UNAIDS Second Independet Evaluation- Web Based Survey

Dear Colleagues,

The Evaluation Team conducting the Second Independent Evaluation of UNAIDS is
carrying out two web-based surveys. The surveys provide stakeholders with an
additional opportunity to give their views on the performance of UNAIDS.

These data will supplement information gathered from interviews with
stakeholders and document reviews.

The first survey was completed in March and covered the role and performance of
the PCB and Committee of Cosponsoring Organisations (CCM).

We would appreciate your input on the current survey which is based on the main
evaluation questions and covers the performance of UNAIDS as a whole, including
both the secretariat and the cosponsors.

Your participation will help the evaluation team to develop recommendations for
UNAIDS for the next five years. The greater the response we get, the more
confidence we will have in the results reflecting the views of stakeholders
accurately.

The survey will take about 20 minutes to complete. Click on the link below to be
taken to the survey. Your responses to this survey are completely anonymous.

Link to the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=4ofeK0ZhGhKYkof7vX8H6w_3d_3d

If you have received more than one invitation to complete this survey,
please only respond once. The address lists have been compiled from UNAIDS,
associated organizations and evaluators conducting country and regional visits.

We are keen to be inclusive at the risk of duplication. Sorry for
any confusion caused.

Daisy MacDonald,
E-mail: <Daisy.Macdonald@...>

Job Title: COMMUNICATIONS AND TRAINING MANAGER
Start Date: JULY 2009

Population Services International (PSI) is a non-profit organization that
manages programs for family planning, maternal and child health, and the
prevention of AIDS, malaria and other diseases in over 60 developing countries. 
For more information, please visit: www.psi.org.

With funding from international and local donors, PSI Thailand is implementing
programs on HIV/AIDS prevention among at-risk populations, focused on injecting
drug users and transgenders.  With support from the Global Fund, PSI Thailand
will work with partner organizations to launch targeted behavior change
communication activities to reduce needle/syringe sharing and sexual risk
behaviors, and increase accessing government health services among injecting
drug users in 15 provinces in Thailand.  PSI/Thailand also manages a peer
education and outreach program to promote safer sexual behavior among the
transgender community in Pattaya.

PSI Thailand seeks a creative and innovative Thai national with knowledge and
experience in behavior change communications, health promotion, and
evidence-based programming for the position of Communications and Training
Manager.  As interpersonal communications, peer outreach and community
mobilization will be important components of the program, PSI Thailand seeks
candidates with experience in developing and implementing training to strengthen
the skills of outreach staff and peer educators in these areas.  The successful
candidate will enjoy a dynamic, fast-paced work environment. S/he will possess
excellent organizational, negotiation, interpersonal, analytical, and written &
oral communication skills. S/he will be a highly responsible, self-motivated
problem solver, able to produce results quickly. S/he will have a passion for
improving the health of vulnerable Thai people.


RESPONSIBILITIES:

The Communications and Training Manager’s main responsibilities include:
• Interpreting research results to identify and prioritize the key barriers and
triggers for positive behavior change among at-risk groups.
• Leading the development of key messages for behavior change, in collaboration
with the program team, implementing partners, and external creative agencies
where appropriate.
• Leading the development of a communications plan to disseminate the key
messages, including mix of communications channels and activities and timeline.
• Overseeing the implementation of the communications plan.
• Leading the development and implementation of a training plan to strengthen
the capacity of outreach staff and peer educators.
• Providing feedback to the Research Department on the scope and nature of
research required to guide the strategy for behavior change communications.

QUALIFICATIONS/SKILLS:

• Minimum three years experience working in HIV prevention.  Experience in harm
reduction and programs for injecting drug users preferred.
• Understanding of gender and sexuality based aspects of HIV risk.
• Knowledge and experience in health promotion, behavior change communications
and training curriculum development, post training supportive supervision.
• Familiarity with behavior change theory.
• Ability to supervise and manage communications and training activities.
• Strong communication, interpersonal, and team work skills
• Ability to work independently with limited supervision
• Fluent Thai and English
• University degree in related field (management, health, social science,
marketing and communications)
• Ability to travel at short notice


To apply, please send your resume and a cover letter to:  support@... by
15th May, 2009.


Kind regards,



Alex Duke
Senior Program Officer
PSI Thailand
3rd Floor, Vanissa Building
29 Soi Chidlom, Ploenchit Road
Bangkok 10330, Thailand
Tel: (66) 2 655 4001  Fax: (66) 2 655 4665
e-mail: <alexmduke@...>

http://www.apachanet.org/views/interview/bernhard.php

Subject: Technical Consultant needed on Capacity Strenthening of MSM CBOs in
Mongolia


TERMS OF REFERENCE

Title: Capacity strengthening of MSM Community-based organizations in Mongolia
Ref. No.:
Job Title: Technical Consultant
Duration: 2 up to 3 months beginning from June 2008
Location: Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia

1. Background:

Mongolia is a low prevalence country.  As of April 2009, Mongolia has 53
reported HIV/AIDS cases with 8 AIDS-related deaths.  More men are HIV-positive
(77 percent or 41 people) than women, and 85 percent or 35 men of all infected
men are MSM . Dominating route of HIV transmission is unprotected sex between
men and unprotected paid sex .

Men having sex with men (MSM) are currently the group most at risk of HIV
infection in Mongolia. To date, due to societal pressure and family
expectations, many MSM in Mongolia marry and live double lives – having sexual
relationships with their wives while secretly engaging in sex with multiple male
sexual partners. MSM thus constitute a potential means for HIV to spread into
the general population.

Stigma, discrimination and violence remain significant issues for the gay and
MSM community and most stakeholders reported that the MSM population is still
largely hidden and difficult to reach for that reason.

At present there are three organizations focusing on HIV prevention among MSM:
"Together", "Youth for Health" and the recently established training and
resource center. These NGOs undertake outreach, peer education, counselling, and
condom distribution, refer for or provide HIV and STI testing, and undertake
public education through the media. "Together" NGO was established in 2003,
initially as a CBO, with support from the National AIDS Foundation (NAF), and
became an NGO in 2005. The gay community had long been requesting support for a
confidential hotline service.

"Youth for Health" NGO established in 2003 with support from the National AIDS
Foundation, primarily targets MSM's sexual health. They currently have four full
time staff: an executive director, accountant, project worker, and an outreach
worker and a part-time psychologist, in addition to volunteers. They undertake
outreach and peer education to provide gay men with STI and HIV prevention
knowledge; make referrals to VCT and STI services; undertake IEC and media
activities (TV and print materials) in part to reduce stigma and discrimination,
and occasionally organize social events for the gay community. Outreach and peer
education are done both in person and through their website, which includes a
question and answer section and a chat.

Coordination among those working with MSM is limited to some joint undertakings.

Prevention work among MSM seems to be having a positive effect, but HIV
prevention interventions specifically for MSM have been small-scale, reaching a
limited population exclusively in Ulaanbaatar (except for the internet site).
The 2006 Rapid Assessment of Sexual Behaviour among Men who have Sex with Men
(MSM) estimated that there are 11,500-15,000 sexually active men with homosexual
and/or bisexual orientation in Mongolia, half of whom have sexual relationships
with both men and women. "Youth for Health" reports that 100-150 MSM regularly
participate in their activities; 100-120 MSM participate in their community
outreach and social activities (parties, sport, debates, recreational
activities) organized at least once every two months; 40 MSM are reached by
their outreach worker a month; and 15-20 MSM participate in their monthly day
long education programs. Their website has approximately 400 registered users
both in and outside of Ulaanbaatar.

  "Together" reports are having reached about 300 MSM since their establishment
in 2005. Clearly, most MSM are not yet being reached.

Challenges for prevention among MSM as outlined in the Comprehensive review
report include:

  Inadequate funding to implement programs and provide certain services
consistently, for example, psychological counselling;
Insufficient organisational and technical capacity of MSM NGOs;   Reaching
greater numbers of MSM within and beyond Ulaanbaatar;
•    Fostering greater unity, trust, and collaboration among MSM NGOs;
•    Evaluating the quality and effectiveness of activities addressing MSM.

2. Purpose of the Consultancy:
The main purpose is to assist the MSN NGOs in the development of costed
organizational strategic plans with a built in M&E plan through series of
participatory sessions.

3. Scope & Tasks:
Following activities are expected to be carried out:

Desk review of policy and programme documents, progress reports, project
proposals survey and research reports, evaluation reports, media reports and
other data sources;

Interviews and group discussions with MSM community organizations and members

Meetings with key stakeholders including UN organizations;

Visits to organizations and institutions implementing HIV/AIDS and STIs
prevention, treatment, care or support programmes or services for MSM community;

Organize learning sessions or focus groups on certain topics identified by the
community

Assist the office staff on how to use the internet effectively for networking

Lead the development and finalization of organizational strategic plans;

Provide recommendations for MSM organizations on how to improve organizational,
technical and financial capacities;

4. Logistics:

Moderate accommodation, round trip and a monthly allowance up to 2000 USD
depending on the person's qualifications will be covered.

Translation services are available during the training sessions, interviews.

5. Qualification and experience of a consultant:

The consultant shall possess a postgraduate degree in any of the following
disciplines: Public Health, Development Management and Development Policy or
related field.

The person should have at least 3-years of working experience in MSM
community-based organizations, preferably in developing countries.

In addition, he/she should have excellent communication skills with an ability
to supervise and support a team of MSM Community; have excellent writing skills
in English and computer skills.

6. Time and scheduling:

The consultant is expected to work for two and up to three months in the second
half of2009.

Task Manager
Dr. Altanchimeg Delegchoimbol
UNAIDS Focal Point
UN House-1, United Nations Street 12
P.O.Box 46/1009
Ulaanbaatar-210646, Mongolia
Phone:


From: Pugee
E-MAIL: <garuda@...>

Approaching: Deadline for 9th ICAAP Scholarship Application

9th ICAAP REMINDER:
============ ========= ========= ====
DEADLINE FOR SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION IS APPROACHING: THURSDAY (30 APRIL 2009)
============ ======
9th ICAAP INVITATION
============ ======

On behalf of the local organizing committee and our Indonesian and

international partners, we would like to invite you to join us for the

9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP 9),

to be held in Bali, Indonesia from 9-13 August 2009.


The Congress Theme is Empowering People, Strengthening Networks. It

wishes to bring people from various backgrounds in Asia and the Pacific region
to meet and share knowledge, skills, ideas, research
findings related to HIV and AIDS. This is also be an opportunity for people to
provide mutual support and make stronger commitments in their fight towards the
epidemic.


For more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP website at www.icaap9.org

============
REGISTRATION
We encourage online registration through the congress website at

www.icaap9.org

Deadline for Early Bird Registration: Saturday, 28 February 2009
Deadline for Regular Registration: Sunday, 31 May 2009
Late Registration Charge applies: 1 June 2009
Deadline for Media Registration: Tuesday, 30 June 2009
For online registration and more information, please visit the 9th

ICAAP website at www.icaap9.org

============
CALL FOR SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
We encourage online submission through the congress website at

www.icaap9.org
Deadline for Scholarship Application: Thursday, 30 April 2009
Deadline for Postal Documents submission (Letter of
Recommendation and copy of ID): Thursday, 30 April 2009 (Postal Stamp Date)

Scholarship Category:

1. Community Scholarships
2. Scientific Scholarships (for healthcare professionals, researchers, and/or
graduate students)
3. Media Scholarships
4. Youth Scholarships

Required Documents should be sent via
postal mail / courier to secretariat address. Secretariat will NOT accept
documents sent via email / fax.

For online submission and more information, please visit the
9th ICAAP

website at www.icaap9.org

============

SEE YOU IN BALI!

9th ICAAP Secretariat:
Menara Eksekutif 8th Floor
Jalan MH Thamrin Kav. 9, Jakarta 10330
INDONESIA

Phone: +62 21 39838845/46
Fax: +62 21 39838847
Website: http://www.icaap9.org

Email. secretariat@ icaap9.org

Milestone: AHF Now Treating 100,000 Aids Patients Worldwide

Last update: 7:07 p.m. EDT April 8, 2009

LOS ANGELES, Apr 08, 2009 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is
proud to announce that, in a major milestone in its mission to provide
cutting-edge medicine and advocacy regardless of a person's ability to pay, it
has recently surpassed the 100,000 patient mark worldwide. The organization is
now providing lifesaving medical care and/or services to more than 100,000
patients in 21 countries through 68 clinics worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean and Asia.

"I am honored and humbled to announce that AHF has accomplished a major
milestone in its history: We are now providing free HIV/AIDS treatment and care
services to more than 100,000 people worldwide," said, Michael Weinstein, AHF's
President. "In the five years since AHF declared its pledge to try and reach
100,000 people globally, I have been amazed at the growth we have been able to
achieve. To our dedicated partners and collaborators around the world, I wish to
personally thank the entire AHF family for their dedication and commitment to
helping save so many lives."

In addition to operating sixteen free HIV/AIDS healthcare centers in the U.S.
(in California and Florida), AHF also provides services in Cambodia, China,
Ethiopia, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Russia,
Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Thailand, The Netherlands, Uganda, Ukraine,
Viet Nam and Zambia.

"I am so proud of each and every member of the AHF team for this accomplishment
and for demonstrating that 'Yes We Can' help 100,000 people globally to stay
alive and in good health. We have reached this remarkable milestone together
through our collective efforts," added Chief of Global Affairs, Jorge Saavedra
M.D. "That this achievement has been possible in such a short time period is
testament to the spirit and perseverance of so many at AHF who have worked
countless hours toward this goal. It is this same spirit that will keep AHF
forging ahead - as we continue to expand our reach and work toward saving even
more and more lives."

