INVITATION  AIDS ASIA e FORUM.

Hi,

If you are already a member of this FOURM please forward this message to your
colleagues who may find this FORUM useful.

[AIDS ASIA eFORUM] is an e- forum committed to the development of an Asian
perspective on AIDS prevention and care issues. HIV/AIDS does not recognize
national boundaries. As Asia- pacific countries are increasingly interconnected
through migration and trade, it is imperative to generate a regional perspective
on HIV/AIDS related issues.

A forum for critical analysis of issues, events and programs, which has
implications on, our ability to address HIV/AIDS prevention and care issues
across the region. More than 7,600 subscribers are using this FORUM.

Strategic HIV information and communication support to promote the capacity of
Asian leaders, activists and people living with HIV/AIDS, to facilitate their
engagement and networking, to highlight their experiences and the solutions they
are offering to address HIV/AIDS issues in this region.

A cross cultural discourse on issues and concerns of Asia- Pacific countries
(regions): Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China,
East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea,
Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon
Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and
Viet Nam will be presented and promoted on this forum.

Please review the archived messages on the following url

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/

Dr. Joe Thomas
Editor
AIDS ASIA e FORUM
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/

Red Ribbon Award: call for nominations to honour community leadership
and action on AIDS

Colombo, Nov 30: The call for nominations for the Red Ribbon Award
for 2008 to honour community leadership and action on AIDS across the
world was announced here today. The biennial award, which will be
presented at the 17th International AIDS Conference in Mexico in
2008, will honour 25 community-based organisations for their
contributions in responding to the AIDS epidemic.

The call for nominations is being simultaneously launched in Mexico
City and Geneva as well.

The first Red Ribbon Award, launched in 2006, had received 500
nominations from 100 countries. Six of the 25 finalists for the Award
were from Asia and the Pacific.

¡§For over 20 years, communities hard hit by AIDS have been at the
forefront of the response. They have shown extraordinary courage and
resilience, and their leadership has been central to addressing the
challenges posed by the epidemic,¡¨ said UNDP Administrator Kemal
Dervis.

Dr. Peter Piot, Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) said: ¡§Communities are at the forefront of
addressing the core challenges of HIV. Honouring their work and
encouraging the replication of community initiatives is essential for
a successful global response.¡¨

Launching the call for nominations here today, Jeff O¡¦Malley,
Director, HIV/AIDS Group, UNDP, New York, commended the exceptional
contribution of communities in containing the spread of HIV and
reducing its impact on people in the Asia Pacific region. ¡§We have
brilliant examples of community action and leadership across the
entire spectrum of the response to HIV in the region. In fact, one
thing that stands out in the Asia Pacific success story is community
action,¡¨ he said. The region abounds with examples of community
action towards expanding the coverage of prevention and treatment;
fighting stigma and discrimination; helping affected people and
families cope with the impact of the epidemic; and the socio-economic
empowerment of people living with HIV, he said.  ¡§However, some of
them are unheard and unsung. It is time to recognise them and honour
them,¡¨ he said.

¡§It is the quality of action and leadership that matters,¡¨ said Ms.
Caitlin Wiesen, HIV/AIDS Practice Team Leader and Regional Programme
Coordinator, Asia and the Pacific, UNDP Regional Centre in Colombo,
calling for nominations that will reflect the real picture of
community action and leadership in the region. ¡§The rest of the world
stands to gain from the experience of the communities in the Asia
Pacific region. The Red Ribbon Award, besides helping to strengthen
the contribution of communities, will also showcase their work as a
good practice,¡¨ she added, citing the examples from the region.

One of the finalists from the inaugural Red Ribbon Award, Durjoy
Narhi Shongo from Bangladesh, participated in the launch event in
Colombo. ¡§Now the authorities treat us with more respect. There is
significant decrease in the discrimination we had to face as
advocates for sex workers,¡¨ said Mr. Syed Rahman from Durjoy Narhi
Shongo.

The Red Ribbon Award aims to provide a global platform to communities
touched by HIV. All 25 awardees will receive a monetary prize of US$
5,000 each and five of them will receive special recognition and an
additional US$ 15,000 each. The five award categories for outstanding
community leadership and action on AIDS are:

„X Providing access to care, treatment and support for people living
with HIV

„X Promoting human rights and addressing social injustices such as
homophobia, sexism and any other form of stigma and discrimination

„X Empowering women and girls and addressing gender inequalities that
fuel the spread of HIV

„X Providing support to children orphaned by AIDS and other vulnerable
children

„X Promoting HIV prevention programs and services

The Red Ribbon Award is supported by the entire UNAIDS family and the
organisers of the XVII International AIDS Conference.

Representatives from the 25 winning communities will be invited to
the 2008 International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, where they
will anchor a community dialogue space. This innovative concept
provides community organizations with an opportunity to discuss their
priorities, highlight their challenges, and engage with global
leaders.

Nominations will be accepted from 1 December 2007 through 29 February
2008. Information can be found on www.redribbonaward.org or by
contacting redribbonaward@.... All community-based organisations
working to halt and reverse the spread of HIV are encouraged to
apply.

For more information and to nominate, please visit
www.redribbonaward.org or contact:

UNDP Washington
Cara Santos Pianesi | tel. +1 202 331-9130 | cara.santos@...

UNAIDS Geneva
Sophie Barton-Knott | tel. +41 22 791 1697 | bartonknotts@...

Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)
UNAIDS is an innovative joint venture of the United Nations, bringing
together the efforts and resources of the UNAIDS Secretariat and ten
UN system organizations in the AIDS response. The Secretariat
headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland¡Xwith staff on the ground in
more than 80 countries. Coherent action on AIDS by the UN system is
coordinated in countries through UN theme groups, and joint
programmes on AIDS. UNAIDS¡¦ Cosponsors include UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP,
UNDP, UNFPA, UNODC, ILO, UNESCO, WHO and the World Bank.
www.unaids.org

United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) is the UN's global
development network, advocating for change and connecting countries
to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better
life. UNDP is on the ground in 166 countries, working to prevent the
spread of HIV/AIDS and reduce its impact. As a co-sponsor of UNAIDS,
it helps countries put HIV/AIDS at the centre of national development
and poverty reduction strategies; build national capacity to mobilize
all levels of government and civil society for a coordinated and
effective response to the epidemic; and protect the rights of people
living with AIDS, women, and vulnerable populations. www.undp.org

XVII International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2008)
The International AIDS Conference is the most important gathering for
the release and discussion of the scientific, programmatic and policy
developments in the global response to HIV/AIDS. As the largest and
most diverse international gathering devoted to a global health
issue, the conference brings together the movement of people
responding to the HIV/AIDS epidemic to share their lessons and
together stake out the road ahead. AIDS 2008¡¦s vision is a conference that
promotes scientific excellence and inquiry, encourages individual and collective
action and dialogue, and fosters
accountability. www.iasociety.org

Pramod Kumar
e-ail: <pramod.kumar@...>

World Bank Seeks Innovative Ideas to Fight HIV and AIDS Stigma and
Discrimination in South Asia

WASHINGTON, DC, November 26, 2007. The World Bank with United Nations and
private sector partners today launched a competitive Development Marketplace
aimed at identifying and funding innovative approaches to reduce stigma and
discrimination associated with HIV and AIDS in the South Asia region, including
Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

Titled Tackling HIV and AIDS Stigma and Discrimination: From Insights to
Action,¡the Development Marketplace competition is reaching out to communities
across South Asia seeking proposals for local, small-scale projects with the
potential to be scaled up and replicated. The winners will be selected by an
international jury of World Bank and independent HIV and AIDS experts at the
Development Marketplace event on May 15, 2008 in Mumbai, India.

Stigma and discrimination seriously undermines efforts to fight HIV and AIDS,
said Praful Patel, World Bank Vice President for the South Asia region. It also
marginalizes people at risk and living with the disease contributing further to
their social isolation and rejection.

This competition offers a unique opportunity to channel small grants directly to
community organizations and NGOs to implement imaginative approaches that will
help change the attitudes and practices that undermine effective programs.

In South Asia, anecdotal evidence and research are demonstrating the extent of
the role of stigma in hampering prevention, treatment, and care of HIV and AIDS.

For instance, a study in India found that 34 percent of students, faculty, and
technical staff of the public health services would not associate with people
living with HIV and AIDS.

The HIV epidemic in South Asia is mainly driven by high risk practices such as
sex work, injecting drug use and unprotected sex between men.

"Many of the people most at risk for HIV around the world deal with stigma on a
regular basis, posing challenges to achieving universal access to HIV
prevention, treatment, care and support," said UNAIDS Executive Director Dr.
Peter Piot. "It is encouraging to see innovative steps being taken towards
addressing these issues in South Asia, where stigma and discrimination remain
serious problems."

The South Asia Regional Development Marketplace is implemented in partnership
with Joint United Nations Program on HIV and AIDS (UNAIDS), United Nations
Children's Fund (UNICEF), United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC),
United Nations Development Fund (UNDP), The Global Fund to fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) UNAIDS, UNICEF, UNODC, UNDP, GFATM and with the
private sector and it is open to all civil society groups, social
entrepreneurs, youth organizations, private foundations, academia, and private
sector corporations with unique ideas that may not attract funding from
traditional sources of finance.

The maximum award will be US$40,000 per proposal. Proposals will be accepted
until January 31, 2008 (non English proposals must be submitted by January 21 to
allow time for translation).

The Development Marketplace is a World Bank program that uses a competitive and
transparent process to support grassroots initiatives with innovative approaches
to solving challenging development issues. The program has awarded nearly $34
million to roughly 800 small-scale projects over the last seven years.

Proposals can be submitted online through the South Asia Regional Development
Marketplace website ? http://www.worldbank.org/sardm2008

For more information about HIV/AIDS in South Asia, visit
http://www.worldbank.org/saraids

For more information about the World Bank¡Çs work in South Asia, please visit
http://www.worldbank.org/sar
___________
Kerima Thilakasena
Programme Assistant
Health and External Affairs
World Bank 73/5, Galle Road
Colombo 3. T'ph: 5561318
email: kthilakasena@...
_______________
News Release No. Contacts:
2007/58/DEC In Colombo : Chulie De Silva 94-11-5561323
Email: cdesilva@...
In Washington: Erik Nora 202 458 4735
Enora@...

Nossal Institute's HIV program aids India's troubled north-east

Rebecca Scott

India has some 2.5 million people infected with HIV – an incidence of
epidemic proportions which mostly reflects HIV's spread among
injecting drug users. An internationally funded program led by
University of Melbourne researchers is working to combat the problem.
The north-east region of India is a particular challenge to
development workers. The area is rife with insurgents and conflict,
including extortion which impacts on the delivery of services.

In the early 1990s researchers in the north-east state of Manipur
recorded a dramatic jump in incidence of HIV in injecting drug users
from around 20 per cent to 80 per cent.

"The whole world was watching as the dramatic rise of an epidemic of
HIV was reported," says Associate Professor Peter Deutschmann of the
University of Melbourne's Nossal Institute for Global Health.

