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[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
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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
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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,
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Islands, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu and
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Please review the archived messages on the following url

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

Man who stabbed cabbie 'HIV positive'
Wednesday April 30, 04:00 PM

A man accused of stabbing a Melbourne taxi driver has mental health
problems, is HIV positive and has no recollection of the incident, a
court has heard.

Parish Charles, 45, of suburban Alphington, appeared in Melbourne
Magistrates' Court on Wednesday facing charges including attempted
murder and intentionally causing injury.

Charles is also charged with two counts of intentionally causing
serious injury, recklessly causing injury, assault and car theft.
The victim, who has been identified as 23-year-old Jalvinder Singh,
is in a serious but stable condition in the Royal Melbourne Hospital
after being stabbed and left for dead in Clifton Hill early on
Tuesday.

The driver, an Indian student, was put in an induced coma after
suffering serious blood loss.

Charles appeared in court wearing blue surgical gloves and was
flanked by two guards.

His lawyer Rob Melasecca told the court Charles had HIV, mental and
other health issues and did not know why he was in court.

"Mr Charles appears to have no memory of the incident," he said.

Mr Melasecca asked that his client receive a blood test to assess his
HIV condition as well as a test for meningitis and a mental health
assessment.

He said his client should possibly be removed from the Melbourne
Custody Centre to St Vincent's Hospital for treatment.

He said otherwise "what we'll have is two victims instead of one".
Charles was remanded in custody to reappear in court on July 23.

Dozens of Melbourne taxi drivers whipped off their shirts and sat
down at Melbourne's busiest intersection on Wednesday morning in a
protest over the near fatal stabbing.

Chanting "we want justice" and "shame, shame Victoria police", some
among several hundred drivers braved Melbourne's cold morning by
stripping off their tops at the intersection of Swanston and Flinders
streets.

Other drivers held signs reading "stop killing the drivers" and "help
us", as scores of taxis lined the streets.

Dozens of police monitored the protest, which began on Tuesday night.
Trams and traffic were prevented from entering the area, leading to
traffic disruption during morning peak hour.

Drivers have made several demands to the Victorian government,
including compensation to the stabbing victim and severe punishment
for the offender.

The drivers also want driver safety screens, pre-paid taxi rides,
special protection at certain railway stations and suburbs after
hours, and more attention from Victoria police.

The drivers also want all parking tickets issued on their cabs during
the protest to be annulled.

The protest blockade later ended after drivers apparently received
the safety concessions they were seeking.

A driver representative, Mohammed Jama, and Victorian Taxi
Directorate general manager, Peter Corcoran, announced safety screens
would be made compulsory in taxis and introduced by Christmas.

Pre-paid fares will be compulsory between 10pm and 5am, and the
government will cover all medical costs for a driver viciously
stabbed this week.

Mr Jama told AAP he was happy with the result and drivers could
remove the screens if they did not want them.

Victorian Transport Minister Lynne Kosky said the government had
agreed to the introduction of compulsory pre-paid fares and the
safety screens.

Ms Kosky met with representatives of the drivers who agreed to return
to work and unblock the intersection of Swanston and Flinders streets
before the afternoon peak period.

She said the state government would contribute half the funding of
the screens, which cost between $1,000 and $1,200 and will be
installed in up to 4,000 cabs.

The remainder of the cost would be met by taxi operators, she said.
Ms Kosky said she had also agreed to meet with taxi representatives
again to help resolve other problems within the industry.

http://au.news.yahoo.com/080429/2/16nzj.html?f=mv

PAKISTAN:   "Pakistan's Plague in the Making"

Star-Ledger (Jersey City, N.J) Friday, April 25, 2008
BY JAMES PALMER, For the Star-Ledger

LAHORE, Pakistan -- Mohammed Akram briskly cut across Ali Park, a
forsaken patch of land near the red light district of this city.
In one hand, a bundle of new syringes. In the other, a small packet.
Nearing an iron fence along a bustling street, Akram sat down at the
foot of a holly oak and meticulously drew the prized contents of his
package up into a clear plastic cylinder.

With no veins in his arms left to hit, Akram, 25, pulled down the
front of his pants, leaned back against the thick trunk of the tree
and plunged the needle into his upper thigh.
Soon his eyes closed, his head slumped forward and his weathered face
lost its last bit of expression.

A moment later, he stirred. "This will last for me a while," Akram
said, slurring his words in Urdu. Then he slipped back into his
catatonic trance.

Pakistan has one of the highest rates of drug abusers in the world --
an estimated 6 million among its 162 million citizens, according to
the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crimes.

While that figure is rising by an estimated 7 percent a year, a
larger concern is the fact more users are injecting -- making it all
but certain the country's HIV infection rate will soar.

Despite the ominous numbers and a society built on a deep contempt
for drug use, health professionals say government funding of
affordable and effective rehabilitation programs is lacking.

"It's not that we don't know about rehabilitation," said Aftab Asif,
a psychiatrist in Lahore. "It's that the government rehab centers are
not very practical."

The UNODC says Pakistan, home of the second-largest population of
Muslims in the world, has about 500,000 chronic heroin and
intravenous drug users. In Lahore alone, 65 percent of the abusers on
the streets are using syringes, according to UNAIDS, the United
Nations agency coping with HIV and AIDS

THE EVENTS NEXT DOOR
Addicts like Akram -- addicts who inject -- were rare here until the
Soviet invasion of neighboring Afghanistan in 1979 catalyzed an
explosion of poppy cultivation. The first case of heroin addiction in
Pakistan was documented two years later at the government-run Mayo
Hospital in Lahore, according to the health ministry.

"In the'80s, it was like an epidemic and it just kept spreading,"
said Aamir Mirza, 47, a psychiatrist who treats heroin cases at a
public hospital in Lahore.

The Taliban temporarily halted poppy production after seizing control
of Afghanistan in 1996. But its leaders were driven out by a U.S.-led
coalition after 9/11, with an unintended consequence: Poppy
production quickly started to boom again, and it wasn't long before
the heroin started streaming east into Pakistan.

Today a small packet of heroin like the one Akram purchased goes for
50 Pakistani rupees -- about 75 cents -- on the streets of Lahore.
This is a rather expensive habit in Pakistan, where, according to the
United Nations Development Program, two-thirds of the population live
on less than $2 per day.

The latest batch of heroin users who inject are expected to be on the
leading edge of a storm of HIV infections.

The World Health Organization says the HIV transmission rate among
drug users here is 10 percent, but a study conducted by Roshan Rasta,
a national aid group, found the number of HIV infections among 100
injecting drug users in Punjab shot up from two to 50 over the past
two years. And in a UNAIDS survey of injecting drug users here, 64
percent said they do not use sterile needles.

Doctors fear once the human immunodeficiency virus takes hold in the
injecting drug community, it will rapidly multiply throughout the
rest of the population.

"Once it comes, it will spread like wildfire," said Mirza, the
psychiatrist.

RELAPSES
While Pakistan's government and international humanitarian agencies
focus on combating the spread of HIV, health professionals bemoan the
lack of funding for adequate rehab programs.

Saamia Rizwan, a psychiatrist and volunteer for Roshan Rasta,
noted, "There is funding for detox programs, but this is often a
vicious cycle because they relapse and keep returning."

Along with a 15-day detoxification program, Roshan Rasta offers a 45-
day rehabilitation treatment based on the 12-step program developed
in 1935 by the founders of Alcoholics Anonymous.

However, people like Hamid Nawaz Hashmi, a counselor at Roshan Rasta,
argue that more time and money are needed for programs to reach their
potential.

Hashmi had used heroin for more than a decade. "I tried all sorts of
ways to stop, but the only thing that worked for me was the 12-step
program," said Hashmi, who has been off heroin more than 16
years. "You need time for the rehabilitation to take root and then
continual follow-up support."

Treatment and follow-up visits at Roshan Rasta are free, but many who
seek help must limit their stays due to external financial pressures.
The center's manager, psychiatrist Hamayun Mirza, said only half his
patients go through the full rehabilitation program and return for
follow-up visits.

Rona Kehalil, who has struggled to kick his heroin habit for 28
years, is a case in point.

The 45-year-old Lahore man recently opted to enroll for 15 days of
detoxification at Roshan Rasta because he must return soon to his job
as a leather merchant. Kehalil was uncertain if time and money would
allow him to make return visits for additional support.

"I fear the pains of the withdrawal, but I'm more afraid that I'll
start using again," he said.

Further challenging the rehabilitation process, Pakistan's government
has banned methadone as a treatment for recovering opiate abusers. An
alternative antidote is available, but it costs 250 Pakistani rupees
per tablet, or nearly $4 -- too expensive for most.

PROFESSIONAL SKEPTICISM
By contrast, private centers that cater to Pakistan's elite are
flourishing. These facilities typically offer rehabilitation programs
that last three months with a two-year follow-up for around 1 million
rupees, or more than $15,000.

Critics say some of these centers are nothing more than high-rent
holding cells for families who want to temporarily and safely get a
problematic relative off the streets.

"Commercial centers are often lock-and-key establishments with no
rehab," said psychiatrist Rizwan. "They sometimes make the patient's
condition worse because they constantly sedate them to keep them from
trying to leave."

Others health professionals are even more skeptical, questioning if
drug addiction is even curable. "Their thinking is, 'Once a junkie,
always a junkie,'" said Aamir Mirza, the psychiatrist at Lahore's
Gangaram Hospital.

Still, there is some optimism that proven treatments eventually will
be accepted as the addiction crisis intensifies.

"People laughed 45 years ago when they were told heart ailments could
be treated," said Sadaqat Ali, a psychiatrist in Lahore who runs a
private rehabilitation clinic employing a 12-step program.

"These diseases are here to stay -- they're not going anywhere."

James Palmer may be reached at jamesjohnpalmer@....

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-
13/120909812342270.xml&coll=1&thispage=4

World Bank backs anti-Aids experiment

Thousands of people in Africa will be paid to avoid unsafe sex, under
a groundbreaking World Bank-backed experiment aimed at halting the
spread of Aids.

The $1.8m trial – to be launched this year – will counsel 3,000 men
and women aged 15-30 in southern rural Tanzania over three years,
paying them on condition that periodic laboratory test results prove
they have not contracted sexually transmitted infections.

The proposed payments of $45 equate to a quarter of annual income for
some participants.

The programme, jointly funded by the World Bank, the William and
Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Population Reference Bureau and the
Spanish Impact Evaluation Fund, marks an important step in the fight
to tackle Aids, which claims 2m lives a year.

In spite of billions of dollars spent annually on treatment and
prevention worldwide, there were about 2.5m new HIV infections in
2007, predominantly in Africa.

Carol Medlin from the University of California, San Francisco, one of
the researchers, said: "We hope this `reverse prostitution' will make
people think hard about the long-term consequences of their short-
term behaviour."

The Tanzanian experiment is a big advance in efforts to test public
health ideas more rigorously, with some participants placed in a
control arm not offered payment in order to track the effects of the
programme precisely.

"Conditional cash transfers" have already been used in Latin America
to motivate poor parents to attend health clinics, and have their
children vaccinated and schooled. Michael Bloomberg, the mayor of New
York, last year unveiled a project to boost school attendance.

The designers of the Tanzanian programme believe that payments of $45
when combined with careful counselling could play an important role
in reducing HIV infection, especially for vulnerable young women.

The study will be conducted by the Ifakara Health Research and
Development Centre in Tanzania, in conjunction with researchers from
the University of California, Berkeley, the University of California,
San Francisco and the World Bank.

The Tanzanian trial programme, which is still subject to fine-tuning
and ethical approval, will not specifically test for HIV, which is
costly and already widely conducted in the country. It will use
proxies including gonorrhoea, and guarantees any participant found to
be infected receives state treatment.