AHF began operations in 1987 as the AIDS Hospice Foundation by a group of
activists in response to the urgent need to provide hospice services to patients
dying of AIDS on the streets of Los Angeles. By July 1990, the organization had
changed its name to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation as the need for ongoing
medical care for HIV/AIDS patients grew.

When the advent of lifesaving antiretroviral medications ushered in a treatment
revolution in 1996, AHF began supplying these medications to patients for free
without guarantee of reimbursement and at great financial risk. In 2002, at the
invitation of local South African activists, AHF opened its fist free HIV/AIDS
clinic outside the U.S. in this hard-hit country. In 2004, AHF declared its
pledge to reach 100,000 people with its services. In 2009, AHF has reached this
major milestone in its evolution, now saving more than 100,000 lives through 68
clinics in 21 countries on five continents.

Added Weinstein: "As an expert in the delivery of HIV/AIDS medical care and an
influential advocate, AHF will continue to be at the forefront of efforts to
control AIDS globally. Only when HIV is eradicated from the globe will we have
fully met our goal."
About AHF

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is the nation's largest non-profit HIV/AIDS
healthcare provider. AHF currently provides medical care and/or services to more
than 100,000 individuals in 21 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin
America/Caribbean and Asia.

Additional information is available at www.aidshealth.org.

SOURCE: AIDS Healthcare Foundation
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
Ged Kenslea
Communications Director
+1.323.860.5225 [work]
+1.323.791.5526 [cell]
gedk@...
or
Lori Yeghiayan
Associate Director of Communications
+1.323.860.5227 [work]
+1.323.377.4312 [cell]
lori.yeghaiyan@...

ANNOUNCEMENT

A Consortium to identify and address Treatment Gaps in the Asia Pacific

A Consortium has evolved to explore, identify gaps and address continuum of HIV
treatment, co- related issues, strengthen networks of treatment providers, scale
up efficiency, build capacity and establish newer innovative models for
universal treatment and care and support access in the Asia Pacific region.

We are pleased to announce the formal launch of Consortium of HIVAIDS Treatment
Providers in Asia Pacific (CHATPAP). This is currently endorsed in India, China,
Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam and Nepal where we have existing partnership with
NGOs, INGOs dedicated to providing treatment, care and support including
Governments.

We communicated and solicited participations of NGOs; INGOs directly involved in
the treatment, care and support for PLHAs from the six countries providing life
saving services and expand membership to other countries in the region. CHATPAP
aims to create a dynamic forum of doers/providers to connect, network,
understand and share their experiences in providing HIV treatment and critical
care issues related to basic access, availability, and affordability of drugs,
generic drugs and diagnostics, procurement issues, varied delivery of services,
innovative and high end technology for testing scale up, to address revival of
creative prevention strategies, identify gaps and to advocate for increase
treatment access for marginalized populations such as IVDUS, CSW, MSM, Migrants
and refugees working in tandem with government and UN agencies in the region.

Activities of CHATPAP

1. Consortium of HIVAIDS Treatment Providers in Asia Pacific (CHATPAP) shall
immediately accept applications for membership from various NGOs in the present
countries and within the next year expands to other countries in the region.

2. To promote CHATPAP in the lines of other existing regional networks and have
its first joint assembly during the 9th ICAAP.

3. To advocate for universal access to treatment, care and support services
which is our fort and to consolidate through this consortium and expand our
reach to new partners and strengthen existing partners.

4. To showcase our presence as a single largest consortium in six countries and
working in tandem with different stakeholders at national, regional and global
level.

5. To share experiences, challenges, lessons learnt to better HIVAIDS treatment
delivery and enhance program effectiveness.

6. To exchange key strategies and strengthen treatment providers network.

7. To give an equal participation and equal voice to members of the consortium
to address or share their problems and solutions.

8. To set up a database of treatment providers and generate a directory of
treatment services providers in the Asia Pacific region.

9. To liaise with UN bodies, WHO and provide critical field experience based
data to create needful changes in HIVAIDS care and treatment policy.

10. To jointly participate and or conduct simple analysis of programs,
activities and gather relevant demographic data/profiles.

11. To advocate Universal Access to ART including second line drugs.

12. To organize regional treatment providers workshop, meetings in conjunction
with regional programs, workshop, conferences.

13.  To influence policy makers for positive and effective changes.

14. To advocate for affordable second line/third line drugs and newer molecules.

15. To establish initially and later to assert through this consortium the
following demands:

a) Active participation in the decision making process in regional bodies

b)  Co-sponsor international and regional conference such as ICAAP

c) Have a say in the nomination of members to the highest decision/policy making
bodies such as UNITAID, GFATM, PEPFAR etc.

d) Influence and seek mandate from other regional exclusive groups to support
our global campaigns

e) Represent our demands through this consortium to various multilateral
organizations including UN bodies

Membership to CHATPAP is free and registration can be done by providing basic
information about your organisation.

Personal information submitted to CHATPAP will be kept strictly confidential and
used only for the purposes of dissemination of CHATPAP activities.

General Membership Form

1. Name of Organisation/Network:
2. Contact Details: Address/ Tel/ Fax/ Email/website
3. Name of Focal Person:
4. Major Area of Work:

Kindly Contact us at:

CHATPAP
AHF Asia Pacific Bureau Secretariat
S345, Panchsheel Park,
New Delhi â€" 110 017
Tel: +91 11 46866800
Fax: +91 11 46866813
Email: chinkholal.thangsing@...
For enquiries and coordination contact
Email: mahesh.ganesan@...


S345, Panchsheel Park, New Delhi  110 017
Tel: +91 11 46866800, Fax: +91 11 46866813


Membership Application Form

I hereby submit this application duly filled on behalf of my organisation as my
application to be a member organisation of Consortium of HIVAIDS Treatment
Provider in Asia Pacific (CHATPAP).

My details are as follows:

Name
Organisation:
Designation:
Address:
Contact Details: (Phone/Fax/Email/Skype ID Etc.)
Major areas of work:
Country:

The above details are true to the best of my knowledge.
Signature: (Authorised Signatory)
Date:

*Submit by email to: Chinkholal.thangsing@...

For Official Use only:

Membership No.

Acceptance Date:

Country Code:

Category Code:

1. ART Treatment
2.Counselling services.
3. Testing Services.
4. IEC Services
5. Community Outreach
6.Care and Support
7. Advocacy for Treatment care and support
8. Drug procurement
9. High technology on HIV diagnostics etc
10: Other HIV care service


Mahesh Ganesan
e-mail: <mahesh.ganesan@...>

Harvard Aids expert says Pope 'correct' on condoms and spread of HIV

The head of Harvard's Aids Prevention Centre says condom use does not lower HIV
infection rates

Bess Twiston Davies

The head of a Harvard-based AIDs prevention centre says the Pope is "correct" to
claim that condom distribution risks aggravating the transmission of HIV.

Last week Benedict XVI incurred the wrath of AIDs campaigners and criticism from
the Governments of France and Germany for saying, en route to Africa, that AIDS
could not "be overcome by the distribution of condoms." In comments condemned as
"scary" and "alienating" by members of the International Planned Parenthood
Federation, Benedict XVI lauded monogamy as a way to combat the spread of AIDs.
He said that condom distribution risked exaggerating the spread of the virus.

Edward C. Green, director of the AIDS Prevention Center at the Harvard Center
for Population and Development Studies said this week: "The best evidence we
have supports the Pope's comments."

In an interview with the National Review Online, Mr Green said: "We have found
no consistent associations between condom use and lower HIV-infection rates,
which, 25 years into the pandemic, we should be seeing if this intervention was
working."

He said condom distribution could lead to "risk compensation", meaning that,
once furnished with condoms, people were more likely to engage in riskier sexual
behaviour.

Today, this claim was disputed as "ludicrous" by Michael Bartos, chief of the UN
AIDs Aids Prevention Unit in Geneva
"It is like saying that sales of mosquito repellent are higher in places where
people are more likely to get mosquito bites," he said. "If people are using
condoms more in areas where they are more likely to get HIV, that is positive."

He said there was no "empirical evidence" to show that greater availability of
condoms led to an increase in risky sexual activity
Mr Green claimed that reducing "concurrency" or the custom of engaging in two,
usually long-term sexual relationships at the same time was the key to
successfully combating AIDS. He said: "The best and latest empirical evidence
indeed shows that reduction in multiple and concurrent sexual partners is the
most important single behavior change associated with reduction in HIV-infection
rates (the other major factor is male circumcision)."

In an interview with The Times today, Mr Bartos said: "One thing that accounts
for the very high AIDs transmission rate in South Africa is the low rate of male
circumcision and the high rate of concurrent partnerships."

He added: "Condom messaging needs to be more refined and needs to take into
account the reality of people's lives. However it is a false opposition to say
[that it is a case of] either condoms or concurrent relationships or male
circumcision." Condoms and programmes tackling concurrency and male
circumcision, which can reduce the transmission of the HIV virus by up to 60 per
cent, were both needed, Mr Bartos said. "Concurrency is a factor but not the
master explanation for the spread of AIDs."

However, a leading author on the fight to combat AIDs today backed Mr Green's
theory. Dr Helen Epstein, author of The Invisible Cure, Why We Are Losing the
Fight Against AIDS in Africa, said that concurrency can "give rise to a vast
interlocking network of stable sexual relationships that serves as a virtual
superhighway for HIV, placing at risk large numbers of people who may think they
are safe because they are not typically "promiscuous". For example, some men
have two girlfriends or two wives, (or a wife and a girlfriend) with whom they
sleep regularly. One or both of those women may have another regular partner –
and those men may have other regular wives or girlfriends – and so on."

A molecular biologist who has co-designed an AIDs prevention programme based on
combating concurrency in partnership with the non-profit organisation Population
Services International in Mozambique, Dr Epstein added: "In Africa most HIV
transmission takes place in long term relationships. People use condoms in
casual relationships, and with prostitutes, but that accounts for a relatively
small part of the epidemic in the "AIDS epicentre" of East and southern Africa
."

She said the importance of reducing concurrency had been proved by Uganda's
successful "Zero Grazing" AIDs prevention campaign, promoted in the late 1980s
by its Government. "The tone was pragmatic, not moralistic, and this helped
de-stigmatize the epidemic, and brought everyone into the campaign, including
community and church groups, women's groups, the media and ordinary people. As a
result, sexual norms began to shift in favour of fewer sexual partnerships and
more consistent condom use in casual sex."

While she wished the Catholic Church would change its ban on condoms, Dr Epstein
highlighted the role the Church could play in promoting collective change of
sexual behaviour.

She said: "The [ Uganda ] program was based on a very African process of
community mobilization, collective action, compassion and mutual aid. These are
things the Church has always been good at. Indeed, the Church is often much
better at promoting collective action than the public health community, which
tends to take a more individualistic approach."

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article5987155.ece

Re: http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/AIDS_ASIA/message/1515

This article is filled with nonsense. I will pick but one statement:

Abstinence and fidelity win little public support in dominant Western
discourse, but they are vindicated by solid scientific research and
are increasingly included, even favoured, in national AIDS strategies
in Africa.

This is patently untrue. The scientific research repeatedly shows
"abstinence only" does NOT work as a public policy. To decry condoms
as the Pope has done is a vile disservice, cruel and representative
of the backward thinking that allows infection rates to soar. This
apologia is despicable nonsense.

George M. Carter
e-mail: <fiar@...>

Pope Benedict and AIDS in Africa - 2009

A Human and spiritual wake-up call
Michael Czerny SJ

Pope Benedict's words at the beginning of his trip to Africa, regarding the use
of condoms in preventing the spread of AIDS, generated a media storm.  But the
Pope's comments are not the cause for concern that they were reported to be,
argues Michael Czerny SJ.

Why is the Church's teaching on this issue not `unrealistic and ineffective', as
alleged; but valuable, efficient, and grounded in reality?

Setting out on his first visit as Pope to Africa, Benedict XVI held his
traditional press conference with journalists accompanying him to Yaoundé on the
plane.[1] The fifth question went like this:

Your Holiness, among the many ills that beset Africa, one of the most pressing
is the spread of Aids. The position of the Catholic Church on the way to fight
it is often considered unrealistic and ineffective. Will you address this theme
during the journey?

Any answer would probably have generated headlines. As it was, a fragment of the
Pope's reply instantly launched a media frenzy which has left many perplexed,
saddened and even outraged. Let's take a careful look behind the headlines at
what Pope Benedict XVI actually said and try to understand what he meant.

First, a bit of background. According to 2006 figures, baptised African
Catholics numbered about 150 million, some 17% of the African population,
compared with 12% back in 1978. According to UNAIDS (2007), about 22 million in
sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV.

This makes up 67 percent of the world's HIV-positive people. Of recorded
AIDS-related deaths in 2007, three-quarters occurred in sub-Saharan Africa.

In response to the journalist, Pope Benedict gave a brief reply, touching on
several dimensions of this highly complex problem.
1. To the question of the Church's position being `unrealistic and ineffective',
the Pope replied: `I would say the opposite. I think that the most efficient,
most truly present player in the fight against AIDS is the Catholic Church
herself, with her movements and her various organizations.' Religious
communities of brothers, sisters and priests, as well as lay communities, `do so
much, visibly and also behind the scenes' and `take care of the sick'.

