mendes who was assassinated there twenty years ago, and it is a direct legacy of his life’s work. Threatened with the destruction of their livelihood by the cattle ranchers who were clearing the forest, Mendes’s great achievement was to forge an alliance between the interests of the rubber tappers and the environmentalists. Mendes saw the rubber tappers as the natural custodians of the forest.

The factory provides employment for around 100 people and the latex is supplied by around 700 rubber tappers. As well as payment for the latex, the rubber tappers receive a fee for “environmental services”, recognising their importance in safeguarding the forest. This has greatly improved the living conditions of rubber tappers such as Chico Mendes’s cousin Sebastiao Teixeira Mendes who gets a guaranteed income for his latex which is higher than he could get elsewhere. He sees the rubber tappers as the “soldiers of the forest – patrolling and managing the forest”.

At the opening of Natex, the then Minister of Environment Marina Silva - the daughter of rubber tappers herself – was in no doubt of the significance of the factory: “This is a project where high technology will help to preserve the soul of the forest”. Adding, “The forest will remain the forest and the rubber tappers will remain rubber tappers through a new way of working and producing”.

As well as the environmental and social aspects of the factory, the other main driver of the project has been the Government’s need for an increasing supply of good quality condoms. The distribution of free condoms coupled with a national campaign for their usage has been at the core of the Brazilian Governments AIDS prevention strategy.

The distribution of free condoms coupled
with a national campaign for their usage
has been at the core of the Brazilian
Governments AIDS prevention strategy.
Photo credit: UNAIDS/J.Spaull

Since 1994, 1.5 billion free condoms have been distributed and it is projected that 557 million will be distributed this year reaching out to 52% of the population. The change in people’s attitudes can be seen from a national study, which showed that the percentage of those who used condoms during their first sexual encounter rose from 10% in 1986 to 47.8% in 1998 and 65.8% in 2005. In another study in 2004 showed that 96% of the adult population cited the use of condoms as the best method of preventing HIV transmission.

In 2007, the Government of Brazil imported one billion condoms and plans to purchase an additional 1.2 billion by the end of the year. It is expected that the factory will eventually increase its annual production from 100 to 200 million condoms and diversify into female condoms, therefore greatly reducing the Government’s reliance on importing condoms.

Whilst the condoms will be slightly more expensive to produce than importing from Asia, it is a cost that the director of the National AIDS Programme Dr Mariangela Simao believes is well worth paying as it “reflects the social benefits of increasing the income of the autochthonous population and a sustainable way of managing the native rubber trees”.

UNAIDS Country Director Mr Pedro Chequer, who was previously the National AIDS Director and as such was involved in the planning stages for the factory believes that it “represents the Government’s high level political commitment to maintain HIV as a priority agenda for the Country”. The world, he notes, faces a huge shortage of condoms. “As far as male condoms are concerned the annual deficit would be around 30 billion if we consider half of the world male population using a condom once a week. Of course the initial production of 100 million condoms will not have much affect on the world scenario, but it will help the country have guaranteed access to the production of condoms”.

It is a model that he believes Brazil could export through joint ventures with other Latin American Countries.

Sebastiao Mendes and the local community have a name for Natex that sums up how they feel about the factory - “The love factory”. It is easy to see why there is such enthusiasm for the factory - a factory that is helping in the response to AIDS, but also helping to improve the living conditions of the local population whilst at the same time preserving the endangered rain forest.

A teenage girl and a young woman sit
together exploring the internet at the HIV
Shelter, “Guli Surkh”.
Credit: Warrick Page/PANO/UNFPA

The United Nations Populations Fund (UNFPA) is supporting a unique set of media and training interventions in Tajikistan designed to raise awareness, reduce stigma and provide adolescents with the tools to improve their reproductive and sexual health.

Vulnerable youth

It is early morning at Dushanbe’s school number one. Sunlight is streaming through the dusty windows and the hallways are filled with a polyphony of young voices on their way to class.

Once they are settled in their seats, instructor Ferozia Nabieva, an obstetrician-gynaecologist, introduces the class and then launches into a lively discussion about reproductive health, contraception and HIV. Mindful of the strangers in their midst, the students are shy at first. But one by one the hands reach tentatively upward to an accompaniment of barely stifled giggles.