It was the expertise of Associate Professor Deutschmann and his
partners in the region that assisted them in 2004 to secure a $7
million grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to minimise
the spread and prevalence of HIV in the troubled area.

Today the Nossal Institute team, together with the Emmanuel Hospital
Association and the University of Melbourne-based Australian
International Health Institute (which has since been incorporated
into the Nossal Institute) coordinates HIV prevention programs in two
out of six Indian states targeted in the Foundation's grant program.

"This is one of the biggest, and most effective HIV prevention
programs in the world," says Rob Moodie, Professor of Global Health
at the Nossal Institute and Chair of the Technical Panel of the Bill
and Melinda Gates Foundation's India AIDS Initiative.

Senior Project Officer at the Nossal, Beth Fuller, lived in north-
east India for two years. Fuller says high levels of unemployment,
drug addiction and youth apathy has made the region ripe for an HIV
epidemic. She says that due to the unrest, commercial development and
progress in the region have been slow compared to the rest of India.

Ms Fuller saw firsthand the situation of intravenous drug users
(IDU), sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM). All are
vulnerable to violence and harassment by armed groups and police,
making it difficult to provide HIV prevention services to
marginalised populations who fear identification.

"The main focus of the program has been to resource the local service
providers with the skills and means to work effectively with these
key populations. A fundamental aspect of this has been building the
trust of the affected groups," she says.

The program focuses on the implementation of harm reduction services,
including needle exchange, drop in centres and STI health clinics,
using a peer education approach. "This means the people whom the
services are trying to help are integral to the success of the
program's implementation," says Ms Fuller.

She says the provision of oral dose substitution therapy, through an
additional grant, has been much sought after as it helps the drug
user to assimilate back into a normal life.

"This means we are providing more than just needle exchange, which
may stop transmission of HIV but does not necessarily help people
escape an illicit lifestyle."

The project has gained substantial local and government support
during the past four years. "We are now at the stage where local NGOs
have increased capacity and are expanding services to incorporate
other areas beyond HIV, such as tuberculosis treatment," Ms Fuller
reports. "The powerbrokers in the area are increasingly aware of the
need to prevent HIV and to enable services to continue."

The current research effort includes identification of the
circumstances and entry points to drug use and sex work, and hence
vulnerability to HIV infection, with the hope of determining early
prevention interventions.

"The next challenge is to make the transition of these services back
into the government system," she says.

The Nossal Institute

The Nossal Institute for Global Health incorporates and continues the
work of the Australian International Health Institute (AIHI) a not-
for-profit organisation of the University of Melbourne which since
1998 has been working to increase the capacity of health workers and
planners across the Asia-Pacific region to respond to the health
needs of their populations through education, research, leadership
development and technical assistance.

The Nossal brings a multidisciplinary approach to international
health along with other centres and professionals from the Faculties
of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, Law, Education, Arts,
Engineering and Economics of the University of Melbourne.

Based on the Nossal's commitment to building capacity and generating
sustainable project outcomes, it has fostered alliances with
governments and non-government organisations in the region,
Australian and regional institutes and universities, as well as
multilateral agencies, bilateral donors and global foundations.

Empowerment: Injecting drug users in Zunheboto, Nagaland, analyse low-
tech research in a Participatory Site Assessments project to help
empower key populations such as injectors, sex workers, or MSM. The
chance to analyse their own data and discuss its implications has
been important in building clients' trust and ensuring local
relevance in programs.

[The University of Melbourne Voice Vol. 1, No. 19  26 November - 10
December 2007]

http://uninews.unimelb.edu.au/articleid_4794.html

Today the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) is
releasing its fifth report on AIDS service delivery: Missing the Target 5 -
Improving AIDS Drug Access and Advancing Health Care for All.

The report and media release are available on the web at
www.aidstreatmentaccess.org

The new report, based on research by 17 civil society country teams,
focuses on AIDS drug access issues.  It finds that AIDS treatment scale  up is
working remarkably well in many countries, but that high prices, patent and
registration barriers, and ongoing stock-outs are core issues impeding better
and faster AIDS drug delivery.  The report makes specific recommendations to
governments and global agencies to  correct these challenges.

There has been a lot of coverage over the last week about the new
AIDS estimates from UNAIDS.  The Missing the Target report doesn't
focus on particular numbers.  Whatever the exact figures, we know that  millions
of people in the prime of their lives are in desperate need of AIDS treatment,
and millions more need access to HIV prevention services.

We have seen that treatment can be delivered effectively, save lives and 
transform people's relationship to health services.  We also have seen that AIDS
drug treatment can't be understood in a vacuum.  Effective treatment depends on
other services and supports, like accessible health clinics, subsidies for truly
free treatment, and nutrition services. HIV treatment and prevention also must
be more fully integrated.

So we call on governments and global agencies to fulfill their promise of coming
close to universal access to AIDS treatment and prevention by 2010, and to use
expanded delivery of AIDS services to build stronger, more integrated systems of
health care

"Greg Gray"
e-mail: <hunkhk@...>

Dear Sir / Madam,

On behalf of Organising Committee for HIV Congress 2008, 21st to 23rd March
2008, Taj Lands End Hotel, Bombay, India, I sincerely invite forum members for
their active participation at this clinically oriented Congress.

The HIV Congress 2008 have joint academic partners viz. International AIDS
Society (IAS), American Academy of HIV Medicine ( AAHIVM), Australian Society
for HIV Medicine (ASHM),  AIDS Society of India, Association of Physicians of
India ( API – Mumbai Branch), Infectious Diseases Society of India  and  Jaslok
Hospital & Research Centre,

This is a kind of annual update for the physicians providing HIV care in India
as well as neighboring countries. We anticipate more than 800 participants
besides galaxy of international eminent HIV physicians to make guest
presentation.

Congress Secretariat :

Dr. J.K.Maniar, Organising Chairperson,
69/2, Walkeshwar Road, Kamal Bldg, Flat # 2,
Mumbai 400 006, India, Mobile : +91-9820440613
Email : jkmaniar@...,

Website : www.hivcongress2008.com

Deserving participants who wish to apply for complimentary registration could
send the request to the Congress Secretariat

Wish you a merry Christmas and Happy new year

Sincerely,

Dr. J.K.Maniar

Organising Chairperson
HIV Congress 2008
Mobile : 9820440613
e-mail: <jkmaniar@...>

www.hivcongress2008.com

AIDS Healthcare Foundation and NCHADS  Open the 7th Collaborative
ART Center at Pea Reang.

Dedication Ceremony Wednesday November 21st, Prey Veng Province
PHNOM PENH, CAMBODIA (November 20, 2007) — AIDS Healthcare
Foundation (AHF), the largest AIDS organization in the United
States, which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in the US,
Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, and Asia, is honored to announce
the opening of its newest free AIDS treatment center in Cambodia.


The facility, AHF's seventh in the country, opens Wednesday,
November 21st in Pea Reang with a ribbon-cutting and dedication
ceremony at the facility at the Pea Reang Referral Hospital in Prey
Veng Province. The Cambodian clinics are a partnership between AIDS
Healthcare Foundation, the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of
Cambodia and Cambodia's National Center for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology
and STI Control (NCHADS). The partnership aims to provide life-
saving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) to people living with HIV/AIDS
in Cambodia in care centers in the Operational Districts (OD) of
several provinces throughout the country. Other ART centers in the
partnership in Cambodia include sites in Phnom Penh, and in the
provinces of Kandal, Kampong Thom, Kampot, Stung Treng and Svay
Rieng.

"AHF, the Cambodian Ministry of Health and NCHADS are honored to
open our seventh collaborative ART center in Cambodia at Pea Reang,
a facility which will bring relief, positive changes, better quality
life and above all hope of life to those in need in Prey Veng
Province," said Dr. Chinkholal Thangsing, Asia Pacific Bureau Chief
for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. "Over the next five years, we will
work together to expand and increase our collaborative initiatives
in Cambodia, and AHF will continue to provide technical support and
strengthen the roll out of antiretroviral treatment and the scale up
of ART delivery services in Cambodia. It is our sincere hope that
this collaboration between AHF and NCHADS will not only improve
access to HIV/AIDS care and treatment throughout Cambodia, but also
serve as a shining example of a comprehensive and collaborative
model of care for people living with HIV/AIDS."

"The visible success of ART treatment program in Cambodia is due to
close collaboration with AHF and many other partners. We are pleased
that AHF continues to steadfastly support expansion of ART clinics
and we hope that this partnership will grow even stronger in the
years to come," Dr. Mean Chhi Vun, Director NCHADS, and Advisor to
the Ministry of Health, Royal Government of Cambodia, expressed his
gratitude to AHF for standing alongside NCHADS and the people of
Cambodia to help bring lifesaving services to its people. He added
that, "NCHADS needs more involvement of AHF and other organization
for sustained success in battling HIV/AIDS in Cambodia and together,
we will make greater positive changes for people of Cambodia."

"We are grateful to AHF/NCHADS for opening life saving ART program
for the people of Pea Reang. This is the answer to the needs of
PLHAs and we know that this will change the lives of many people for
the better," said Mr. Ouk Oeurn, Prey Veng Province Health Deputy
Director. "We will provide all necessary local support to make it a
successful program."

"Following the recommendation of NCHADS officials, an assessment of
the Pea Reang Operational District was conducted in early 2007 by
both AHF and NCHADS, which concluded that there was an urgent need
for an antiretroviral treatment clinic in the district," said Dr.
Chhim Sarath, AIDS Healthcare Foundation's Country Program Manager
for Cambodia. "As a result, a mutual commitment was made to open a
treatment facility. Clinical staff at Pea Reang were selected and
trained in the delivery of ART; PLHA counselors were selected &
trained; and we identified & renovated a facility at the Referral
Hospital to operate the ART clinic in, including building space for
monthly PLHA self-help group meetings. So far, around one hundred
PLHAs have identified themselves to us and joined with the group to
await the opening of this clinic. This Pea Reang clinic will greatly
expand our reach to PLHAs and help save many, many lives."

One key aspect contributing to the success of AHF's work with its
partners in Cambodia includes the linkage of clinic services
provided together with other community and home-based services. In
addition, the Cambodian partnership focuses on integrating the
delivery of services under a Continuum of Care (CoC) approach—an
approach that recognizes the complexities surrounding the HIV/AIDS
epidemic in order to improve prevention efforts and optimize use of
the oftentimes limited resources available in the successful care
and treatment of those living with the disease.

Background on Prey Veng Province

Prey Veng Province, one of 20 provinces in Cambodia, is located in
the southeast part of Cambodia about 90 kms from Phnom Penh. Pea
Reang serves as one of the seven Operational Health Districts (OD)
of the province, where the population of the surrounding area is
approximately one million people. The Pea Reang Operational District
consists of one Referral Hospital and 15 Health Centers.

The objectives of this newest AIDS treatment collaboration at Pea
Reang in Prey Veng are similar to the partnerships' other projects
throughout Cambodia, and include:


Capacity and skill building of the doctors and healthcare providers
at the Pea Reang Referral Hospital in collaboration with NCHADS, and
Establishment of an ART Clinic at the hospital and provision of free
antiretroviral treatment to people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHA),
including treatment of both adults and children.

