ELECTRONIC NEWS OF THE SWISS PLATFORM ON HIV/AIDS AND INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION

February 2013

A world without AIDS is feasible. This conviction is shared by many people and organizations in the Global North, South and East as well as multilateral organizations such as UNAIDS and the Global Fund. An end to the AIDS epidemic is in sight, mainly due to technical achievements and better access to drugs that can both treat and prevent HIV. Progress over the past decade has cut the death toll and helped stabilize the number of people infected with HIV. There is hope that in the future no child is born HIV positive, as it is in Switzerland largely realized.

Today we stand at a historic turning point. But this is no time to relax. In order to realize a world without AIDS it takes the commitment, dedication and cooperation of all: Political decision makers North, East and South, multilateral organizations, NGOs North, East and South, local communities and people living with HIV.

“We need both, community support and medical science”, says Farai Mahaso from Zimbabwe. “Now that people take ARVs and get psychosocial support for adherence, they can live longer and live a healthy life. We need more support in terms of HIV treatment. In Zimbabwe, we now have a 60% of coverage and a long way to go for universal access. I think that it is the wrong time to stop funding the Global Fund. If you stop now, you are taking us back to where people were dying, instead working towards an AIDS-free generation”. Farai Mahaso is the Director of the AIDS support organisation BHASO in Zimbabwe, a partner organization of fepa (Partner of aidsfocus.ch), and one of the guest speaker at the aidsfocus.ch conference, 11 April 2013 in Bern. He will share with us their community based commitment and strategies, linked with advocacy on a national and international level in working towards an AIDS-free generation.

You are most kindly invited to participate in the aidsfocus.ch conference „A future without AIDS – Approaching a vision“, 11 April 2013 in Bern. You find additional information and registration on our website http:www.aidsfocus.ch. We would be very happy to share with you experiences, discuss strategies and responsibilities in approaching a future world without AIDS.

Helena Zweifel Coordinator aidsfocus.ch Executive Director Medicus Mundi Switzerland

Bern | A future without AIDS is possible. However, it takes concerted efforts by all to make this vision come true. aidsfocus.ch will together with stakeholders from South and North assess and reflect on what we reached so far and identify and discuss promising and successful initiatives and strategies to face challenges for the future of the AIDS response. A special focus will be on role and priorities of aidsfocus.ch in the joint struggle toward a future without AIDS. Guest speakers: Sanghamitra Iyengar (Samrasksha, Indien), Farai Mahaso (BHASO, Zimbabwe), Jochen Ehmer (SolidarMed), Dr Bernhard Schwartländer (UNAIDS, contacted) and others.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch
http://www.aidsfocus.ch

Farai Mahaso from Zimbabwe talks about the fight against HIV and AIDS, and as an advocate asks for support for the Here I Am campaign and to fully fund the Global Fund. The Here I Am campaign videos bring together stories of individuals from all over the world that have been impacted by AIDS, TB and malaria and have seen lives change as a result of the Global Fund’s support. The Here I Am campaign is a global call on world leaders to save millions of lives by supporting a fully funded Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Here I Am brings the voices of people that are directly affected by AIDS, tuberculosis (TB) and malaria into dialogue about decisions that affect their lives and lives of millions of others in their countries.

http://www.hereiamcampaign.org

1. January 2013 - The United Nations has launched a broad consultation process for the next global development goals. The original Millennium Development Goals that Member States agreed to in 2000 include a goal focused on the AIDS response. As part of the outreach effort the UN announced an online crowdsourcing platform called My World where people can prioritize issues and share ideas. MY World gives people the option to vote on 16 different issues to prioritize and there is an option to ‘SUGGEST a priority’. Ending AIDS is not part of the 16 voting options. Everyone who feels that AIDS should be one of the top issues can write-in “End AIDS”.

http://www.unaids.org

The UNAIDS strategy aims to advance global progress in achieving country set targets for universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support and to halt and reverse the spread of HIV and contribute to the achievement of the Millennium Development goals by 2015. The AIDS response is a long term investment and the intent of the strategy is to revolutionize HIV prevention, catalyse the next phase of treatment, care and support, and advance human rights and gender equality. The UNAIDS strategy is a roadmap for the Joint Programme with concrete goals marking milestones on the path to achieving UNAIDS’ vision of “Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths.”