This grade nine class is mixed girls and boys, but others are segregated by gender. Privacy and comfort are critical when it comes to reaching out to young people, says Dr Nabieva. “In these classes they can share their concerns and get answers. Anywhere else they might experience shame, which is why we work with trainers who are also young and whom they trust.”

Some of the younger male trainers work primarily with boys and young men. Should students require more in-depth counselling, they are referred to the Dushanbe Reproductive Health Centre where a youth-friendly clinic deals solely with their young constituents.

UNFPA is negotiating with Ministry of Education to bring sexual and reproductive health programming into the classroom. The reasons behind this are mostly demographic. By 2015, 50% more young people will be attending the country’s schools. Informing young people of their reproductive health and rights – including the right to contraceptives – encourages responsibility and safer sexual behaviours that will decrease the risk of HIV infection.

Reaching out through radio and TV

A TV monitor shows filming of "Healthy
Generation"; a weekly-broadcast, youth-
issues based TV show.
Credit: Warrick Page/PANO/UNFPA

In-school programmes can go only so far given the remote locations of many Tajik communities and the fact that so many lack access to electricity, school and services during the long, snowy winter months. To that end, UNFPA is also piloting a series of radio and TV shows that specifically focus on youth, reproductive health and HIV.

Boimorod Bobodjanov is the 31-year-old UNFPA youth projects manager. It was under his auspices that the organization began a series of TV pilots specifically for and about youth. After much cajoling, financial brinkmanship and concerted wooing aimed at the right quarters, UNFPA was able to secure four slots per month for a talk show about sexual and reproductive health that involves youth.

So successful is the show -- dubbed Safina -- that it will soon be on the popular seven o’clock Friday evening time slot.

The end result? A slick one-hour talk show that challenges traditional Tajik ways of perceiving issues such as gender rights and reproductive health, while maintaining respect for customs such as respect for elders and concern for the community. In order to get the show rolling, Mr. Bobodjanov had to act as fundraiser, producer, art director and writer. Although the government was initially opposed to the plan, the show has been airing for an entire year and the ratings are favourable. Today, the MTV-supported show is being branded under the umbrella of Y-PEER, a network of youth peer educators pioneered by UNFPA in 2000.

The hostess, 26-year-old Sitora Ashurova, is a former Y-PEER counsellor, who recalls with pleasure the very first time a person living with HIV spoke publicly about his status on national TV. “It was pretty special,” she says. “It was the first time the average Tajik could see that a person living with HIV could be anyone.”

Although programmers still have to skirt around specific terms such as condoms (referring to condoms as ‘protection’), Mr. Bobodjanov looks forward to the day when discussions will become even more open and that young people all over the country will know how to avoid HIV, where to get treatment if they do acquire it and that those living with the virus should be treated with the respect that they would accord any other person.

Because 42% of young people surveyed say they receive most of their information about HIV from TV, projects like Safina are a critical tool not only in the response to the disease itself, but the stigma that surrounds it.

Ambassador Marie-Louise Overvad,
Permanent Representative of Denmark to
the United Nations Office and other
International Organizations in Geneva
presented the MDG3 torch to UNAIDS
Executive Director Dr Peter Piot.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot received one of the MDG3 Torches on Thursday 26 June in Geneva as part of a campaign organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark intended to ensure commitment from participants to the third Millennium Development Goal (MDG3): Promote gender equality and empower women.

The campaign, entitled The MDG3 Champion Torch: “To Do Something Extra”, was launched on 7 March 2008 in Copenhagen. In the run-up to the United Nations High-level MDG meeting, which will take place on 25 September 2008, more than 100 Torches in support of the MDG3 are to travel around the world.

Recipients of the MDG3 Torch are representatives from government, private sector, civil society, media, individuals from North and South, and international organizations. Each MDG3 Torch Bearer will commit “To Do Something Extra” in support of gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

At the UN High-level MDG meeting the collected commitments will be presented to the United Nations Secretary-General Mr Ban Ki-Moon, who will be invited to light the last MDG3 Torch.

Dr Piot accepted the torch on behalf of UNAIDS and committed the organization to make the money work for women and girls by making sure that global financial commitments make a difference at country level.

Dr Piot accepted the torch on
behalf of UNAIDS and
committed the organization
to make the money work for
women and girls.