HIV/AIDS in Cambodia
The first case of HIV infection in Cambodia was reported in 1991 and
was followed by a rapid rise in its transmission. Cambodia's
national HIV/AIDS prevalence rate - around 3% in 1997 but decreasing
to 1.9% in 2003—is still understood to be one of the highest in
Southeast Asia. According to a recent AFP/France 24 News Report (as
cited on Kaiser Family Foundation's Daily HIV/AIDS Report), "Almost
10,000 Cambodians die of AIDS-related illnesses annually, according
to government statistics. About 1.9% of Cambodia's 13.8 million
people are HIV-positive."

"AHF has significant expertise and experience in ART service
delivery and skills and capacity building related to HIV/AIDS
treatment and care, and we are well-positioned to complement the
Cambodian Ministry of Health in its efforts to enhance access to
prevention, treatment and care at these facilities in Cambodia,"
said Henry E. Chang, AHF's Chief of Global Affairs. "We are excited
to begin delivering innovative medical and non-medical interventions
at this newest facility at Pea Reang, as well as continuing to
provide technical support and training resources to strengthen the
diagnostic and treatment capacity and skills HIV/AIDS and ART
treatment services providers in Cambodia."

"It is a privilege for AHF to be a part of this successful AIDS
treatment effort in Cambodia, and I thank our partners at the
Ministry of Health, Dr. Mean Chhi Vun and his team at NCHADS, as
well as our own dedicated staff at AHF's Asia Pacific Bureau for
helping to make widespread treatment availability more and more a
reality in Cambodia with each new clinic," said Michael Weinstein,
President of AIDS Healthcare Foundation.

About AHF
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the US' largest non-profit
HIV/AIDS healthcare, research, prevention and education provider.
AHF currently provides treatment, care and support services to more
than 61,000 individuals in 18 countries worldwide in the US, Africa,
Latin America/Caribbean and Asia.

DR.C Thangsing
e-mail: <drcthangsing@...>

International Conference: Aids in Culture IV: Explorations in the Cultural
History of AIDS

Final Program – Ciudad de Mexico City & Puebla
8 – 13 Diciembre/December, 2007

Enkidu Magazine, the International Society for Cultural History and Cultural
Studies (CHICS), and the National Commmission for Human Rights (CNDH) in Mexico
invites the global community to 6 days of vibrant and exciting,
multi-disciplinary, multi-lingual and multi-cultural academic activities
dedicated to Aids in Culture in the Cities of Mexico (8 and 9. December) and
Puebla (10–13 December).

Conference venue in Puebla

HOTEL DEL PORTAL
Av. Juan de Palafox
y Mendoza 205, Puebla, Puebla

The Annual Aids in Culture Conference: Explorations in the Cultural History of
Aids

AIDS is not simply an illness or a biomedical phenomenon. The annual
conference organized by Enkidu Magazine in Mexico City and the International
Society for Cultural History and Cultural Studies (CHiCS) together with the
National Commmission for Human Rights (CNDH) in Mexico seeks to examine cultural
responses to AIDS in different cultures and societies across a wide range of
perspectives.

The conference explores the processes by which AIDS is constructed as a cultural
phenomenon and how different societies in their
encounters with AIDS attempt to create meaning in health, illness and
disease. The annual conference brings together academics working in all relevant
disciplines as well as activists, artists and other professionals, and promoting
innovative multidisciplinary and multicultural exchange and dialogue.

The aims of our Aids in Culture project are to consider how the social
sciences and humanities can contribute to the fight against HIV/AIDS, to develop
an extensive body of scientific literature on cultural responses to HIV/AIDS,
and to build an international network of scientists, professionals, students and
activists working with these issues. Since the first conference in this cycle
was held in the CENADEH (Centro Nacional de Derechos Humanos) in Mexico City in
2004, more than 300 papers have been presented in the different Aids in Culture
events, and more than 50 doctoral dissertations in as many universities around
the world, focusing on aids in its cultural context, have been completed by
former conference delegates.

Focus for Aids in Culture IV: Aids and Otherness & Aids in narratives of
identity

This year the conference will have a special focus on Aids and Otherness and
Aids in narratives of identities. The committee has selected papers addressing
related issues as well as translations between cultures and re-negotiations and
re-constructions of cultural identities in one one way or another in relation to
AIDS and HIV.

Focus 2006: Aids and Civil Culture and Society
Focus 2005: Aids and indigenous knowledge
Focus 2004: Aids and artistic expressions

The conference sessions will be conducted in Castilian and English. Some
sessions will be bilingual and conducted with interpreter. Other sessions will
be conducted with simultanous translation. Translation to Sign Language will be
available upon request.

Conference Coordinator – Coordinador de la Conferencia
Dr. Lars Ivar Owesen-Lein Borge
Academic Coordinator and Founder of Aids in Culture
Cultural Anthropologist – Johann Wolfgang Goethe Universität, Frankfurt am Main

General Director – Enkidu Magazine

Centro Cultural Enkidu
liowlb@...
Ciudad de México
(55) 5547 2276
044 55 5961 7629

Final Program


Panel Session 1:

"Aids and Otherness (I): Constructing and Reconstructing Aids in African
Cultures"

Monday 10 December 2007, at 10:00 - 11:45


HIV/AIDS and African- Indigenous Religion: A Case of the Shona People in
Zimbabwe
E. Tofa

Department of Arts Education
University of Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe


Using Folksongs and Traditional Dance to Contain the AIDS Pandemic in Rural
Kenya. Felistus Kinyanjui
Egerton University. Njoro, Kenya

Perception of Men about AIDS in the Townships: Case Study of Kuwamashu
Township Meron A. Okbandrias

Department of Public Health
University Of Kwa-Zulu Natal (UKZN)
Sudafrica

Panel Session 2:

"Aids and indigenous knowledge (I): West Papua and Venezuela"
Monday 10 December 2007, at 12:00 - 13:45


From ‘Culture of Shame’, ‘Secret Sex’, Toward ‘Secretive Sexual Exchange’; the
Impact of Cultural Practices that Increasing of HIV/AIDS Rate Level in West
Papuan Mining Communities, West Papua, Indonesia

Erna Anjarwati
Social Anthropology Department,
University of Padjadjaran, Bandung, Indonesia.

La Prevención de la Infección por VIH/SIDA en los pueblos Indígenas Yukpa,
Wayuu, Japreria, Barí y Añu en Venezuela
Estevan Colina
Fundación Amavida, Maracaibo
Venezuela

Panel Session 3:
"Sida y otredad (II)
Monday 10 December 2007, at 15:00 - 16:45

El Sida: Cultura de exclusión y vulnerabilidad de género: La situación en
Latinoamérica.

José M. Peixoto Caldas
ICCI - Institut Català de Cooperació Iberoamericana
Universidad de Barcelona
España y Kleber M. Gessolo
Técnico Superior del Ayuntamiento de Matao -
Sao Paulo, Brasil

Panel Session 4:

"Arts and Aids Prevention (I)"
Monday 10 December 2007, at 17:00 - 18:45
Vihda y draguería, Antonio Marquet
Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana
México

The Significance’ of AIDS for Women: Social Stigma and Illness Experiences
Portrayed through Art
Samia Omar, Stony Brook University, Nueva York
Estados Unidos


Panel Session 5:

"Aids and Gay Cultures: Case studies from London, Puebla and Global Leather
Culture"

Tuesday 11 December 2007, at 10:00 - 11:45


Evidenciando al sexo en público entre hombres de Puebla: sobre salud y
encuentros sexuales masculinos del vapor

Alberto Teutle López
Colegio de Antropología Social
Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla.
Red de Democracia y Sexualidad DEMYSEX Puebla.
Puebla, México


Hygiene aesthetics on London’s gay scene: the stigma of AIDS
Johan Andersson,
Department of Geography,
University College London,


Panel Session 6:

"Aids and youth cultures
Tuesday 11 December 2007, at 12:00 - 13:45

Being gay post-HAART: Young gay men negotiating desire, heteronormativity, and
fear of HIV
Trevor Hoppe
Sociology and Women’s Studies
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Estados Unidos


AIDS Rage: Paranoia and Anger in Music about AIDS
Paul G. Attinello
School of Arts & Cultures
International Centre for Music Studies (ICMuS)
University of Newcastle upon Tyne, Reino Unido

Legislación y Sida para servicios de consejeria para jóvenes en Cuba
Mario Angel Herrera Cordero

Área de capacitación e investigaciones,
Centro Nacional de Prevención de las ITS/VIH/SIDA, Cuba


Panel Session 7:
Tuesday 11 December 2007, at 15:00 - 16:45 in Auditorium A.
Round Table Discussion:

HIV/AIDS, Sexuality, gender, ethnicity and some of the other "others":
Interconnecting cultural narratives

“Panel Session 8:

"Sida y Representación social (I)"
Martes 11 de diciembre de 2007 de las 17:00 - 18:45 Hrs.


Autoconcepto en personas que viven con VIH
David Alvarado Jiménez
Fundasida A.C. Mexico

Panel Session 9:

"Aids and indigenous knowledge (II): Zimbabwe and Afro-Cuban Cultures"
Wednesday 12 December 2007, at 10:00 - 11:45


Indigenous knowledge and responses to AIDS. Giving an African face to the ABC
strategy: Reflections on the need to appropriate indigenous African parenting
and reproductive technologies in the HIV/AIDS discourse in Africa.

Loveness Mabhunu
Department of African Women Studies
Clark Atlanta University, Zimbabwe/Estados Unidos

Plantas medicinales, religion afrocubana y vih/sida
Sergio F. Suarez.
Miami Dade County Health Department
Estados Unidos

Panel Session 10:

Wednesday 12 December 2007, at 12:00 - 13:45
First Nation Model on HIV/AIDS and the Immune System

Donna Everette
Chief Jacob Berens Mino-Ayaawin Center
Berens River, Manitoba,
Canada


Co-presenter:

Norman McKay –Co-presenter
Chief Jacob Berens Mino-Ayaawin Center
Berens River, Manitoba,
Canada


Sesión de Mesa 11:

Mesa Redonda:

"Discriminación, Estigmatización y Transfobia: Reflexiones antropológicas sobre
la identidad de género Trans"
Miércoles 12 de diciembre de 2007 de las 16:00 - 17:15 Hrs.

