From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 02:03:02 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:03:02 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] HIV Prevention: towards the
	medicalisation of sex?
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] HIV Prevention: towards the medicalisation of sex?
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


HIV Prevention: towards the medicalisation of sex?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/roger-tatoud/hiv-prevention-towards-medicalisation-of-sex

Roger Tatoud, 25 November 2010

2010 will be a year to remember for the field of HIV prevention. Two
clinical studies are raising the hope that the HIV epidemic can be tamed.
But only if we get it right.

About the author
Roger Tatoud, Ph.D. works in the field of HIV prevention in London and is a
volunteer for a number of HIV-related organisations.
2010 will be a year to remember for the field of HIV prevention. After
decades of interventions with limited results (with the exception of
circumcision and the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission), two
clinical studies are raising the hope that the HIV epidemic can be tamed.

In July, the CAPRISA team (based in South Africa) reported that a vaginal
gel containing the anti HIV drug tenofovir could reduce the risk of HIV
infection by 39%. This was the first proof of concept that a microbicide
could potentially reduce the risk of HIV infection whilst offering women an
HIV prevention tool that they could control.

In November of the same year, the iPrEx study conducted on a population at
high-risk of infection showed that taking the anti HIV Drug Truvada reduced
the risk of contracting the virus by an average of 44 percent.

Both studies are hailed as a milestone and landmark in the history of HIV
prevention and expectations are high that HIV prevention will finally mean
more than the ABC of ?Abstinence, condom and faithfulness?. But despite the
hope, neither approach will immediately translate into marketable products
as there are a number of questions that needs answering before microbicide
and PrEP are available to the public.

Can a pill a day prevent HIV?

The iPrEx study was a large clinical trial, sponsored by the US-National
Institutes of Health (NIH) with co-funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and drugs donated by Gilead Sciences. Its purpose was to test if
taking two anti-HIV drugs on a daily basis could help prevent HIV infection
amongst HIV negative people at high risk. The approach called Pre-Exposure
Prophylaxis (PrEP) is based on the concept that drugs are taken to prevent
infection rather than treat it. This is similar to taking anti-malarial
tablets when travelling in areas where the disease is endemic. The study was
conducted in the USA, South Africa, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Thailand and
involved 2,499 sexually active Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). The drug
tested, Truvada (a cocktail of two drugs), is commonly used to treat people
infected with HIV.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed 44% less
HIV infections in the group that was given the drug compared to the group
that received a placebo. These results represent a significant development
in the field of HIV prevention. However, they cannot easily be translated to
other groups ?at risk? or to the general population without further studies.

Whilst the PrEP approach raises hope for the prevention of HIV infection, it
also presents a number of challenges for scientist, advocates, and crucially
for public health systems. Many of these challenges, such as adherence
(people taking their pill as prescribed), side effects, potential resistance
(existing drugs becoming ineffective against the HIV), and cost
effectiveness are best left for discussion by scientists and clinicians as
they will require many more clinical studies.

In the meantime, the PrEP approach raises more pressing ethical and social
concerns for public health.

PrEP can only be used by people who know they are not infected with HIV.
Hence, those who want to access PrEP need to take an HIV test, not once, but
at regular intervals. How often is not known yet, but every 3 or 6 months
seems reasonable. Getting people to test once is not always easy for a
number of reasons. Getting people to test regularly will be even more
difficult (and costly), but not impossible if testing becomes part of
routine health checks (a controversial issue in itself).

However, regular testing will lead to the identification of existing
infections that in turn will require immediate treatment (in the US and the
UK about half of those testing positive for HIV need to start treatment at
the time of the diagnosis). As PrEP is rolled out, more people in need of
ARV will be identified, and inevitably there will be a competition for
resources between the sick and the healthy.

Providing ARV treatment to those who need it is already putting a huge
strain on the health system of many countries in both the developing and
developed world. Considering that only a third of those in need of treatment
are currently receiving it under the new WHO guideline, prioritizing a
potential PrEP roll out would be an inevitable necessity.