“Achieving MDG6 to halt and reverse AIDS depends on significant progress on MDG3,” said Dr Piot. “While at country level we see significant progress on policy development for gender equity in HIV service provision, it is a major concern that specific budget allocations to back these policies up are generally not there” he added.

Other recipients of the MDG3 torch at the Geneva event were Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland; Graca Machel, Daisy Mafubelu, Assistant Director-General - Family and Community Health, World Health Organization; and Dr. Julian Lob-Levyt, Executive Secretary, Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI).

On September 25th, the President of the General Assembly Srgjan Kerim and the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon will co-host and chair a high-level event on the Millennium Development Goals in New York. This event will bring together governments, leaders from the private sector, civil society and faith based organizations to review progress made in the preceding 12 months and accelerate action on the MDGs taking stock of progress so far, showcase successes the world could build on, set a path for the future to 2015, and allow each group to make practical commitments.

Fun and games during HIV training at
Beijing Modern Vocational and Technical
College. Photo credit: UNAIDS

It is early Sunday morning but the auditorium at Beijing Modern Vocational and Technical College is already full. Several hundred Olympic volunteers are chatting; waiting for the day’s training to start. The local representative of Beijing Youth League opens the workshop energetically with a clapping exercise. This course is very different to what students normally experience at this academic institution. Laughing and playing along the way, the students are learning about AIDS through a variety of games, presentations, quizzes and interactive question and answer sessions.

Countering discrimination

At the closing session, trainer Yu Xuan takes centre stage and asks the students what they think the probability is of them meeting a person living with HIV. The students say that they think that the probability of this is very low. “Well, you are in luck today,” Yu Xuan says. “I am HIV positive!” Most have never met an HIV positive person before and find it hard to believe that this young, handsome and energetic trainer is HIV positive. Immediately they recognize that they had false ideas and preconceptions about people living with HIV.

“When I was tested as HIV positive, I thought my life would end very soon. With the help and referral by local health services, I participated in activities organized by local HIV volunteers where I learned more about HIV, and got to know new friends,” Yu Xuan tells the volunteers. “I became aware that I could help others by sharing my knowledge, dispelling the myths about HIV, and communicate with the public as an HIV positive speaker.”

HIV is a reality rather than a distant possibility

The facilitator living with HIV, who are part of the team training Olympic volunteers, has been trained though a project called “Positive Talks”. This project is implemented by Marie Stopes International and supported by the Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The contribution of people living with HIV in China’s HIV prevention efforts is extremely valuable as they put a human face to the AIDS epidemic, which helps to reduce the discriminatory attitudes towards people living with HIV. They reinforce HIV prevention messages and make an impact on audiences by presenting HIV as a reality rather than a distant possibility.

“Many young people do not have the right information on AIDS, fuelling false fears, stigma and discrimination. This is bad in itself, but also hampers HIV prevention work,” said Bernhard Schwartländer, the UNAIDS Country Coordinator in China.

“Engaging some of China’s most capable young people and making them the messengers of positive and correct knowledge on HIV can help dispel inaccurate myths and break down the stigma and discrimination against people affected by HIV,” he said.

7,500 volunteers trained at 13 different universities

UNAIDS staff at the Beijing Modern
Vocational and Technical College training
young Olympic Volunteers.
Photo credit: UNAIDS

The training course is part of the volunteers’ preparation for service during the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games. Around 7,500 volunteers will have participated in the course in 13 different universities, while 100,000 volunteers will receive a basic information package on HIV. The training is a unique opportunity to equip Chinese youth with important knowledge and skills on HIV prevention and how to counter discrimination.

“We hope that through this training, Olympics volunteers, as ambassadors for Beijing citizens, will be better prepared to inclusively welcome all groups of people to Beijing during the Games, especially those living with HIV. It is our hope that Olympic volunteers will share this knowledge and look for opportunities to continue volunteering on important health and development issues such as raising awareness of HIV,” said UNDP Country Director Subinay Nandy.

Joint UN effort

The Olympic volunteer training programme is being convened by UNAIDS and United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and implemented in collaboration with the United Nations system in China, Beijing Youth League, Red Cross Society of China, Marie Stopes International (MSI) China.