By Andrew Jack in London
© The Financial Times Limited 2008

http://ft.onet.pl/0,9246,world_bank_backs_anti-
aids_experiment,artykul_ft.html

AusAID Launches New Harm Reduction Program: HAARP

On the 23rd April 2008, Australia’s International Aid Agency, AusAID,
successfully launched the HIV/AIDS Asia Regional Program (HAARP), and the
program website in Chiang Mai, where government representatives from around the
world gathered for a UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board meeting.

HAARP is an eight year, AUD$59m program that works with governments, regional
agencies, civil society organisations, and drug user networks, to reduce the
spread of HIV associated with drug use among men and women in South East Asia
and China.

A range of government, regional agency, and civil society representatives
attended the launch. Speakers included:

Mean Chhivun, Director, National Centre for HIV/AIDS, Dermatology & STI's
(NCHADS), Cambodia
Thi Hai Oanh Khuat, Vietnam Civil Society Partnership Platform on AIDS
Paul Bekkers, HIV/AIDS Ambassador for the Netherlands
Peter Piot, Executive Director, UNAIDS
Phillippe Allen, Minister Counsellor, AusAID Bangkok

One of the key issues raised by speakers in the launch was around the need for
coordination, which was followed by the announcement of the Netherlands
Government expressing a willingness to co-finance the Country Flexible Program
in Vietnam.

Speakers supported the objectives and principles of HAARP, highlighting the need
for the involvement of drug-users, the need to address stigma and
discrimination, and the importance of a regional approach in terms of scaling up
harm reduction responses.

For highlights from each of the speakers please visit the HAARP website
(www.haarp-online.org)


Pip  Chandler

Communications & Learning Consultant
Adaptive  Thinking - "Communications, Learning & Advocacy for Development"
7 Woodside Street
North Fitzroy, 3068, VIC, AUSTRALIA
Tel: +61  418 485 099
Email: pip@...
www.adaptivethinking.org

Dear Colleagues,

As you would be aware, UNAIDS is guided by a Programme Coordinating
Board (PCB) which serves as its governing body. The PCB has
representatives of 22 governments from all regions of the world, the ten UNAIDS
Cosponsors, and five nongovernmental organizations (NGOs),
including associations of people living with HIV.

The governing body of UNAIDS met in Chiang Mai from 23-25 April for the 22nd
Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board (PCB). The theme of the meeting was
TB/HIV and issues around the diagnosis and treatment of TB among people living
with HIV and the need for closer collaboration between HIV and TB programmes
were addressed.

More than 300 participants and observers from member states, international
organizations, civil society and non-governmental organizations attended the
meeting.

Taking priority on this year's official agenda were; gender sensitivity of AIDS
responses; a second independent evaluation of UNAIDS; a follow up to the Global
Task Team Independent Assessment; and the process of nomination for a new
Executive Director of UNAIDS.

The PCB members also approved a new Memorandum of Understanding between UNAIDS
and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria which was revised in
light of a changing environment to give a clear definition of the complementary
roles of the two organizations.

For information on the final decisions, recommendations and conclusions from the
22nd Programme Coordinating Board, please visit -
http://www.ngogateway.org:9080/unaids/handle/1/539

Regards
Ranjan ,


Ranjan Dwivedi
Technical Advisor, UNAIDS
A2/35 Safdarjung Enclave, New Delhi, India-110029
Tel  :+91-11-41354545 Ext 317
Fax :+91-11-41354534
e-mail: dwivedir@...
Web: www.unaids.org.in
www.ngogateway.org

Date: Sat, 26 Apr 2008 00:19:39 GMT
From: "AIDS Healthcare Foundation" <Community@...>
To: "Joe Thomas" <joe_thomas123@...>
Subject: Debate on AIDS Vaccine Research

"Cutting Edge Medicine and Advocacy Regardless of Ability to Pay" Tell-a-friend to join the AHF E-Community. Debate on AIDS Vaccine Research The debate around the call to halt US government funding of AIDS vaccine research continues to be lively. After more than twenty years of repeatedly failing AIDS vaccine attempts, AIDS Healthcare Foundation recently spearheaded the call for a re-assessment of taxpayer funding of vaccine research and suggested a re-deployment of such funds toward lifesaving AIDS treatment and testing. Following are two recent media articles on the issue that AHF wanted to share with the community: from Britain's The Independent newspaper (4/24/08): A poll of more than 35 British and US AIDS scientists and researchers, that revealed that scientific consensus on the prospect for development of an effective preventive AIDS vaccine is bleak, at best. The Los Angeles Times Opinion "Blowback" column (4/25/08) "No Results? No Research Money," by Dr. Homayoon Khanlou, AHF's Chief of Medicine, and Mr. Michael Weinstein, AHF's President. In addition, the Wall Street Journal published an opinion article today in favor on continuing the pursuit--and funding--of vaccine research authored by Dr. Seth Berkley, CEO and President of the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative (IAVI). (See www.wsj.com)   The Independent April 24, 2008 Is it time to give up the search for an AIDS vaccine? After 25 years and billions of pounds, leading scientists are now forced to ask this question By Steve Connor and Chris Green Most scientists involved in Aids research believe that a vaccine against HIV is further away than ever and some have admitted that effective immunisation against the virus may never be possible, according to an unprecedented poll conducted by The Independent. A mood of deep pessimism has spread among the international community of Aids scientists after the failure of a trial of a promising vaccine at the end of last year. It just was the latest in a series of setbacks in the 25-year struggle to develop an HIV vaccine. The Independent's survey of more than 35 leading Aids scientists in Britain and the United States found that just two were now more optimistic about the prospects for an HIV vaccine than they were a year ago; only four said they were more optimistic now than they were five years ago. Nearly two thirds believed that an HIV vaccine will not be developed within the next 10 years and some of them said that it may take at least 20 more years of research before a vaccine can be used to protect people either from infection or the onset of Aids. A substantial minority of the scientists admitted that an HIV vaccine may never be developed, and even those who believe that one could appear within the next 10 years added caveats saying that such a vaccine would be unlikely to work as a truly effective prophylactic against infection by the virus. One of the major conclusions to emerge from the failed clinical trial of the most promising prototype vaccine, manufactured by the drug company Merck, was that an important animal model used for more than a decade, testing HIV vaccines on monkeys before they are used on humans, does not in fact work. This has meant that prototype HIV vaccines which appear to work well when tested on monkeys infected with an artificial virus do not work when tested on human volunteers at risk of HIV -- a finding that will be exploited by anti-vivisectionist campaigners opposed to vaccine experiments on primates. Anthony Fauci, the director of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), near Washington, told The Independent that the animal model -- which uses genetically engineered simian and human immunodeficiency viruses in a combination, known as SHIV -- failed to predict what will happen when a prototype vaccine is moved from laboratory monkeys to people. "We've learnt a few important things [from the clinical trial]. We've learnt that one of the animal models, the SHIV model, really doesn't predict very well at all," he said. "At least we now know that you can get a situation where it looks like you are protecting against SHIV and you're not protecting at all in the human model -- that's important," he said. The NIAID spends about $500m (£250m) on HIV vaccine research each year and despite calls from some Aids pressure groups for funds to be diverted to other forms of Aids prevention, Dr Fauci said this was not the time to stop vaccine research. "I don't think you should say that this is the point where we're going to give up on developing a vaccine. I think you continue given that there are so many unanswered questions to answer," he said. "There is an impression given by some that if you do vaccine research you are neglecting other areas of prevention. That's not the case. We should and we are doing them simultaneously." More than 80 per cent of the scientists who took part in our survey agreed that it was now important to change the direction of HIV vaccine research, given the failure of the Merck clinical trial, which was cancelled when it emerged that the vaccine may have actually increased the chances of people developing Aids. Robert Gallo, a prominent Aids researcher in the US who is credited with co-discovering the virus in the early 1980s, likened the vaccine's failure to the Challenger disaster, which forced Nasa to ground the space shuttle fleet for years. At the end of last month, Dr Fauci convened a high-level summit of leading HIV specialists at a hotel in Bethesda, Maryland, to discuss the future direction of research. A group of 14 prominent Aids specialists had already written to Dr Fauci suggesting that his institute had "lost its way" in terms of an HIV vaccine. He said that one outcome of the meeting was a refocusing of the vaccine effort away from expensive clinical trials towards more fundamental research to understand the basic biology of the virus and its effects on the human immune system. "We'll be turning the knob more towards answering some fundamental questions rather than going into big clinical trials," Dr Fauci said. "I'm certainly disappointed that we're not further ahead in the development of a vaccine but I don't say that this year I'm more discouraged than I was last year. I always knew from the beginning that it would be a very difficult task given what we know about this very elusive virus." About 33 million people in the world are infected with HIV and some 26 million have died of Aids since the pandemic began. The majority of scientists who responded to The Independent's survey said that a vaccine would be the most effective way of preventing the spread of the virus given the failure of many education programmes. Winnie Sseruma, 46: 'For me, the key has been not to give up' Ms Sseruma says she believes abandoning research for a vaccine would mean a loss of hope for millions of people. "When I was diagnosed, nearly 20 years ago, it was when the first drugs had come on the market. A lot of people had said before then that there was no hope and that all efforts should be put into prevention. But look where we are now. We cannot lose hope; we need to invest in a vaccine." She says this latest failure needs to be seen as the first hurdle, not a signal to give up. "Yes, the scientists have not been very successful in their quest for a vaccine, but you can learn a lot from failures. Now they have realised they cannot use the normal routes used to develope simpler vaccines." Ms Sseruma lives in London, but was born in Uganda and says that the current climate of pessimism for the vaccine is not dissimilar to the initial doubts over the likelihood of treating HIV in Africa. "I remember when treatment started being available in the West and people were saying it would be impossible to send it to Africa. But look what's happened. We should always do whatever is humanly possible to fight Aids. It's been a long journey, but for me, the key has been not to give up, and the scientists need to have the same attitude." 'Philippe B', 42: 'People are getting resistant to drugs' "Philippe", who wishes to remain anonymous, discovered he was HIV positive 11 years ago. The 42-year-old believes the search for the vaccination should no longer be a priority, but that it should not stop altogether. "Unfortunately what's happening now is that people are getting more resistant to drug treatment, and more money needs to be put into finding more drugs for treatment," he said. For people like Philippe, the fear of building an immunity to drugs and running out of options is a real one. He believes that as long as scientists are still pessimistic about the chances of successfully finding a vaccine, money needs to be invested in continuing to fund research into treatment. "I've already become resistant to five combination treatments over the last ten years, and if I was on the last one available I'd be very afraid. HIV is not a death sentence in the way it once was, but we do need to fund further research into the drugs that treat it." Nevertheless, Philippe thinks it is not yet time to abandon all research into a vaccine. "In my lifetime I don't think we'll have a vaccine, but there's no reason we should believe it isn't possible," he said. "But we should now be spending more on other ways of dealing with the disease."     Los Angeles Times April 25, 2008 No results? No research money When even scientists acknowledge that 25 years of research haven't born any fruit, it's time to stop searching for an AIDS vaccine By Homayoon Khanlou and Michael Weinstein The search for an AIDS vaccine has lost its scientific purpose and turned into a self-serving quest. How else to explain the remarks found in David Baltimore and Seth Berkley's "Keep funding the AIDS vaccine"? Saying simply that "AIDS vaccine development is hard" is not a credible response to recent criticism leveled at the ballooning U.S. budget for AIDS vaccine research and the meager results it has produced. The argument is particularly weak when you consider that nearly $1 billion in public funding is poured annually into this fruitless quest, while millions globally lack access to the revolutionary, life-saving AIDS treatment that was developed more than 12 years ago: antiretroviral medication. The recent Merck vaccine trial that Baltimore and Berkley mention was not only a failure, it actually endangered lives by increasing the likelihood that study participants would contract the virus. The Merck trial was also not an anomaly. There have been 25 years of repeated AIDS vaccine failures at high cost to taxpayers. To call for more human clinical research -- as Baltimore and Berkley do -- defies common sense and endangers lives. Important insights into the basic mechanisms of the virus and the human body's response to it are still missing. So where is the science to back up their call for more money? And can such an expense be justified if measured in human lives lost because of lack of access to treatment that can cost as little as 50 cents a day? The best way to break the chain of infection is to prevent an infected person from passing it on to others. A number of extraordinarily effective approaches to achieve this already exist. The spread of infection would be significantly curbed if we focused primarily on the source of all new infections: the 33 million people who are currently estimated to be carrying the virus. Effective pre- and/or post-exposure prophylaxis treatments are an example of a possible approach. A focused antiretroviral pre-prophylaxis effort in high-risk populations, such as commercial sex workers, would be a highly cost-effective way to prevent the spread of infection. There is also mounting evidence to demonstrate that patients with undetectable viral loads -- achieved through antiretroviral treatment -- have a much lower rate of transmission, perhaps a rate even lower than could be achieved with a successful vaccine. Still, these lifesaving drugs are currently unavailable to all but the smallest fraction of the people who need them. What might a nearly $1-billion annual investment in the worldwide scale-up of antiretroviral treatment buy in terms of transmissions prevented? In a post-Merck-failure research climate, the scientific community has come to a consensus: an investment in basic science is needed. Such research does not require the enormous, and enormously expensive, global clinical trial apparatus currently in place for AIDS vaccine research. In fact, according to recent reports, researchers with Berkley's International AIDS Vaccine Initiative and the Center for HIV/AIDS Vaccine Immunology -- employing funds from the U.S. HIV vaccine research pot -- plan to focus on such areas of basic science research as the genetic sequencing of new HIV viruses, an investigation into how genetic factors might control HIV infection and inquiry into the possible reasons why some people exposed to HIV do not progress to AIDS. However, the U.S. government already allocates several billion dollars a year to funding basic AIDS research. So what is the purpose of setting aside another $1 billion annually under a separate HIV vaccine research umbrella? To date, there has been no evidence that there will ever be an AIDS vaccine. In fact, in a poll of more than 35 top HIV/AIDS scientists in Britain and the U.S. conducted by Britain's Independent newspaper and published this week, "nearly two-thirds believed that an HIV vaccine will not be developed within the next 10 years" and a "substantial minority of the scientists admitted that an HIV vaccine may never be developed." Resources are not limitless. To date, there has been no evidence that there will ever be an AIDS vaccine. It is time for an honest reassessment of funding priorities and a redeployment of resources into delivering antiretroviral medications to the people who need it. It is time to pull the plug on U.S. public funding for HIV vaccine research. After all, can you think of any other U.S. enterprise that has been studied and investigated for 25 years and on which many billions of dollars have been spent without any results? Homayoon Khanlou, MD, is chief of medicine, U.S., and Michael Weinstein is president of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation. Click here to visit the online forum to share your thoughts and concerns regarding HIV vaccine research funding. Visit the web address below to tell your friends about this important message.  Tell-a-friend! If you received this message from a friend, you can sign up for AIDS Healthcare Foundation. This message was sent to joe_thomas123@.... Visit your subscription management page to modify your email communication preferences or update your personal profile. To stop ALL email from AIDS Healthcare Foundation, click to remove yourself from our lists (or reply via email with "remove or unsubscribe" in the subject line).