Panel Session 12:

"Societies interacting with Aids: Canada, Cuba, Mexico and Bangladesh"
Wednesday 12 December 2007, at 17:00 - 18:45

On the Power of Labels: The Canadian Red Cross Society and the
Identification of Groups at High Risk of Developing AIDS
Natalie L. Gravelle
York University (Toronto), Canada

Sida: Ciencia, Sociedad Y Tecnologia
Juan Rivero Wong
Universidad de la Habana/
Centro Nacional para la Atención Integral a personas que viven con el VIH Ciudad
de la Habana, Cuba

Cultural Parameters of Practice of Marriage among the Muslims in Bangladesh and
Its Impact on Probability of HIV/AIDS

Profulla C. Sarker
Beijing Normal University / Hong Kong Baptist University, United International
College (UIC)

China


México: El Sida y Los Derechos Humanos Héctor Eloy Rivas Sánchez
Subdirector
Programa de VIH/sida y Derechos Humanos
Comisión Nacional de Derechos Humanos

Panel Session 13:

"Arts and Aids Prevention (II)
Thursday 13 December 2007, at 10:00 - 11:45

The Art of AIDS Prevention in Australia
Paul Sendziuk
School of History and Politics
University of Adelaide
Australia

El SIDA y el arte del lado de la esperanza
Norma R. Guillard Limonta
Centro Nacional de Prevención de ITS/ VIH- SIDA
Cuba


Arte callejero orientado a la prevención del Sida en la Ciudad de Irapuato
Patricio Bustos

VIHARTE
Irapuato, Gto.
Mexico

Panel Session 14:
"Aids and Cultural Texts (I)"
Thursday 13 December 2007, at 12:00 - 13:45


Non-Compliance: Gary Fisher and the Queer Limits of Rehabilitation
Robert McRuer
Department of English
George Washington University
Estados Unidos

AIDS and Mourning in Three Songs by the Pet Shop Boys
Fred E. Maus
Department of Music, University of Virginia
Estdos Unidos

Panel Session 15:

"Aids and Cultural Texts (II)

Thursday 13 December 2007, at 15:00 - 16:45

AIDS and Narrativity Down Under: Considering William Yang's "Sadness"
Royce W. Smith
Modern and Contemporary Art History
Institution: School of Art and Design, College of Fine Arts, Wichita State
University

Estados Unidos

De la peste encerrada a la epidemia infinita: Una mirada sobre el sida a través
de la filosofía de Michel Foucault
Teresa Torra Borràs
Facultad de Filosofía, Universidad de Barcelona
España

Panel Session 16:

Aids in Culture: New Perspectives

Closing Session & Roundtable Discussion
Thursday 13 December 2007, at 17:00 - 18:45

AIDSinCULTURE.org
e-mail: <outreach@...>

Gearing up for World AIDS Day 2008

The 20th annual World AIDS Day—that takes place on December 1— will
focus on leadership, the  theme set by the World AIDS Campaign under
the five-year slogan "Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise".

With less than a month to go before this year's World AIDS Day,
events to commemorate the day are being organized all over the world.
The 20th annual World AIDS Day—that takes place on December 1— will
focus on leadership, the theme set by the World AIDS Campaign under
the five-year slogan "Stop AIDS, Keep the Promise".

World AIDS Day is a day when people from around the world come
together within a single effort to raise awareness about HIV and to
express global solidarity with people living with HIV. But World AIDS
day is not just about raising awareness. It also provides a global
opportunity to urge governments and leaders for all promises on AIDS
to be kept as well as an opportunity to demonstrate commitment and
action on AIDS.

In designating leadership as the World AIDS Day theme for the next
two years (2007 – 2008), the World AIDS Campaign highlights both the
political leadership needed to fulfill commitments that have been
made in the response to AIDS – particularly the promise of universal
access to treatment, prevention, care and support – and celebrating
the leadership that has been witnessed at all levels of society.

In preparation for this year's World AIDS Day, the World AIDS
Campaign has produced a wide range of new materials to be used by
people and organizations that want to set up their own events on
World AIDS Day. These materials are available on the World AIDS
Campaign Web site. World AIDS Campaign materials are intended to
provide organizations who have limited resources with access to
meaningful campaigning materials as well as enhancing solidarity
within the global response to AIDS by working through a united
effort.

The materials available consist of posters, leaflets and CD-ROMs in a
number of languages, including French, Spanish, Russian, Swahili and
English. Other language versions, particularly African languages, are
also offered via electronic distribution. The printed posters and CD-
ROMs can also be ordered from the World AIDS Campaign web site.

The web site also has a calendar of events where more and more
organizations are now listing information on their planned activities
for World AIDS Day so people can browse the different events planned
in their country or region.

For the 2007 celebrations, the World AIDS Campaign has also produced,
in collaboration with UNAIDS, a public service announcement on this
year's leadership theme that is being distributed to promote the day
and/or can be shown during events.

UNAIDS founded the World AIDS Campaign originally as a loose
partnership of UN agencies, governments and all sectors of civil
society to campaign around specific themes related to AIDS.

The World AIDS campaign is now an independent NGO based in Amsterdam, the
Netherlands, and is governed by a Global Steering Committee of global
constituency-based AIDS networks comprised of the Global Network of People
Living with HIV/AIDS, the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS,
the Youth Coalition, the Global Unions
Programme on HIV/AIDS, the International Council of AIDS Service
Organizations, the Ecumenical Advocacy Alliance, and the
International Women's AIDS Caucus. UNAIDS and the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, TB and Malaria are non-voting members.

http://www.unaids.org/en/MediaCentre/PressMaterials/FeatureStory/20071
113_gearingup_WAD_2008.asp

UN slashes AIDS estimates to 33 million
Tuesday November 20, 03:12 PM

The United Nations has slashed its estimates of how many people are
infected with the AIDS virus, from nearly 40 million to 33 million.
In a report, the UN says revised estimates on HIV in India account
for a large part of the decrease.

The agency admitted it overestimated how many people were infected
with the incurable virus, and said better methods of collecting data
showed it was not quite a common as feared.

"The single biggest reason for this reduction was the intensive
exercise to assess India's HIV epidemic, which resulted in a major
revision of that country's estimates," the report said.

After originally estimating some 5.7 million people were infected in
India, the UN more than halved that estimate, to 2.5 million.

But the numbers nonetheless show the epidemic is overwhelming and
that efforts to fight HIV must still be stepped up, said officials at
the UN AIDS agency UNAIDS.

"These improved data present us with a clearer picture of the AIDS
epidemic, one that reveals both challenges and opportunities," UNAIDS
Executive Director Dr Peter Piot said in a statement.

"Unquestionably, we are beginning to see a return on investment - new
HIV infections and mortality are declining and the prevalence of HIV
levelling. But with more than 6,800 new infections and over 5,700
deaths each day due to AIDS, we must expand our efforts in order to
significantly reduce the impact of AIDS worldwide."

The new numbers suggest that some 33.2 million people are infected
with the human immunodeficiency virus - about 30.8 million adults and
2.5 million children.

UNAIDS estimated that 1.7 million people became newly infected in sub-
Saharan Africa this year, a significant reduction since 2001.

But Africa remains by far the continent hardest hit by AIDS, with
22.5 million people infected with HIV.

"Eight countries in this region now account for almost one-third of
all new HIV infections and AIDS deaths globally," said UNAIDS.

"In Asia, the estimated number of people living with HIV in Vietnam
has more than doubled between 2000 and 2005 and Indonesia has the
fastest growing epidemic."

The report gives two reasons for the downward revisions - one is
better data and the other is an actual decrease in the number of new
infections.

"UNAIDS and (the World Health Organisation) are now working with
better information from many more countries," UNAIDS said.

The number of new HIV infections each year likely peaked in the late
1990s at 3 million and was estimated at 2.5 million for 2007, UNAIDS
said.

"This reflects natural trends in the epidemic, as well as the result
of HIV prevention efforts. Of the total difference in the estimates
published in 2006 and 2007, 70 per cent are due to changes in six
countries: Angola, India, Kenya, Mozambique, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe,"
the report said.

"In both Kenya and Zimbabwe, there is increasing evidence that a
proportion of the declines is due to a reduction of the number of new
infections which is, in part due to a reduction in risky behaviours."
The UN also changed its estimate on how long it takes to die of AIDS
if not treated from 9 years to 11 years.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/071120/2/150ly.html#

AIDS denial in Asia: Dimensions and roots

Health Policy, Volume 84, Issues 2-3, December 2007, Pages 133-141

Binod Nepal ,(nepalbinod@....
National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling, University of
Canberra, ACT 2601, Australia

Abstract
AIDS denial has long been viewed as the obstacle to forging effective
response in many Asian countries. This article examines the
dimensions and roots of this phenomenon. It identifies seven types of
views, attitudes, or tendencies that can be described as denial,
dissent, disagreements, or doubts.

Three major factors underlying the AIDS denial are discussed. These are (1)
historical impressions that STDs are Western diseases, (2) desire of some Asian
leaders to forge Eastern points of view, and (3) long-held negative image
towards the peoples or groups who happened to be at the front-line of the
population groups exposed to the epidemic. The third factor is the most
important source of denial.

AIDS denial is not a new and isolated phenomenon but the one shaped by the
global and historical institutions. Asian AIDS denial reflects the authoritarian
and moralist grievances arising from the perceived deterioration of traditional
moral order.

Fax: +61 2 6201 2751.

Health Policy. Volume 84, Issues 2-3, December 2007, Pages 133-141

doi:10.1016/j.healthpol.2007.04.011
Copyright © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd All rights reserved.

Gates Foundation, China to partner in HIV prevention

By Kristi Heim, Seattle Times reporter

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is launching a major partnership
with the Chinese government to fight the spread of AIDS in China,
after years of groundwork.

The foundation said Tuesday it will commit an initial $50 million
toward rapidly expanding HIV-prevention efforts in high-risk
populations and work with both the central government and
nongovernmental organizations.

Dr. Ray Yip, former China director of the U.S. Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention, will head the program from Beijing, where a
small team of Gates Foundation staff will administer the funding and
provide technical support.

The Gates funding would equal one-third of China's total government
spending on HIV/AIDS this year. Of the total, $20 million will go to
the Chinese Ministry of Health and $30 million will go to local,
national and international NGOs.

The grants will target the groups most vulnerable to HIV infection,
such as injection drug users, sex workers and men who have sex with
men.

While the prevalence of HIV remains relatively low in China, with
about 650,000 people infected, halting its further spread is key to
preventing an epidemic, experts say. In some parts of the country,
more than half of injection drug users are HIV-positive.

In the 1990s, thousands of people became infected in rural Henan
province after donating blood plasma at collection centers that used
contaminated equipment. Infection rates are also growing among men
who have sex with men.

The government has made some progress, including opening 350
methadone clinics to curb needle-sharing by heroin addicts.

At the same time, social stigma and official mistrust of grass-roots
AIDS groups remain powerful obstacles. The country's top AIDS
activists are routinely put under house arrest, and the foundation
cited a study in China that found nearly a third of doctors said they
would refuse to treat an HIV-positive person.

The funding will go toward expanding HIV testing, ensuring care and
support for HIV-positive people, training to reduce high-risk
behavior and educating the public.

"It really is right on target," said Dr. King Holmes, professor of
medicine and director of the University of Washington Center for AIDS
and STDs. "When you have an HIV epidemic so concentrated in high-risk
populations, it's much more efficient and effective to focus
prevention efforts on those groups."

The approach is similar to the Gates Foundation's Avahan HIV
prevention initiative in India.

While other organizations focus on treatment or a vaccine, "the Gates
Foundation really almost stands alone in emphasizing prevention of
HIV transmission," Holmes said.

Kristi Heim: 206-464-2718 or kheim@...