The training teams include HIV experts from eight UN agencies: ILO, UNESCO, UNFPA, UNICEF, UNAIDS, UNODC, WHO and UNIFEM. The project, co-funded by UNAIDS, UNDP and UNV, is one of several initiatives between UNDP, UNV, the Beijing Youth League and other local partners within a partnership project aimed at strengthening volunteerism for development in China through the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Princess Stephanie is the
President of Fight AIDS
Monaco which she helped to
found in 2004.
Photo credit: C.Luci

UNAIDS Special Representative Her Serene Highness Princess Stephanie inaugurated the new premises of Fight AIDS Monaco (FAM) on 13 June 2008.

Princess Stephanie is the President of Fight AIDS Monaco which she helped to found in 2004. As well as offering psychological and material support to people living with HIV and their families in Monaco, FAM also funds projects in Madagascar and Burundi. The organization regularly runs HIV information campaigns in local and regional media and prevention campaigns in schools and night clubs in Monaco.

The inauguration was attended by His Serene Highness Prince Albert II of Monaco as well as Government and Parliamentary representatives. Also in attendance were volunteers and staff from Fight AIDS Monaco, people living with HIV and representatives from UNAIDS.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot sent a message of support saying that the new premises will give a space for constructive dialogue that is framed by tolerance and respect. Dr Piot also praised HSH Princess Stephanie for her committed work on the AIDS response and support of people living with HIV.

L to R: Mariangela Bavicchi Lerner,
UNAIDS Chief of Resource Mobilization,
Her Serene Highness Princess Stephanie
of Monaco and His Serene Highness
Prince Albert II of Monaco during the
inauguration of the new premises.
Photo credit: C.Luci 

The new premises will enable volunteers and staff of Fight AIDS Monaco to offer a range of services to some 150 people living with or affected by HIV. The space will allow the facilitation of group activities such as computer courses, yoga sessions and theatre courses. The organization also plans to offer more community events and outings to sporting events and concerts.

In October 2006 Princess Stephanie became a UNAIDS Special Representative choosing to focus on raising awareness on prevention and discrimination issues. Her Serene Highness is very active in a range of ways including organizing fundraising events such as a Gala dinner and concert in March this year, convening conferences and meetings to empower networks of people living with HIV, and highlighting the issue of stigma and discrimination towards people living with HIV.

Senior Hindu religious leaders agreed to join
the national effort to reverse the spread of
HIV at the first meeting of “Faith in Action:
Hindu Leaders Caucus on HIV/AIDS”.

In a historic initiative by Hindu religious groups, over 70 prominent faith leaders from across India came together to commit to incorporating HIV information into their religious education and training of future faith leaders as well as including AIDS in their discourses, rituals and festival celebrations.

Senior Hindu religious leaders agreed to join the national effort to reverse the spread of HIV at the first meeting of “Faith in Action: Hindu Leaders Caucus on HIV/AIDS”, which took place 1-2 June 2008 at the Art of Living International Centre in Bangalore, India.

Coming together to sign a joint declaration, the religious leaders committed to working with UNAIDS and the National AIDS Control Programme (NACP) to increase HIV awareness among young people and to end stigma and discrimination against people living with HIV.

Since the early 1990s faith-based organizations have played a leading role in the AIDS response in regions like southern Africa. Hindu groups, along with other religious organizations, have mobilized strongly against AIDS in Africa but this is the first time that such an initiative has taken shape in India.

“Stigma around the disease can only be
overcome if religious leaders speak about
it openly,” said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar,
founder, Art of Living Foundation.

“Stigma around the disease can only be overcome if religious leaders speak about it openly,” said Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, founder, Art of Living Foundation. Sri Sri Ravi Shankar will lead a steering committee that will ensure follow-up action by Hindu religious groups across India. This will include training of peer educator networks, prominent public messages to spread awareness and support for families affected by AIDS.

The action plan for the Hindu Leaders Caucus on HIV and AIDS envisages integrating the initiatives of Hindu leaders with State AIDS Control Societies to maximize their influence to spread positive messages in communities.

Hailing the initiative, UNAIDS Country Coordinator in India, Dr Denis Broun said, “continuous guidance from religious leaders will help many people to overcome their prejudice towards people living with HIV as HIV positive people can live a full life and contribute greatly to society.”