http://www.unaids.org

Substantial changes are needed to achieve a more targeted and strategic approach to investment in the response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic that will yield long-term dividends. We propose a strategic investment framework that is intended to support better management of national and international HIV/AIDS responses than exists with the present system. Our framework incorporates major efficiency gains through community mobilisation, synergies between programme elements, and benefits of the extension of antiretroviral therapy for prevention of HIV transmission. (By Bernhard Schwartländer et al, The Lancet, June 2011)

http://www.thelancet.com

The new framework is based on existing evidence of what works in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. It is intended to facilitate more focused and strategic use of scarce resources. Modelling of the framework’s impact shows that its implementation would avert 12.2 million new infections and 7.4 million AIDS-related deaths between 2011 and 2020. Aims of the investment framework are: Maximize the benefits of the HIV response, Support more rational resource allocation based on country epidemiology and context, Encourage countries to prioritize and implement the most effective programmatic activities, Increase efficiency in HIV prevention, treatment, care and support programming. (UNAIDS 2011)

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

London, 13 February 2013 - The UK Consortium on AIDS and International Development has today launched the first in its new series of fact sheets – focused on Palliative Care and HIV. This fact sheet sets out to explain what palliative care is, the relationship between HIV, AIDS and palliative care, and information on access to pain drugs as a barrier to effective palliative care provision. Everyone living with HIV would benefit from receiving palliative care, from the time of diagnosis of HIV infection and in conjunction with taking anti-retroviral drugs (ARVs). Palliative care is a holistic and comprehensive approach to care and support with the aim of improving quality of life.

http://aidsconsortium.org.uk

Harare, 8 February 2013 - HIV-positive women are living longer, but are now dying of cervical cancer. In Zimbabwe, cervical cancer is now the most common cancer among women, particularly those living with HIV. About 1,900 women are diagnosed with the disease every year in Zimbabwe and 1,300 die. Activists are urging the government to step up efforts to prevent deaths related to the disease, accusing it of paying lip service to the problem. Cervical cancer affects about 30 percent of women in the country and is caused by the sexually transmitted human papilloma virus (HPV). Although condoms are said to lower the risk of getting HPV, they do not prevent the risk of acquiring this virus completely. (PlusNews)

http://www.irinnews.org

1. February 2013 - Domestic spending on HIV/AIDS in some African countries rose by more than 100% between 2006 and 2011. African countries, which contain many of the communities most affected by the AIDS pandemic and receive the bulk of Global Fund money, are adopting innovative methods to finance the fight against the disease in the face of declining resources from the Fund in recent years. Rwanda and Uganda, for example, now charge levies on mobile phone usage. The Government of Zimbabwe charges a sur-tax on all institutional and individual income tax. In Zambia, a hospice is using innovative approaches to provide services to a population of 200,000 people.

http://www.aidspan.org

1. January 2013 - Rather than imposing harsh new controls on recipient countries that might impede health outcomes, the Fund should maintain the core elements of its innovative model and make selective rather than sweeping changes in its operations.” This is the view of two former senior managers in the Fund’s Secretariat, expressed in the Journal of Health Planning and Management. According to a report from the Global Fund (2012), fraud constituted only 0.4% of disbursements in 32 countries that were audited or investigated. “… few will view the Global Fund results as the fiduciary crisis that the media portrayed in early 2011,” the authors conclude.

http://www.aidspan.org

1. January 2013 - “Every era offers something special. I think the most special thing about our current time is the incredible opportunity that scientific advances have provided in the field of global health, giving us the ability to completely control highly dangerous infectious diseases such as AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. The recent progress is breathtaking. If we can harness the funds needed, we can essentially take these diseases off the table as threats to greater development. Timing is critical. If we do not start to act this year, we may miss that opportunity. As we have learned with other infectious diseases, when you have a window of time to control the spread of a disease, you must take action or else face the risk that the disease finds new forms that are far more complex and expensive to defeat… “

http://www.theglobalfund.org

Music has tremendous formative power for individuals and communities, and when inscribed with intelligent and socially relevant lyrics, music can be one of the most empowering and revolutionary arts of humanity. Music is especially important to young people in their developmental years, and susceptible to behavioral shaping from music that they hear in their homes and communities. Young people in their most sexually-active years are also the most susceptible to HIV infection worldwide. The World HIV/AIDS Music Project (WHAM Project) is a global collaborative research effort that aims to present all the music ever written/performed about HIV/AIDS in any language.