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Dear FORUM,

Our Foundation has come about as a result of;
Our governments' lack of public policies related to HIV/AIDS
prevention and inter-cultural attention in our communities. One size
does not fit all!

The absence of an integral approach to the HIV/AIDS issue in our
communities that recognizes the traces of poverty, marginality,
historic inequalities, colonisation, stigma, discrimination and
racism.

Absence of tangible epidemiological socio-cultural research efforts
regarding the situation of the epidemic in Maori, Indigenous and
South Pacific communities.

Lack of financial resources for research, design and implementation
of community actions that will sensitize and involve communities.
Lack of Information, Education and Communication material in
Indigenous languages that would permit effective and culturally-
sensitive actions.

Lack of indigenous leadership trained for community outreach work
regarding HIV/AIDS and other Sexually Transmitted Infections in our
Maori, Indigenous and South Pacific communities.

Finally, our agenda's lack of political visibility in the
international AIDS field, thus keeping it from being considered a
priority issue.

The recognition that the epidemic is a problem related to poverty,
historic stigma, discrimination, denial of sexuality and its practice outside of
preventative measures.

A range of indigenous leaders - those that live with the HIV virus
are looking for support to attend the SECOND INTERNATIONAL PRE-
CONFERENCE ON INDIGENOUS PEOPLE, FIRST NATIONS AND AFRO-DESCENDANTS
FACING HIV/AIDS, SEXUALITY AND HUMAN RIGHTS. In Mexico prior to the
International AIDS Conference (Mainstream).

This is the largest group of Maori HIV+ people wanting to attend, a landmark
moment for Âotearoa.

The anticipated results by attending this hui is to Make the
Indigenous Peoples' HIV/AIDS agenda visible in the international
field of HIV/AIDS.

A National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Attention Plan for our Indigenous
Populations.

Please help us to get there!!! Any support, information and guidance
would be very appreciated. Also with our continued existence within
New Zealand - please let us know if you are interested in what we are doing for
communities.

I am a Maori women living with HIV, my husband is living with HIV
from Papua New Guinea.  Please support our cause, we want to protect
future generations.

Thank you

Mmarama Pala
e-mail: <marama.pala@...>

Nepal´s AIDS cases a matter of global concern
Surya B. Prasai, April 20, 2008

Recently the National Center for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) under
the Ministry of Health and Population of the Nepal Government
released figures from a study conducted in 2007 which states that
HIV/AIDS cases have supposedly stabilized in Nepal in the past two
years.

According to the report it claims the study was done using the latest
available tools and methodologies. The NCASC, Ministry of Health,
states ´the figures could be around 69,790, almost similar to the
70,352 numbers estimated by a study conducted in 2005.´

However, despite the Nepal Government´s good efforts in publishing
regular statistics, which to the best of its knowledge, provide on
grounds in seeking positive intervention, it is proven by Nepal´s top
experts and international media reporting on AIDS in Nepal that every
year 12,000-15,000 people have died for the past half decade and
more. In 1997, UN estimates had put the deaths around 4000-5000 per
year. If the total number of deaths were calculated for the past 10
years alone, it would largely offset the current government´s figures
which are heavily drawn on foreign donor inputs. In Kathmandu, the
number of female commercial sex workers is estimated between 50,000-
60,000 of which nearly one in five has AIDS, according to
authoritative Asia-Pacific news sources.

In fact it was estimated by the UN and various international
organizations working in Nepal in 2005, the number of infections was
likely to rise to 150,000 -- about 1.5 percent of adults --. The same
sources warned that AIDS would be the main cause of death for the 15-
49 age bracket within 10 years of the epidemic, if steps were not
taken to bring it under control through proper behavior change
communications, putting in place an effective national communications
strategy that supports a proper government based national HIV/AIDs
control plan, and the proper distribution of condoms and clean
needles for Nepal´s rising drug users.

So far, various donors pledges have shown in their reports that they
believe the strategies, plans and logistics appear well placed, but
not everything is being implemented as planned due to coordination
difficulties among the donors and the low skills and logistic
resource mobilization ability of the Nepal Government. The actual
truth expressed by Nepal´s prominent AIDs activists point is there is
massive diversion of attention of health resources to focus on lesser
priorities which have added injury to insult among Nepal´s AIDS
sufferers.

What are the real figures? According to the recent Nepal Government
figures, of the total estimated 69,790 cases; 64,585 consisted of
adults between the age 15 and 49 years (with 16,387 of them women),
likewise, 1857 were children below 14 years of age and 3348 were
adults above 50 years of age.

  The Director of the NCASC Padam Bahadur Chand states, "The number
appears stable probably due to better technique of estimation used
this time." However most donors believe there is still no visible
coordination in efforts from the Nepal Government in curtailing
HIV/AIDS or in coming up with periodic survey which contradict
national operational goals.

Thus, AIDS cases have been rising dis-proportionately with an
increment in Nepal´s migrant worker population, younger age clients
of sex workers, and, higher number of sex workers. On many highway
routes, truck drivers serve as the spring board of transmission.

The Nepal Government might have a good reason to come up with such
estimate, since it had received last year US$ 76.5 million from the
UN Global Fund and the money needs to be used to maximize reporting
feedback inputs which the UN desires. The amount is Nepal´s first
major international assistance received in the field of HIV/AIDs in
addition to regular and valuable funds being received through USAID,
UN agencies and several INGOs who run substantive program
interventions in HIV/AIDS prevention and control, which however focus
on their individual program bent.

Nepal went through a major civil conflict between 1996-2006 and the
country successfully conducted a national constituent assembly poll
on April 10 to chart out a democratic and more inclusive future for
all Nepalis. The 10 year civil conflict killed 13,600 Nepalis and
displaced 400,000 children and 900,000 adults, of which nearly 60%
were from the Far Western hilly regions.

However, every year due to AIDS more than 15,000 Nepalis are dying.
This is a matter of national concern. In many parts of Western Nepal,
AIDS is known as the ´Mumbai´ disease since Nepali migrant workers
working in India bring it back with them when visiting their
families, particularly infecting their spouses, thus infecting a
larger number of Nepali women in the rural regions.

If one visits districts, such as Dhading, Nuwakot or Achaam, the
rates are not only astonishing, they show an epidemic which is
quickly migrating into the urban peripheral regions. Besides, the
feminization of Nepali AIDS cases is on the rise, but due to the
unstable security situation, neither donors nor local INGOs have
ventured to go to these pockets of HIV/AIDS earlier. They hopefully
will do so now on a regular basis.

International organizations are optimistic about Nepal´s new
democratic future after the peaceful CA Poll but worry a lot more
about the pessimistic conditions in the general country side where
the estimate of true AIDS cases is known to be at least three times
what the government quotes and chew into national development
efforts.

The Nepal Government needs to be more serious about two major issues,
health and education. The lack of proper health and education
programs fuel in the infections.

Recently Prime Minister Girija Prasad Koirala stated that if these
two issues were taken more seriously, Nepal could make immense gains
in the road to national prosperity, he considered them the two major
priorities of any future government.

Also, due to this widespread illiteracy and ignorance of the disease
in the isolated parts of the country, less than 27.5 percent of
Nepal's inhabitants can read, and a recent government survey
conducted in the nation's 75 districts revealed that 71.7 percent of
males and 49.6 percent of females had never heard of AIDS. There is
little doubt that those who have the highest figures are needle-
sharing drug addicts in urban locations, migrant workers who work in
India, female commercial sex worker who are highly mobile these days,
and their clients who appear to be younger and have more money to
spend.

In urban Kathmandu, Pokhara, and Biratnagar, the cash credit card and
car symbol has caught the mood of the younger generation who like to
experiment a little with everything in life, including the
availability of alternative entertainment. Drug use is on the rise in
Nepal, particularly among the youth, needle sharing is common which
sparks AIDS infections.


While the Nepal Government's attention appears focused on preventing
the spread of AIDS among migrant laborers, intravenous drug users and
sex workers, housewives have become one of the most vulnerable groups
in the country with the rate of infection rising by more than 100
percent.

In 2006, , the NCASC of the Nepal Government reported 1,883
housewives were infected with AIDS. Private hospitals in Nepal have
recorded even higher numbers. There is wide spread stigma and
discrimination attached in coming up with truthful disclosure on
one´s status. This cannot go on for long, before the number of deaths
from AIDS triples in the next half decade from 15,000 to 30,000
deaths per year. This is in truth is the reality of AIDS in Nepal in
2008.

Consider this, in the past two years, the figures might have gone up
by quite a few percentage points. The growing labor migration to
India and other destinations in East and West Asia is another cause
of concern, since many of the women also are engaged in commercial
sex in Mumbai, Delhi Madras, Kolkata and Bangalore.