Prioritising PrEP?

Could PrEP potentially be a useful option in some circumstances for some
people, particularly for those populations called most at risk populations
(MARPs)?

MARP is a broad acronym including Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Sex
workers (males and female, commercial or not), injecting drug Users (IDUs),
and any population that has more risks of being infected by HIV than the
general population. However, the concept of population ?at risk? or
?vulnerable? is a controversial and contested one. Not all MSM are
?at-risk?, a large number of them actually use condoms regularly and
consistently. Studies have even shown that gay men were often infected by
their partner with whom they were in a stable relationship. Likewise, condom
use amongst commercial sex workers can be high (for example it is over 90%
in brothel-based sex workers in Cambodia), with many patrons using condoms
with a sex worker but not with their regular sex partner. Hence it is not
?Populations? that need to be identified and reached, but individuals within
these populations and this will be a serious problem if PrEP is prioritized.

Besides, the general population cannot be ignored, particularly in Sub
Saharan Africa, home of 68% of all people living with HIV. The UNAIDS 2010
AIDS epidemic update observed that data from urban Zambia ?suggest that 60%
of the people newly infected through heterosexual transmission are infected
within marriage or cohabitation , compared with more than half in Swaziland,
35%?62% in Lesotho and an estimated 44% in Kenya?. . A similar proportion of
new infections occur among steady, long-term heterosexual partners all over
sub-Saharan Africa suggesting that heterosexual and in particular young
girls aged 19-24 could be the primary target for PrEP if it has to be
prioritised to the most at risk.

In the current context where for every 2 people put on treatment, 5 become
infected, suggesting putting millions of healthy people on treatment, some
of them potentially at an early age, when so many who are in need of it
can?t access it, is surely asking for trouble.

Taking a pill a day to avoid taking a pill a day?

Should PrEP be proposed to at-risk individuals as an HIV prevention option
alongside other non medical approaches? There are still a number of clinical
studies to conduct before PrEP is made available to the public. But in some
cases PrEP could be detrimental to its intended recipients. For sex workers,
the introduction of PrEP could mean replacing a highly effective HIV
prevention method (condom) by a less effective one. PrEP is also expensive
and will not protect against other STIs. It does not have contraceptive
property and could put sex workers back under the control of customers who
will be able to enforce sex without condom. For IDU, it would be replacing a
non-medical approach that we know works: needles-exchange programmes. And
when the acceptability of treatment for those sick with HIV is an issue,
will healthy individuals even if at risk be willing to take a pill
regularly?

Remarkably, most of those who are at higher risk of being infected with HIV
are also those that governments are less prepared or likely to invest
resources in. Health care for junkies, prostitutes and gay men rarely score
high on the political agenda, and electoral pledges centred on the health of
these groups wouldn?t attract many of the electorate.

It would be dangerous to ignore or disregard the impact PrEP could have on a
national health system with the risk of introducing two tier/two waiting
rooms health care. There will be those who can afford PrEP whilst others
will still be on waiting list to receive anti-HIV medication (many already
are, even in a developed country). The emergence of a black market in
anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) and the spectre of counterfeits flooding it,
should not be disregarded, particularly in the developing world where the
most vulnerable could easily fell prey to ?ARV drug dealers?.

To date, having failed to achieve the sustained change in behaviour required
to reduce the number of new HIV infections at the population level, making
little progress in getting rid of discriminative laws that stigmatise and
cast out those most vulnerable (76 countries have state-sponsored homophobic
laws), and facing the challenge of achieving universal access to HIV
treatment by 2015 (MDG 6) should we now embark on this controversial
approach to HIV Prevention?

The iPrEx Team deserves praise for the quality of their work and should be
commended for providing the first proof that daily oral use of an anti-HIV
drug can reduce the risk of HIV infection This is an important breakthrough
for HIV prevention. It has been a long road pockmarked with ambushes and
difficulties. But now, Pandora?s Box is open at a time when his holiness
Benedict XVI is opening even ever so slightly the  door to condom use, at a
time when the World Health Report 2010 confirms that one billion people
cannot afford healthcare and at a time when the latest UNAIDS AIDS 2010
epidemic update shows that the rate of new HIV infection is stabilising at
around 2.6 million new infections a year.