http://www.whamproject.org

The report of the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) on global health expenditure includes preliminary estimates for health financing in the most recent years. It analysis efforts to monitor the resources made available through development assistance for health (DAH) and government health expenditure (GHE). After reaching a historic high in 2010, overall DAH declined slightly in 2011, with some organizations and governments spending more and others spending less. The research suggests that, despite global macroeconomic stress, the international community continues to respond to the need for health and health system support across the developing world. (2013)

http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org

The limited resources available require more emphasis on value for money. This case study report consists of eight case studies. It highlights countries’ progress in making their HIV response more efficient or increasing domestic HIV funding, contributing to sustainability, increased scale-up and country ownership. Cambodia and Myanmar have re-allocated resources towards high-impact interventions. South Africa and Swaziland have saved millions by improving their antiretroviral drug tenders. Kenya, Namibia, Malawi and Kazakhstan have taken active steps for a future with fewer external funds. Other countries may apply these strategies to their particular context. (2013)

http://www.aidsfocus.ch

During 2012, ICASO conducted a study of nine Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria grants. All of the grants selected for the study that were being implemented in the nine countries (Armenia, Belarus, Belize, Ethiopia, Haiti, Indonesia, Madagascar, Nicaragua, and Zimbabwe) were HIV grants. The study aimed to establish how recent changes at the Global Fund, influenced by the funding crisis and the Global Fund Secretariat’s need to make significant cuts to the fiscal value of renewed grants, had affected the process for renewing and reprogramming grants, particularly in relation to civil society-led programs and those focused on key populations. (Jan 2013)

http://csathubs.org

Aidspan has released the third edition of “The Beginner’s Guide to the Global Fund” that is designed to provide a broad introduction to the Global Fund. It comes in three sizes: the full guide (about 46 pages); an eight-page summary, and a two-page summary. The full guide contains numerous links to the websites of the Global Fund and Aidspan for people who need in-depth information. Chapters in the full guide: Introduction to the Global Fund. Structure of the Global Fund - Global Level - In-Country, Partnerships, Money Raised by the Global Fund, Funds Committed and Spent by the Global Fund, The Global Fund's Application Process, Country Coordinating Mechanisms, etc. (2013)

http://www.aidspan.org

Bridging the Gaps wants to achieve universal access to HIV/STI prevention, treatment, care and support for sex workers, LGBT people and people who use drugs. These key populations are typically 10 to 20 times more likely to become infected by HIV while only 8% have access to HIV services. Together with sex workers Bridging the Gaps works to end stigma and discrimination surrounding sex work and to improve their access to sex worker-friendly health care services. Sex work often is criminalized and surrounded by stigma and discrimination. Empowerment of sex workers and sex worker-friendly services essential in order to improve their lives and health. (2012)

http://www.hivgaps.org

Poverty and gender inequality, in addition to the lack of access to education, increase vulnerability to HIV infection. This is one of the main messages of the Gender Equality, HIV and Education booklet recently produced by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The new publication stresses that tackling these issues is crucial to meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). As part of a UNESCO series on good policy and practice in HIV and health education, the booklet includes discussion papers that explore the links between gender, HIV and education. (2013)

http://www.unaids.org

Partners: AEMRN, AIDS & Child, Caritas Switzerland, CO-OPERAID, Déclaration de Berne, FEPA, Fédération Genevoise de Coopération, Gemeinschaft St. Anna-Schwestern, HEKS, IAMANEH Switzerland, Kindernothilfe Schweiz, Kwa Wazee, medico international Switzerland, mediCuba-Suisse, missio, mission21, SolidarMed, Swiss Aids Care International, Swiss Aids Federation, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund, Swiss Catholic Women’s League, Swiss MIVA, Swiss Red Cross, Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH), Tear Fund, Terre des hommes Foundation, terre des hommes schweiz, and World Vision Switzerland.

http://www.aidsfocus.ch