Vatican officials estimate that around the world the Catholic Church now
provides more than 25 percent of all care administered to those with HIV/AIDS.
The proportion is naturally higher in Africa, nearly 100% in the remotest areas.
Let an HIV-positive Burundian on antiretroviral drugs explain the service:

When we go to other places, they only see numbers in us. We become hospital
cases to be dealt with. We are problems. We lose our sense of dignity and worth.
Yet we never feel that when we come to our Church programme. This is because we
get a complete approach to our problems, whether spiritual, medical, mental,
social or economic. (Personal testimony)

2. Building on the Church's important, effective and realistic track record, the
Holy Father now raises two critical issues:

2a. `I would say that this problem of AIDS cannot be overcome merely with money,
necessary though it is. If there is no human dimension, if Africans do not help
[by responsible behaviour] ….'

Without explicitly using the vocabulary, the Holy Father is making a crucial
contrast between the Church's approach (based on human dimension and responsible
behaviour) and the typical public policy approaches of governments and
international organisations (based on money). Public policy deals with whole
populations. It uses statistics to grasp a problem and then tackles it through
policies and programmes. The hoped-for result is a statistical improvement. In
the case of AIDS, public health does what is technically necessary and possible
to reduce the numbers infected and the numbers dying.

Not to undervalue this contribution, let us recognise that public policy and
programming function as a lowest common denominator, a minimum which every
citizen has a right to. Public health policy deals with figures and trends – not
with human faces and persons.

The Christian vision includes all that, but goes broader and deeper than policy.
With a holistic vision, the Church sees each person as a child of God, as
brother or sister, each one capable of both sin and holiness. Now, such unique,
whole and holy persons are not readily detectable in tables of averages. But
they are the real people of real life. As believers, they are the pillars of
communities, the silent agents of deep transformation. So the Church's work of
addressing, forming, guiding and challenging persons is more ambitious than
public health, deeply different in quality and spirit.

Facing not only AIDS but multiple crises in most corners of the continent,
Africans have good reason, based on experience, to believe in the Church's bold
vision for them.

2b. Having pointed towards the Church's holistic programme and taken distance
from the necessarily narrower approach of public policy, the Holy Father now
critiques the further reduction of public policy to a single means and method:
`…the problem cannot be overcome by the distribution of prophylactics: on the
contrary, they increase it.'

In Europe and North America, where condoms are culturally accepted by many,
people ask incredulously, `Why on earth does the Church oppose their promotion?'
Some with muddled thinking have even accused Popes John Paul II and Benedict XVI
of presiding over an AIDS genocide.

There are two distinct issues here: the moral status of individual acts; and the
viability of a strategy targeting whole populations.

Regarding individual acts: according to prevention experts, a condom, when it is
correctly used, can reduce the risk of HIV-infection during an act of
intercourse, and individuals who use condoms consistently are less likely to
give or get HIV. When a man and woman have sex before, within or outside
marriage, public health is unconcerned with the morality of what they do in the
privacy of the bedroom. Culturally and legally, in Europe and North America,
there is considerable acceptance for sexual behaviour as long as it is
consensual, that is, provided the two individuals both agree. In this context,
the condom seems common sense. Western opinion makers and media really want the
Church to approve of extramarital sex, which is against the religious faith and
traditional cultural values shared by millions throughout the world.

The Church understands sexual intercourse as part of a moral vision, permitting
intercourse only within a married couple and excluding artificial means of
contraception. Doing something wrong might be safer with a condom but safety
doesn't make the act right. The Church cannot encourage `safer' without
suggesting that it is somehow right.

To say, `Do not commit adultery but, if you do, use a condom' is tantamount to
saying: `The Church has no confidence in you to live the good life.'

A man and woman, not married to each other, who have consensual intercourse are
disregarding the Church's teaching. They hardly need the Pope to tell them to
use a condom. What they badly do need is for the Church to help them live a
respectful and responsible sexuality. `Abstinence and fidelity are not only the
best way to avoid becoming infected by HIV or infecting others, but even more
are they the best way of ensuring progress towards lifelong happiness and true
fulfilment.' [2]

In the age of AIDS, there is a special case: married couples who are discordant
(one spouse being HIV positive) or doubly infected (both being HIV positive).
Here, the Church accompanies a couple pastorally in making the most
life-enhancing decision about their lives, their family, their marital
relationship and their desire to have children.

They deserve the same respect and dignity as every other Christian, which
includes help to form their consciences, not having a neatly packaged solution
dictated to them from the pulpit, much less in the press or on a billboard. You
will not find a stauncher champion of the duty to follow one's conscience than
Pope Benedict.

What of the many situations that make Africans, especially women, more
vulnerable to HIV infection – poverty, conflict, displacement, abuse and rape
(even within on-going relationships)? It is obviously a total illusion to
imagine that a sexual aggressor could ever be persuaded to use a condom by the
Pope, the State, an NGO or anyone else. But we can imagine a de-facto discordant
couple, where the husband refuses to be tested, insists on intercourse and
invokes Church teaching not to use a condom.

Involved in several layers of self-deception, the man is not entitled to claim
the moral high ground, putting his wife's life at risk. But no general solution
is going to address the evils at work here. At the parish level the Church can
and usually does offer moral formation, encouraging people to get tested and
defending the rights of women.

On the second issue of a strategy for whole populations, there is widespread
belief that condom-use programmes are effective in reducing HIV infection rates.
However, this proves true only outside Africa and amongst identifiable
sub-groups (e.g. prostitutes, gay men), not in a general population.

There is no evidence that condoms as a public health strategy have reduced HIV
levels at the level of the whole population.[3] Indeed, greater availability and
use of condoms is consistently associated with higher (not lower) HIV infection
rates, perhaps because when one uses a risk reduction `technology' such as
condoms, one often loses the benefit (reduction in risk) because people take
greater chances than they would without the technology.

Therefore at the public level, an aggressive condoms policy `increases the
problem' as it deflects attention, credibility and resources from more effective
strategies like abstinence and fidelity – or in secular language, the
postponement of sexual debut and a reduction in the proportion of men and women
reporting multiple sexual partners.

Abstinence and fidelity win little public support in dominant Western discourse,
but they are vindicated by solid scientific research and are increasingly
included, even favoured, in national AIDS strategies in Africa.

The promotion of condoms as the strategy for reducing HIV infection in a general
population is based on statistical probability and intuitive plausibility. It
enjoys considerable credibility in the Western media and among Western opinion
makers. What it lacks is scientific support.

Some specialists in the prevention of HIV assume that, since vast numbers of
people do not know whether or not they are infected, condom use should be
automatic, mandatory and universal. Yet 95% of Africans between 15 and 49 years
of age are not infected (UNAIDS 2007).

Knowing your status is a crucial step towards taking responsibility for your
actions. Several Africans have told me that once they tested positive, they made
a firm option for abstinence, rather than risk infecting someone else.

Thus, the Bishops of Kenya:

Even if HIV did not make pre-marital sex, fornication, adultery, abuse of minors
and rape so terribly dangerous, they would still be wrong and always have been.
It is not the risk of HIV or the sufferings of AIDS, which make sexual licence
immoral; these are violations of the Sixth and Ninth Commandments which are
sinful, and today in Kenya surely the worst of their many destructive
consequences is HIV and AIDS.

The Church does not teach a different sexual morality, when or where AIDS poses
no danger. But this teaching is not easy for `the world' including the media to
understand, much less accept.[4]

The fact is that culture counts. A condom is more than a piece of latex; it also
makes a statement about the meaning of life. While in Europe and North America
the idea is quite acceptable (although not to all), in Africa fertility is
prized and the condom seems foreign and strange, and the values it embodies
alien.

A Jesuit in South Africa wrote to me, `Most people here think that "the Pope and
condoms" is a side-show, stoked up by the media, and not an issue on which we
want to spill more ink or destroy more forest.'

So when Benedict XVI affirmed that `the distribution of prophylactics …
increase[s] the problem,' it was not a casual remark or a gaffe; he had good
grounds for saying so.

3. `The solution must have two elements:

[3a] firstly, bringing out the human dimension of sexuality, that is to say a
spiritual and human renewal that would bring with it a new way of behaving
towards others … our effort to renew humanity inwardly, to give spiritual and
human strength for proper conduct towards our bodies and those of others.'

This sexuality is based on faith in God, respect for oneself and the other, and
hope for the future. Compare this vision with reliance on condoms. Everyone must
recognise that `condoms all the time for everyone' goes with a notion of `sex as
fun without consequences'.

Deep down, we know what a lie that is. It means treating another human being as
a vehicle for my own pleasure. As public policy, it is to treat people as
rapacious, unable to control themselves, incapable of anything beyond immediate
self-gratification. Such an attitude is horribly pessimistic about humankind in
general and, when imposed by public and international agencies on Africans, it
also represents unconscious but abhorrent racism. This is not a route that the
Church can take.

3b. `Secondly, true friendship offered above all to those who are suffering, a
willingness to make sacrifices and to practise self-denial, to be alongside the
suffering … this capacity to suffer with those who are suffering, to remain
present in situations of trial.'

Such compassionate and generous service has been the lived African experience,
practically from the beginning. Those afflicted by AIDS have usually found
acceptance, solace and assistance from the Church whether they are members or
not. Moreover, the formation of conscience

(3a) and the selfless care (3b) go together. A Church who tirelessly serves
those in need is also credible in the teaching and formation which she offers.
`And so,' the Holy Father sums up, `these are the factors that help and that
lead to real progress' in the fight against AIDS.

Springing up out of Catholic faith and tradition, the Pope's whole and indeed
holistic message is for the people he is visiting. It connects thoroughly with
the human reality on the ground.

A Congolese Jesuit wrote to me, `Over here we are following the visit of the
Pope with great interest, as well as the speculation in the press about the
question of condoms arising from the Holy Father's wise statement before
touching down in Africa. What a shame that so far people don't realise that the
solution to AIDS won't come with distribution of these things, but by handling
the whole question as a whole.'

4. The Holy Father concludes by answering again the journalist's allegation of
`unrealistic and ineffective?': `It seems to me that this is the proper
response, and the Church does this, thereby offering an enormous and important
contribution. We thank all who do so.'

According to my experience, most Africans, Catholic or not, agree. To them, what
the Holy Father said is profound and true. He is reiterating what they have been
experiencing for years and what they continue to expect. They too thank those
who implement the Church's strategy.

Michael Czerny SJ is Director of the African Jesuit AIDS Network (AJAN)

________________________________________
[1] In English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese as of 25 March
2009.

[2] Symposium of Episcopal Conferences of Africa and Madagascar, October 2003

[3] Prof. Edward C. Green, director of the Harvard AIDS Prevention Research
Project, Interview in Christianity Today posted 20/3/2009 citing
researchpublished since 2004 in Science, The Lancet, British Medical Journal and
Studies in Family Planning
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2009/marchweb-only/111-53.0.html (24 March
2009).

[4] Kenyan Episcopal Conference, This We Teach and Do, Volume One, 2006,
http://www.kec.or.ke/viewdocument.asp?ID=19

http://www.thinkingfaith.org/articles/20090325_1.htm

Press release

20 March 2009

INERELA+ and GNP+: Condoms remain critical to HIV prevention efforts

Condoms are an integral and essential part of HIV prevention and care
programmes, and their promotion must be accelerated say the Global Network of
People Living with HIV/AIDS (GNP+) and the International Network of Religious
Leaders Living with or personally Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+).

GNP+ and INERELA+ deeply regret Pope Benedict XVI's statement made this week in
a press conference held on the papal flight en route to Yaoundé, Cameroon that
the `AIDS tragedy cannot be overcome by money alone, cannot be overcome through
the distribution of condoms, which can even increase the problem'.

Rev. JP Mokgethi-Heath, Acting Executive Director of INERELA+ said: `Abstinence
and mutual fidelity are highly effective means of reducing sexual exposure to
HIV, but they must be promoted within a comprehensive prevention strategy that
includes all effective methods. Condoms are an essential part of this overall
strategy ."

Kevin Moody, International Coordinator and CEO of GNP+ concurred: `Condoms are
an essential tool in promoting, attaining and maintaining the sexual and
reproductive health of everyone, including people living with HIV. Over a
quarter of a century into the epidemic, it is sad that we are still debating
whether or not condoms should be part of the prevention effort.'

Conclusive evidence from extensive research among heterosexual couples in which
one partner is HIV positive shows that correct and consistent condom use
significantly reduces the risk of HIV transmission from men to women, and also
from women to men.

In research conducted by GNP+ with serodiscordant couples in South Africa,
Tanzania and the Ukraine the majority of couples indicated consistent condom use
as their strategy for practicing safer sex.

As the search for new HIV prevention technologies such as microbicides and
vaccines continues to progress, scaling-up access to male and female condoms is
essential in addressing HIV prevention needs of all people. In addition to
increasing the availability and accessibility to condoms, HIV prevention
requires a comprehensive approach which includes access to accurate information,
access to HIV treatment, harm reduction measures, confronting stigma and
discrimination, affirming faith communities and ensuring a supportive legal and
political environment for people living with HIV.

END


Notes

The Global Network of People living with HIV (GNP+) is a global network for and
by people living with HIV. GNP+ advocates to improve the quality of life of
people living with HIV/AIDS. The central theme for the work of GNP+ is
Reclaiming Our Lives! GNP+ programs are organised under three platforms of
action: Sexual and reproductive health and rights of people living with HIV;
Human rights of people living with HIV; and Empowerment of people living with
HIV. www.gnpplus.net

The International Network of Religious Leaders living with  or Personally
Affected by HIV and AIDS (INERELA+) is an international, interfaith network of
religious leaders - both lay and ordained, women and men - living with or
personally affected by HIV. INERELA+  works  within faith communities to
mitigate the impact of HIV on the lives of people and communities. 
www.inerela.org

Contact information: For more information, questions or quotes, please contact
Martin Stolk, Communications Officer, at +31-20-423 4114 (GNP+ International
Secretariat) or mstolk@.... All the material in this release may be
reproduced freely, when GNP+ and INERELA+ are mentioned as source.