Nearly 250,000 Nepali female sex workers are involved in India´s sex
trade working in Nepali brothels in the inner cities and vice dens.
Some of Nepal´s donors have already expressed concern that the rising
number of orphans in the Nepalese rural regions particularly in
Western and Far Western region have resulted in 13,000 to 15,000
orphans being left out in the open. But who is going to take care of
them in future?

The new Nepal Government must take a serious introspection on this
issue. The joint report by the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and
serious donors such as the United States Agency for International
Development (USAID), have stated in the past that social stigma has
increased with the number of cases globally, including in Nepal. The
Nepali AIDS infected children face discrimination both at the hands
of adults and other children in both their villages and schools.

UNAIDS India estimates at least 10 percent of the 2-3 million
Nepalese migrants working in India are HIV positive, but the figures
could be anywhere between 30-40% based on an independent study done
by some of the INGOs there, which was also reported by BBC which was
focusing among returned commercial sex workers in Kathmandu.

The virus is spreading through the men to their spouses and others in
many parts of the country. The situation is serious, but since it
seems Nepal still is focused on the political priorities of forming a
Constituent Assembly and focusing on developing a new Constitution.
Health and AIDS have been necessarily neglected.

Currently there are nearly 80 national and international NGOs working
in Nepal in the field of HIV/AIDS impact mitigation, while more than
170 orphanages claim to cater to AIDS orphans.

But the fact is despite Nepal receiving ample assistance for the past
fifteen years in the prevention and control of HIV/AIDS, it has been
facing a lot of difficulties in institutionalizing a proper
government policy that caters to the true needs of those infected and
affected by the virus. Some state, if there was less interference
from the donors, the Nepal Government might be able to set its
priorities straight, but the Nepal Government appears not being able
to take leadership on its own.

In the past half decade various AIDS activist groups have been
demanding a more pro-active national policy that sensitizes the
Nepali population to their status, but with the lenient workings of
the NCASC, and the absence of an effective national communications
strategy, it is hard to imagine a nationwide advocacy drive that will
help Nepal get out of this health rout. Thus, where coordination is
strictly desired, there is more confusion in tackling Nepal´s AIDS
crises.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/59202

Seoul City Seeks Recognition of AIDS Patients as Disabled

By Bae Ji-sook, Staff Reporter

The Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG) is moving to get human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV) positive people acknowledged as
physically disabled so that they can receive state subsidies, tax
cuts and other welfare benefits.

However, the central government is showing a lukewarm attitude toward
the proposal.

A city government spokesman said Monday it will submit the plan to
the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Family Affairs this week.

The request is based on a report by a research team from Inha
University and the Korean Alliance to Defeat AIDS (KADA). Many HIV-
positive people suffer from financial difficulty after being
diagnosed, but are only exempted from paying national health
insurance premiums. The team reported 47 percent of 281 HIV positive
patients have no regular income and more than 55 percent live on less
than 500,000 won a month.

Respondents to a questionnaire said their most pressing issues are
financial difficulties and medical privacy. They said financial
support and medical care would improve their lives alongside public
campaigns to change public perception.

The team said in the United States and Japan, AIDS patients are
registered as physically disabled regardless of their symptoms.

However, in Korea many are reluctant to report themselves to the
government out of concern of leakage of private information.

``Current registration cards detail diseases or disorders,'' a KADA
spokesman said. However, the ministry said it is unlikely that such
people would be acknowledged as disabled. A ministry official said if
HIV positive and AIDS patients are acknowledged, those with other
chronic diseases will complain.

``We should decide whether AIDS should be considered a disorder
rather than a disease. What about those with myocardial infarction or
cancer? I think its very unlikely,'' he said.

He also added that in the United States, the acknowledgement is to
prevent social discrimination such as dismissal or denial of jobs.

``What HIV positive patients need is practical support and we should
find ways to provide it without having to recognize them as disabled.
We are fixing standards for the disabled by 2010 and might take a
look at the issue then,'' he said.

As of last December, a total of 4,343 people were diagnosed as HIV
positive with about 1,693 residing in Seoul.

bjs@...

http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2008/04/205_22530.html

Dear group members,

I just want to take the opportunity to inform you that ECOT will be
participating in the upcoming UNAIDS meeting in Chiang Mai / Thailand.
As I communicated earlier we at the ECOT are interested in learning
about the needs and challenges you see to address the specific but
holistic issue of AIDS and/in Tourism, related to poverty reduction
and the MDGs.

If you are coming to Chiang Mai and intested in this issue, please
write to me on: contours@..., for that we can meet!

For those interested, I can also send the ECOT-article 'Poverty, AIDS and
Tourism - a global challege'. Looking forward to your repsonse!

Julia Schonharl

Program Coordinator ECOT (www.ecotonline.org)
e-mail: <julia@...>

Request for Expressions of Interest

Management Sciences for Health, Inc. (MSH) is currently soliciting
expressions of interest (EOIs) from qualified organizations with
capabilities and experience in one or more of four technical areas:
Governance and Leadership; Program and Financial Management;
Procurement and Supply Management; and Monitoring and Evaluation.

This request supports the MSH Grant Management Solutions (GMS)
project, which works with the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for
AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to provide technical support to countries having
difficulty implementing their grants from the Global Fund to Fight
AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria.

The project is designed to provide short-term technical support to
country coordinating mechanisms and principal recipients.

Successful firms will provide professional and experienced
consultants to be part of GMS teams with the ability to implement
complex scopes of work at national levels and produce technical
documents and capacity strengthening activities within a relatively
short period of time. Most scopes of work are completed within 4-6
months through two to three visits. The average consultant contract
for an individual assignment will be for 50-60 days, with about 40
days in the country that requests technical support. Many scopes of
work respond to Global Fund conditions precedent and deadlines.

Qualified organizations may be nonprofit, nongovernmental
organizations; private businesses; or academic institutions with
consulting capacity. MSH seeks to identify potential contractors
working in Africa, Asia, North Africa, Middle East, Eastern Europe,
and Central Asia.

Organizations should provide experts with at least 10 years of
experience in technical areas relevant to the scope of work, and with
at least 5 years of experience working at a national level and with
appropriate language skills. Local and regional organizations, those
that use French and Portuguese, and women-owned organizations are
strongly encouraged to apply. The deadline for the submission of
expressions of interest is 31 May 2008.

More detailed information and submission forms can be found at:
www.gmsproject.org/solicitation.

Questions concerning this request should be submitted via e-mail to:
solicitation@....

Contact: solicitation@...

Management Sciences for Health (MSH)
4301 North Fairfax Drive, Suite 400, Arlington, VA 22203 USA
Telephone: +1.703.524.6575 Fax: +1.703.524.7898
http://www.gmsproject.org/solicitation/index.cfm

Dear Reader

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is a global public/private partnership dedicated to raising and disbursing large amounts of additional finance to prevent and treat the three pandemics.  The Global Fund has so far committed more than US$10 billion to over 520 programs in 136 countries.

The Global Fund is seeking candidates with backgrounds in Finance, Legal, Strategic Planning, Project/Grant Management, Public/Private Partnerships, Policy Guidance, Monitoring and Evaluation, Publishing, and more. Please share this information across your networks and contacts.

The Global Fund is currently receiving applications for the positions listed in the table below.

APPLICATIONS SHOULD BE SUBMITTED ELECTRONICALLY VIA THE GLOBAL FUND WEBSITE www.theglobalfund.org/en/jobs

Online applications will be acknowledged and a confirmation sent to the e-mail address provided.

Candidates whose applications are of interest will be contacted and invited to participate further in the selection process.

Global AIDS Week of Action 18-24 May, 2008. Keep the Promise of
Universal Access by 2010

Citizens' Campaign TOWARDS UNIVERSAL ACCESS in Asia

The United Nations High- Level meeting on HIV&AIDS, which is one of
the important high level political meetings on HIV&AIDS, is around
the corner. The 2008 high-level meeting on AIDS will take place at
the United Nations headquarters in New York on 10 - 11 June. It will
review progress made in implementing the 2001 Declaration of
Commitment on HIV&AIDS and the 2006 Political Declaration on HIV&AIDS.

In the context of Asia, beside series of commitments, the entire Asia
is facing an unprecedented challenge of HIV & AIDS, with possibly
huge economic and social consequences. Despite series of claims and
commitments of the governments, donors and civil society groups, a
large number of people in the region continue to face a series of
crisis. People are dying from AIDS related deaths because they have
no access to food, care, support and medicine. Those who are
struggling to escape the jaws of death are compelled to put up with
stigma, discrimination and inhuman treatments: a mockery of democracy.

The debilitating human rights condition, increasing democratic
deficit, unabated conflicts and increasing religious fundamentalism
in most of the countries in Asia pose great challenges to address the
causes and consequences of HIV & AIDS. To add, increasing
inequalities, mass exodus and exacerbating violence, particularly
against women make the issue of HIV & AIDS more complex. The
fundamental question haunting us today is, are the key stakeholders
sincere enough in fighting the epidemic?

What is GAWA?

Global AIDS Week of Action (GAWA) is an organized citizen's campaign
that takes places from 18-24 May to demand urgency, accountability
and more resources in the fight against HIV & AIDS. For the past two
years during the Global AIDS Week of Action, activists have organized
actions in over 30 countries to hold world leaders accountable on
their landmark commitment to fight AIDS made at the United National
General Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001.

The Global AIDS Week of Action from 18-24 May 2008 is an opportunity
for activists around the world to stand together, generate political
pressure and demand action from our leaders. The week starts with the
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day on 18 May "a Sunday when
the world recognizes and remembers those who have died of AIDS. The
week of action is just two weeks before a high level meeting at the
UN discusses the progress made by each of our governments in the
fight against AIDS.

The Universal Access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support
by 2010 is still a distant dream. Thus, the Asian People's Alliance
for Combating HIV&AIDS (APACHA) urges government, donors and civil
society groups to meet their commitments to the Universal Access by
2010. As in the past APACHA encourages its partners, country
chapters, alliance members, and all like minded actors to actively
participate in the GAWA campaign to have our say and make the
concerned agencies more accountable. APACHA is also part of global
coalition on GAWA Campaign.

...we call...

• Governments to immediately introduce humanitarian relief programs
for PLHA in poor families in Asia.

• To redefine and implement long term development programs that
address the structural causes of the epidemic and to allocate enough
resource.

• To strengthen public health care systems with special focus to HIV
& AIDS treatment and care.

• To ensure just and democratic governance in HIV & AIDS related
interventions from global to local levels.

• To ensure political and meaningful participation of PLHA and other
communities in decision making processes.

• To ensure the governance mechanism of CCM through the transparent
and democratic processes.

• To strengthen monitoring and evaluation systems to ensure the
effectiveness of the ongoing programs, their transparency and
accountability. Promote social audits.

• Governments and donors to promote development strategies based on
the needs and experience of people and local realities. We call for
strengthening of national policy making, based on nationally defined
needs and priorities that are decided through the political
participation of PLHA, vulnerable communities and civil society.

• Governments to fully recognize the centrality of gender equality
and equity in over all HIV & AIDS planning, implementation and
monitoring processes. We call for donors and governments to promote
women's rights and end violence against women.

• Governments for a commitment for the reduction in military
spending, and give priority to public health and HIV & AIDS.

• To end stigma and discrimination and ensure legislative measures to
protect the rights of PLHA and other marginalized communities to lead
a dignified life.

• Provide responsible care and quality treatment to persons living
with HIV & AIDS.

• International donors and governments to take immediate action for
fair and transparent aid, and to meet the commitments of debt
cancellation.

• For the increase in financial support for the Universal Access
Target by 2010. In addition, sustained and predictable funding for
the Global Fund to fight AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria must be
assured.