JVR Prasada Rao, Director UNAIDS Support Team for Asia and the Pacific said, “Hindu religious leaders can play a big role in our efforts to reverse the epidemic.”

Mr Oscar Fernandes, Minister of State for
labour and employment said that religious
leaders participation can make a
difference not only to AIDS in India but to
addressing it globally.

His sentiments were echoed by Mr Oscar Fernandes, Minister of State for labour and employment and Convenor of the Parliamentary Forum on AIDS, who said that religious leaders participation can make a difference not only to AIDS in India but to addressing it globally.

There are approximately 920 million Hindus globally making Hinduism the third largest religion in the world after Christianity and Islam.

The two-day conference was jointly organized by the Art of Living Foundation, UNAIDS and the Asian Interfaith Network on AIDS (AINA). In addition to faith leaders, 200 other delegates took part in the event including representatives of the National AIDS Control Organization (NACO), state AIDS control societies, members of Parliament, officials from the ministry of health and family welfare, UN agencies as well as non-governmental organizations. Representatives from the World Conference of Religions for Peace and other faith-based organizations also attended.

Powerful film brings AIDS issues to
communities in Democratic
Republic of Congo

When we talk about AIDS we often look at the sobering statistics such as the estimated number of 22.5 million people living with HIV in sub-Saharan Africa in 2007.

But behind each number is a human face and an actual person whose life is affected in a very direct way by the disease. A pioneering film series made in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) aims to bring the issue of AIDS directly to communities in a way that people can easily relate to.

Echoing the culture of oral story-telling which is deeply rooted in African tradition, the first episode of the series “Mon histoire” is named after the narrator and central character Papy. Based on a true story, the actors speak in Lingala, one of the official languages of DRC, and the cast are all Congolese. In this way, the film’s young director Djo Tunda Wa Munga hopes the film would touch people directly rather than be a passive viewing experience.

“Papy” is hard-hitting and aims to make an impact on audiences to cut through complacency towards AIDS send a strong prevention message while empowering people living with HIV to stand up and speak out in their own voices. With familiar and realistic images of how life can be if you are diagnosed with HIV, the film could encourage more people to have voluntary counseling and testing.

Djo Munga collaborated closely with Congolese non-governmental organizations and networks of people living with HIV during the planning and making of the film. Believing these films have the power to transform, German agency for technical cooperation (GTZ), Belgian agency for technical cooperation (BTC) and the King Baudouin Foundation have supported the project financially and with marketing support.

Films are a good way to answer the questions
people have about AIDS and help to
communicate prevention messages.

"Stories – such as “Papy” – that are told through local languages speak to audiences in a very direct way. Films are a good way to answer the questions people have about AIDS and help to communicate prevention messages. By doing this they have a strong role in changing individual behaviour,” said UNAIDS Executive Director, Dr Peter Piot.

In the presence of the Congolese Health Minister, the film was premiered in Kinshasa 22 September 2007, followed by a European premier in Brussels four days later attended by local and international media. Since then, it has been screened at International Film Festivals in Namur, Paris, Montreal, Abidjan and Cannes and in provinces across Congo as well as broadcast on national and regional television channels.

The public viewings in DRC have been a huge success, taking place in town centres in front of audiences of up to 1200 people which were followed by a public discussion with provincial authorities, civil society and community members.

To enable the film and its message to reach an even wider audience, BTC has funded its distribution to organizations across Congo in DVD format with sub-titles in Swahili, Tshiluba, French and Kikongo, commonly-spoken languages in the region. And in partnership with GTZ, an evaluation by questionnaire will be conducted among the local organizations with they work. CTB has also supported a radio version of Papy in Lingala, Tshiluba, Kikongo, Swahili and French which will be broadcast by among others Radio Okapi.

Future plans include more mobile screenings across DRC to reach more remote parts of the country, with the support of the World Bank.

For more information about this project contact Denis Haveaux, UNAIDS Liaison Office to the European Union
Tel. +32 2 502 9825 | haveauxd@unaids.org  

The 2008 United Nations High-level Meeting on AIDS concluded Wednesday evening, 11 June 2008. The meeting was attended by stakeholders from across the global AIDS response, including leaders from national governments, civil society groups and United Nations agencies.