No matter how one looks at it, the iPrEx study has opened the door to the
medicalisation of sex, and in the current state of research and prevention,
that amounts to taking a pill a day to avoid having to take a pill a day.
# # #


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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 01:56:34 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:56:34 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.26ex)
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 7:14 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.26ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. The Economist, UK -* *HIV's slow retreat

2. Montreal Gazette - Good news on AIDS

3. FBC, Fiji - New cases of HIV on the decrease

4. Cameroon Tribune - Parliamentarians Reflect on Anti-HIV/AIDS Legislation

5. Voice of America News - New HIV, TB Guidelines Designed to Protect Health
Workers

6. Phnom Penh Post - Keeping an epidemic at bay



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. BuaNews, SA - Cabinet Takes Tough Stand On HIV, Aids

2. Times LIVE, SA - TV spurs HIV tests

3. The Observer, Uganda - Door-to-Door Testing Curbs Stigma



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. Times of India - HIV+ numbers in city see negative growth

2. Phnom Penh Post - Shot in the arm for health funding

3. OneIndia News - India lifts HIV related questions in visa forms



*EUROPE***

1. The Guardian, UK - A quarter of British people with HIV do not know it

2. The Lancet, UK - Is antiretroviral therapy modifying the HIV epidemic? ?
Authors' reply

3. IPS Terra Viva-Europe - LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to
HIV Risk

4. The Lancet Infectious Diseasies, UK - HIV treatments directory

5. The Economist, UK - No kidding

6. The Portugal News - Number with HIV/AIDS in Portugal reaches 42,000



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Prensa Latina, Cuba - Conciencian a guatemaltecos sobre prevenci?n contra
VIH/sida

2. ABC Digital, Paraguay - Tres millones de consumidores de droga inyectable
en el mundo tienen Sida

3. Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil - USP recebe R$ 4,8 milh?es para desenvolver
droga contra a Aids



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. Voice of America News - AIDS: Delaying Treatment Has Health and Financial
Costs

2. Associated Press - Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations

3. Associated Press - Myanmar allows HIV shelter to continue operating



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Next steps with 1% tenofovir microbicide gel

2. UNAIDS - The Secretary-General Message for World AIDS Day, 1 December
2010

3. UNAIDS - Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related
deaths





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



*UNAIDS*



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



HIV's slow retreat
The Economist, UK

25/11/2010



THE timing of the pope?s much-discussed change of position on the use of
condoms to prevent the spread of HIV (he will now allow prostitutes to use
them without fear of hellfire) was surely no coincidence. He made it on
November 21st?ten days before World AIDS Day and two before UNAIDS, the
United Nations body charged with combating the epidemic, released its latest
report on the state of the battle.



That report carries good news. Though some 33m people are infected, the rate
of new infections is falling?down from 3.1m a year a decade ago to 2.6m in
2009. Moreover, as the map shows, the figure is falling fastest in many of
the most heavily infected countries, especially those of sub-Saharan Africa
and South and South-East Asia.



The reason is a combination of behavioural change (people are losing their
virginity later, are being less promiscuous and are using condoms more), a
big reduction in mother-to-child transmission at birth and during
breast-feeding, and the roll-out of drug treatment for those already
infected.



Besides prolonging life, anti-HIV drugs make those taking them less likely
to pass the virus on. More than 5m people in poor and middle-income
countries are now on such drugs, though Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS,
says another 10m could benefit. (The remainder of those infected are not yet
ill enough for drugs to do them good.) The problem, as always, is money. Dr
Sidibe reckons the fight needs about $25 billion a year to be fully
effective. At the moment, the sum spent is around $17 billion. Not a bad
fraction of the desideratum, but one that will be hard to sustain in the
face of the world?s economic difficulties.