• No TRIPS. Guarantee the free access of HIV & AIDS related medicines
including ART for people living with HIV & AIDS. Ensure public health
rights take precedence over pharmaceutical patents.

• Governments to take actions for the reform of the multilateral
system of governance and the strengthening and democratization of the
United Nations a reform of the World Bank, IMF and other
International Financial Institutions, together with the WTO to adhere
to these principles.

• Governments to ensure that engagement with civil society in the
process of decision making - nationally, regionally and at the
international level - is effectively facilitated.

• Governments to ensure the rights of migrant workers

• To promote multi-sectoral approach ensuring enough resource,
capacity and coordination. As MDG provides a ground to systematically
develop links among eight goals, it could be one of the best possible
alternatives.

• Civil society, business sector, political parties, religious
leaders, trade unions, student unions and all other networks and
individuals to reflect, and realize the urgency of the epidemic and
to take immediate actions to mobilize themselves and their respective
constituencies to protect the rights of the people and to make a
better Asia, a citizen's Asia.

Asian People's Alliance to Combat HIV and AIDS (APACHA)
e-mail: secretariat.asia@...
www.apachanet.org

World Community Advisory Board (World CAB)meeting in New Delhi. 22-
24th April.

The WorldCAB Meeting will take place from 22th – 24th April, 2008 in
New Delhi, India.

If you have specific issues regarding 2-line/ 3-line ARV drug
treatment, generic formulations of AIDS  medicines and  pediatric
treatment you want to raise, kindly communicate with  representative
from your respective region (the participant list of this meeting
with contact details can be download from www.itpcglobal.org
http://itpcglobal.org/images/stories/docs/worldcab_participant_list_00
2.pdf

The invited pharmaceutical companies that will be attending the
meeting Include Ranbaxy, Matrix and Aurobindo/Emcure (to be confirmed).

Objectives of the WorldCAB4:

1. To build capacity among HIV+ leaders and advocates on drug
development and access issues, particularly issues around access to
generic  formulations of AIDS medicines.

2. To allow PLHIV leaders and advocates share and learn from each
other About how to advocate for access to treatment.

3. To build advocacy skills on issues related to access to essential
medicines, including antiretroviral drugs, so that PLHIV leaders and
advocates can be more effective in national advocacy efforts.

4. A platform to engage the generic pharmaceutical industry on issues
  of shared concern in terms of access to AIDS drugs.

5. To develop country specific strategies and action plans for greater
  access to 2nd and 3rd line ARV medicines

At this stage ITPC is arranging conference logistics for meeting
  participants. We'll follow up with the outcomes of the meeting. If
you have any  concerns or questions, please don't hesitate to contact
ITPC Secretariat

At the end of March, the World Community Advisory Board (World CAB)
Working group conducted a participant selection process. We are
delighted to  announce successful candidates below.

Aditi Sharma India
Andy Agbein Kings Senegal
Bob Huff U.S.A.
Carlos Nicolas Garcia de Leon Moreno Mexico
Dorothy Namutamba Uganda
Gcebile Ndlovu Swaziland
Gopar Kumar Nair U.K.
Kajal Bhardwaj India
Kostyantyn Lyezhentsev Ukraine
Leena Menghaney India
Maria Lorena Di Giano Argentina
Mohammad Ismail Pakistan
Muhinda Aaron Uganda
Obatunde Oladapo Nigeria
Raoul Fransen dos Santos The Netherlands
Simao Cacumba Morais Faria Angola
Snehansu Bhaduri India
Vladimir Osin Russia
Sudin Sherchan Nepal
Asia Russell U.S.A.
Kannikar Kijtiwatchakul Thailand
Paul Kasonkomona Zambia
Sanya Reid Smith Malaysia

For further details one may contact:

Attapon Ed Ngoksin
Communications assistant
International Treatment Preparedness Coalition (ITPC) Secretariat:
176/22 Sukhumvit 16, Klongtoey Bangkok Thailand, 10110
Tel: +66 85 4417600
E-mail: attapon@...

Largest survey of HIV Positive people released

Friday, 11 April 2008, Press Release: Aids Foundation

Findings from the largest survey of HIV Positive people released
The largest comprehensive national survey into the health and social
experiences of people living with HIV in New Zealand was released
today. The study was conducted by Dr Jeffrey Grierson from La Trobe
University in Melbourne with the support of the New Zealand AIDS
Foundation (NZAF), Body Positive, Positive Women, and a number of
community groups.

The first HIV Futures New Zealand survey was released in 2002. The
second survey, HIV Futures NZ2, was completed by 261 HIV positive
people in 2007.

"This report gives a comprehensive picture of the health and well-
being of HIV positive New Zealanders. It documents the significant
improvements in health and well-being from the original survey
conducted six years ago." said Dr Grierson.

"However, there are still major challenges for people living with HIV
that include maintaining a good level of health, and participating
fully in their communities," Dr Grierson says. "The release of this
report provides a critical opportunity to reflect on the response to
HIV in New Zealand, and to ensure future efforts benefit all people
with HIV in this country."

The use of antiretroviral medication has increased (2001: 64%, 2007:
73%) with a very large reduction in those reporting difficulties
using these treatments (2001: 79%, 2007: 44%), as well as a decrease
in the difficulties with drug timing (2001: 44%, 2007: 24%). This can
be attributed to greater access to the newer treatments, which have
reduced the pill burden and side effects.

People are taking shorter treatment breaks (2001: 45 days, 2007: 28
days), and are more likely to have discussed this break with their
doctor first (2001: 43%, 2007: 65%).

"It is heartening to know that the increase in availability of
treatments for people with HIV has had such a positive result;
however it is clear that there are still several social issues
related to an HIV diagnosis that still need to be addressed. Any
unwanted disclosure of a person's HIV status, with the associated
stigma, and even discrimination that results is unacceptable in
today's society." says NZAF National Positive Health Manager Eamonn
Smythe.

In 2007 a higher proportion of participants reported being in paid
employment (2001: 53%, 2007: 62%), particularly in full time
employment (2001: 38%, 2007: 44%).

While the purchasing power of this population has increased (median
weekly personal income has increased 2001: $330, 2007: $486), it
remains lower than the remainder of the New Zealand population.
Fewer people reported that their HIV status had been disclosed
without their permission in the past two years (2001: 33%, 2007:
19%). For two thirds of these people the disclosure had negative
consequences.

"Most of the results from this study show improvements for people
living with HIV in New Zealand over the last six years – some of them
quite considerable," says NZAF Research Director Tony Hughes.
"In essence, greatly improved treatment options led to better
personal health and well being." Hughes says.

"The NZAF will take this opportunity to ensure services in the future
for HIV positive people are planned using relevant and up to date
research," says Smythe. The HIV Futures NZ2 survey, Mate âraikore a
muri ake nei (Tuarua) was conducted by the Australian Research Centre
in Sex, Health and Society in collaboration with the New Zealand AIDS
Foundation.

The survey was funded by the New Zealand Ministry of Health and was
supported by funds from the Australian Government Department of
Health and Ageing, and the New Zealand AIDS Foundation.

ENDS

Professor Marian Pitts Professor Marian Pitts is the Director of the
Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society at La Trobe
University Melbourne, Australia. Marian has previously held
appointments in Zimbabwe, the USA and the UK and has worked in the
area of HIV/AIDS and STIs. She has published numerous articles in key
journals in her field and is the author of The Psychology of
Preventive Health (1996) and co-editor of The Psychology of Health
(1998), and, with Anthony Smith, Researching the Margins (2007).
Since 2000 as Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex,
Health & Society (ARCSHS) at La Trobe University, Professor Pitts has
been responsible for building and directing a multi-disciplinary team
of 40 staff with qualifications and expertise in psychology,
anthropology, sociology, public health, health promotion,
methodology, epidemiology, education, women's health, consumer
advocacy and health policy. Since 2000 Professor Pitts has been
invited to provide advice and expertise to State and Federal
Ministerial committees related to sexual health and STIs, to the
World Health Organisation in the areas of sex and sexual health, to
the Ford Foundation and the New Zealand Ministry of Health. In 2005
she was Appointed Member of the NHMRC Discipline Panel, and was more
recently appointed to the Federal HIV/AIDS and STI Subcommittee of
the Ministerial Advisory Committee on AIDS, Sexual Health and
Hepatitis. Between 2001 and 2006 Professor Pitts was a Member of
Ministerial Advisory Committees on Sexual Health at State and
National Level, and in 2006 was appointed to the Australian Research
Council Panel of Experts.

Dr Jeffrey Grierson

Dr Jeffrey Grierson is the Senior Research Fellow, Living with HIV
Program, Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society, La
Trobe University. He is responsible for a suite of projects funded by
the Australian Government addressing the psycho-social context of
people living with HIV (PLWHA) in Australia.

He is currently Principal Investigator on a number of projects with
people living with HIV/AIDS, including the sixth Australian HIV
Futures Survey. His research with HIV positive populations in
Australia, India and Southern African acknowledges the importance of
HIV positive voices in all aspects of the research process.

Jeffrey also conducts research addressing issues of sexuality and
community engagement in Southern Africa, South East Asia and the
Pacific. In 2007 he was awarded the inaugural Charles La Trobe
Fellowship for research into Male to Male Sexual Practices in the
Asia Pacific Region.

He is also the chair of the Victorian AIDS Council Research and
Ethics Committee and a board member of the Australian Federation of
AIDS Organisations.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/GE0804/S00083.htm

Redefining AIDS in Asia, a report from the Commission on AIDS in Asia

March 27, 2008 - Redefining AIDS in Asia, a report from the
Commission on AIDS in Asia - supported primarily by UNAIDS

The Commission on AIDS in Asia reported Wednesday that if Asian
governments do not boost prevention funding, the region would see
increases in AIDS mortality and HIV infections. The UNAIDS-
commissioned study predicted that, without additional action, AIDS
deaths in Asia could rise from 440,000 each year currently to nearly
500,000 annually by 2020, and total infections could double from 4.9
million to 10 million.

Despite declines in new HIV infections in some countries, "AIDS still
accounts for more deaths annually among 15 to 44 year-olds than do
tuberculosis and other diseases," the report said.

The report also said: "...currently, HIV epidemics in Asia are highly
unlikely to sustain themselves in the "general population"
independently of commercial sex, drug injecting, and sex among men.
And, most critically, it means that prevention efforts that
drastically reduce HIV transmission among and between those most at
risk populations will bring the epidemics under control."

Comment - This report finally tones down the doom and gloom HIV
scenarios that Peter Piot and pseudo AIDS experts like the US
National Intelligence Council, Nicholas Eberstadt, and Susan Hunter
have been shouting about during the past decade.

However, use of Tim Brown's Asian Epidemic model has resulted in
decreasing HIV incidence and prevalence in Asia until close to 2010
when for unclear reasons both HIV incidence and prevalence will begin
to increase due to increased transmission in commercial sex networks.
Overall, according to this model, HIV prevalence in Asia will slowly
increase from the current close to 5 million to over 10 million by
2020. This projection makes no epidemiologic sense to me, but UNAIDS
apparently has swallowed this modeling, hook, line, and sinker!

It's shameful that this report asserted that "Regionally, AIDS is
estimated to be the single largest cause of death and morbidity due
to disease for adults age 15-44 years." This is absolutely wrong - by
almost an order of magnitude! The epidemiologists who supplied the
HIV/AIDS estimates and data for this report should have known that
the global burden of disease study by Colin Mathers clearly showed
that because of the huge numbers of AIDS deaths in sub-Saharan
Africa, AIDS was the leading cause of adult (15-59 years of age)
deaths in 2001 on a global basis. However, for Asia, AIDS was not
even in the top 10 leading causes of adult deaths in 2001! I would
respectfully ask the authors of this Commission report to put out a
correction for this gross error. Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General
was not well served by his UN staff when they drafted the following
statement for him regarding the Commission's report:

"As a Korean, and the first UN Secretary-General from Asia in more
than 30 years, it's no surprise that I often speak of my home
continent as a model for economic development. Yet when it comes to
the AIDS epidemic, I am more disheartened than proud. Across Asia,
AIDS remains the most likely cause of death of people in their most
productive years. At the rate we are going, the current 5 million
Asians infected with HIV will grow to 13 million by 2020. Meanwhile
the death toll mounts, with some 440,000 people succumbing to AIDS
each year."