Dear all,

After more than 27 millions USD GFATM grant for AIDS component Round 4 phase 2
in Indonesia allocated as presentations shows evidence on this.

There's a significant tendencies from several high profile hospital in Jakarta
charging money in ARV treatment. This money is not to pay for medical doctor
consultation instead it is used to pay for ARV administration (stated pharmacist
division).

It is very strange where Indonesia Doctors Association (IDA) have its own
representation in CCM but failed to protect and maintain good public health
policy as its maintenance of ethics in medical profession. Even so dispensing
policy on ARV distribution could not be proposed by Ministry of Health and IDA
as ethical committee in this.

Panduriono as current "the only one" AIDS epidemiologist in Indonesia with it
BSS failed to included HAART Adherence as one of its BSS component. But amazing
how this inappropriate survey has increasing AIDS response investment for
Indonesia. But still the BSS couldn't be use to calculate assumption on HAART
impact in "High Risk Behavior Activity".

Hundreds of hospital in Indonesia ever or at least ones stop ARV distribution
reflect inadequate capacity of Ministry of Health in drug procurement and supply
chain management, large presentation history stooped ARV widespread more than 20
Provinces in Indonesia.

The situation is quite confusing related to UNAIDS Country Coordinator Statement
about success in providing technical assistant in Global Fund grant mobilization
and implementation in Indonesia.

Is there any way Global Fund and UNAIDS well prepared and develop appropriate
framework to strengthen the Country response.

Not to mentioned over 90% of research conducted never been peer reviewed and
will need to have more resource to conduct researches. There are question on how
to push and facilitate more of key affected population involvement in providing
technical assistants towards these issues.

Some people says it's not worth to take HIV test as there will be no drug
available to treat the disease as Indonesia have lack of capacity to provide
good ARV procurement and supply chain management.

Indonesia Government become victim of the situation developed and have to
provide more money in the future of AIDS response as resources being reduced day
by day.

Do we really listen to the people? IS there any way for others who read this
provide inputs and assistance to improve the situation.


Abdullah Denovan
e-mail: <d_no0van@...>

"English lecturers and foreign workers spread AIDS in Korea"

The Danger of AIDS in Korea

MARCH 16, 2009 09:48

The 1993 Hollywood film "Philadelphia" starring Tom Hanks as a gay lawyer with
AIDS raised public awareness about the disease. Moviegoers were greatly touched
by the scene where Hanks' character shows a lunatic act while listening to the
aria "La Mamma Morta" several days before his death. The movie aimed to bring
the spotlight on prejudice and discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients and
swept the 1994 Academy Awards. To boost the movie's sense of realism, director
Jonathan Demme had 53 HIV/AIDS patients play supporting roles or work in
production.

Around the time the film was released, people thought AIDS was an incurable
disease that struck only homosexuals, and Korea was largely free from the deadly
disease. Two decades later, however, things have greatly changed. AIDS is no
longer an incurable disease.

Though a vaccine that wards off HIV has yet to be developed, potent
anti-retroviral AIDS drugs help patients prolong their lives by reducing the
toxicity of the virus and maintaining their immune systems. Basketball icon
Magic Johnson, who retired from his sport in 1991 after announcing that he
contracted HIV, still has robust health thanks to such drugs. Fuzeon,
manufactured by the pharmaceutical multinational Roche, is a leading anti-HIV
drug that has saved many lives. Unfortunately, the drug is unavailable on the
Korean market due to disagreement over insurance prices.

Korea has seen a steep increase in the number of HIV-positive people. According
to the Health, Welfare and Family Affairs Ministry, more than 6,000 people in
Korea were infected with HIV as the end of last year. Of them, some 1,000 died
and the remaining patients have got regular checkups and taken medication.
Though the country has fewer AIDS patients than India and Thailand, the number
is rapidly growing. The steep rise is partly blamed on an influx of foreign
workers, including English lecturers, and higher promiscuity among Korean
youths.

The news of an HIV-infected taxi driver who had sex with scores of women has
rocked the nation. Medical Web sites are being bombarded with inquiries about
AIDS symptoms and applications for the HIV test have jumped ten-fold. Generally,
HIV/AIDS patients avoid contact with people because contracting the disease is
lethal for their weakened immune system.

If a HIV-positive person attempts to purposely spread the disease, however,
there is no way to block him or her from doing so. In the wake of the news,
calls are rising that the 1987 AIDS prevention law is ineffective to stem the
spread of the deadly disease.

The country's AIDS control and prevention system should be urgently revamped.

Editorial Writer Chung Sung-hee (shchung@...)

http://english.donga.com/srv/service.php3?biid=2009031643368

Asian migrant women face vulnerabilities in the Arab States

UNDP report outlines protection policies for countries receiving and sending
migrant women

Manila - Despite the substantial economic benefits that Asian women migrant
workers generate from their work in the Arab region, they often migrate under
unsafe conditions, are targets of sexual exploitation and violence, and are
highly vulnerable to factors that lead to HIV infection, says a study released
here today by the UN Development Programme (UNDP) and the Joint Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).

In the midst of the global economic crisis, with rates of unemployment
multiplying on a daily basis, the situation of migrant workers is under threat.
When demand for labour wanes, those in the weakest bargaining position, usually
temporary migrant workers and particularly the undocumented, will accept almost
any conditions to hold on to their jobs.

Based on almost 600 interviews in four Asian countries and three in the Arab
States, the report, HIV Vulnerabilities of Migrant Women: from Asia to the Arab
States, reveals the social, economic and health toll that migration imposes on
emigrating women, particularly low-skilled ones who are lured by job prospects.

The Arab States are the primary destination for many migrant workers from Asia,
including Bangladesh, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, the countries
which are the focus of the research. The host countries examined in the study
are: Bahrain, Lebanon and UAE.

The report, a collaborative initiative of UNDP, UNAIDS, IOM and UNIFEM estimates
that 70-80 percent of migrants from Sri Lanka and the Philippines to the Arab
States are women. Between 1991 and 2007, 60 percent of women migrants from
Bangladesh left to find employment in the Arab States. Remittances from
Filipinos working in the Arab States in 2007 amounted to $2.17 billion. In
Bangladesh, migrant workers sent back close to $637 million from the UAE.
Current remittances by migrant workers from Sri Lanka amount to $3 billion.

"In this global financial downturn, we cannot forget the needs and rights of
migrant workers who are such an integral part of so many economies," says Ajay
Chhibber, UNDP Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific. "If they are found
HIV positive, they risk deportation. Once returned to their home countries, they
are unable to find work and face discrimination and social isolation," he says.

Deportation of HIV-positive migrants by host countries and the absence of
reintegration programmes in countries of origin can be devastating for the
health, well-being, and livelihoods of migrants and their families, according to
the report. Furthermore, "the impossibility of returning HIV-positive migrants
to migrate again through regular channels… puts them at substantial risk of
being trafficked."

"Most of migrant workers around the world are subject to exploitation and
mistreatment, and that is a worldwide problem." says General Siham Harakeh, Head
of the Nationality, Passports and Foreigners Bureau at the Directorate of
General Security in Lebanon. "Despite the existence of abused and exploited
cases that totally contradicts with human rights, the majority of the Lebanese
people respects these rights and deal with migrants as members of their family."

"Although migration itself is not a risk factor to HIV infection, the conditions
under which some workers migrate and their living conditions in the host
countries make them highly vulnerable to HIV" says JVR Prasada Rao, Regional
Director of UNAIDS in Asia and the Pacific. "In many cases, HIV testing in both
countries of origin and host countries breaches migrants' rights – testing is
undertaken without consent, counseling, confidentiality or support," he says.

"While there has been enormous progress in the Philippines with very progressive
and effective initiatives developed by the government and NGOs, this work needs
to be further expanded. Programmes in the Philippines need to ensure that all
migrants move in safe conditions, that they know how to protect themselves and
how to look for assistance if they find themselves in difficult circumstances,"
says Renaud Meyer, UNDP Country Director in the Philippines.

The study shows that host countries and countries of origin have an equal
responsibility to provide protective policies and programmes. Among those
recommended in the report:

• Migrants who have a medical condition that does not impair their ability to
work, such as living with HIV, should not be denied the right to work

• Health insurance schemes for migrant workers should cover all aspects of
health, including HIV

• Hiring agents and employer blacklists need to be created, monitored and shared

• Embassy and consular staff in host countries should be trained on the special
needs and vulnerabilities of migrant women

• Reform existing labour laws to cover migrant workers in the domestic sector

The study also outlines positive steps that are being taken in some host
countries in the Arab States to ensure responsiveness to the needs of migrant
women. In Lebanon, for example, all working migrants have health insurance. In
the UAE, a new unified contract to regulate the rights and duties of domestic
workers includes a medical aid provision. "The Government of Bahrain, NGOs and
the UN are committed to starting a project to strengthen information and
HIV/AIDS services for migrant women," says Sayed Aqa, UN Resident Coordinator in
Bahrain.

Visit the following url  to download a copy of the "HIV Vulnerabilities of
Migrant Women: from Asia to the Arab States" report.

http://www2.undprcc.lk/resource_centre/pub_pdfs/P1097.pdf

FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT AND ADVANCE REGISTRATION

SEMINAR: `STRENGTHENED AND EXPANDED HIV LEGAL SERVICES'
COSPONSORED BY APN+, UNAIDS AND UNDP
SATURDAY, 8 AUGUST 2009/ BALI, INDONESIA

PRIOR TO THE
9TH INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON AIDS IN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC (ICAAP)

People living with and vulnerable to HIV often have legal problems, and need
quality, non-judgmental legal information, advice and representation. This
seminar is for lawyers and paralegals, and also for people without specific
legal training, who want to start, or improve, such legal services. The seminar
will present and discuss tools and models, and also discuss how to secure
resources for HIV legal services.

By the end of this seminar, participants will be able to:

1.Identify the common legal issues  faced by people living with  and vulnerable 
to HIV.

2. Describe the role of lawyers who provide such services in creating an
enabling environment for HIV prevention, treatment, care and support.

3. Describe the `policy loop', whereby data from legal services inform national
policy and practice, and how to ensure these data are collected, analysed and
used.

4. Identify different models for the provision of legal services, their
advantages and disadvantages, and ways to monitor and evaluate their impact.

5.Identify opportunities to strengthen and expand legal services, including
opportunities for resource mobilization from the Global Fund and other donors,
and in-kind and pro bono support from the practicing profession.

The seminar will be in English (Bahasa interpretation still to be confirmed.)

Advance registration

Participation is limited to 50 persons. Preference will be given to lawyers and
paralegals, and also for people without specific legal training, who are
involved in the provision of legal services to people with HIV and vulnerable
groups. Deadline for advance registration is 31 May 2009.

Scholarships

Limited partial and full scholarships are available to cover airfare and hotel
accommodation for the seminar (2 nights) for people from eligible countries[1]
who will also attend the ICAAP and have identified other funding support to do
so. Deadline for scholarship applications is 20 March 2009.

Further information and application forms

Contact: Nicole Hoagland, Program Associate, International Development Law
Organization (IDLO, www.idlo.int) by email: nhoagland@...

________________________________________
[1] Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Burma, Cambodia, China (excl. H.K.), Cook
Islands, East Timor, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Kiribati, Laos, Malaysia, Maldives,
Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Mongolia, Nauru, Nepal, Niue,
Pakistan, Palau Islands, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Samoa, Solomon Islands,
Sri Lanka, Thailand, Tokelau, Tuvalu, Tonga, Vanuatu, Vietnam.

9th ICAAP ANNOUNCEMENT: ENGLISH VERSION

ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 27 MARCH 2009 
SKILLS BUILDING PROPOSAL DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 27 MARCH 2009 
CULTURAL PERFORMANCE PROPOSAL DEADLINE EXTENDED TO 27 MARCH 2009

On behalf of the local organizing committee and our Indonesian and
international partners, we would like to invite you to join us for the
9th International Congress on AIDS in Asia and the Pacific (ICAAP 9), to be held
in Bali, Indonesia from 9-13 August 2009.

The Congress Theme is Empowering People, Strengthening Networks. It
wishes to bring people from various backgrounds in Asia and the
Pacific region to meet and share knowledge, skills, ideas, research
findings related to HIV and AIDS. This is also be an opportunity for
people to provide mutual support and make stronger commitments in their fight
towards the epidemic.

For more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP website at www.icaap9.org

============
REGISTRATION

We encourage online registration through the congress website at
www.icaap9.org

Deadline for Early Bird Registration: Saturday, 28 February 2009 (NOW CLOSED) 
Deadline for Regular Registration: Sunday, 31 May 2009
Late Registration Charge applies: 1 June 2009
Deadline for Media Registration: Tuesday, 30 June 2009

============
CALL FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION
We encourage online submission through the congress website at
www.icaap9.org Deadline for Online Abstract Submission: Friday, 27 March 2009

Late breaker Abstract Submission: Monday, 1 June 2009 – Tuesday, 30
June 2009

Congress Tracks (Scientific- Studies/Experien ce-based)

Track A: Understanding the Epidemic and Strengthening Prevention Efforts
Track B: Strengthening Partnership for Treatment, Care, and Support
Track C: AIDS in Context: Understanding and Addressing Socio-Cultural,
Economic and Political Determinants
Track D: Leadership and Broadening the Response

For online submission and more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP
website at www.icaap9.org

============
CALL FOR SKILLS BUILDING PROPOSAL
We encourage online submission through the congress website at
www.icaap9.org

Deadline for Online Proposal Submission: Friday, 27 March 2009

Skills Building tracks:

1. Leadership skills.
2. Organizational development and management.
3. Empowering infected and affected people to improve their quality
of life.
4. Strategy and education skills on HIV prevention, care and supports.
5. Resource mobilisations skills.