*4*

Good news on AIDS
Montreal Gazette

26/11/2010



By JANET BAGNALL



Wednesday will be a World AIDS Day like no other. For the first time in its
22-year history, there's good news, and a lot of it: Fewer people around the
world are being infected with the HIV virus and fewer people are dying of
AIDS-related illness. In a dramatic finding made public this week, a new
study found that a single pill of anti-HIV drugs taken daily can reduce the
risk of contracting the virus by more than 70 per cent. And, almost as
stunning, Pope Benedict XVI said this week that the use of condoms can be
morally justified in the battle against AIDS.



Few dared to dream of such progress against the deadly disease in the dark
days of the virus's discovery. When the number of AIDS-related deaths hit
2.1 million in 2004, it was seen as proof that the epidemic was out of
control.



Today, UNAIDS can say that 2.1 million deaths in a single year was the worst
the epidemic would get, although the death rate remains horrifyingly high.
Last year, 1.8 million people with AIDS died. We're now at 7,000 new cases
of HIV infection every day - or 2.6 million cases a year.



As terrible as those figures are, they mean that new HIV infections have
fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years, and AIDS-related deaths
have dropped by nearly 20 per cent in the past five. For the first time, the
total number of people living with HIV is stabilizing.



But the toll has been huge in the 30 years in which the epidemic has swept
the world. Thirty million people have died. Millions of AIDS orphans
struggle to survive in impoverished countries with few resources to care for
them. And if the epidemic has crested, it is not over. Far from it.



There are places in the world where the trend is going in the opposite
direction. In Eastern Europe, the number of infections and deaths has jumped
sharply. In 2009, there were 1.4 million people - mainly in Russia and
Ukraine -living with HIV, three times as many as in 2000. Eastern Europe's
death toll from AIDS-related causes last year was 76,000, more than four
times as high as in 2001.



Money remains key in the battle against AIDS. Wealthy Western nations had to
be shamed into providing the developing world with the low-cost
anti-retroviral drugs. The rollout of antiretrovirals has worked. AIDS is no
longer a death sentence.



In Africa, where AIDS hit the hardest, programs such as the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have kept the number of deaths stable,
at 1.4 million in 2008.



With treatment, HIV transmission to babies from infected mothers has dropped
-24 per cent between 2005 and 2009. But if transmission is down, it's not
vanquished: Globally, in 2009, an estimated 370,000 babies were infected
with HIV, but an estimated 400,000 infections were prevented in 2008. And
still standing in the path of success in Africa is women's economic and
social inequality.



Even with 20 million people undergoing treatment, 10 million people are
waiting for treatment, their lives in the balance. For every person who
starts treatment, two new people have become infected.



Prevention has been the holy grail of the HIV/AIDS battle. With the
breakthrough preventive therapy announced this week, that goal seems a
little closer. Doctors warn, however, that this is just one study, however
promising, and not a signal that we're at the end of the epidemic. AIDS
experts worry that condoms and other preventive measures might lose ground
among those most at risk of infection if people begin to believe there is a
magic cure.



The gains made by more effective treatment and its broader distribution
remain fragile, warned the executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, in a
press release. UNAIDS is worried by an apparent pull back in international
donations to fight the disease.



The UN agency said that although funding has increased, in 2008 there was a
funding gap of $6.5 billion. This year, the gap is expected to be wider;
already, countries such as Uganda, Zambia and even South Africa have run
short of AIDS drugs, leaving the people whose lives depend on them very
vulnerable.



As good news goes, this year's is more like the light at the end of the
tunnel than the end of the battle.

jbagnall at montrealgazette.com



*5*

New cases of HIV on the decrease*
*Fiji Broadcasting Corporation

26/11/2010



New cases of HIV in the Oceania region have declined from 4700 in 2001 to
4500 in 2009.



HIV cases around the world have fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last
decade with AIDS related deaths declining by nearly 20 per cent in the last
5 years.



UNAIDS Coordinator for the Pacific- Tim Rwabuhemba says this decline is due
to the prevention methods that have been adopted in the region.