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2004012740_gateschina14m.
html

Call for nominations: The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and
Human Rights

Nomination deadline: Jan. 15, 2008

The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights was
established in 1999 to honor Dr. Jonathan Mann and highlight the
vital link between health and human rights. Sponsored in 2007 by five
organizations, Association François-Xavier Bagnoud, CARE, Doctors of
the World, John Snow, Inc. and the Global Health Council, the award
is bestowed annually to a leading practitioner in health and human
rights and comes with a substantial financial reward to allow its
recipients a measure of freedom to pursue their work in the important
area of global health and human rights.

Despite his untimely death in a 1998 plane crash, Jonathan Mann is
considered by many to be one of the most important figures in the
20th century fight against global poverty, illness and social
injustice.

As the first director of the World Health Organization's Special
Program on AIDS from 1986-1990, Dr. Mann pioneered the approach to
AIDS that continues to shape public health policy today. As the
François-Xavier Bagnoud Professor of Health and Human Rights at
Harvard University from 1990-1997, Dr. Mann began to articulate the
ways in which the health of individuals and populations reflects
access to basic human rights, using as his warrant his years as a
public health practitioner and strategist and as his text the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Throughout his career, Dr. Mann focused public attention on the fact
that prejudice and discrimination help drive the AIDS epidemic, and
that discrimination against those at risk of infection fuels the
epidemic further. History will especially remember Dr. Mann for
bringing to the world's attention the basic notion that improved
health cannot be achieved without basic human rights, and that these
rights are meaningless without adequate health.

The deadline for submitting nominations is Tuesday, Jan. 15, 2008.

Online nominations forms are available on the following url

http://www.globalhealth.org/forms/conf2008/mann_form.php

Questions?
Contact Dawn Carey at dcarey@... or
(802)649-1340, ext. 2144

Dear colleagues:

Please download all the Decision Points having just been made in recent 16h
Board Meeting of Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria on November
12-13, Kunming China at:
  http://www.theglobalfund.org/en/about/board/sixteenth/

All the detailed documents will be prepared very soon.


Linda

Member for Developing Countries NGO Delegation
to Global Fund Board
e-mail: <liangyanyan@...>

ABC Online. The World Today - AIDS vaccine trial backfires

[This is the print version of story

The World Today - Thursday, 8 November , 2007  12:10:00
Reporter: Sabra Lane

ELEANOR HALL: It's been hailed as the key to stopping a killer disease
that's claimed tens of millions of lives worldwide.

But now the trial into a vaccine against AIDS has not only been shown
not to work, but scientists have just revealed that those who received
the vaccine are more susceptible to acquiring the HIV virus.

18 months ago, scientists recruited 3,000 people, including 18
Australians to participate in the second stage of the trial for the
vaccine, co-sponsored by the drug company, Merck.

This morning the researchers running the trial expressed their dismay
and puzzlement about the results, saying they don't know why the vaccine
backfired.

Sabra Lane reports.

SABRA LANE: The vaccine's known as V520. It had taken 20 years of
research and development to get it to human trials.

This particular study started 18 months ago. Researchers recruited 3,000 people
around the world for the trial, including 18 people in Australia.

All of the volunteers were warned to protect themselves from exposure to AIDS.

AM's Karen Barlow spoke with the trial's chief researcher in Australia, Dr Tony
Kelleher, in May last year, at the start of the study.

KAREN BARLOW: So there's no chance of a volunteer getting HIV from the
vaccine?

TONY KELLEHER: No, there's no chance. There's not enough of the virus in the
vaccine for it to cause HIV infection of itself.

SABRA LANE: Researchers say that's still the case, but somehow, things
went horribly wrong with the phase two trial, and it was abruptly
stopped 2 months ago because the vaccine wasn't preventing infection.

In fact, researchers revealed in Seattle today, the vaccine's actually
increased people's susceptibility to acquiring HIV.

LAWRENCE COREY: One of the possibilities is that the increase in the
number of infections could be related to the vaccine. There are many
other possibilities as well. My own opinion is, it's way too early to
really answer, and the data's very complex, and there's no simple answer to that
question.

SABRA LANE: Dr Lawrence Corey is the co-director of the Vaccine and
Infectious Disease Institute in the United States.

The trial vaccine used a disabled form of the common-cold virus, known
as the adenovirus to carry three synthetically produced HIV genes into
the body.

It appears people who had higher levels of immune protection against the
adenovirus before getting the vaccine were at higher risk of acquiring HIV.

LAWRENCE COREY: I think we just have to again say that the data are
disappointing, but we don't have definitive answers.

SABRA LANE: Of the people who had the HIV vaccine, 49 became infected
with the virus, whereas only 33 in the placebo group became infected.

The vaccine did not contain live HIV. It had been well tolerated in
smaller clinical trials, and had produced immune responses in people.

Margaret Johnston is the director of vaccine research at the American
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

MARGARET JOHNSTON: I think everyone expects that when there's clinical
research you like to get clean answers. And so I would just remind
everyone that this trial did get very clean answers in exactly what it
was designed to do, which was to determine if the vaccine prevented
infection, or had an impact on viral load post-acquisition. In that
respect, this trial was an uncharacterised, unqualified success.

SABRA LANE: Dr Corey says researchers will decide over the next ten days as to
whether all the patients should be told who was given the HIV vaccine.

That information has been kept secret until now, to minimise any biases in the
study, but the information could be important now for those who had the vaccine,
so that they do protect themselves from exposure.

LAWRENCE COREY: Patient safety is our very first concern, and also any
individual starting with the truth, from their role in the trial to
today, could opt to leave the study unblind and know their status. So, I think
that's a really essential and important point.

SABRA LANE: Dr Kelleher who heads the Australian trial is in Seattle,
and unavailable for interview. Mark Bebbington is the policy manager at the
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations.

MARK BEBBINGTON: I think the arguments for considering the study as a
blinded study is that more information may come to light by continuing
the study, that would in fact provide some of those answers as to why
they are seeing a greater number of infections within the vaccinated arm of the
study.

SABRA LANE: 18 people from Sydney were recruited for the trial. It's
understood half of them were given the HIV vaccine.

MARK BEBBINGTON: The centre that has been conducting the trial in Sydney has
kept all of the participants informed on a regular basis over the last few
weeks, so that any information that the centre has received has been passed on
to all of those participants, so that they're kept up to
date.

SABRA LANE: You're not aware if any of them have opted to drop out?

MARK BEBBINGTON: At this stage, I'm not aware, but I know that that
proposition had been put to each of them.

SABRA LANE: He says this study failure effectively means that vaccine
research has gone back to square one.

MARK BEBBINGTON: It's a significant setback. This candidate, this
product, was the most advanced product that we had, and unfortunately
there's no other candidate that's ready to move into trials, or near to moving
into trials.

ELEANOR HALL: That's Mark Bebbington, from the Australian Federation of AIDS
Organisations, ending that report by Sabra Lane.

http://www.abc.net.au/worldtoday/content/2007/s2085317.htm

(c)2007 Australian Broadcasting Corporation

_________________
Uyen TRUONG - Health Education Officer
Harm Reduction Program - Liverpool
Drug Health Services, Locked Bag 7103
Liverpool BC 1871

Ph: (02) 8778 0700
Fax: (02) 8778 0768
e-mail: <uyen.truong@...>

International consultation on AIDS estimates

13 November 2007

Over the last eight years, estimates of HIV prevalence, incidence and
mortality have been produced in close collaboration with countries,
using methods developed by a reference group of internationally
renowned scientists.

In producing these estimates, the UNAIDS Secretariat and WHO use the
best available data and latest analytic methods. As this data
improves the estimates are revised, sometimes significantly.

In July 2007, India announced revised estimates of HIV prevalence and
the number of people living with HIV that were less than half the
previous estimates. New regional and global estimates being prepared
for release in the 2007 AIDS Epidemic Update report are expected to
include further downward revisions in some countries.

In the light of these changes, UNAIDS felt that it was timely that an
independent and authoritative review of the process for AIDS
estimates is carried out. With this in mind, UNAIDS is bringing
together a group of some 30international experts and country
practitioners to review the methods and process used to generate AIDS
data.

The consultation is being held on the 14-15 of November at the UNAIDS
Secretariat headquarters in Geneva. The objectives of the meeting are
to review the current methodology used by the UNAIDS Secretariat and
WHO and to look at ways to improve the methodology and its
application in producing AIDS estimates. As part of the consultation,
representatives from a number of countries will provide country
perspective on country methods and process and how this is linked to
the UNAIDS/WHO process.

At the end of the meeting, a report will be drafted containing the
findings of the review and recommendations for improvement of the
process for development and use of methods. As in previous years,
UNAIDS Secretariat and WHO will be releasing the latest estimates on
the epidemic, for 2007, in time for World AIDS Day on December 1st.

UNAIDS and WHO will continue to systematically review the methodology
used to ensure that the methods used to analyze data are the best to
our knowledge and will modify AIDS estimates when new scientific
data, research and analysis supports such change.

http://www.unaids.org/en/MediaCentre/PressMaterials/FeatureStory/20071
113_International_consultation_AIDS_estimates.asp

Activist Groups' Plea to Indian Prime Minister: 'Rollout Second-Line
AIDS Treatment!'

NEW DELHI, India, Nov. 13

As part of its ongoing global campaign to improve access to
lifesaving AIDS treatments worldwide, AIDS Healthcare Foundation
(AHF), which operates free AIDS treatment clinics in India as
AHF/India Cares, and a broad-based coalition of other international
and Indian civil society partners and HIV/AIDS organizations
including Indian Medical Parliamentarians Forum (IMPF), World Vision,
Student Global AIDS Campaign (SGAC), Amnesty International, Positive
Lives Foundation - Goa (PLF), Manipur Network of Positive People,
Swami Vivekananda Youth Movement (SVYM), Naz Foundation
International - India, as well as other groups have joined together
in a public appeal to the Honorable Dr. Manmohan Singh, India's Prime
Minister, urging him to intercede and help facilitate the rollout of
lifesaving second-line antiretroviral AIDS treatments in India.

The appeal was delivered in a formal letter of request sent directly
to the Prime Minister in New Delhi this week; the appeal will also be
shared with Indian civil society in a print advertisement scheduled
to run in major Indian newspapers including The Hindu (New Delhi) and
the Financial Express (Mumbai), appearing in the Thursday November
15, 2007 editions of the newspapers.

The coalition also hosted a press conference to unveil the newspaper
advertisement calling for second-line AIDS treatment on Tuesday,
November 13 at The Claridges Hotel, New Delhi. The newspaper
advertisement, designed in the style of a letter and headlined, "An
Open Appeal to Dr. Manmohan Singh" includes the following points and
pleas from the group's letter to the Prime Minister:

"This is an open appeal to your good office to address the urgent
need to rollout second-line anti-retroviral drugs in India.

We, the undersigned members of civil society groups take this
opportunity to bring to your kind attention the crisis faced by
people living with HIVAIDS (PLHA) and request you for a time bound
action to save valuable lives."

"We request your leadership to safeguard the interest and protect the
constitutional right to life of the people living with HIVAIDS."