For online submission and more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP
website at www.icaap9.org
============
CALL FOR CULTURAL PERFORMANCE PROPOSAL
We encourage online submission through the congress website at
www.icaap9.org
Deadline for Online Proposal Submission: Friday, 27 March 2009
For online submission and more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP
website at www.icaap9.org
============

CALL FOR SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATION
We encourage online submission through the congress website at
www.icaap9.org
Deadline for Scholarship Application: Thursday, 30 April 2009

Scholarship Category:
1. Community Scholarships
2. Scientific Scholarships (for healthcare professionals, researchers,
and/or graduate students)
3. Media Scholarships
4. Youth Scholarships

For online submission and more information, please visit the 9th ICAAP
website at www.icaap9.org

============
SEE YOU IN BALI!

9th ICAAP Secretariat:
Menara Eksekutif 8th Floor
Jalan MH Thamrin Kav. 9, Jakarta 10330
INDONESIA

Phone: +62 21 39838845/46
Fax: +62 21 39838847
Website: http://www.icaap9. org
Email. secretariat@ icaap9.orG

CALL FOR ASTRACTS OR PAPER PROPOSALS SOCIAL AND CULTURAL DIMENSIONS OF HIV/AIDS
IN VIETNAM

I. Introduction

Since the first reports of HIV in Vietnam almost twenty years ago, behavioral
and epidemiological studies have made significant contributions in shaping
Vietnamese responses to the epidemic.

Behavioral science, for example, has been quite effective in crafting a set of
replicable evidence-based prevention interventions. The growing scale of the
epidemic, however, has made clear the need for interventions that change the
context of behavior rather than simply focusing on helping individuals make
healthier choices.

Globally, much of the early social science work on HIV underlined the importance
of understanding how the meanings people give to relationships, identities, and
practices shape and constrain behavior and contribute to patterns of HIV risk.

Social scientists have explored the political economy of risk, have underlined
the conditions under which social conditions facilitate or even determine the
practice of individual risk behaviors, shown how broad social factors such as
racial inequality, economic development, and gender stratification intertwine to
create risk differentials.

They have contributed pioneering research on structural interventions for sexual
and injection-related risk and critical insights to undergird HIV care and
treatment programs. This includes exploring stigma as a barrier to testing and
treatment, looking at how anti-retroviral therapy (ART) transforms the local
meanings of HIV/AIDS, documenting social movements' role in creating the
conditions necessary for universal access to ART and underlining the relevance
of therapeutic itineraries and communities of care for understanding adherence. 
Social scientists have also explored the institutions and policies which play
such key roles in shaping the daily lives of those living with, or at risk for,
HIV.

While Vietnamese researchers have conducted studies that examine some of the
above issues, their final products are not widely disseminated and/or
acknowledged both at the national and international levels.

The Social Science Research and Training on HIV/AIDS (STAR) Partnership, a
five-year collaboration between Hanoi Medical University and Columbia University
funded by the US National Institutes of Health, aims to improve local capacity
for critical social science research on HIV/AIDS.

Learning from the ENCOURAGE Project (CIHP) whose products appeared recently in a
special issue on sexuality issues in Vietnam in the journal Culture, Health and
Sexuality, STAR Partnership calls for participation of senior and mid-level
Vietnamese researchers in a process that will result in internationally
publishable journal articles on social and cultural dimensions of HIV/AIDS in
Vietnam.

II. The Process

Interested researchers who have conducted studies on social, cultural, economic,
political and behavioral dimensions of HIV/AIDS in Vietnam are encouraged to
submit their abstracts or paper proposals.  Topics of interests include, but not
limited to, policy analysis, cultural and political economic analysis of risks,
vulnerability and impacts, examination of social organization and movement in
responses against the epidemic, and socially grounded analysis of behaviors and
practices. In consultation with the two senior mentors, we will shortlist
abstracts/proposals that have the potential for becoming publishable papers.

Shortlisted authors will be encouraged to submit a draft paper before the first
writing workshop that will be held tentatively in December of 2009.

In this workshop, the two mentors will review principles of writing papers for
international publication, make specific comments on draft papers, and provide
detailed plan for follow-up.

After the first workshop, participants will revise their papers and submit the
second draft before Tet of 2010.  Those who complete the second draft will be
invited to attend the second workshop, tentatively in February of 2010, during
which the two mentors will work with individual authors to polish their draft
papers.

The participants will then have another two months to send another draft for
final review. We expect that this process will be finalized by the summer of
2010.  Decision on journal submission will depend on the quality of final
papers, and there are no guarantees of getting published.

III. The Mentors

Peter Aggleton is a senior professor at the Institute of Education, University
of London and a visiting professor at the National Centre for HIV Social
Research at the University of New South Wales, in Sydney. He has worked
internationally in the field of HIV and AIDS for over twenty years.  He serves
on the editorial advisory boards of AIDS, AIDS Care, AIDS Education and
Prevention  as well as several other journals including Critical Public Health,
Global Public Health and Health Education Research.  He is the editor of the
international journal Culture, Health and Sexuality and the editor of over
twenty books on the social aspects of HIV and AIDS.  Peter has worked
extensively in Vietnam over the last decade, and is skilled in helping
researchers develop and refine their work for publication

Paul Boyce also works at the Institute of Education, University of London and
has several years' experience supporting authors in the field of sexuality,
sexual health and HIV/AIDS.  An experienced writer and author himself, he has
published in a number of specialist HIV/AIDS, social science and public health
journals.  With Peter Aggleton, he has supported Vietnamese researchers and
authors in writing for publication in good quality international journals.

IV. Potential Participants

Senior and mid-level Vietnamese researchers and program managers who are working
in academics, research institutions, non-governmental organizations in the field
of social sciences (for example, ethnology, anthropology, sociology, cultural
studies, economics, history and political sciences), medicine, public health and
related fields.

We aim to select a maximum of 14 participants for the first writeshop.  We are
particularly interested in individuals who have submitted abstracts to the ICAAP
9 in Bali, Indonesia, the 20th International Conference on Harm Reduction in
Bangkok, Thailand, and the 7th IASSCS Conference in Hanoi.

V. Application Requirements

Interested individuals should submit abstracts/paper proposals of not more than
500 words by no later than 5:00 pm of May 30th, 2009.

Funding is available to support participants coming from outside of Hanoi. 
Selected participants will receive confirmation no later than the first week of
September, 2009.  For further information, please contact

Lê Minh Giang

Center for Research and Training on HIV/AIDS
Hanoi Medical University
Telephone: (84-4) 5745619;  Cell: (84) 16 92 111 238
Emails:  ttaids_yhn@...

Deal all,

Please join in the call to the leadership of WHO and UNAIDS to take
immediate, evidence-based action to update the official guidelines for
anti-retroviral treatment initiation to <350 CD4.

Please join the effort to bring immediate access to treatment to people who are
sitting on waiting lists until they become 'medically eligible' for lifesaving
antiretroviral treatment.

Join the effort and sign on <http://ga1.org/ct/51wFPln1vzsh/signon> today!

Many Thanks,

Terri M. Ford
Senior Director of Gobal Policy
AIDS Healthcare Foundation
------------ --------- ---------

March 4, 2009

Dr. Margaret Chan
Director General
World Health Organization

Michel Sidib้
Executive Director
UNAIDS

Avenue Appia 20
1211 Geneva 27
Switzerland

Re: Revising WHO Guidelines for CD4+ T-Cell Treatment Initiation Threshold to
Reflect Current Data

Dear Director General Chan and Mr. Sidib้,

In light of scientific evidence correlating earlier treatment with vastly
improved health outcomes and lower death rates, we the undersigned HIV/AIDS
medical care providers and advocates call on the World Health Organization (WHO)
and UNAIDS to immediately revise its current guidelines to raise the recommended
treatment initiation threshold from a CD4+ T cell count of <200 cells/mm3 to
<350.

The Health Ministry of Uganda has recently expanded eligibility for
enrollment in the national antiretroviral program by raising the eligible CD4+ T
cell count to <350 from <200 because the previous guidelines were 'inadequate'
to meet the needs of the people. That kind of proactive leadership is needed at
a global level from WHO and UNAIDS.

Based on a growing body of evidence supporting earlier treatment, a number of
health agencies—including the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and
the International AIDS Society, USA—have updated their guidelines to recommend
treatment initiation at <350.

As WHO strives to lead the fight against the global HIV/AIDS epidemic, the
agency’s guidelines must also be updated to reflect these current data.

The trend toward earlier treatment initiation is based on several factors.

First and foremost is the mounting evidence demonstrating its major positive
health impacts, including improved survival and reduced disease progression.

In addition, several studies have shown that earlier treatment initiation is a
cost effective intervention, reducing healthcare costs by preventing the need
for extended hospital stays, as well as improving life expectancy.

Other factors in the movement toward earlier initiation include the vast
improvement in the effectiveness and tolerance of newer antiretroviral
medications and the fact that successfully treated patients are at a lower risk
of transmitting the virus.

HIV/AIDS patients in high-income, industrialized nations are now benefiting from
updated guidelines based on these new data. However, it is in
resource-constraine d settings—for which WHO guidelines are largely
intended—that an earlier treatment threshold would make the most significant
difference.

Under health policy guided by the current WHO recommendations,
an HIV-positive patient with a CD4 cell count greater than 200 seeking
treatment in a resource-constraine d country, such as many in sub-Saharan
Africa, is likely to be told to return months later when his/her HIV infection
may have progressed. Within those months, opportunistic infections could take
that patient’s life—a death that could be prevented by earlier initiation of
treatment.

The leadership of both WHO and UNAIDS on this issue will have an enormous impact
on the clinical practices in resource-constraine d countries reliant on the
agency’s guidance to shape national health policy.

In November of last year, when a large-scale study conclusively confirmed the
benefits of early treatment for HIV-positive infants, WHO responded by revising
its treatment initiation guidelines, recommending HAART for all infants under 12
months of age with confirmed HIV infection, irrespective of clinical or
immunological stage. A similar revision must now be made to benefit the tens
of millions of adults living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.

Raising WHO’s recommended treatment initiation threshold from a CD4+ T  cell
count of <200 to <350 would remove one more barrier to accessing  lifesaving
HIV/AIDS treatment and have a positive economic impact on resource-constraine d
countries, ultimately reducing the healthcare costs associated with the
treatment of preventable HIV/AIDS-related conditions.

Most importantly, this change could significantly improve health outcomes,
increasing the odds of survival for millions of people living with HIV/AIDS in
the developing world.

We urge WHO and UNAIDS leadership and action on this matter and look
forward to your response.

Sincerely,

Michael Weinstein, President
AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Homayoon Khanlou, MD, Chief of Medicine USA
AIDS Healthcare Foundation

Chinkholal Thangsing, MD
AHF Bureau Chief, Asia Pacific Bureau

Bernard Okongo, MD
AHF Bureau Chief, East / West Africa Bureau

Patricia Campos, MD
AHF Bureau Chief, Latin America Bureau

Ndilikazi Buhlungu, MD
AHF Bureau Chief, Southern Africa Bureau

Angelina Wapakabulo
AHF Senior Bureau Advisor, East/West Africa

[Your name here]
------------ --------- ---------
Vist the web page <http://ga1.org/ct/51wFPln1vzsh/signon> to sign on to the
above letter.*

New HIV cases hit record high in Hong Kong

HONG KONG, March 3 (Xinhua) -- There were 435 new HIV cases in Hong Kong in
2008, which is the highest recorded, Hong Kong Center for Health Protection said
on Tuesday, adding that the figure was 5 percent higher than in 2007.

Center for Health Protection Consultant Wong Ka-hing said sexual transmission
continued to be the major mode of HIV spread.

Of the new cases, 131 people acquired the infection through heterosexual
exposure, and 145 cases through homosexual or bisexual contact. Forty were cases
of injection drug use and three were cases of blood or blood product infusion.
The routes of transmission of 116 cases were undetermined due to inadequate
information.

In the fourth quarter of 2008, 106 people tested positive for HIV, bringing the
cumulative total of reported HIV infections to 4,047 since 1984.

The 106 new cases comprised 85 men and 21 women. Of them 24 acquired the
infection through heterosexual contact, 40 through homosexual or bisexual
contact and six through drug injection. The routes of transmission of the
remaining 36 cases were undetermined due to inadequate information.

Thirty-two new cases of AIDS were reported in the fourth quarter in Hong Kong ,
bringing to 1,030 the total number of confirmed AIDS cases reported since 1985.
Fifty-nine percent of the new AIDS cases were related to heterosexual contact.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/03/content_10936587.htm

Korean PLWHA and Civil Society Statement on Roche's Compassionate Programme of
Fuzeon for HIV/AIDS Patients in South Korea
 
Fuzeon is an essential medicine for HIV/AIDS treatment, but since 2005 Roche has
been withholding the distribution of the drug in Korea. We, PLWHA and AIDS
activists around the world have been protested against Roche's murderous policy.
However, Roche's only response was that they would not supply Fuzeon until the
South Korean government accepts the unreasonably high price of Fuzeon.
 
To solve this problem, Korea HIV/AIDS Network of Solidarity and Intellectual
Property Left requested a compulsory license of Fuzeon in December 2008.
 
 
In February 25 2009, Roche surprisingly informed their plan to provide Fuzeon in
Korea under Compassionate Programme. Considering the patients' severe pain and
loss due to the absence of medicine, we welcome Roche's decision and value it as
an important step for improving access to AIDS treatment.
 