?The interventions that have been in place in terms of prevention are
starting to get a hold and this means that there is a change in behaviour,
for this part of the world, sexual transmissions accounts for a lot of HIV
infections.?



Rwabuhemba says preventing the spread of the virus is the best way to combat
the disease.



*6*

Parliamentarians Reflect on Anti-HIV/AIDS Legislation *
*Camerron Tribune

24/11/2010



Emmanuel Kendemeh



World HIV/AIDS Control Day was commemorated at the National Assembly
Wednesday.



The members of the Network of Parliamentarians for the Fight Against
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria yesterday, November 24, explored ways
through which Parliament and individual members of parliament can better
contribute in fighting the HIV/AIDS scourge. They exchanged ideas and
acquired knowledge from experts and HIV/AIDS infected people within the
framework of the commemoration of the World HIV/AIDS Control Day. The event
in Parliament came ahead of the 2010 World AIDS Day, to be commemorated on
December 1, under the theme, "Universal Access and Human Rights".



The Vice President of the National Assembly, Hon. Mbah Ndam Joseph chaired
the opening ceremony of the seminar on behalf of the House Speaker, Hon.
Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, in the presence of the Secretary of State at the
Ministry of Public Health, Alim Hayatou. He said World Health Organisation
(WHO) statistics show that the situation of the pandemic in Cameroon was
hardly stabilising but stated that HIV/AIDS was no longer a fatality. Hon.
Mbah Ndam enjoined the parliamentarians to come out with resolutions that
favour AIDS patients.



Hon. Marie-Rose Nguini Effa, President of the Network of Parliamentarians
for the Fight Against HIVAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said the seminar was
an occasion for the members of parliament to reflect on whether Cameroon
could have a specific legislation on HIV/AIDS. She said WHO believes that
HIV/AIDS could be eradicated by the year 2060 and for the dream to become a
reality in Cameroon, both parliamentarians, government and civil society
organisations must effectively contribute. The network, she said was created
in 2002 and carries out sensitisation, legislation and negotiations aimed at
tackling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It is for this reason that the
seminar participants examined the legislative and regulatory aspects of
Cameroon's laws to see how feasible a specific law on HIV/AIDS could be
adopted in the country. They equally adopted their sector plan of action for
2011 and 2012.



The UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Cameroon, Dr Mamadou Sakho said the new
world strategy in tackling the AIDS scourge was reinforced policy engagement
by governments, the international community and civil society organisations.
The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he said was hampered by problems of
access to treatment and prevention, absence of regulatory texts on HIV/AIDS
in West and Central African countries and insufficient resources. He said
the Yaounde meeting was an answer to the challenge of implementing
legislations on AIDS. Mr Sakho stated that the fight against poverty could
greatly be achieved by tackling AIDS that drains the incomes of families.



*7*

New HIV, TB Guidelines Designed to Protect Health Workers  *
*Voice of America News

25/11/2010



Lisa Schlein | Geneva



United Nations agencies say millions of health workers around the world are
at risk of becoming infected with HIV and tuberculosis while treating the
sick. New guidelines developed by the International Labor Organization,
World Health Organization and UNAIDS aim to protect health workers from
these occupational hazards.



There are more than 60 million health workers throughout the world whose job
it is to care for the sick.  They play an important role during epidemics in
delivering services to the public.



Sophia Kisting is Director of the International Labor Organization's Global
Program on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.  While health workers provide
vital services to others, she says very often their own conditions of work,
occupational safety and health are overlooked.



"We find that health workers are on the frontline in providing prevention
and treatment and care for people living with HIV and TB throughout the
world," says Kisting. "They are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV and
TB and now in the context of MDR and XDR [multi-drug resistant and Extreme
Drug Resistant] TB, it is even a much higher risk.  But, so often, they,
themselves, lack adequate access to protection or to treatment."



The new guidelines are aimed at overcoming these concerns. They are based on
international consultations and an assessment of current practices in 21
country-based studies.