"National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) has provided free first-
line anti-retroviral drugs in a number of sites to people who are in
need and who otherwise could not have accessed anti-retroviral
medicines. However, there is an urgent need for expanded treatment
services including second-line anti-retroviral drugs and a vibrant
public health action plan."

"We appeal to you for your immediate intervention and come to the
rescue of thousands of HIVAIDS infected children, women and men who
are facing imminent death due to unavailability of the life saving
second-line drugs."

As AIDS treatment access has increased in India, Africa and elsewhere
in the developing world, the need for access to more effective -- and
currently more costly -- second-line AIDS drug therapies has
increased dramatically. And as an increasing number of patients are
developing resistance to their initial AIDS drug regimens, the need
to switch to more clinically appropriate treatment regimens has
become a critical priority. India's media recently reported that NACO-
provided first-line treatment is failing up to 50% of HIV/AIDS
patients in Delhi, and the number in need of second-line treatment is
increasing daily, making access to second-line treatment a necessity,
not a luxury.

Second-line therapies primarily include the class of drugs known as
protease inhibitors. And in India, there is also a compelling need
for newer, more effective, once-a-day first-line drugs that result in
better adherence and less toxicity among patients.

India's National AIDS Control Organization (NACO) recently announced
that it has reached a crucial treatment benchmark: NACO is providing
first-line ART to slightly more than 100,000 people living with
HIV/AIDS at NACO-supported ART centers throughout the country.

NACO officials previously announced that 100,000 patients on first-
line treatment would serve as a benchmark and trigger NACO to begin
the rollout of second-line treatment in India. However, for those
patients needing second-line AIDS treatment, NACO does not currently
provide any access to such potentially lifesaving AIDS treatments.

More than 2.5 million people are currently estimated to be living
with HIV/AIDS in India today.

"We respectfully request that our Honorable Prime Minister, Dr.
Manmohan Singh, intercede on behalf of thousands of Indians who are
now in desperate need of access to lifesaving second-line AIDS
treatments," said Chinkholal Thangsing, M.D., Asia Pacific Bureau
Chief for the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, and who is based in New
Delhi.

"I am pleased that AHF/India Cares has recently been able to provide
some patients with access to much-needed second-line treatment; but
extremely saddened that the need in India is so much greater than we,
or any one NGO care provider, could possibly meet without the
intervention from highest order -- the Prime Minister's office to
help make these drugs available."

Last week, AHF/India Cares, which operates free AIDS treatment
clinics in India (in Mysore, New Delhi and in Guwahati, Assam in
collaboration with NACO) that provide treatment, care and support
services to over 5,000 Indian clients, announced that it is now
providing lifesaving second-line antiretroviral treatment (ART) free
to 30 AIDS activists and clients whose initial, or first-line, AIDS
drug regimens have failed them.

"We firmly believe that access to medical care and lifesaving AIDS
treatment is a basic human right, not a privilege, and as such, are
pleading the Honorable Prime Minister to take action to provide
second-line antiretroviral treatments throughout India," said Michael
Weinstein, AIDS Healthcare Foundation President in a statement from
Los Angeles.

"I started my first-line ARV medicines in 2001, but after five years,
first-line drugs were not working and I was admitted in hospital for
a long stay -- four months," said Kumar, a Delhi resident who has
known he was HIV positive for seven years, and whose CD4 count was
zero when he first tested. "According to the doctors, I needed to
take second-line treatment to save my life. I came to know about AHF
from NACO and at AHF they started me on second-line drugs, within one
month I was better already. I would like to give a message to our
government that they should pay some attention and increase their
involvement in getting second-line treatment to those who need it."

"Without access to second-line therapies, I would not be alive
today," said Francisco Xavier De Melo, President of Love Life Society-
Consortium of People with HIVAIDS. "I am very lucky, as very few
people in India have access to second-line therapy. It is too
expensive -- but it is a matter of life and death for many of us.
Positive people throughout India look urgently to our government
leaders to help start delivery of such lifesaving second-line
treatments."

"AIDS Healthcare Foundation stands in solidarity with the advocates
and people of India in urging the government to launch the provision
of second-line therapies immediately," said Terri Ford, AHF Director
of Global Advocacy. "In our own clinic here in New Delhi, we are
trying to save the lives of activists and clients in urgent need of
these medications so that they can remain healthy and continue their
courageous fight for treatment for all. We know that Treatment Saves
Lives and the time is now."

http://www.aidshealth.org/

Joint Statement of the Three Delegations in support of Civil Society's unique
role in responding to HIV/TB/Malaria in China

Kunming, China, 16 th Global Fund Board Meeting. November 12, 2007

Having had some extremely valuable formal and informal interactions with a range
of China Civil Society and Communities representatives over the last 5 days, the
Communities Delegation along with Developed and Developing Country NGOs
Delegation would like to strongly recommend to the Global Fund Board that a
special attention is given to the need for strengthening Civil Society
involvement and participation in the implementation of GF programs in China.

As with all grants there will be challenges in implementation. In
particular, in the case of China and the recently-approved round 6,
community and grassroots organizations cannot register to be legally
recognized as civil society organizations.

We expect that these grassroots organizations, registered or not, should have
access to the funds so that the implementation efforts will reflect the desired
goal of the proposed program.

We, the members of the three civil society delegations to the Fund feel
responsible and accountable to ensure that our counterparts in China are also
able to access and utilize the opportunities of being a stakeholder in the
Global Fund.

We are committed to ensure that the voices and aspirations of all
communities living with the diseases in China are heard and that their basic
rights, particularly the right to information and services are properly secured.

We expect the Global Fund to take the lead in ensuring its commitment to
strengthen capacity building and mobilization of Civil Society across the world,
including China, so that our collective goal of containing and reversing the
spread of HIV/TB/Malaria is achieved.

We, the three civil society delegations, will continue to proactively
engage with Chinese civil society to ensure their key role in the response to
the three diseases is recognized and we will work in close collaboration with
all of you until this is achieved.


Communities Delegation
Developed Countries NGO Delegation
Developing Countries NGO Delegation to the Global Fund Board

Liang Yanyan
e-mail: <liangyanyan@...>

Assessing a Failed AIDS Vaccine

Wednesday, Nov. 07, 2007. By ALICE PARK

After 20 years of defeat, it appeared that science may have finally
developed a viable vaccine against AIDS. Merck's new drug, V520, was
being tested in a huge clinical trial, involving 3,000 people in 15
cities, and it was widely considered the most promising new candidate
in the field. But last September, when Merck analyzed its initial
trial data, it found that the vaccine had failed — and failed
miserably. On Wednesday, the company issued its first report on the
V520 trials, revealing that the drug did not protect against HIV, and
more disturbingly, actually may have increased some people's
susceptibility to the virus. "I don't think anyone imagined the
results would be so definitively negative so quickly," says Dr. Gary
Nabel, director of the Vaccine Research Center at the National
Institutes of Health.

V520 may have failed, but somewhere in the details of the drug's
nonsuccess, scientists hope to find insight into what will make
future vaccines work. After all, V520 is just one of about 50
experimental HIV vaccines that are currently being tested in clinical
trials, and almost all of them are designed to function the same way.

While most vaccines expose the body to weakened or killed viruses, or
pieces of them, to boost production of antibodies — proteins that
recognize invading cells and flag them for destruction — that tack
alone was too feeble to fend off HIV. The new class of vaccines,
including V520, takes a more direct route: They trigger cell-mediated
immunity, which marshals killer T cells that both recognize and
destroy viruses and bacteria, and can lead to a more robust, specific
and longer-lived immune defense.

It's not yet clear why V520 didn't work, but one theory involves its
vector, or delivery vehicle. Like a number of other AIDS vaccines in
development, Merck's drug used the common cold virus to transport its
payload — three synthetic HIV genes — into the body's cells.

What makes the adenovirus ideal for the task is precisely the reason colds make
us so miserable — once inside a host, the cold virus infects cells and starts to
replicate quickly. The down side to that
efficiency, however, is that cold viruses are so common that most
people have developed a certain level of tolerance to them; if the
adenovirus fails to excite the immune system, then any bugs
piggybacked on the virus, such as HIV genes, will also slip past
immune defenses. That's exactly what appears to have happened in the
Merck trial: People with the highest pre-existing immunity to the
common cold also had the highest rates of infection with HIV.

"It could be due to chance, or to differences in the populations we
studied, or to something related to the vaccine itself," says Dr.
Keith Gottesdiener, vice president of Vaccine and Infectious Disease
Clinical Research at Merck. "The 'why' is still not well known."

Researchers have already set about trying to figure it out. "We have
to remember that Merck's was a single product testing a vaccine
concept, which is that T cell immunity can protect against HIV
infection," says Nabel. "And we know there are other ways to
stimulate T cell immunity." Nabel is ready to test one such method, a
vaccine similar to Merck's that uses different HIV genes and a "prime-
boost" approach that involves two injections spaced a few months
apart, instead of one shot, to maximize the stimulation of the body's
T cells.

Other researchers, like Dr. David Ho, director of the Aaron
Diamond AIDS Research Center in New York City and the recipient of a
$25 million grant from the Gates Foundation to study novel vaccine
strategies, think that the cold virus isn't the best way to deliver
HIV. Ho is exploring the possibility that a different vector, such as
the chicken pox virus, or perhaps no vector at all — simply injecting
snippets of naked HIV DNA — could yield stronger immune responses.

At the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI), a non-profit
group of public and private partners focused on funding and
accelerating AIDS vaccine research, scientists are conducting animal
studies of crippled, live strains of HIV — based on the success of
other such live attenuated vaccines against polio and measles.

They are not considering using such a vaccine in humans, but the
experiments could provide greater insight into how the immune system
works. "There is something magical about the replicating virus,
because it has virtually its entire genome," says Dr. Seth Berkley,
president of IAVI. His group is also investigating ways to stimulate
so-called neutralizing antibodies, a special class of antibodies that
appear to be able to defuse HIV.

Despite the ongoing study, experts argue that none of it will succeed
without some basic changes in the way it's conducted. Most research
occurs in isolation; there's little coordination among labs and no
network through which data can be shared, making it difficult for
scientists to learn from each other's missteps. Worse, it takes years
to get regulatory approval to start a human trial for a new vaccine —
not to mention enrolling the volunteers and training the right
personnel — so, by the time experiments get underway, the science
around which the vaccine was built has long since become
outdated.

"The trials are not informing science at the moment," says
Dr. Alan Bernstein, executive director of the Global HIV Vaccine
Enterprise, an alliance of independent organizations dedicated to
accelerating HIV vaccine research. "Science — and vaccine
development — is an iterative process, except that in HIV vaccine
research, there isn't a lot of iteration going on."

The Enterprise, which was founded in 2005, intends to change that.
With funding from the Gates Foundation, Wellcome Trust, National
Institutes of Health and the European Union, it will serve as a hub
for guiding worldwide HIV vaccine research. "We want to ensure that the trials
are done faster, better and smarter," says Bernstein. And
hopefully, with more success.

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1681526,00.html

Greetings:

We in CWS Education and Advocacy for International Justice and Human
Rights would like to share information on our CWS HIV and AIDS pins and cards
from Indonesia and Pakistan.