 
It is a significant change compared to the Roche's previous position who has
alleged that poor patients in poor country have no right to access Fuzeon..
Undoubtedly, the Roche's compensation program is resulted from the worldwide
actions and public pressure organized by diverse groups in Korean civil society
and world AIDS communities. However, the program suggested by Roche is still far
from fulfilling the request of PLWHA and AIDS activists.
 
 
First of all, Roche notify that they introduce the compassionate program "as a
temporary measure until a more sustainable solution for access in South Korea
could be found," because Roche cannot distribute the Fuzeon though the Korean
national health care system.
 
But, it is evident that Roche is the one who have blocked the distribution of
the drug through the regular system. The main reason of Roche's withholding the
drug is that Korean government did not accept the price as the same level as the
advanced seven countries.
 
We point out that Roche's new program is a just temporal measure and the
essential problem of Fuzeon is still remained.
 
 
Secondly, we conclude that Roche's compassionate program is a strategic and
calculative action aiming the incapacitating of compulsory licensing. PLWHA and
activists in Korea requested a compulsory licensing of Fuzeon in December 2008
to stop the Roche's life threatening policy.
 
Through a Novatis's Gleevec case, we already watched how the multinational drug
company abused the compassionate program. In the Gleevec case, Novatis refused
the price approved by Korean government and disregarded the legitimate and
regular channel for drug distribution.
 
Multinational drug companies including Novatis have been using the deceitful
tactics to influence patients for the purpose of increasing their negotiating
power in the drug pricing process. As the result of this abused program, the
price of Gleevec is still high. If Roche keep avoid the regular drug
distribution system in Korea, the new compassionate program is nothing but a
fraudulent measure to secure their profit.
 
 
We demand a public apology from Roche for their fraudulent practices and
profiteering in Korea.
 
It is undeniable that Roche have neglected the supply of essential medicine to
Korean AIDS patients over the 4 years even though Roche insist that they take
their "role to improve access to medicines very seriously". There is no apology
for the suffering and death Roche had caused to PLWHA in Korea and around the
world.
 
 
We also strongly urge Roche to seek a fundamental solution for the immediate
needs of drugs instead of abusing a temporal expedient. Roche already admitted
that they had no ability to produce enough Fuzeon to meet the demands of PLWHA
all over the world. Because of the patent on Fuzeon, no one can start the
production of generic form of it and numerous PLWHA around the world have been
denied access to the drug. Roche must renounce to its patent on Fuzeon and
voluntarily issue technology transfer. This is the only solution to make Fuzeon
available for everyone.
 
March 4, 2009.
 
Korea HIV/AIDS Network of Solidarity
Nanuri+, HIV/AIDS Human Rights Advocacy Group of Korea
Public Pharmaceutical Center
Solidarity for Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender Human Rights of Korea
Korean Gay Men's Human Rights Group
Sarangbang
Group for Human Rights
Health Right Network
Korean Federation of Medical Groups for Health Rights
Association of Korea Doctors for Health Rights
Association of Physicians for Humanism
Korea Dentists Association for Health Society
 Korea Health and Medical Workers Union
Korean Pharmacists for Democratic Society
People's Solidarity for Social Progress
Intellectual Property Left
Korean Progressive Network Jinbonet
Korea Leukemia Patient Group
Solidarity for New Progressive Party
 

Ara Kang
Director of the Korean Pharmacists for Democratic Society
3F, 26-1, Ewha-Dong, Chongro-Gu,
Seoul, South Korea
Website : http://www.pharmacist.or.kr
E-mail : naengee@...
Tel : 82-11-389-0614
Fax : 82-2-766-6025

TIMOR-LESTE: Tackling human trafficking

DILI, 4 February 2009 (IRIN) - Human trafficking is a growing problem in
Timor-Leste, but despite an increase in the number of potential victims
identified, there has not been a single conviction.

Timorese and foreign nationals are trafficking people for sexual exploitation,
forced labour and agricultural work, said Heather Komenda, counter-trafficking
programme manager for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Since Timor-Leste gained independence in 2002, local Timorese women have been
lured away from their homes and recruited with promises of work abroad.

Francisco Belo, a coordinator for the counter-trafficking project of the Alola
Foundation, an NGO founded in 2001 to respond to the needs of women in Timor,
told IRIN: "We have heard of almost 100 such cases… Especially near the border
[with West Timor], traffickers have recruited women to work in Indonesia,
Malaysia and other countries in southeast Asia. The families in Timor haven't
heard from those women [again]."

Traffickers employ a number of strategies. Bogus NGOs arrive in Timor offering
overseas employment. The population of Timor is 90 percent Catholic and some
traffickers even employ people impersonating nuns to recruit people, said Belo.

Trafficked people in Timor

Perhaps a bigger problem is the number of people being trafficked into the
country. "Timor has become a destination for human traffickers. We have found
people from Thailand, Indonesia, China and the Philippines - most of them
working in the sex industry and most of them victims of human trafficking," he
said.

Belo said the number of female commercial sex workers in Dili is now probably
close to 550. Back in 2004, the prosecutor-general estimated there were 400
Chinese and 300 Vietnamese construction workers in Dili who were possible
victims of trafficking.

Trafficking in persons is a criminal offence under Article 81 of the Immigration
and Asylum Act of 2003. Trafficking in minors carries a jail term of 5-12 years.

Lauren Rumble, chief of the UN Children's Fund's (UNICEF's) Child Protection
Unit, said: "Timor-Leste's government has been determined to set up systems to
prevent and respond to child trafficking. The Ministry of Social Solidarity in
2008 deployed 13 child protection officers (one for each district) to monitor
and manage cases of vulnerable children. A new law on adoption and guardianship
is being developed and a birth registration programme is in place."

The government, however, has yet to ratify the world's primary anti-trafficking
treaty, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons,
Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention
Against Transnational Crime.

"The government is considering ratifying the protocol this year," said IOM's
Komenda, adding that this would further develop the Immigration and Asylum Act,
especially in terms of victim protection and assistance.

Document fraud

While enforcement of trafficking laws has proved difficult, it is often easier
to arrest suspected traffickers through a law other than Article 81, such as
document fraud.

In 2007, for example, the Ministry of Social Solidarity and the prosecutor's
office twice ordered Immigration to deny a group of Timorese females, which
included minors, exit visas to leave the country because information suggested
the group was to be trafficked to Syria via Malaysia. A Nigerian man was accused
of recruiting the group.

No witnesses came forward and Article 81 could not be applied.

However, the man was subsequently arrested twice for possession of fake
passports before Immigration officials asked him to voluntarily leave the
country, which he did.

Awareness-raising

A big part of Alola and IOM's work is awareness-raising. "We produce pamphlets,
posters, and CDs to spread the word on the radio and TV about the dangers of
human trafficking, and we deliver training workshops," said Belo.

This year IOM plans to establish Timor's first shelter for victims of
trafficking, with funding from the UN Development Programme-Spain's Millennium
Development Goal Achievement Fund.

Komenda said: "The government also has an inter-agency trafficking working
group. We support them to develop national action plans. We are happy the
government is taking it seriously, but there is still a lot of work to be done."

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82744

Global Challenges | Global Fund Mission Considering Restoration of Grants to
Myanmar's HIV/AIDS, TB, Malaria Programs

[Mar 02, 2009] A four-member mission of the Global Fund To Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria last week visited Myanmar to meet with local officials
and discuss the possibility of restoring funds to programs that address the
three diseases in the country, Xinhuanet reports.

The delegation -- led by William Paton, director of the Global Fund's country
programs -- spent four days in Myanmar at the invitation of the country's
government and held discussions with the Myanmar Country Coordinating Mechanism,
led by the country's health minister.

The 29-member MCCM includes 10 members from government ministries, four from
United Nations agencies and four from international nongovernmental
organizations. The mission is expected to announce its decision about the
funding by 2010, Xinhuanet reports (Xinhuanet, 2/27).

The Global Fund in August 2005 announced a suspension of its grants to Myanmar,
citing travel and other restrictions implemented by the country's government
that impede the delivery of medical supplies and services (Kaiser Daily HIV/AIDS
Report, 10/12/06). To compensate for the loss of funding, Myanmar established
the Three Disease Fund, which received support from Australia's AusAID, the
European Commission, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden's Sida and the United
Kingdom's Department for International Development.

The 3D Fund in April 2006 launched a $100 million project to address HIV/AIDS,
TB and malaria in the country, under the guidance of MCCM.

In 2007, the World Health Organization signed a memorandum of understanding to
extend the 3D Fund and administer the program.

According to reports, the 3D Fund provided Myanmar with $4 million across 2007
and 2008, as well as $5.7 million across 2008 and 2009.

Reports also indicate that the fund provided nine
NGOs in Myanmar with a total of $630,000 to control HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria.

Sun Gang, UNAIDS country coordinator for Myanmar, said the country is
undertaking significant efforts to control the three diseases. According to a
recent UNAIDS report, Myanmar reported 240,000 HIV cases in 2007, down from
300,000 in 2001. According to Xinhuanet, the country has undertaken efforts to
encourage 100% condom use, offer educational talks about HIV/AIDS and provide
treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

In addition, Myanmar aims to curb HIV transmission resulting from injection drug
use, mother-to-child transmission and blood transfusions. Furthermore, several
ministries, NGOs, U.N. agencies and community groups in Myanmar have adopted a
five-year national strategic plan to implement 13 strategies to prevent and
treat HIV/AIDS, Xinhuanet reports.

The country also is working with international organizations and neighboring
countries to implement the Association of Southeast Asian Nations HIV/AIDS
Control Plan and the HIV Prevention
Plan in the Mekong Region. According to Xinhuanet, Myanmar aims to reduce
morbidity and mortality associated with HIV/AIDS, TB and malaria to meet targets
in the U.N. Millennium Development Goals (Xinhuanet, 2/27).
 
http://www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_ID=57225

HIV and AIDS can pose a serious economic and social development risk to
countries in South Asia, unless prevention programs, targeting vulnerable groups
at high risk of infection, are scaled up, says a new World Bank report.

The report, titled "HIV and AIDS in South Asia: An Economic Development Risk,"
argues that, even if the overall prevalence rate is low (up to 0.5 percent),
there is high and rising HIV prevalence among vulnerable groups at high risk for
HIV infection, including sex workers and their clients, and injecting drug users
and their partners.

Without increasing prevention interventions among those at highest risk, these
concentrated epidemics can further escalate.

Access the full report: http://go.worldbank.org/YHRC95J2J0

Aid groups target new Indian rich amid global slump

26 Feb 2009 12:40:00 GMT/ Written by: Nita Bhalla

As aid agencies around the world grapple with funding cuts amid the
global economic meltdown, charities in India are targeting what was
up until now an untapped resource - the middle classes.

India's rapid economic boom in recent years has given rise to a large
middle-class population who has the income to holiday abroad, buy
branded products and dine in expensive restaurants.

Estimates vary on the size of this growing community, but it is
believed to number 200 million out of a population of 1.2 billion.

Aid agencies, which have traditionally relied on bilateral donors to
sponsor development and emergency relief projects, say they are now
waking up to this new source of money.

"There is a large Indian middle class and they have probably not been
giving much because we have not been engaging them directly," said
Thomas Chandy, CEO of Save the Children India.

Chandy said his organisation was fundraising in India's bustling
business hub Mumbai and the charity is raising about one million
rupees ($20,000) every month from speaking to people on the street.

"It's not a very sophisticated fundraising mechanism - just people
coming up to us in the street and us telling them about what we do
and the children that we are trying to help," he adds.

In Delhi's vibrant business district of Connaught Place, outside the
stores selling Levis and Nike, a man carrying a clipboard with the
U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) logo, joins the street-food vendors,
shoe cleaners and street children who are all vying for the attention
of shoppers and office workers.

People appear puzzled as he goes through his pitch, but they seem
more than happy to stop and listen.

RESOURCES AND INTEREST

As in many developing countries, the huge disparity between rich and
poor can give the impression that wealthier Indians in their air-
conditioned 4x4 cars are either immune to the beggars knocking on
their window or too preoccupied to care.

But fundraising managers say this is simply not the case.

"It's not like it was ten years ago," said Clement Chauvet, private
fundraising and partnership manager for UNICEF India. "India's middle
classes want to help in the development of their own country and have
the resources and interest to do this now."

UNICEF India raised $1.6 million last year and Chauvet projects this
will rise to $3.2 million in 2009.

The charities use face-to-face contact, telemarketing and direct
mailing to target a certain profile.

"The thriving middle class, who are young, a little beyond 30-years-
old, urban professionals and who have a sustainable source of income,
are the segment which we are looking at," said Kunal Verma, Oxfam
India's marketing and communications director.

"These people understand development work much more than they did ten
years ago and they also now want to be part of the solution."

Verma said Oxfam India now has around 50,000 donors in the country
and he estimates face-to-face engagement will raise about $900,000 in
2009 compared to $460,000 last year.

Agencies say about one to 5 percent of those approached in India end
up giving regular contributions - similar to the international
benchmark.

The public reaction to last September's devastating floods in the
eastern state of Bihar, which left hundreds dead, has also reinforced
charities' views that Indians are keen to help.

Aid workers say they were inundated with calls, emails and letters
from people offering help.

Although public fundraising is a relatively new phenomenon in India
and the amounts raised are still modest, charities say the practice
can bring more than monetary rewards.

"The idea is to try and create an understanding amongst the general
population that they can help make a difference in their own
country," said Sarah Crowe, UNICEF's head of communications for South
Asia region.

"The needs are so huge in a country like India that it can't just be
one single source of funds. It has to be a joint effort."