The General Assembly gathering was held to review progress made in implementing the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS. Discussions focused on the important progress made to date, the challenges that remain, and recommendations for ensuring a sustainable response for the future.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon presented a comprehensive report based on national progress reports from 147 countries. The report showed that although a significant amount of work still needs to be done, progress had been made in almost every region of the world.

The Secretary-General noted that halting and reversing the spread of AIDS was not only a Millennium Development Goal in itself but also a prerequisite for reaching many of the other goals. The effectiveness of the AIDS response will impact efforts to reduce poverty, improve nutrition, reduce child mortality and improve maternal health and curb the spread of tuberculosis.

UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot stressed how important it is for countries to remain committed to the global AIDS response and to work hard to make universal access to HIV prevention and treatment a reality. He noted that these goals will require significant long term efforts, but also recognized the importance of optimism. "AIDS may be one of the defining issues of our time," he said, "but it is clearly now a problem with a solution."

Countries have been guided in their response to the AIDS epidemic by the 2001 Declaration of Commitment on AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration. The two declarations have played an important role in raising global awareness of HIV and in coordinating efforts to scale up access to HIV prevention, treatment care and support.

The head of the Russian delegation expressed their commitment to the response saying that Russia was ready to ‘assume leadership on AIDS in the region, in understanding the epidemic and in taking responsibility for expanding technical, financial and organizational assistance.

China commended the UN’s ‘unswerving efforts’ to promote global concerted action against AIDS and called its own country’s HIV prevention and treatment efforts ‘strategic issues, vital to the survival of a nation’.

Argentina , who has made the right to health a constitutional right since 1994, highlighted the need to continue working to remove juridical barriers that are undermining the response to the epidemic.

Civil society was strongly represented at the meeting. Representatives from groups from around the world participated in a wide variety of forums, providing essential insight into communities' work to respond to AIDS. On Tuesday 10 June, an interactive civil society hearing was convened with Member States and observers to discuss the myths and realities of scaling up to universal access.

Addressing the hearing via video conference, Mark Heywood, a Representative of International Council of AIDS Service Organizations (ICASO) shared some strong words about the importance of human rights issues in the response to AIDS. He said it was a ‘duty of governments, not a choice, and a duty of civil society to hold governments up to the standards they have accepted on paper’.

The High-level Meeting also featured a series of panel discussions about critical topics in the AIDS response, including universal access, leadership in countries with concentrated epidemics, gender equality, and the long-term response.

UNAIDS Executive DIrector Dr Peter Piot
(left) and President Elías Antonio Saca of
El Salvador (right) during the signing of
the Memorandum of Understanding
between the Republic of El Salvador and
UNAIDS.

President Elías Antonio Saca of El Salvador hosted a meeting with UNAIDS Executive Director Dr Peter Piot on 10 June at the United Nations HQ in New York. On this occasion, a regional Memorandum of Understanding between the Republic of El Salvador and UNAIDS was signed.

Under the terms of this agreement, UNAIDS will provide support for the establishment of a Technical Support Secretariat (TS Secretariat) of the Regional Coordination Mechanism on HIV (RCM) to be located in El Salvador. The aim of the TS Secretariat is to enhance coordination between donors, national AIDS programmes, national and regional institutions, and other public and private sectors parties. UNAIDS will also support the TS secretariat by providing them with key tools, technical resources and up to date information on AIDS.

The RCM is a regional body that supports the management and oversight of the AIDS response in Central America.  It was established by the Council of Ministers of Health of Central America (COMISCA) and has already made a significant difference.

This new Secretariat aims to enhance coordination of the AIDS response in Central America by identifying areas of regional collaboration including harmonization of procedures for procurement of AIDS related commodities and supplies and promote partnerships with civil society, private and public sector and donors in the region.

By working closely with the heads of the Central America National AIDS Programmes the TS Secretariat will coordinate the technical assistance needs in the region and widely share information resources, best practices and tools. It also aims to identify opportunities for collaboration with other regional partners such as the International Centre for Technical Cooperation on HIV/AIDS in Brazil.

Regional cooperation in health is recognized as being highly effective for coordination, harmonization and political dialogue.

The Memorandum of Understanding was signed on behalf of the Government of El Salvador by Minister of Foreign Affairs Marisol de Argueta, and by UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director Michel Sidibe on behalf of UNAIDS.