The 14-point guidelines are inter-related and can be effectively implemented
as one package.  They ensure priority access for health workers and their
families to prevention and treatment services for HIV and TB.



Other provisions include strengthening occupational health services for the
entire health workforce, the provision of free HIV and TB treatment for
health workers, policies to prevent discrimination against health workers
with HIV and TB, and adequate compensation for health workers who become
sick on the job.



Technical Officer in WHO's Occupational and Environmental Health Division,
Susan Wilburn, says health workers are exposed to many illnesses, such as
HIV, TB, hepatitis and Avian influenza.



"We know that there are at least 1,000 new infections, work-related
infections with HIV every year globally as a result of health worker
exposures," Wilburn says. "Those are estimates of the burden of disease.  And
among health workers who are infected with hepatitis, 40 percent of those
infections are work-related infections."



Many countries suffer critical shortages of health workers.  The problem is
most acute in Africa.  The United Nations notes Africa has 11 percent of the
global population and 25 percent of the global health burden, with only
three percent of the health workforce.



*8*

Keeping an epidemic at bay * *

Phnom Penh Post
*26*/11/2010



Thomas Miller



THE global AIDS epidemic is now being reversed, according to the 2010 Global
Report of UNAIDS released on Tuesday, though challenges remain.



For the estimated 33.3 million who currently live with HIV, as well as those
at risk of infection in the future, the fight is not yet over. The report
acknowledged stigma, discrimination, a flat-lining of funding for the AIDS
response and lack of access to treatment for an estimated 10 million who
need it as serious obstacles. Nevertheless, ?the world has turned a corner?,
the report said.



Cambodia received a United Nations award this year for success in battling
the epidemic. According to UNAIDS, the adult HIV prevalence declined to 0.5
percent in 2009, down from 1.2 percent in 2001.



But various factors recently reported ? including alarming practices among
at-risk youth and a potential loss of generic medicine from a looming
India-EU trade pact ?indicate the risk of resurgence lingers.



UNAIDS Country Director Tony Lisle spoke with The Post about the against
fight against HIV/AIDS in Cambodia.



What?s the bottom line for Cambodia with regard to this report?

The bottom line is we?re certainly one of the 56 countries that have
stabilised and declined in rates of new HIV infections.



The report strikes an optimistic tone, but there are some serious challenges
ahead. How should we read this in Cambodia?

I think the report basically resonates well with the situation in Cambodia.
As far as UNAIDS is concerned, I think we cannot be complacent, and that is
also the position of the Royal Government, and in particular the National
Aids Authority.



We?re also seeing saturated concentrated epidemics. For injecting drug
users, for example, we have a prevalence rate of 24.4 percent, which is very
worrying. In any key population with over 5 percent prevalence, that?s a
source of concern, because a concentrated epidemic in that population [is
an] opportunity for the epidemic to grow.



If we look at men who have sex with men, the latest data we have is a
prevalence rate of 5.1 percent, and the most recent data on sex workers
shows around 14.7 percent prevalence.



So we continue to have stubborn and concentrated epidemics, and if we don?t
continue to see high rates ? 80 percent plus ? of consistent condom use
amongst these populations, and if we don?t see continuing capacity to have
full coverage for antiretroviral treatment for all those in need, we could
see a new wave of infections, we could see another epidemic.



India and the EU are working on a trade pact that could restrict access to
cheap generic medicines. What will be the impact on Cambodia?

This is a global issue. There are many countries that benefit enormously
from generic drug production in India, not only for opportunistic infections
but also anti-retroviral treatment. There are very specific exemptions under
the TRIPS formula, [the WTO agreement on trade-related aspects of
intellectual property rights], to ensure compulsory licensing, to ensure
that countries will continue to enjoy the import of generics from India. Now
we would hope that the [free trade agreement], if and when it is signed,
will ensure that those exemptions will apply.



There is no doubt that if Cambodia does not have access to cheap
antiretroviral therapy drugs, or to cheap generics for opportunistic
infections, and also allied generics for example for TB treatment, then
we?ll have some extremely significant challenges.