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external
websites.
http://alertnet.org/db/an_art/55867/2009/01/26-124037-1.htm

Contract ManagerJob title: Contract Manager

Division/Department: Technical Support Facility

Location: Kuala Lumpur

Rank/Grade: -

Salary: Salary will commensurate with experience and qualifications



Please send completed applications or contact us at this address:
ippfklro@...

Closing date for applications: 3/16/2009



Job Purpose

Responsible for overall supervision of the Contract Management Unit
on all consultancy issues as well as contracts and grants and its
management within the HIV/AIDS Technical Support Facility.

Key Tasks

Under the overall supervision of the TSF Director, the incumbent will
carry out the following duties and responsibilities:

1. Contracts and Grants management

Provide leadership and support for design and implementation of all
Contract and Grant management
Ensures all activities related to contract & grant management are
carried out in conformance with established policies and procedures
Assures that agreements with donors, partnering organizations,
contractors/clients, and consultants are contractually sound
Recommends for approval to the TSF Director of all contracts and
consultancies.
Serves as a technical resource person to Program and Finance Units in
the management of consultancy services.
Assures that the technical requests are secured on the funding source
from clients and proper documentation is in place.
Interprets and applies funding regulations to ensure that all
TSF/IPPF policies and procedures and donor contracting requirements
are met for contracting services
Develops and implements procedures for contracting services to ensure
that adequate records and audit trails are maintained
Develops and implements procedures to ensure that contracts are
processed expediently, monitored appropriately and completed in a
timely manner within the Contract Management Unit.
2. Database Management

Overseeing the management of consultant database, including sourcing
new consultants in priority areas and conducting other assessment as
seems reasonable to expand pool of consultants
Ensuring the efficiency, quality and usefulness of entry of new
consultant¡¦s information, information retrieval, overall accuracy of
the consultant database, and that the software is updated as
needed
Ensure that commercially valuable information is treated
confidentially, that computer records are backed up once a week, that
physical and electronic records are secure
Ensuring that quality assurance processes are in place for potential
consultants as well as during the course of assignment
3. Consultancy Management

Work closely with Program and Finance Units to ensure smooth
management of consultancy assignments
Tracking processes relating to assignments, reporting on these on a
periodic basis, and advising Director and appropriate managers of
delays or problems  Responding to requests for information about the
TSF and refer to Program Unit as appropriate
Ensuring administrative, logistic-related emergencies or problems
with consultants are managed properly
4. Others:

Manage the Contracts Unit
Provides support to the 6 month Progress Reports, Annual Report and
other similar documentation required of the TSF from IPPF, UNAIDS,
GFATM, donors and clients, as required
Provides input and participates in management team meetings.
Represents the TSF at meetings and travels as required
Performs other duties as assigned by the Director
Essential Knowledge, Skills and Experience:

At least a Diploma in Business Management or equivalent with minimum
of 5 years experience in Business Administration and Programme
Management
Experience in working with international humanitarian organizations
or government institutions, in a multi-cultural setting is an
advantage
Experience and competence in the development and implementation of
systems to manage external service providers.
Familiarity with the provision of consultancy services.  Strong
analytical skills. Initiative and ability to manage efficiently
multiple tasks.
Accustomed to operating at a highly professional level in a busy
environment. Comfortable working with very senior people.
Excellent interpersonal skills and a good team player.
Legal background is an asset„X Effective user of Microsoft Office
software.
Applicants should send their applications to:

The Director
Technical Support Facility- South East Asia and Pacific (TSF-SEAP)
IPPF ESEAOR
No. 246 Jalan Ampang
50450 Kuala Lumpur
Malaysia
Tel: +603-42576180
Fax: +603-42576994
E-mail: info@...





The IPPF application form is available in large print, audio and
Braille formats for jobs based at the Central Office. We hope to have
those formats available for jobs based in other offices soon.

IPPF is an equal opportunities employer.
We regret that only shortlisted candidates will be acknowledged.

Media Release 23 February 2009

GOOD NEIGHBOURS BECOME GOOD FRIENDS

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Lowy Institute for International Policy
join influential Pacific regional leaders and others in fight against the three
major pandemics in our region

The fight against the increasing incidence of HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
among Australia’s neighbouring countries is being boosted with the help of some
good friends.

Leading business, community, political figures and medical experts have made a
commitment to become ‘Pacific Friends of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria’. To be launched on February 23 and chaired by Ms Wendy
McCarthy AO, influential ‘Pacific Friends’ include Mr Andrew Forrest, Hon
Michael Kirby AC CMG, Ms Heather Ridout, Prof Tony Cunningham, Ms Lucy Turnbull,
Mr Ian Clarke and more. *

The launch will also announce that Australian sporting sensation, Matthew
Mitcham OAM, has been invited to be the Pacific Friends’ Youth Ambassador. Last
year at the Beijing Olympic Games Matthew won the Gold Medal in the Men’s 10m
Platform Diving with the highest score ever awarded in Olympic history.

Pacific Friends was made possible by a grant of close to $US1 million from the
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

This diverse group will mobilise regional awareness of the serious threat posed
by the three pandemics to societies and economies in the region. Pacific Friends
will also mobilise support for the Genevabased Global Fund that plays a vital
role in resourcing effective country based plans to reduce the impact and spread
of the diseases.

Since 2002, the Global Fund has raised $US19 billion to be used against the
three pandemics worldwide. Already, it provides a quarter of all international
financing to combat HIV/AIDS, two thirds for tuberculosis and three quarters for
malaria.

Her Excellency Ms Quentin Bryce AC, Governor General of Australia, will be the
inaugural patron of Pacific Friends. She will join Global Fund Executive
Director, Dr Michel Kazatchkine, in launching Pacific Friends in Sydney. The
Governor General has a deep interest in community based responses to health
challenges and especially in encouraging the role of women and girls in
promoting healthier societies.

Pacific Friends joins similar organisations in Africa, the United States of
America, Japan, Europe, Latin America, South Asia and the Middle East as
nongovernmental advocates of the Global Fund.

The inaugural Executive Director of Pacific Friends will be Mr Bill Bowtell,
Director of the HIV/AIDS Project at the Lowy Institute for International Policy
in Sydney, where Pacific Friends will be based.

“The Global Fund benefits enormously from the work of Friends organisations,
through their efforts to promote understanding and to mobilise regional support
for our work in the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria,” said Dr
Michel Kazatchkine, the Global Fund’s Executive Director. “Pacific Friends of
the Global Fund will no doubt be one of the strong voices communicating to
donors the importance of financing the future of so many people living in the
Pacific region.”

“The Global Fund is one of the best and kindest things people have ever done for
one another,” said Dr Tachi Yamada, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation’s Global Health Program.
“It is a fantastic vehicle for scaling up access to effective tools, and it has
already helped prevent millions of unnecessary deaths.”

The Global Fund works with maximum transparency and its commitment to
performance based funding and local implementation has won the confidence of
both public and private sector donors.

Pacific Friends is a new advocacy organisation founded in order to create
awareness for the Globa Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria across the
Pacific region. It aims to build political and financial support for the Global
Fund’s fight against the three diseases. Countries in our region receiving
support from the Global Fund so far are Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea
Solomon Islands, Fiji, Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Federated
States of Micronesia, Nauru  Niue, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The Global Fund is a not for profit organisation which provides a quarter of all
international financing to combat HIV/AIDS, two thirds for tuberculosis and
three quarters for malaria. The Global Fund, created in 2002, has committed more
than US$15 billion in 140 countries to support large scale prevention, treatment
and care programs against the three diseases. Programs it supports are estimated
to have averted more than 2.5 million deaths by providing HIV/AIDS treatment for
2 million people, antituberculosis treatment for 4.6 million people, and by
distributing 70 million insecticidetreated bed nets for the prevention of
malaria worldwide visit

www.theglobalfund.org.

For more information, please contact:
Norelle Feehan – Feehan Communications
Office: +61 2 9267 2711
Mobile: +61 0429 772 759
Email: norelle@...

Pacific Friends of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria:
Sir Peter Barter – Former Health Minister, Papua New Guinea
Mr Bill Bowtell – HIV/AIDS Program Director, Lowy Institute for International
Policy
Ms Ita Buttrose AO – Journalist and author
Rt Hon Helen Clark MP – Former Prime Minister, New Zealand
Mr Ian Clarke – Chairman, Gadens Lawyers
Prof David Cooper AO – Director, National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and
Clinical Research
Prof Tony Cunningham – Director, Westmead Millennium Institute for Medical
Research
Mr Philip Endersbee – President, Wilderness Wear Australia Pty Ltd
Mr Andrew Forrest – Chief Executive Officer, Fortescue Metals Group
Mr Allan Gyngell – Executive Director, Lowy Institute for International Policy
Dr Graeme Killer AO – Principal Adviser, Department of Veterans’ Affairs
Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG – Former Justice, High Court of Australia
Dr Nafsiah Mboi – Secretary, Indonesia National AIDS Commission
Ms Wendy McCarthy AO – Chair, Pacific Friends of the Global Fund
Lady Roslyn Morauta – Chair, Papua New Guinea Country Coordinating Mechanism
Prof Rob Moodie – Professor of Global Health, Nossal Institute for Global
Health, University of
Melbourne
Prof Robyn Norton – Principal Director, The George Institute for International
Health
Mr Brad Orgill – Chief Executive Officer, UBS Investment Bank Australasia
Senator Marise Payne MP – Senator for New South Wales
Ms Heather Ridout – Chief Executive Officer, Australian Industry Group
Ms Lucy Turnbull – Turnbull & Partners
Mr Bill Whittaker AM – CoConvenor,
Health & Treatments Portfolio, National Association of People
with HIV/AIDS
Dr Alex Wodak – Director, Alcohol and Drug Service, St Vincent’s Hospital

Media Release 23 February 2009
NEW ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION FOR THE GLOBAL FUND IN THE PACIFIC LAUNCHED IN SYDNEY

Sydney – The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria warmly welcomes
the launch of Pacific Friends of the Global Fund, a new advocacy organization
founded in order to create and sustain visibility and awareness for the Global
Fund across the Pacific region, as well as to build political and financial
support for the organization and the fight against the three diseases.

Pacific Friends joins Friends organizations in Africa, the U.S., Japan, Europe,
Latin America and South and West Asia as nongovernmental advocates on behalf of
the Global Fund. A similar organization is planned for the Middle East as well.

“The Global Fund benefits enormously by the work of Friends organizations,
through their efforts to promote understanding and to mobilize regional support
for the work of the Global Fund and the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and
malaria,” said Dr Michel Kazatchkine, the Global Fund’s Executive Director.
“Pacific Friends of the Global Fund will no doubt be one of the strong voices
communicating to donors the importance of financing to the future of so many
people living in the Pacific region.”

Countries and territories receiving support from the Global Fund so far, in the
region covered by Pacific Friends are Indonesia, East Timor, Papua New Guinea,
the Solomon Islands, Fiji, the Cook Islands, Kiribati, Marshall Islands,
Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu and
Vanuatu. To date, the Global Fund has approved 28 grants to fight the three
diseases in these countries and territories worth US$ 567 million.

Pacific Friends is receiving support from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
through a grant worth almost US$ 1 million. The Gates Foundation has been a
longtime supporter of the Global Fund, having already donated US$ 650 million to
the organization to support its vital work to improve health and save lives
across the globe.

“The Global Fund is one of the best and kindest things people have ever done for
one
another,“ said Dr Tachi Yamada, President of the Bill & Melinda Gates
Foundation’s Global Health Program. “It is a fantastic vehicle for scaling up
access to effective tools, and it has already helped prevent millions of
unnecessary deaths.”

Pacific Friends of the Global Fund will be led by Mr Bill Bowtell, Director of
the HIV/AIDS
Project at the Lowy Institute, an independent international policy think tank
based in Sydney.

Mr Bowtell was an architect of Australia’s highly regarded and effective
response to
HIV/AIDS. “The spread of these preventable diseases poses increasing problems
among our nearest neighbors,“ said Mr Bowtell. “Yet efforts and funds have
already shown the tide can be turned. Pacific Friends of the Global Fund will
play a key role in the region to build the political and financial support
needed to scale up the fight against AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria”

The Global Fund is a unique global public/private partnership dedicated to
attracting and disbursing additional resources to prevent and treat HIV/AIDS,
tuberculosis and malaria. This partnership between governments, civil society,
the private sector and affected communities represents a new approach to
international health financing. The Global Fund works in close collaboration
with other bilateral and multilateral organizations to supplement existing
efforts dealing with the three diseases.

At the end of 2008, Global Fund supported programs are estimated to have averted
more than 2.5 million deaths by providing AIDS treatment for 2 million people,
antituberculosis
treatment for 4.6 million people, and by distributing 70 million insecticide
treated bed nets for the prevention of malaria worldwide. The Global Fund has so
far approved funding in 140 countries worth US$ 15 billion.

For more information, please contact:
Nicolas Demey – Communications
Office: + 41 58 791 10 57
Mobile: + 41 79 504 21 34
Email: nicolas.demey@...

Andrew Hurst – Communications
Office: + 41 58 791 86 72
Mobile: + 41 79 561 68 07
Email: andrew.hurst@...

Information on the work of the Global Fund is available at www.theglobalfund.org
______________________

Leaders to fight disease in Pacific

Karen Davis/February 23, 2009
Influential business, political and community leaders have joined
forces to boost the fight against HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria
in the Pacific region.

Governor-General Quentin Bryce launched the Pacific Friends of The
Global Fund in Sydney on Monday.

The group aims to raise awareness for the regional work of the fund,
a not-for-profit organisation set up in 2002 to provide financing to
combat the three diseases.