Although this report was from an independent study, the HIV/AIDS
estimates and data continue to be supplied by UNAIDS staff or UNAIDS
advisors. One of these days, they may actually report accurate
numbers, even if it may be by accident! There is no doubt that AIDS
is not the leading cause of adult deaths in Asia - nor even within
the top 10 causes of adult deaths in Asia - is this error again an
indication of epidemiologic incompetence or deliberate distortion of
the data by UNAIDS!

However, aside from not agreeing with the HIV/AIDS numbers and
projections in this report, I do agree with most of the
recommendations in this report.

James (Jim) Chin,
Clinical Professor of Epidemiology,
School of Public Health  University of California, Berkeley

http://www.theaidspandemic.com/index-a.htm

Cross posted from : HIV Information for Myanmar [him]"
<HIV.Information.for.Myanmar@...>

IAS CALLS FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF CHINESE ACTIVIST

3 April 2008 (Geneva, Switzerland) - The International AIDS Society (IAS) today
expressed grave concern over the sentencing of Hu Jia - a prominent Chinese
human rights activist - on charges of subversion, and called for Mr Jia’s
immediate and unconditional release.

IAS President, Pedro Cahn, referred to Mr Jia’s sentence as a failure of
justice.

"Hu Jia is highly respected as a human rights activist all over the world. He
has dedicated his life to fighting against injustice in China, at great personal
risk. His continued harassment by authorities, arrest and subsequent sentencing
is a violation of his human rights, and an insult by the Chinese authorities to
the global human rights movement," said Dr Cahn. "We are also concerned for Hu’s
health. He needs daily medication for his hepatitis infection and is in the
early stages of sclerosis of the liver."

Hu is most widely known as an advocate for the rights of people living with
HIV/AIDS in China, and has been honoured with a number of international awards
for his efforts. His work on HIV/AIDS is widely credited within China amongst
government authorities and civil society groups. According to available
information, Hu’s conviction and sentencing are not in relation to his HIV/AIDS
work.

"This is the time for China to be improving its image. The eyes of the world are
on Beijing ahead of the Olympic Games, and we urge the Chinese government to
seize this opportunity to improve its record on human rights, and release Hu Jia
immediately," said Dr Cahn.

Yesterday (2 April), Hu was sentenced to three and half years in prison on
charges of subversion. He was convicted in a trial last month.

The IAS is the world's leading independent association of HIV professionals,
with more than 10,000 members from 172 countries. The IAS is a non-profit
organization founded in 1988, and acts as an independent voice in the global
response to AIDS on behalf of its members. The Society is the custodian of the
International AIDS Conferences, the paramount gathering of all disciplines in
HIV/AIDS, held every two years, and organizes the IAS Conference on HIV
Pathogenesis, Treatment and prevention.


Karen Bennett

Senior Communications Manager
International AIDS Society
Geneva, Switzerland
Tel: +41 22 710 0832
Email: Karen.bennett@...

Dear Colleagues

Greetings from Asian People’s Alliance for Combating HIV&AIDS (APACHA)
International Secretariat

APACHA is one of the largest mass based people’s network  responding to HIV in
Asia. We are working with multisectoral constituencies including academia,
people’s movements, women’s rights networks, HIV&AIDS networks, student unions,
sex workers, trade unions, lawyers, indigenous networks etc.

Over the years we have been able to mobilize a significant number of people in
different campaigns such as people’s CARAVAN, women wont wait, people’s SAARC,
Global Week of Action, etc.

In the past also, we had a huge mobilization on Global AIDS Week of Action
(GAWA) campaigns in different countries of Asia. We have taken this event as one
of the important civil and political campaigns to amplify the voices of the
people and to sensitize all stakeholders for their increased accountability,
transparency and responsibility.

This year also we will be mobilizing our constituencies in different parts of
Asia. Participating countries will be Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Cambodia,
Thailand, India, and Indonesia.

Some of the activities of APACHA constituencies during GAWA campaigns are:

1- Public hearing
2- Media interaction- radio and TV talk shows
3- Policy dialogues with government, UN agencies and other stakeholders
4- Reality Check in Asia- briefing paper
5- Actively and critically engage with government process in developing the
country updates
6- Endorse APACHA Charter of Demand

If you have any queries, please feel free to write to us.

Best Regards
Prabodh Devkota
Asia Coordinator
Asian People’s Alliance for Combating HIV&AIDS
www.apachanet.org
e-mail: <prabodh.devkota@...>
____________________________
Global AIDS Week of Action 18-24 May, 2008 One week. One voice

Join a groundswell of civil society voices from across the world during  the
week of 18-24 May to demand urgency, accountability and more  resources in the
fight against HIV and AIDS.

WHY: The severe impact of the AIDS pandemic on families, communities
and economies is commonly acknowledged by scientists, the media and
politicians the world over. However, more than 25 years later the losses remain
stark: AIDS continues to kill almost 6000 people each day and more than 2 out of
3 HIV positive people still lack access to treatment.

While women make up an increasing proportion of those living with HIV and bear a
greater burden of care, current AIDS responses do not tackle the violation of
women’s rights – a key driver of the pandemic.

For the past two years during the Global AIDS Week of Action, activists have
organised actions in over 30 countries to hold world leaders accountable on
their landmark commitment to fight AIDS made at the United  National General
Assembly Special Session on AIDS (UNGASS) in 2001.

In 2005 world leaders made another historic promise on universal
access, committing to: “developing and implementing a package for HIV
prevention, treatment and care with the aim of coming as close as possible to
the goal of universal access to treatment by 2010.”

The world needs to honour this ambitious promise to stop the needless
deaths of women, men and children. Our governments must meet their
national targets for universal access to treatment prevention, care and support.
Multinational drug companies must stop putting profits before people. Rich
nations, including the G8, must back their warm words on AIDS  with real funds.

The Global AIDS Week of Action is the defining mobilisation moment
before world leaders report back to the UN on the progress they have made to
meet their commitments on HIV and AIDS. So as our governments boast about their
efforts at the UN meeting in New York, in cities from Abuja to Phnom Penh and
Delhi to Lilongwe, citizens will call on them to deliver on their promises.

WHEN: The Global AIDS Week of Action from 18-24 May 2008 is an
opportunity for activists around the world to stand together, generate
political pressure and demand action from our leaders. The week starts with the
International AIDS Candlelight Memorial Day on 18 May – a Sunday when the world
recognizes and remembers those who have died of AIDS. The week of action is just
two weeks before a high level meeting at the UN  discusses the progress made by
each of our governments in the fight against AIDS. In early July the club of
rich nations (G8) meet in Japan – let them know that the world is watching to
see if they put money where their mouth is and agree a funding plan for the
universal access goal.

HOW: Between now and the end of May, it’s time to take action. You
bring together fellow activists in your country to plan what action to take and
what demands to make of your government. You then share your plans with friends
and activists in other countries through the Global AIDS Week website,
www.globalaidsweek.org


Communication of your ideas and plans is the glue that will bind all our actions
together and send a strong message to world leaders.

Are you ready to join the Global AIDS Week of Action?

Take the initiative by sending an email with the plans agreed by activists in
your country to info@... and we will add you to the list of
active countries and send you updates. Then log on to the website to see your
actions listed!

There is no global secretariat or chief organiser – the groups listed
below are joining forces to make this call, and the rest is up to you.

The success of the Global AIDS Week of Action depends entirely on
committed people and networks working together in a coalition in their own
countries.

During this one week we must show solidarity internationally
by campaigning nationally.

To see what people did in 2007, go to: www.globalaidsweek.org

ACCESS TO TREATMENT
END HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
FUNDING FOR AIDS
END DONOR CONDITIONALITY
EVIDENCE-BASED PREVENTION
END VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN
INVEST IN HEALTH WORKERS
END STIGMA AND DISCRIMINATION
HEALTH SYSTEMS FOR ALL!

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/

DEADLY DENIAL Confronting AIDS in Asia
By Ban Ki-moon

As a Korean, and the first UN Secretary-General from Asia in more
than 30 years, it's no surprise that I often speak of my home
continent as a model for economic development. Yet when it comes to
the AIDS epidemic, I am more disheartened than proud.

Across Asia, AIDS remains the most likely cause of death of people in
their most productive years. At the rate we are going, the current 5
million Asians infected with HIV will grow to 13 million by 2020.
Meanwhile the death toll mounts, with some 440,000 people succumbing
to AIDS each year.

Asia's flourishing economic prosperity does not help groups that are
most vulnerable to the disease. People living with HIV—including many
in low-risk groups—are denied their basic right to health.

This is deplorable, considering how little is required to contain the
epidemic and help those in need. A new UN-supported
survey, "Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an effective response,"
finds that annual investment of just thirty cents per capita can
reverse the epidemic through prevention. That would translate into
saving the lives of more than 200,000 people each year.

I know my continent has the resources, the technology and the ability
to undertake this ambitious and life-saving mission. Asia's fast-
growing economies have emancipated millions of poor people. Most
countries on the continent are on track to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals, our common vision for building a better world in
the 21st century.

But if we fail to act, we could threaten the very prosperity that
places Asia in a position to respond effectively now. We are in
danger of spinning into a vicious circle where the AIDS epidemic
grows so serious as to undermine economic growth and social
resilience, leading to more and more infections at ever greater cost.

Experience shows Asia's ability to act in the face of grave threats.
We saw this in the response to SARS five years ago. Beyond the
immeasurable good of saving lives, action will bring a tangible
economic boost. For every dollar we spend on preventing HIV today,
the report notes, we will save eight dollars on treatment in the
future.

Our response to AIDS is not only about money. It is, above all, about
people. The stigma associated with AIDS can be worse than the
disease – robbing people of access to basic human rights and health
care, preventing them from living a dignified life, and deterring
them from getting tested for HIV.

Some of my most inspiring experiences as Secretary-General have been
my meetings with UN+, the group of our staff members living with HIV.
Their courage and expertise have given me new and invaluable insights
into the epidemic. Hearing from these people, who speak with such
directness about their lives, I felt ashamed of the discrimination
that people living with HIV often face around the world, and perhaps
especially in Asia. Painful as these lessons may be, I value them and
intend, on my next visit, to visit a facility or organization
addressing the needs of those living with HIV and AIDS.

Listening is important. But beyond that we must engage with people
living with HIV as we develop policies and carry out programmes to
address the epidemic.

Women and girls are the main caregivers – and they are also
disproportionately vulnerable to HIV infection. They need special
attention. We must tackle social norms that prevent women from
protecting themselves, including through better legislation, or
better enforcement of existing laws.

And we must guard against legislation that blocks universal access by
criminalizing the lifestyles of vulnerable groups. We have to find
ways to reach out to sex workers, men who have sex with men and drug
users, ensuring that they have what they need to protect themselves.

It starts with Asian Governments showing leadership to invest more
substantially in the fight against AIDS and move resolutely to stamp
out stigma and discrimination.

This June, the UN General Assembly will hold a high-level meeting
offering an opportunity to take stock and advance the global response
to AIDS. I personally will do all I can – as a Secretary-General and
an Asian – to be at the vanguard of this effort. I look to the
leaders of Asia to do the same.

The writer is Secretary-General of the United Nations

http://www.un.org/Pubs/chronicle/2008/webarticles/080327_aids.html

Dear Friends,

More updates on Commission on AIDS in Asia.....