They are available online at:
https://secure.churchworldservice.org/catalog/display.php?category_id=46

We would like to highlight two possible uses of the pin and card:

1. The theme for World AIDS DAY 2007 and 2008, December 1, is
"Leadership."

http://www.worldaidscampaign.info/index.php/en/wac/world_aids_day__1/wor
ld_aids_day_2007/world_aids_day_2007_theme_leadership

a. The pins and accompanying story demonstrate youth leadership.
b. The pins can be used to honor leaders working on HIV and AIDS.
c. The pins can be used in schools to celebrate World AIDS DAY.

2. Gatherings and events related to children.

We appreciate the support for the HIV and AIDS pins, from CWS Pakistan,
demonstrated by Susan Sanders, Derek Duncan and their colleagues in the United
Church of Christ:

One Great Hour of Sharing and United Church of Christ AIDS Network gave 600 CWS
HIV and AIDS awareness pins as gifts to guests gathered at the Wider
Church/Global Ministries International dinner at the United Church of Christ's
2007 General Synod in Hartford, Connecticut. The dinner, themed "Let the
Children Speak," highlighted the Church's engagement with communities in the
U.S. and with partners around the world in ministries to children.

More information on CWS E&A's activities on HIV and AIDS is available on the CWS
website at:
http://www.churchworldservice.org/Educ_Advo/hiv/index.html

Thank you.

Maurice A. Bloem
Deputy Director, Head of Programs
Church World Service Inc.*
Suite 700, 475 Riverside Drive
New York, NY 10115 UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
+1-212-870-2061 (office)
+1-212-870-3523 (fax)
http://www.churchworldservice.org
mauricebloem@...
http://www.cwsindonesia.or.id
http://www.cwseasttimor.org

New China HIV cases grow to over 3,000 a month
Tue Nov 6, 2007 12:50am EST

BEIJING (Reuters) - China's new HIV/AIDS cases have accelerated to
more than 3,000 a month, with the proportion of cases caused by
sexual transmission increasing, state media said on Tuesday.
China recorded 3,223 new infections per month on average between
January and October, the official China Daily said on Tuesday,
compared with 3,090 cases a month reported by Xinhua news agency for
the first half of this year.

Nearly 38 percent of the cases reported in the first half were caused
by sexual transmission, a rise from 30 percent last year, the paper
quoted Wang Ning, deputy director of the Chinese Centre for Disease
Control and Prevention, as saying.

AIDS had killed more than 3,000 people in China so far this year, it
said.

China has become increasingly open about AIDS in recent years, facing
up to an epidemic once stigmatized as a disease of the West.

As of end of September, a total of about 220,000 people were reported
to have contracted HIV virus, and a quarter of them had developed
AIDS, Wang was quoted as saying.

But the United Nations estimated earlier this year the number of
HIV/AIDS sufferers in the country at around 650,000

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSPEK33192020071106

Interpol to fight sale of fake medicines in Africa

By AFP

International police body Interpol will join the fight against the
growing trade in Africa in fake drugs for tuberculosis, malaria and
HIV/AIDS which threatens the lives of thousands, a senior official
said Tuesday.(AFP/File/Issouf Sanogo)

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AFP) - International police body Interpol will
join the fight against the growing trade in Africa in fake drugs for
tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS which threatens the lives of
thousands, a senior official said Tuesday.

The agency's efforts will begin later this year and will build on its
success in tackling the problem in Latin America and Southeast Asia,
said John Newton, the manager of Interpol's intellectual property
rights project.

"We have learned a lot of lessons in those regions and we are now
able to apply those to Africa," he told AFP on the sidelines of
Interpol's annual general assembly in Marrakech in southern Morocco.

Congo, Nigeria, Senegal and Sudan asked the 186-member police body at
the gathering for for help in stopping smuggling networks from making
fake drugs readily available in their markets and sometimes even
pharmacies, he said.

"The Africans are very keen for Interpol to work with them on this
subject," said Newton.

Interpol will train police in Africa on how to smash counterfeit
medicine smuggling networks, coordinate police operations and track
the flow of fake drugs from southeast Asia and other parts of the
world to the continent.

As it has in other regions, the global police body will work with the
World Health Organization and drug companies to tackle the problem.

"We can bridge the gap between law enforcement and the public health
sector, we are able to bring the two areas together," said Newton.

The World Health Organization estimates that up to 30 percent of the
medicine sold in Africa is fake.

Counterfeit medicine networks take advantage of Africa's poor or non-
existent drug regulatory systems to dump drugs with little or no
active ingredient in the continent, experts say.

Interpol carried out its first-ever operation solely dedicated to the
trade in fake medicine in 2005 in seven southeast Asian countries.

"We are concerned about counterfeit medicines for life-threatening
diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS and increasingly
getting involved in this area," said Newton.

The US-based Center for Medicines in the Public Interest estimates
that global counterfeit drug sales will rise to 75 billion dollars by
2010, a 90 percent increase over 2005.

http://health.yahoo.com/news/afp/policeinterpolafricacounterfeitmedici
nehealth-print.html

FUNDING ANNOUNCEMENT: Reminder

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) is now
accepting applications from community organisations in selected Asia
and Pacific countries for HIV and AIDS related projects through its
international grant scheme.

The deadline for applications is Monday the 19th of November 2007.

Detailed information, guidelines, eligibility criteria (including
project & country eligibility) and application forms can be found at
the AFAO website:

http://www.afao.org.au/view_articles.asp?pxa=ve&pxs=102&id=298

David Traynor
E-MAIL:  <traynor.david@...>

50% AIDS cases of Pak reported from Sindh

By Shahzad Shah Jillani

KARACHI: Official estimates put the number of positive HIV/AIDS cases
at 100,000 in Pakistan and around 50 percent of them are in Sindh
alone, informed Dr Arshad Mehmood, programme manager of the Sindh
AIDS Control Programme (SACP).

He said this during a seminar organized Tuesday under the banner of
SCAP and UNAIDS at a local hotel. The main objective of the seminar
was to encourage the media to play their equal role in preventing the
spread of this deadly disease.

UNAIDS supports the government and the civil society in tackling the
AIDS epidemic in Pakistan, said Mr. Arkadiusz Majszyk, the country
coordinator of UNAIDS. He said, "This effort is a step towards
developing a group of media leaders who can advocate and highlight
the cause in Pakistan and also at a global level."

The people who are HIV positive because of their high-risk behaviour,
such as those indulging in commercial sex activities and drug
injections, are not aware of their HIV status and can pass on the
infection to their families and loved ones. The media can help
educate the masses and protect them from AIDS.

In Pakistan, according to a careful estimate, there are above 3,800
recent positive HIV cases, out which 1,900 are from Sindh. This
includes men, women and children. One of the main reasons for the
number of cases being high in Sindh is that Karachi is like a mini-
Pakistan with 20 million people and people come from all over to this
city for employment opportunities. This influx has made it easier for
this disease to spread in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

According to Dr Syed Qamar Abbas, deputy programme manager of SACP,
the media can help in developing an HIV/AIDS prevention programme
with a focus on stigma and discrimination. It can also help in
bringing out the large number of hidden cases.

Dr Abbas admitted that the number of cases is actually double than
what is usually reported. "Five years ago, India went through the
same denial phase. Now it is the epicenter of the disease with 6.5
million positive cases of HIV," he said. "We have the same culture
and social environment and most of the cases come from the high-risk
group."

The forum participants expressed their concerns and also assured that
a strategy would be chalked out to encourage a friendly link between
the programme and the people living with HIV/AIDS.

In the end, the forum recommended the establishment of an ad-hoc
committee comprising journalists associated with various
organizations. A detailed work plan is to be devised during the next
forum meeting, the date of which will be announced at a later date.

Additional Secretary Health Niaz Memon, Public Health Director Khalid
Shaikh, Member Provincial Assembly Naila Imam and Dr Salman Safdar
were also present at the seminar.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2007%5C10%5C31%
5Cstory_31-10-2007_pg12_4

INVITATION  AIDS ASIA e FORUM.

Hi,

If you are already a member of this FOURM please forward this message to your
colleagues who may find this FORUM useful.

[AIDS ASIA eFORUM] is an e- forum committed to the development of an Asian
perspective on AIDS prevention and care issues. HIV/AIDS does not recognize
national boundaries. As Asia- pacific countries are increasingly interconnected
through migration and trade, it is imperative to generate a regional perspective
on HIV/AIDS related issues.

A forum for critical analysis of issues, events and programs, which has
implications on, our ability to address HIV/AIDS prevention and care issues
across the region. More than 7,600 subscribers are using this FORUM.

Strategic HIV information and communication support to promote the capacity of
Asian leaders, activists and people living with HIV/AIDS, to facilitate their
engagement and networking, to highlight their experiences and the solutions they
are offering to address HIV/AIDS issues in this region.

A cross cultural discourse on issues and concerns of Asia- Pacific countries
(regions): Afghanistan, Australia, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Brunei, Cambodia, China,
East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Marshall
Islands, Micronesia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, New Zealand, North Korea,
Pakistan, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Singapore, Solomon
Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and
Viet Nam will be presented and promoted on this forum.

Please review the archived messages on the following url

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/

Dr. Joe Thomas
Editor
AIDS ASIA e FORUM
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/

KYRGYZSTAN: OFFICIALS GRAPPLE WITH HIV OUTBREAK
Daniel Sershen 10/30/07

Southern Kyrgyzstan became the site of the latest in a series of
recent Central Asian HIV outbreaks, with at least 26 people, mostly
children, infected in two local hospitals. Experts hope that the
combined impact of the wave of infections will serve as a wake-up
call for a dysfunctional and impoverished healthcare system, but some
warn of a misdirected government response.

Unofficial counts put the number of infected children at over 30, and
a preliminary investigation concluded in late August by the US
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimated that the figure would
eventually reach 100. This would put the Kyrgyz outbreak in the range
of a similar occurrence in Shymkent, Kazakhstan, where since 2006 a
total of 133 children have tested positive for HIV. [For background
see the Eurasia Insight archive].

"Unsafe injections, poor quality of blood safety, and ... lousy
sterilization of multiple-use medical instruments" were the main
causes of the virus' spread in both cases, said Michael Favorov,
Regional Director of the CDC's Central Asia office.

Health officials believe that the source of the Kyrgyz outbreak was a
sick child admitted to the local hospital in the town of Nookat, who
had gotten the virus either from his mother, or via a contaminated
blood transfusion. The infection spread to the Osh regional pediatric
hospital, and perhaps further, as ill, HIV-positive children shuffled
from one institution to another.

Four health officials from southern Kyrgyzstan were fired for their
alleged roles in the outbreak, including the directors of the two
hospitals. The Kyrgyz General Prosecutor's office has opened a
criminal investigation into the incident.

Sagynaly Mamatov, director of Kyrgyzstan's National AIDS Center,
noted that a government commission had uncovered such high-risk
practices in the hospitals as the transfer of blood directly from
person to person and the re-use of unsterilized or single-injection
needles.