There are 350,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in the Pacific and half
a million new cases of tuberculosis in Indonesia alone each year.
Pacific Friends' new chair Wendy McCarthy said the more than 20
people involved in the group were quick to offer their help.

"They're all individually committed," she said.

"It's a way of putting the Pacific back on the agenda ... to grow it
again and try to get the infrastructure back and build awareness of
the work that can be done."

The group includes former High Court justice Michael Kirby, Fortescue
Metals boss Andrew Forrest, former New Zealand prime minister Helen
Clark, Australian Industry Group director Heather Ridout, journalist
Ita Buttrose and prominent lawyer Lucy Turnbull, wife of federal
Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull.

Diver Matthew Mitcham, who won gold at the Beijing Olympics, will be
the group's youth ambassador.

He said the three diseases were some of the most infectious and he
wanted to help raise awareness in support of the fight to eradicate
them.

"The demographic that I'm in is the young, gay community which is
obviously affected by HIV and AIDS," Mitcham said after the launch.

"So that was probably the largest reason I became involved, the fact
that HIV is so common in our community.

"I will be visiting communities when I can and learning as much as I
can so I can educate as much as I can."

Ms Bryce, who is the new patron of Pacific Friends, said the fund
channelled grants worth almost $US1 billion ($A1.56 billion) into the
region.

"For the first time ever we are poised to make a significant and
enduring impact," she told the gathering.

"In our region, in our generation, not only treatment but eradication
is within our grasp.

"We are ready to change not only statistics but the face and future
of human life."

The Global Fund has so far committed more than $US15 billion ($A23.34
billion) for large scale prevention, treatment and care programs in
140 countries.

Pacific Friends is the latest friends organisation formed to support
the fund, joining groups operating in Africa, the US, Japan, Europe,
Latin America and Asia.

Pacific Friends was founded with a grant from the Bill and Melinda
Gates Foundation, and is supported by the Lowy Institute which will
provide a base for the group.

© 2009 AAP
http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-national/leaders-to-fight-
disease-in-pacific-20090223-8fqa.html
________________

ASIA-PACIFIC:   "Society Heavyweights Join Forces to Lobby Against
Disease"

Australian Associated Press     (02.23.09):: Karen Davis

Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce on Monday announced the
launch of a new group, Pacific Friends of the Global Fund (PFGF),
whose aim is to accelerate the fight against HIV/AIDS, TB and
malaria. "In our region, in our generation, not only treatment but
eradication is within our grasp," Bryce said.

More than 20 business, political, and community leaders have signed
on to the effort so far. PFGF backers include former High Court
justice Michael Kirby; Fortescue Metals chief Andrew Forrest; Helen
Clark, former New Zealand prime minister; Heather Ridout, Australian
Industry Group's director; journalist Ita Buttrose; and attorney Lucy
Turnbull, whose husband is federal opposition leader Malcolm
Turnbull.

The group's youth ambassador is Matthew Mitcham, who took a gold
medal in diving at the Beijing Olympics. "The demographic that I'm in
is the young gay community, which is obviously affected by HIV and
AIDS," Mitcham said. "So that was probably the largest reason I
became involved, the fact that HIV is so common in our community."

PFGF is "a way of putting the Pacific back on the agenda, to grow it
again and try to get the infrastructure back and build awareness of
the work that can be done," said Wendy McCarthy, the group's chair.

PFGF joins other groups of Global Fund backers organized in Africa,
the United States, Japan, Europe, Latin America, and Asia. It was
formed with a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and is
supported by the Lowy Institute.

http://www.cdcnpin.org/scripts/listserv/prevention_news.asp.

The Financial Crisis and Global Health

LINDSAY MORGAN

It's hard to see your way through a storm when you're in the middle
of one. Such is the predicament of the global health community, as we
sort out what the financial crisis will mean for the health of poor
people in developing countries months – even years from now.

While nothing is known for certain, most agree the impact will be
substantial and negative. "After wars, plagues and natural disasters,
financial crises kill the poor the most," said Liliana Rojas-Suarez,
senior fellow at Center for Global Development (CGD) and an expert in
financial markets.

There are some measures that can be taken to mitigate the damage (such as
expanding and developing safety nets), but the main task is to get more health
for every dollar.

Let's start with aid. Will politicians choose to offset a tiny
fraction of the $700 billion bailout by reducing official development
assistance (ODA) in general, and funding for health (which has grown
disproportionately in recent years)? The evidence suggests the answer
is yes. Research from CGD fellow David Roodman shows that after each
previous financial crisis in a donor country since 1970 (which
includes Japan, Finland, Norway and Sweden), the country's aid
declined. Foreign assistance tends to be pro-cyclical – that is,
shortfalls in aid and domestic revenue tend to coincide. And as
InterAmerican Development Bank health expert Amanda Glassman
said, "Aid for health is no exception." But don't expect governments
to announce cuts in foreign assistance; the contraction will be
invisible, with disbursements quietly dragged out and a contracting
seeing a slowdown.

A shortfall in ODA could have big repercussions. Poor countries rely
on donor assistance to supplement domestic resources for essential
services such as primary education and immunization – in many sub-
Saharan African countries, close to half of all basic health sector
funding comes from development assistance, and donors buy the vast
majority of vaccines for many poor countries. If ODA decreases –
especially during a period of global economic contraction – these
services may be disrupted with an immediate negative effect on those
in greatest need.

What about other types of external support for health, such as the
funding – some of it raised on the capital markets – for research and
development and specific health programs? It may be more difficult to
persuade private sector partners such as pharmaceutical companies
that it's worth their time and resources to participate in public-
private partnerships now, when firms are likely to be strapped for
credit and have an even greater need to show near-term returns to
shareholders. The United States is by far the biggest player in R&D,
spending more than $28 billion each year on biomedical research, and
much of the private investment in R&D comes from U.S. sources. The
financial crisis will mean increased competition for research
dollars; funding for the National Institutes of Health is unlikely to
increase. The financial crisis may also dampen enthusiasm for relying
on capital markets more broadly, a model the International Finance
Facility for Immunization follows, for example.

So can we turn to philanthropy to fill the gap? Possibly. Against the
backdrop of the crisis, $16 billion was pledged to fight poverty in
late September at the United Nations summit of world leaders to
review progress on achieving the Millennium Development Goals. But
some foundations that depended on now-defunct hedge funds for
contributions and/or which invested in the shakier parts of the stock
market are likely to face a sharp decline in their assets. This makes
it doubtful that they will embark on new initiatives that they
otherwise might have considered. Grant making may also be reduced.

Individuals who give to charities involved in overseas relief and
development – whose collective giving is significant (according to
the Hudson Institute, in 2006, the United States gave $34.8 billion
in private philanthropy) – are also likely to have less to give away
this year and next.

What health programs are at risk? It will be difficult for donors to
pull back from certain commitments, such as funding for HIV/AIDS,
because cutting funding would most certainly force people off life-
extending treatment. Legislation passed in July 2008 authorizes
approximately $39 billion over the next five years for HIV/AIDS (as
well as $5 billion for malaria and $4 billion for tuberculosis), but
at least half of that must be spent on treatment and care.

Resources for prevention have always been scarcer and it's unlikely
they will increase given the enormous (and expanding) cost of
treatment, given that it is harder to measure prevention successes,
and given the complicated U.S. domestic politics that surround the
issue.

There are other health priorities that will likely struggle for
support in economic hard times (and for which little funding
currently exists), such as building the capacity of health systems in
developing countries, and preventing maternal mortality, which is the
leading cause of mortality globally among adult women of reproductive
age. And little can be expected in the area of chronic disease even
though the toll of cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes and
cancer outweighs that of infectious disease in nearly every region of
the world, according to CGD deputy director for global health, Rachel
Nugent.

Far more important than whether aid dollars rise or fall is the
potential impact of the financial crisis on the fiscal positions of
developing countries. The forecast is not encouraging. Slowed growth
in emerging economies may dampen demand for imports, contributing to
a drop in the prices of commodities. Leading indicators of global
economic activity, such as shipping rates, are already declin¬ing at
alarming rates. Taxable activities, such as trade, will be diminished
and investment in low-income countries (LICs) may slow.

Yet LICs have less ability to deal with the damage through counter-
cyclical fiscal policies (such as issuing bonds). Private capital
flows to emerging markets, which hit a record $1 trillion in 2007,
are also expected to drop to around $800 billion by 2009, according a
World Bank report. Developing countries are generally seen as risky
borrowers, so when markets are jittery and lending is cut back, they
lose more than most. Developing country budgets, therefore, are
likely to be strained. And in times of austerity, health spending
will be especially vulnerable.

Meanwhile, poor households will have to deal with inflation and high
food prices. In poor countries, it is common for families to spend
between 50-70 percent of their income on food, according to the
International Food Policy Research Institute. As domestic banks face
pressures, families may find it difficult to obtain credit or access
financial services. And a slowdown in the U.S. is likely to affect
demand for labor and may lead to a decrease in the flow of
remittances, which could have major effects on poor households,
especially in Mexico and Central America. Money sent home by Mexicans
living in the United States fell to $1.9 billion for August 2008,
according to the Bank of Mexico, a 12.2 percent drop from the same
month last year.

Changes in both public and private expenditures could have a
significant negative impact on the health of the poor in developing
countries. The effects of economic shocks on health vary and can be
ambiguous, but a new study analyzing the effects of economic shocks
on child schooling and health from the World Bank shows
that, "recessions, droughts and other economic downturns tend to have
negative effects on both health and education outcomes for children
in poor countries."2

We have seen this happen before. A study3 by Christina Paxon of
Princeton University and Norbert Schady of the World Bank analyzed
the impact of a crisis in Peru in the late 1980s on infant mortality.
They show that there was an increase in the infant mortality rate of
about 2.5 percentage points for children born during the crisis,
implying that about 17,000 more children died than would have in the
absence of the crisis. They suggest that the collapse in public and
private expenditures on health played an important role.

A severe economic crisis in Argentina in 2001 led to drug shortages
that prompted the government to import 21,000 doses of HIV drugs to
be distributed in hospitals as an emergency measure, along with
insulin from Brazil and over-the-counter drugs from Spain and Italy.

At the same time, World Bank loans intended to support health sector
reform were diverted to procure vaccines so that the country could
maintain its immunization program. Health insurance and social
security schemes faced severe financial difficulties while many bank
accounts were frozen, leaving people with limited access to cash.

And the 1997 Asian currency crisis, which caused severe economic
damage across much of East and Southeast Asia, had a negative impact
on public health in Indonesia. Data from the World Health
Organization show an almost 25 percent decline in immunization
coverage rates between 1995 and 1999, the reduction being most
striking in 1997-98. Expenditures by individuals on primary care from
1996/97 to 1999/2000 were reduced by 20 percent, and government
spending was cut by 25 percent. Between 1997 and 1999, the use of
health care services by poor children dropped by about 17 percent,
compared with 8 percent in children from wealthier settings.4

So what is the global health community to do? In the short-term, we
must consider the potential reorientation of aid dollars toward
helping countries create viable safety nets in order to reach people
who are made extremely vulnerable by shocks (e.g., populations who
are most affected by high food prices, loss of remittances, and
unemployment). According to the IMF, 56 countries reported targeted
cash transfer programs for 2008, but only 39 had expanded their
programs in response to fuel and food price increases.

Over the long-term, more emphasis should be placed on monitoring
donors' financial contributions to global health and making it
visible when they shirk earlier commitments. The field of global
health is crowded with populist promises that often go unrealized,
but good results depend on the predictability and reliability of
resources. Strong advocacy for more sustained health assistance
should also continue. The argument for investment in health is clear
and compelling: good health improves labor productivity, facilities
learning, and contributes to economic growth and poverty reduction.

And most fundamentally, donors must ensure that aid dollars reach the
poorest, and that money translates into improved health.

"Like a hurricane, a financial crisis reminds us of how vulnerable we
are, and how the most vulnerable are the least well protected," said
Ruth Levine, CGD vice president and senior fellow. It's time to think
about development assistance, not as a luxury to pursue when times
are good, but as a powerful stabilizer when times are tough. The
poorest need our help now more than ever.

REFERENCES

1. Francisco H. G. Ferreira and Norbert Schady, "Aggregate Economic
Shocks, Child Schooling and Child Health," Policy Research Working
Paper 4701, World Bank, August 2008.

2.Christina Paxon and Norbert Schady, "Child Health and Economic
Crisis in Peru," (2004).

3. Chris Simms and Michael Rowson, "Reassessment of health effects of
the Indonesian economic crisis: donors versus the data," The Lancet
(2003).

GLOBAL HEALTH is published by the Global Health Council
Winter 2009. www.globalhealthmagazine.com

Around One Thousand Five Hundred People Diagnosed as PLHIV in Japan in
2008

http://www.theindiapost.com/?p=8872

Dr. Avnish Jolly, 19th February, 2009 :According to Japan's Health
Ministry report the number of people in Japan newly infected with the
HIV virus and those contracting AIDS reached an all-time high of
1,545. Dr. Aikichi Iwamoto said that an increasing number of people
are getting infected as a result of male-to-male sexual contact and
the age range is widening.

Of the 1,113 people diagnosed as newly positive with the human
immunodeficiency virus in 2008 and 432 diagnosed with AIDS, 1,442 were
male, the ministry's AIDS Trend Committee report said.

Report also disclosed that PLHIVS those in their 30s accounted for 559 people,
or 36 percent, while 377 were in their 20s and people in their 50s accounted for
283 patients, an increase of 50 people from the previous year.

The report said 964 people, or 62 percent, were infected through
same-sex contact last year, while 365 became infected through
heterosexual contact and 10 through sharing drug needles.

Dr. Avnish Jolly
e-mail: <avnishjolly@...>