JOHANNESBURG, 28 July 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – As many African countries battle to bring down staggering rates of maternal and child mortality, maternal and child health made for a fitting theme at the African Union (AU) Summit this week in Kampala, Uganda.
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AFRICA: Mapping health budgets and child deaths
July 28, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
GLOBAL: The big five at AIDS 2010
July 15, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
VIENNA, 15 July 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – “Rights Here, Right Now” is the theme of the 18th International AIDS Conference, also known as “AIDS 2010″, opening on 18 July in Vienna, Austria. Around 25,000 policy-makers, programme implementers, scientists, community workers, activists and people living with HIV will gather to discuss the latest developments in the field of HIV/AIDS.
TANZANIA: Taking the HIV risk out of road crews
July 12, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
TANGA, 8 July 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – An initiative by the Tanzanian government hopes to reduce HIV transmission along the country’s expanding road network by targeting construction crews and the communities that surround them.
UGANDA: Sex workers demand “rights, not rescue”
July 11, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
KAMPALA, 8 July 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – When Macklean Kyomya came to the Ugandan capital, Kampala, at 19, she found work as a lap-dancer in a nightclub and was soon accepting money from clients in exchange for sex.
GLOBAL: Straight Talk with Gottfried Hirnschall, WHO’s director of HIV
July 8, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
NAIROBI, 8 July 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – The UN World Health Organization (WHO) recently appointed Gottfried Hirnschall the new director of its HIV department. IRIN/PlusNews talked to him about the state of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment and care, and how countries need to respond to waning donor funding for HIV programmes.
27th PCB Meeting Update
July 2, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
The 27th PCB Meeting will be held on 6-8 December 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. Although the agenda of the meeting has not been finalized, we can expect certain items based on past PCB Decisions (listed in the “Upcoming Meeting” section of the website). The agenda will include a comprehensive progress report on the implementation of the Operational Plan on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV and Linking Sexual and Reproductive Health and HIV Interventions. The thematic session will be on Food and nutrition security and HIV: how to ensure food and nutrition security are integral parts of HIV programming, taking place on the last day of the meeting. The NGO Delegation will be participating in the planning of the session.If you would also be interested in contributing to this process, please contact the Communications Facility at pcb.ngo@gmail.com.
Report of the Executive Director at the 26th PCB
July 2, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
The Report of the Executive Director was presented orally to the 26th UNAIDS Board Meeting on June 23, 2010. The video clips and text below make up the civil society interventions given during this agenda item. Speakers in order: Rathi Ramanathan, Asia/Pacific NGO Delegate; Matthew Southwell, Europe NGO Delegate (video of intervention); Kieran Daly, Civil Society Observer, ICASO (video of intervention).
Reducing HIV Transmission among MSM and TG at the 26th PCB
July 2, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
The agenda item on reducing HIV transmission among men who have sex with men and transgender people was accompanied with a report by UNDP and UNAIDS. The report was presented to the board by Dr Mandeep Dhaliwal, UNDP. See below for the report, presentation and to see the interventions made by civil society.
Reducing HIV Transmission among men who have sex with men and transgender people
(Report) (Annex) (Presentation)
Update on the implementation of the Action Framework on Women and Girls at the 26th PCB
July 2, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
The 26th PCB was presented with an update on the implementation of the UNAIDS Action Framework on Women, Girls, Gender Equality and HIV (Action Framework) through a written report and a presentation at the meeting given by Bernhard Schwartlander from the UNAIDS Secretariat. See below for the Action Framework, the update report provided to the board, the presentation presented at the board and the civil society interventions made at the meeting.
Speak up about Sex
June 29, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
Written by Fungai Rufaro Machirori, Civil Society Observer to the 26th PCB Meeting
For many people, learning about the birds and bees happens through very interesting ways. And sadly, it is rare for people, especially people who come from conservative cultures, to learn about sex and sexuality from their parents and elders who are usually able to give them a fuller and more accurate understanding of the topic than magazines, TV or equally clueless peers.
Canadian Union of Public Employees and World AIDS Campaign Demand the G8 Honors Its Promise to Deliver on HIV Funding
June 29, 2010 by N. Siniora [PDF] [print]
Toronto – The World AIDS Campaign (WAC) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) delivered a letter to PM Stephen Harper ahead of the G8/G20 summit highlighting the failure of the G8 to live up to its foreign aid promises and demanding a new costed, time bound plan to deliver universal access to HIV treatment, prevention, care and support.
The letter and accompanying petitions were delivered to PM Harper as the host of this year’s G8 summit, calling upon him to show leadership in ensuring that earlier promises to combat the global epidemic are not abandoned or watered down in the face of the financial crisis.
“The G8 committed to achieving ‘as close as possible’ to universal access to HIV treatment by the end of 2010 at the 2005 Gleneagles summit; that commitment is still far from being met. More than 9 million still need access to antiretroviral drugs, dwarfing the 4 million people currently in treatment” said Paul Moist, CUPE National President. “33 million people are living with HIV today and nearly 3 million people are newly infected each year.” He added.
Early signs indicate that the failure to reach the target of universal access will not be discussed at this year’s summit. UK newspaper The Guardian reported on 4 June that France and Italy in particular are a long way from meeting their development commitments. A leaked draft communiqué makes no mention of the 2005 development commitments, likely as a result of their lobbying efforts.
WAC and CUPE’s letter is supported by 10,000 individuals and more than 80 organizations playing a key role in the AIDS response. Both CUPE and WAC oversaw the gathering of signatures, as part of their contribution to a global G8 campaign on universal access, which also made contact with Canadian embassies in 42 countries calling on PM Harper and the G8 summit to develop a new plan for meeting universal access goals before the 2015 MDG review.
The signatories of the petition will now be enlisted to join future actions for the building of public support for this purpose, especially through country-level implementation of the G8’s universal access goals.
Marcel van Soest, Executive Director of World AIDS Campaign said that the current global economic climate makes the actions by CUPE and WAC vital. “2010 is critical to remind leaders that they can not afford to back track on HIV – promises must be kept now.”
SWAZILAND: Poor health services hamper PMTCT progress
June 28, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
MBABANE, 28 June 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – Swaziland has made remarkable progress in reducing HIV transmission from infected mothers to their babies, but health activists worry that this may be stalled or even reversed if lapses in basic health services are not addressed.
SOUTH AFRICA: HIV infection rate slowing – study
June 21, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
JOHANNESBURG, 21 June 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – South Africa’s HIV/AIDS epidemic may finally be slowing, according to a new study which found a 35 percent decline in the rate of new HIV infections between 2002 and 2008.
KENYA: “What would happen if my penis refused to heal?” Why men refuse circumcision
June 20, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
KISUMU, 15 June 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – The government of Kenya is running an ambitious programme that aims to have 80 percent of all uncircumcised men – an estimated 1.1 million – circumcised by 2013. Most uncircumcised men live in the western province of Nyanza, where so far more than 100,000 have had the procedure, and the drive is seen as hugely successful.
SOUTH AFRICA: Study backs nurse-monitored HIV treatment
June 18, 2010 by IRIN Plusnews Service [PDF] [print]
JOHANNESBURG, 18 June 2010 (PLUSNEWS) – A South African study suggests that nurses are able to manage patients on antiretroviral (ARV) therapy as effectively as doctors, supporting the case for task-shifting in HIV treatment.