"During an inspection," he said, "we came upon used, unclean syringes
in the refrigerator. We said, 'Why are you holding these?' [and the
hospital workers replied] 'We haven't had time to throw them out
yet.' One can't exclude that these needles were used multiple times,"
Mamatov said.

Experts said that the deeper cause of the outbreak was a general lack
of funding for healthcare in post-Soviet countries. Aging equipment
and a shortage of medical supplies prompt doctors to make do with
what they have. The extremely low salaries paid to healthcare workers
also lead some to use single-use equipment multiple times, as they
sell the surplus to supplement their incomes. (Patients in Kyrgyz
hospitals usually must purchase their own supplies prior to
treatment, often from the doctors themselves).

Bishkek's Adilet legal clinic is providing free representation to one
of the dismissed workers, as well as advising some Osh-based groups
that are working to support the infected children's families. Erik
Iriskulbekov, the clinic's project coordinator, said healthcare
providers frequently cut corners to survive. "A syringe costs two to
five som [roughly 10 US cents]," meaning a doctor who pockets a
single one "already has the ability to buy a loaf of bread."

Sanjar Isaev, a health expert in the Kyrgyz prime minister's office,
agreed that fresh supplies were often a temptation for doctors. "I
can't say people were [definitely] re-selling, but perhaps low
salaries" were a factor, he said. "But in the first place I would put
very weak control from the Osh public health structures."

The Osh region has the highest prevalence of registered HIV cases in
the country, most of them due to injecting drug use. Mamatov from the
AIDS center noted that outbreaks of the virus had previously occurred
in the area, most recently in 2005, adding that they were poorly
investigated. "If there was some noise at that moment," Mamatov
said, "maybe the incident which came to light this year would never
have happened."

Iriskulbekov agreed that the guilty parties should be made an example
of, but warned against creating "scapegoats" out of the mid-ranking
officials who had already been dismissed. "In my opinion, the true
people who permitted negligence have not yet been brought to
account," he said, adding that the net should be cast both "higher"
and "more broadly."

Favorov of the CDC said the Kyrgyz response had been swift from an
epidemiological perspective. "The Kyrgyz government, at least at the
current stage, is very open and allowed international groups to be
involved," said Favorov, although he said it remained to be seen if
that "transparency" would extend to the level of the average
practitioner on the ground.

Kyrgyzstan's poverty distinguished it from the Shymkent case, Favorov
continued. "My major concern is that as a result of that
investigation, Kazakhstan put a lot of funds to the prevention and
control of that outbreak," he said, whereas Kyrgyzstan would have to
seek outside donor support for a similar response.

Indeed, the government's plan – which envisions antiretroviral
treatment, counseling, and social support for the infected, an
overhaul of blood handling and testing procedures, and public
information campaigns – relies heavily on international groups.

In the past, many Kyrgyz AIDS donors have focused on preventing the
spread of the virus through work with vulnerable groups such as drug
users and sex workers. But Mamatov said the Nookat outbreak
underlined a need to emphasize treatment as well. "All the time –
prevention, prevention, prevention – but we need to accept that we've
lost" that battle, Mamatov said. "We need to work on prevention, but
also help the infected."

Editor's Note: Daniel Sershen is a freelance journalist based in
Bishkek.

http://www.eurasianet.org/departments/insight/articles/eav103007.shtml

Asian HIV and AIDS program leaders support network: (Initiated in 2005)

There is an unprecedented rise in the number of Asian HIV/AIDS program
leaders working across borders in the region and taking increasing
responsibilities often "reserved" for the "professionals from the
west".

The professional leap they are making is phenomenal. Many feel that there is a
need for developing informal mechanisms to support and
facilitate this phenomenon.

The Asian HIV and AIDS program leaders who are working on HIV/AIDS
issues beyond the border of their own countries met during the 7th
ICAAP in Kobe and subsequently establish an informal mutual support
network. There has been an informal meeting during the IAS Toronto
Conference and also at the 8th ICAAP in Sri Lanka.

If you are an Asian, working on HIV/AIDS issues beyond the boundaries
of your home country, you are invited to share your experience in
working on HIV/AIDS related issues beyond the borders of your country.

Please contact for details:

Dr Chinkholal Thangsing,

Asia Pacific Bureau Chief,
AIDS Healthcare Foundation - Global
AP - Secretariat:
S 7 Panchsheel Park, New Delhi 110017
Email:Chinkholal.thangsing@...
e-mail: <drcthangsing@...>

Dear Forum,

We witnessed a grand re-opening ceremony of Methadone Program in a
very well respected hospital of Nepal, namely Tribhuwan University
Teaching Hospital. Amidst controversies initially, the opening
ceremony took place in the Hospital's conference room by the hands of
chief guest the respected Home Minister of Nepal Mr. Krishna Prasad
Sitaula.

Guests from various backgrounds were present to witness the
opening ceremony. However the special guest list included Dr. Nirakar
Man Shrestha, Special Secretary of Ministry of Health, Dr Dhurba Man
Sakya (Methadone expert for Nepal) from Blue Cross Clinic also Guests
from UNODC and UNDP, INPUD Asia Chair person Mr. Anan Pun together
with the people who made it all possible, the guys from Recovering
Nepal.

The event was seen and speculated as a historic event taking place in
a country where drug users are openly abused by law enforcement and
society alike. In a country where anti choice sentiments are still
popular. Home minister's expression of human prospect of drug use and
positive views towards harm reduction and its tools are seen as a
major achievement for drug users in Nepal.

The National goodwill ambassador against illicit drug use, a famous Nepalese
actor Mr. Rajesh Hamal, during the program, gave a wonderful speech about the
drug user's vulnerability to HIV and HCV and the role that Methadone program can
play in prevention.

Mr. Anan Pun the Chairperson of INPUD Asia and also one of the main
initiator of the Methadone Movement in Nepal stressed in the
importance of Methadone and its positive impacts in drug users,
largely focusing on the Drug users rights to healthcare services. He
also addressed the existing service gap in drug users and mentioned
the need to "scale up" of services keeping in mind the high HIV and
HCV prevalence in drug users.

Methadone distribution will take place from tomorrow 31st of OCT 2007
with the highly recommended Social Unit operated by NGO in Teaching
Hospital premises.

Lastly, on behalf of Recovering Nepal and its Member Organizations, we would
like to thank all our friends and supporters, who have been with us through out
this ordeal, we would like to thank you all for making this movement a success.

Sincerely Yours

Prem Limbu
e-mail: <subba_prem7@...>

Dear Colleagues,

The Collaborative Fund for HIV Treatment Preparedness is a partnership of the
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition and the Tides Centre to improve
access to HIV treatment for all those who need it.

The International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) is an international
movement of HIV+ people and their advocates advocating for access to AIDS
treatment to those who need it through increased treatment literacy for
individuals and organisations and through advocacy with local, regional and
international stakeholders such as governments, international and bilateral
agencies, pharmaceutical and diagnostics companies, non-governmental
organisations and the private sector.  The Collaborative Fund began its work in
Southeast Asia in 2004. The program aims to support civil society, especially
people living with HIV/AIDS, to advocate for improved access to treatment and to
educate people living with HIV about HIV treatment.

The Collaborative Fund is a community funding mechanism that is driven by the
expertise of people living with HIV and their advocates. In each funding region
of the world, Community Review Panels (CRPs) set funding priorities and
determine how funds are disbursed through a peer-reviewed application process.
During the first and second round, the fund supported more than 40 local NGOs,
CBOs and PLHIV groups in the Southeast Asia Region.

This letter is to announce the 3rd year of grants in Southeast Asia. We are
seeking submissions of proposals for community-based HIV treatments advocacy and
education programs.

Funding is geographically limited to Thailand, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam,
Indonesia, the Philippines, Myanmar and Malaysia.

Any nongovernmental organization (NGO), community based organisation (CBO) and
PLHIV group from these countries is invited to apply. Joint projects between
organisations will also be considered.

Grants are provided for a program of up to one year with a maximum of USD 10 000
for individual organisations and up to USD 20 000 for joint applications of two
organisations or more. If your organisation is less than one year old, the grant
amount requested should be between USD 3000 and 5000. The amount of funds to be
distributed in Southeast Asia is USD 200 000.

If you are interested in the Collaborative Fund, you will need to consider the
Guide for Submission of Applications and the Proposal Form.

If these documents are not attached to this letter and you would like to receive
them, e-mail Mr. Sowat at sowat@...

THE DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS OF PROPOSALS IS 30 NOV 2007.

It is envisioned that projects will start from February 2008.

We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Please forward this information to other organisations who work on treatments
access issues.

Please contact Mr. Sowat at sowat@... if you need any further
information or clarifications.

Shiba Phurailatpam
South East Asia Regional Coordinator
On behalf of the South East Asia Community Review Panel of the Collaborative
Fund
e-mail: <shiba@...>

Men politicians missing at the APCRSH meet

Monday, October 29 2007 16:11 (IST)

Hyderabad, Oct 29 (UNI) While 1300 delegates from 40 countries
deliberated on the sexual and reproductive rights of the people,
especially those of women, adolescents, transgender and gays, at the
Fourth Asia Pacific Conference On Reproductive and Sexual Health and
Rights here today, male politicians chose to give it a miss
indicating the low priority given to these issues.

Health Minister Anbumani Ramadoss and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y
S Rajasekhara Reddy were conspicuous by their absence at the
inauguration of the three day APCRSH meet here this morning. Dr
Ramadoss' absence was attributed to having Viral fever, while Mr
Reddy could not attend the meeting due to some family problem.

UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Obaid also could not make the
keynote address, which was read by UNFPA Deputy Executive Director
Purnima Mane.

However, Chinese Vice Minister for National Population and Family
Planning Commission Baige Zhao compensated for their absence at the
inaugural function, while Minister of State for Women and Child
Development Renuka Chowdhury made her presence felt at the plenary
session on 'Implementing Sexual and Reproductive Rights: An
Unfinished Agenda' later in the day.

Meanwhile, President Pratibha Patil and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
and UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi sent their messages complimenting
the efforts of Indian Consortium and the international community for
making efforts to organise this International event for the first
time in India.

The meet would focus on sexual and reproductive health and rights of
the people and bring it to the centre stage as it would not only help
in checking population growth but would also prevent HIV/AIDS
infection.

The Conference on the theme of 'Exploring New Frontier in
Reproductive and Sexual Health and Rights' would focus on the sexual
and reproductive rights of women, adolescent, youth, transgender,
disabled and other marginalised sections of the society.

Addressing the conference, Ms Purnima Mani of UNFPA highlighted the
high maternal mortality, HIV/AIDS infection and violence against
women and said that meeting their sexual and reproductive needs were
crucial for reducing maternal mortality and morbidity and realising
the Millennium Development Goals.

Dr Gillian Greer, Director General of the International Planned
Parenthood Federation, emphasised women's rights to control her body
was crucial in controlling population. He said that the policies and
programmes should be properly implemented so that the sexual and
reproductive rights of women, especially adolescent girls and boys
were met.

Ms Zhao also released the documents of the conference and announced
that the 5th APCRSH would be held in China

http://news.oneindia.in/2007/10/29/men-politicians-missing-at-the-apcrsh-meet-11\
93656069.html