I am happy to report that in a well-attended event a few hours ago, the Chairman
of the Commission on AIDS in Asia delivered our Report to the Secretary-General
of the United Nations, Mr Ban Ki-moon.  In a well packed conference in the UN
Headquarters, attended by the Representatives of the Asian Governments, UN
cosponsors, UNAIDS  Executive director Peter Piot the a brief outline of the
report was presented by the Chairman.

He pointed out that AIDS in Asia has emerged as the largest killer dieses for
adult population less than 45 years of age. The urgency is lacking on the part
of the leaderships, he pointed out that only two country had head of state
leading the National AIDS response, The resource is only 20% of the resources
required in the region and most countries depend on the donors for the program
when it is very well within the means of the governments, Even at thirty cents
per capita an effective response can be mounted for majority countries in Asia
the report highlights provided the population groups are prioritized and
programs are effective,

Dr Peter Piot, UNAIDS Executive Director, commended the report for results-based
approach, highlighting the need for prioritization for interventions for sex
workers, drug users, and MSM populations, and called for an increase in domestic
resources and overall making a case for regional strategies.

Ban Ki-moon the UN Secretary-General in its first ever public appearance on HIV
on Asia appealed to the governments to implement the recommendations of the
report that includes decriminalization of IDU, sex work and MSM population for
effective intervention and ensuring rights for these people  All three speakers
highlighted the need for shift of involvement of civil society form a tokenistic
to meaningful engagement

Although the whole report is uploaded in the UNAIDS website. You should at least
read the executive summary which I am sharing with you: “Redefining AIDS in Asia
: Crafting an effective response” attached here.  The Report gives us new
insight on many issues on HIV in the region, including the specific and
individual recognition of the importance of community involvement through
networks of PLHIV, community-based organizations of sex workers, IDU, MSM;
affected women and NGOs in the AIDS response.  In addition to this recognition,
I’d like to highlight three of the top recommendations for civil society:
First is the need for the democratic and transparent involvement and
representation of civil society in all stages of the response.  One way to
achieve this is through the creation of national alliances of civil society and
community groups, who will vote or find the right process to send
representatives to policy and planning committees, such as the National AIDS
Commissions or the Country Coordinating Mechanisms.
Second, funds don’t always reach the right civil society groups.  To more
efficiently and effectively ensure that the right civil society and community
groups are resourced and supported, we suggest that Governments earmark funds
for this purpose, and that funds are disbursed through a Trust run by equal
Government and nongovernmental representatives.
Finally, it is vitally important that all aspects of the response are closely
monitored by AIDS Watch bodies.  This includes not only Government, but civil
society and community organizations as well.

I would also like to highlight a few of the new findings of the Commission:
We have seen that the global classification of “low”, “concentrated” and
“generalized” epidemics can be misleading and is not sufficient for guiding the
response in Asia .  We suggest there is need for a new classification, based on
the trends in behaviors and infections to highlight the priority of population
groups like drug users, sex workers and MSM population etc. In this Report, we
specifically suggest four scenarios: “latent”, “expanding”, “maturing”, and
“declining”.
The Commission also recognizes the need to protect married women from becoming
infected by their husbands; but the lack of operational strategy is recognized .
Till that time the  most effective way of doing this is to protect the husbands
from getting infected in the first place, and that usually requires prevention
services for sex workers and their clients.
If we focus our resources in the right way, our Report shows that we can halt
and reverse the epidemics, save millions of lives, and provide impact mitigation
services for 80% of the populations most in need.   Such a response will require
$0.50 to $1.00 per capita per annum, depending on the epidemic scenario or stage
in the country.
As you can understand that the Commission has now come to close. , From here,
the follow up to the Commissions work will be launching the Report in at least
two regional settings: the UN ESCAP Commission Session, and at the PCB
meeting—both at the end of this month.  Several people are also working hard to
highlight prominent country-launches throughout the region. Community
discussions are also discussed.

I feel proud that 600 members and community organizations helped shape this
report that has been accepted by the UN at the highest level. As I told today in
the meting that this is not he end but the begging as we have to take this
report to ach country for monitor the implementation.  There is no easy was out
I had to reminded the meeting, we as a community shall act together to see these
actins are translated to action ,  and I hope that you will all join in taking
forward these recommendations.  This Report provides a unique opportunity and
momentum for greater advocacy and action in the AIDS response.  I hope we can
seize this opportunity.

Regards,
Frika Chia Iskandar
e-mail: <frikachia@...>

Webcast: http://www.un.org/webcast/sg.html

Download full report - Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an effective response
(pdf, 1.6 Mb)
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080326_report_commission_aids_en.pdf

UNAIDS Programme Coordination Board NGO Representative Report Preface
Edited by Liang Yanyan, China, 2008-03-26
Background:

The "PCB" is the "Programme Coordination Board" of UNAIDS. The PCB meeting is
held twice per year, is responsible for making major decisions regarding many
aspects of UNAIDS work, including establishing policies and priorities for
UNAIDS; approving budgets and workplans for UNAIDS; and reviewing long-term
plans of action for UNAIDS. The 22nd UNAIDS PCB meeting is being held at
Chiangmai from the 23rd to 24th of April 2008. The agenda and all the related
documents can be downloaded at:

http://www.unaids.org/en/AboutUNAIDS/Governance/PCBArchive/22nd_PCB_Meeting_Apri\
l_2008.asp


Civil Society Representative representing Asia Pacific Region:
Vince Crisostomo, The 7 Sisters, coordinator@...

Liang Yanyan's Suggestions:

Suggest to consult the opinions of your constituency according to the topics
mentioned in the NGO Representative Report, especially TB/HIV Coinfection
management, TB/HCV Coinfection.

1. Co-infection Management: HIV and Tuberculosis

a.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS to endorse TB
prevention diagnosis, and treatment within the context of universal access and
therefore including TB prevention, diagnostics, treatment and adherence in all
national HIV action frameworks and strategies.

b.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS to include the goal of
reducing TB mortality as part of the indicators in national target setting
processes.

c.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board acknowledges and promotes the right of
PLHIV to be able to attend health services without fear of contracting TB.

d.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board recommends UNAIDS to develop and
implement strategies to involve communities affected by HIV in the TB response.

e.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board recommends UNAIDS to collaborate with
partners to development guidance material to address the human rights issues
around treatment of TB, especially in regards to multidrug-resistance TB and
extra drug-resistance TB.

f.     UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS to work with relevant
partners to accelerate research and development of better tools for prevention,
diagnosis, and treatment of TB.


2. Co-infection Management: HIV and Hepatitis C

a.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS and WHO to develop and
additional component of the guideline module relevant for HIV care for
Integrated Management of Adolescent and Adult Illness (IMAI) on Hepatitis Care
with Hepatitis-HIV co-management.

3. Meeting the Treatment Target

a.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS to collaborate more
closely with GFATM on the global mechanism for price negotiation and the cost
effective procurement of all HIV related commodities, with special reference to
the affordability of second line ARV drugs, paediatric formulations, diagnostic
equipment, substitution drugs and clean needles.

4. Meeting the Prevention Target Amongst Injecting Drug Users

a.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS and Co-sponsors, as a
matter of priority, assist governments in scaling up harm reduction approaches,
including needle exchange and substitution therapy, paying particular attention
to removing legislation and policy barriers to effective implementation of harm
reduction services, which would fall in line with commitment 22 of the Political
Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

5. Criminalization of Transmission and Legal Reform

a.    UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS Secretariat to report
at the XX board meting on actions that they are taking with relevant partners at
the national level to remediate the human rights violations, and to ensure that
the recommendations as outlined in the 2002 Policy Options Paper are
implemented.

6. UNAIDS Guidance Note on Sex Work

a.       UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board requests UNAIDS to monitor and
evaluate the implementation of the Guidance Note on HIV and Sex Work in
consultation with the Global Working Group on HIV and Sex Work Policy, and
networks of sex workers to ensure that the development and maintenance of an
enabling environment that respects the rights of sex workers and which promote
and support their empowerment, are given equal attention and resources among
other priorities.

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

Dear Friends,

I am happy to see such interest in the Commission’s work, and I am pleased to
inform you that after more than 18 months of arduous work, the Report of the
Commission, entitled “Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an effective response,”
is ready to be released. To this end, Dr. Rangarajan, the Commission Chair, will
hand over the Report to Mr. Ban Ki-moon, the UN Secretary General, during a
ceremony to be held at the UN Secretariat in New York on 26 March 2008, at 10:30
am (New York).

The Permanent representatives and consular missions of Asian countries in New
York, Heads of Agencies and global coordinators of UNAIDS cosponsors, and major
civil society organizations (such as Clinton Foundation, Open Society, and
others) headquartered in New York have been invited to attend the handover
ceremony at the UN Secretariat. Following the hand-over, the Report will be
uploaded on to the UNAIDS website.

Following the handover of the Report to the UN Secretary General, we are
planning a series of country launches in Asia in April and May 2008. We are
exploring possible launch dates when Heads of Governments will be available to
give AIDS and the event the necessary visibility and importance. We are also
planning a regional launch for civil society, to take place during this period.
And also perhaps serials of dissemination in countries. I will share the launch
schedule with you as it becomes available. I will also share with you a copy of
the Report after the Handover in New York.

Up to now, what I can share with you is that, from the online Community
Consultation and key-information interviews done during July-August 2007, it has
contributed to the Community Engagement Chapter of the report. And hopefully
this report can be use as one of the advocacy tools that we have been using too.

Since the beginning of the report, your contribution has been really meaningful
for me. And I would highly appreciate your support and collaboration in this
process and in the next steps, as we take forward the Recommendations of the
Commission.

Best Regards,

Frika Chia Iskandar
e-mail: <frikachia@...>

Panel Discussion

Redefining AIDS in Asia: Crafting an Effective Response

Co-organized by UNAIDS

Date: Time:  March 26th, 6:30 - 8:30 pm
Location:  New York Asia Society and Museum, 725 Park Avenue (at 70th
Street), New York

Cost:  Free admission, Phone:  212-517-ASIA

In an effort to better understand and analyze the potential impact of
AIDS on economies, societies, individuals and families in Asia, the
Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) supported the
creation of the Independent Commission on AIDS in Asia. Launched in
July 2006 in New Delhi, India, the Commission brings together 9 of
the region's leading development economists, policy makers, public
health experts and civil society representatives working on AIDS.

Join us as the Asia Society and UNAIDS convene the first public
unveiling of the Commission's findings. Commission members will
present their projections for the epidemic's medium- and long-term
effects on society and development in the region. Additionally, they
will offer policy options in the areas of prevention, treatment and
care and impact mitigation aimed at significantly moving the AIDS
response forward in Asia.

Speakers:

JVR Prasada Rao, Director, Regional Support Team, Asia and the
Pacific, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS)

Chakravarthi Rangarajan, Commission Chairman; Chief Economic Advisor
to the Prime Minister of India; Former Governor of the Reserve Bank
of India

Frika Chia Iskandar, the Commission's civil society representative;
founding member of PITA, a support group in Indonesia for parents of
HIV positive children; Board member of the Global Network of PLWHA
(People Living with HIV/AIDS) representing the Asia Pacific region
John E. Tedstrom, Executive Director, Global Business Coalition on
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (moderator)

http://asiasociety.org/events/calendar.pl?
rm=detail&eventid=17166&date=3%2F20%
2F08&filter_region=0&filter_category=0&keywords=AIDS

A CONTRADICTORY PERSONAL OPINION ON CARBON NEUTRALITY

by Mark Rapoport, MD, MPH

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/message/1195

Few can disagree, I believe, with recognizing the huge threat posed
by climate change and with the value of the concept of carbon
neutrality. I also understand and agree with the concept
of "thinking globally, acting locally" - in a programmatic sense as
well as a geographic sense.

Nevertheless, I felt a small shudder when I read the strong
suggestion that the concept of carbon neutrality be discussed at the
aforementioned meeting, and then create a policy that presumably
(and optimistically, although perhaps not realistically) be approved
and implemented.

Politics is the art of the possible, and prioritization is a
watchword in just about every activity in life. Both apply here. In
some areas, considerations of climate change should be at the top of
the list (or nearly so): auto design, recycling, and a host of
others.

I do not think that it should be at the top of the list in
the sphere of HIV/AIDS activity. With this audience, it is not
necessary to discuss the seriousness of the HIV/AIDS problem nor the
insufficiency (in a thousand ways) of the response to it.

Issues of ethics, rights and responsibilities are certainly key in
determining policy re HIV/AIDS (and just about everything else).

However, the slide slippery slope into the swamp of rhetoric and
political correctness (I know-mixed metaphor)has complicated and,
dare I say, slowed down the implementation of important efforts in
prevention and care from the very beginning of this epidemic.

(I say that from personal experience - I was a deputy commissioner in the New
York City Department of Health in 1982, when the condition was
called G.R.I.D., because while we were ignorant of its etiology, we
did know which groups were disproportionately affected.)

"Making a statement" is a good thing; further complicating an
already terribly complicated, challenging, serious, and painful
problem is a bad thing. In this case, I think the latter issue is
by far the more weighty, and it must be the over-arching
consideration in HIV/AIDS policy as it relates to carbon neutrality
and related matters. I think that this consideration argues strongly
for NOT making carbon neutrality a major topic at the meeting in
question and others in the near future.

We should all do our part in the climate change sphere, at every
level. However, I would prefer to see it put on hold in in the
HIV/AIDS arena, at least until we have "turned the corner" on the
daunting challenges posed by new infections, incomplete care, and
inadequate commitment.

Sincerely,

Mark Rapoport, MD, MPH
e-mail: <markrapoportmd@...>

A Carbon Neutral HIV Response

Joe Thomas.

[Dr. Joe Thomas is the editor of AIDS ASIA  and AIDS INDIA e FORUMs.
This is his personal opinion.]

A Carbon Neutral HIV Response must be on the agenda of the next
Programme Coordinating Board (PCB) of the UNAIDS. The 22nd Meeting of
the PCB meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, on 23 - 25 April 2008,
should request UNAIDS to develop a time bound program to make the
agency a carbon neutral entity.

The cost of inaction over man's harmful effect on the environment
would be costly. According to the new OECD report, if current
environmental policies prevail, by 2030 ozone pollution alone is
likely to cause four times more premature deaths, per head of
population, than it did in 2000 (when there were 42,000 such deaths
around the world).

The Kyoto Protocol is an inter governmental agreement, to reduce
human made impact on the global environment, made under the United
Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). The Kyoto
Protocol now covers more than 170 countries globally and more than
60% of countries in terms of global greenhouse gas emissions.
Countries that ratify this protocol commit to reduce their emissions
of carbon dioxide or engage in emissions trading if they maintain or
increase emissions of these gases.

Being Carbon Neutral is becoming desirable a core value, of nations,
institutions, communities and individuals. HIV response – a community
of people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS, researchers, advocates,
and a range of institutions- can any more be insulted from the
challenges of environmental degradation.

Many forward looking corporate houses and members of civil society
have already developed policies and programs to reduce their carbon
footprint and to become their actions carbon Neutral

Annual mammoth international conferences which brings a large number
people across continents together and extensive air travel by an
elite group of HIV response leaders are a source of large amount of
carbon dioxide being added to the environment. There is an urgent
need to look into ways in which, HIV response's harmful impact on the
environment is reduced.

Carbon Neutral HIV response, is important in many ways. Most
importantly it is a signal, that HIV response is maturing and being
connected to other cotemporary social challenges which threatens
human survival.

It appears that such a willingness to connect with other core global
challenges such as addressing poverty, human security, health for
all, need to strengthen the health care systems in developing
countries  and environmental degradations is awfully lacking among
the key opinion makes and leaders of HIV response.

Some of the key challenges of a Carbon Neutral HIV response will be
reflected on individual, institutional, policy and program level.

A massive greening initiative (even a carbon trading initiative) to
mitigate the carbon impact of HIV response could easily be integrated
into any HIV response.  A carbon mitigation project could contribute
to poverty reduction objectives and reducing economic insecurity of
people infected and affected by HIV/AIDS.

A call for a Carbon Neutral HIV response must be on the agenda of
the  22nd Meeting of the Programme Coordinating Board of the UNAIDS
meeting in Chiang Mai, Thailand. The PCB   should request UNAIDS to
develop a time bound program to make the agency carbon neutral. Under
this initiative UNAIDS must be asked to do an auditing of its carbon
print urgently and ways in which such an impact could be mitigated.

Dear friends in the fight against HIV/AIDS,

Now it is the time to overcharge the contact with your national government
representatives in order to secure a proper place for your organization in the
delegation that is going to the UNGASS-AIDS High Level Meeting, in New York
City, in June 10-11.

UNAIDS has stimulated the countries to have a broader civil society
participation in national process, as you can find in the page 17 of the 2008
UNAIDS Guidelines on Monitoring the DoC:

http://data.unaids.org/pub/Manual/2007/20070411_ungass_core_indicators_manual_en\
.pdf

The deadline for the  the General Assembly Presiden send to the contries the
list of NGO that asked for creditation is March 31st.

There is no deadline for governments to include NGOs in the national delegation.
However we strongly recomend that civil society should start contacting your
government immediately, looking for a well represented participation at the
national delegation in June.

This is the pressing issue for our advocacy strategy towards making the civil
society contribution recognized as valuable and indispensable in the fight
against the epidemic, both in a local and in a global level, bringing it up a
notch in the political realm.

Best of good work.


Manuella Donato
Claudio Fernandes

GESTOS - Soropositividade, Comunicação e Gênero
www.gestos.org

Rua dos Médices, 68- Boa Vista
Recife, PE - 50070-290 Brasil
55.81.34217670/ 34217727
Fax: 55.81.32313880
e-mail: <alessandra.nilo@...>

Application for local Hubs are open.

The XVII International AIDS Conference will, for the first time in its history -
and possibly in the history of conferencing - provide hubs (centres) where
selected sessions of the conference will be screened, either live or delayed,
around the world and maybe followed by a moderated local discussion to see how
the content of the session can be used locally. There will be one Official Hub
in South Africa.

Additionally, Partner and Independent Hubs will be put together either by large
international non-for-profit organisations or by local communities (schools,
AIDS societies, faith-based organisations, etc.) or individuals. The conference
organisers will not help these groups set up the hubs, but promote them through
the official AIDS 2008 web site, providing technical guidelines and the feed
(content).

Hubs submissions are open. Please click  the following url to submit a hub.

http://www.aids2008.org/hubs/SubmitHub.aspx


Objectives

1. Expand participation and facilitate access to conference content A greater
number of stakeholders could participate in the conference by attending the IAC
through the conference hubs, especially in areas where the conference has not
been held. Access will also be significantly cheaper.

2. Generate local synergies and media interest Holding the conference in
multiple locations worldwide will generate local dynamics that would not be
generated in Mexico, increase awareness, reduces stigma and provoke discussions
about HIV and AIDS instead of ignoring it.
Local media will also be much keener to report on local events than “just
another conference” happening on another continent.

3. Expand the scope of the IAC, making it a truly global event
By arranging Official Hubs and allowing, encouraging and promoting Partner and
Independent Hubs during the IAC, the conference would be held across the world.
This innovative approach would thus increase the global scope of the conference.

4. Link the regions to the IAC and vice versa It is important to integrate
regional issues into the conference programme, and ensure conference
deliberations reach those in the regions. Hubs will be able to report their
findings on the conference web site.

5. Prepare for a possible capping of the next IAC If the trend of increased
delegate numbers for each conference continues, registrations will have to be
capped. This plan diverts those not able to attend in person, to the hubs.

Please visit http://www.aids2008.org/mainpage.aspx?pageId=364 for more
information and registration.

Thanks & Regards,
Dr.Nabeel.M.K.
e-mail: <drnabeelmk@...>

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS FOR CIVIL SOCIETY SPEAKERS
2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS

1.  Plenary Speaker (a Person Openly Living with HIV)
2.  Speakers at the Informal Interactive Civil Society Hearing
3.  Speakers on Panels

Background

On 10-11 June 2008, a High-Level Meeting will be convened in New
York  by the United Nations General Assembly to undertake a
comprehensive  review of the progress achieved in realizing the 2001
Declaration of  Commitment on HIV/AIDS and the 2006 Political
Declaration on HIV/AIDS.

Opening plenary:

In accordance with the resolution adopted by the  General Assembly
that sets out the organizational arrangements for this  meeting, one
person from civil society who is openly living with HIV will  be
invited to speak at the opening plenary session of the High Level
Meeting. The other plenary speakers will be the Secretary General of
the  United Nations, the President of the UN General Assembly, the
Executive  Director of UNAIDS, and an eminent person (to be
selected). For more  information, see the organizational resolution
for the Meeting at:

http://www.unaids.org/en/KnowledgeCentre/Resources/FeatureStories/archive/2008/2\
0070115_2008_High_level_mtg.asp

Civil society hearing:

A 2 hour interactive hearing will be chaired by  the President of the
General Assembly with approximately 10 speakers  from civil society.
The dialogue will provide an opportunity to exchange  views with
representatives of governments.   The format for the  hearing and
specific topics are still under discussion.

Panels:

Five panel sessions will be held on specific themes that have  not
yet been selected but that will be drawn from the report being
prepared for the meeting by the UN Secretary General.  Speakers from
civil  society may also be members of each panel along with
representatives of  governments and inter-governmental organizations.

Applications Process

A Civil Society Task Force has been established to advise the
President  of the United Nations General Assembly on preparations for
the High  Level Meeting.  The Task Force has been asked to propose
the names of  civil society speakers (including business/private
sector) for the opening  plenary, civil society hearing and panels.

The Task Force has therefore established criteria for selection and a
speaker application process, including criteria and timelines, given
below.

Individuals are asked to apply on their own behalf and must complete
and return the Application Form.  Some people may have indicated
their  interest to be a speaker when they applied for accreditation
or  registered online to attend the High Level Meeting.

These persons must still  complete and return the provided pplication
Form, as it contains  supplementary information to facilitate the
review and selection process.

Applications are strongly encouraged from: women; young people; sex
workers; people who use drugs; men who have sex with men; trans-
gendered  persons, ex-prisoners; migrants; refugees and internally
displaced  persons; and people in conflict and post conflict
situations.

People living with HIV who attend the High Level Meeting and are
prepared to speak from their experience as an openly HIV+ person,
need to be  comfortable that their status may become widely known due
to the  possibility of broad media coverage.  In addition, people
living with HIV  will be required to apply for a visa to enter the US
and a waiver because  of their HIV status.

Selection

The Civil Society Task Force will review applications on the basis of
the established criteria.  Please note that short-listed candidates
may be interviewed by phone.  The Civil Society Task Force will make
public on list-serves its recommendations of civil society speakers
to the President of the General Assembly (who will then make the
decisions in discussion with Member States). It will not be possible
to reply individually to every applicant.


Deadline and contact details

Applications must be completed and received no later than 30 March
2008.

Only email applications will be accepted. Please send the
application  with all required information in English to:

E-mail: hlmspeakers@...


The Task Force is working within tight timeframes and understands
the  challenges of such a short process.  However, this is required
in order  to allow time for a fair selection process, the approval by
the  President of the General Assembly, in discussion with Member
States, and then  for the final selected speakers to be able to
arrange their travel and  visa requirements.  Your assistance in
circulating this information as  widely as possible and as rapidly as
possible is appreciated to ensure  that members of civil society are
aware of this opportunity.

To download application, please go to http://www.icaso.org/cstf.html

Or write to hlmspeakers@... and request a copy to be sent
Electronically

http://www.icaso.org/cstf.html