[In Cambodia,] there are 67,000 people living with HIV, 37,000 on treatment
and 10,000 projected to be on treatment. Cambodia has done a remarkable job
in getting over 95 percent of those in need on treatment.



We need to ensure that we continue to enjoy affordable treatment options.



The importance of human rights was stressed in this report. What would be
the impact on the fight against HIV if the Cambodian government closed down
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights?

I couldn?t comment on the question. The OHCHR works closely with all the
partners ? and we continue to enjoy their contribution to the response to
HIV and their technical expertise.



How about off the record?

I don?t comment off the record.



Is the fight against HIV improving the health system in Cambodia more
generally? How so?

Hugely. I think the fact that the work we?re doing for linked response
prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is actually strengthening
overall results for maternal and newborn health. It?s actually HIV dollars
that have rekindled and regenerated paediatric health care in Cambodia.



Through paediatric AIDS care, we now have something like 20 operational
district referral hospitals that now have comprehensive pediatric health
care referral facilities.



We?re seeing a lot more women coming for HIV testing and being referred to
other health services.



Is there anything else you would like to add?

When we think about Cambodia emerging from years of genocide and the years
of challenges it has faced in building a stable, secure society, and facing
the most serious epidemic in the region with 2 percent [infected with HIV],
the achievements were and are remarkable. The important thing is to build on
them.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



Cabinet Takes Tough Stand On HIV, Aids
BuaNews, SA

25/11/2010



Pretoria ? Cabinet is encouraging social dialogue on HIV and Aids this
coming World Aids Day to dispel the myths around the condition which touches
millions of South African's lives.



Instead of the usual celebrations around the event this year, Deputy
President Kgalema Motlanthe will be visiting Gert Sibande District
Municipality in Mpumalanga where he will participate in a dialogue to engage
community members and health care workers.

Cabinet members, including MECs, will also participate in social dialogues
around the country on how to reduce new HIV infections.



This was announced by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday at a post
Cabinet briefing.



World Aids Day is observed around the world on 1 December. The theme for
this year is 'We are Responsible', and addresses the collective
responsibility of all South Africans to influence and support partners,
family and community members to voluntary test for HIV and set an example by
leading healthier lifestyles.



"It also addresses the collective responsibility for the world to start
contributing towards a common HIV response," said Motsoaledi.



This year will also see the World Aids Day campaign continuing until next
year June as government aims to reach a target of testing 15 million people
for HIV and Aids by then. The HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign
was launched by President Jacob Zuma in April.



The minister said while the HCT campaign had lagged behind due to the 2010
FIFA World Cup and the three-week public service strike, to date, 4.9
million people have reported for counseling in the country's health
facilities of which half a million are from Gauteng.



Motsoaledi said it was difficult to track the exact number of people who
have tested because the campaign was also being rolled out by various other
private health sectors. The correct and updated figures will be released on
World Aids Day.



SA's biggest retail pharmacy chain, Clicks, as well as medical scheme such
as Discovery Health, are among the companies rolling out the campaign.



*2*

TV spurs HIV tests
Times LIVE; SA

25/11/2010



By GABISILE NDEBELE



Sex education shows and ads for Aids-awareness campaigns are helping to
increase the number of viewers who take HIV tests, use condoms and stay
faithful to their partners.

A study of three SABC TV shows and three advertising campaigns, conducted by
five research groups, found the messages were hitting home and the
programmes are estimated to have helped avert more than 700000 South
Africans being infected by the virus.



The study - by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, Health
and Development Africa, Soul City, Love Life and the Communication Media
Trust - involved 10000 viewers and non-viewers from rural and urban areas,
and of all races and income groups.



The study, released to The Times this week and conducted between 2006 and
last year, assessed the effect of TV shows Soul City: One Love, Soul
Buddies, Tsha Tsha, and Intersexions.



The advertising for campaigns including Scrutinize, Brothers For Life,
Siyanqoba Beat It! and Khomanani was also studied for their impact.



The study found that:

Those exposed to HIV testing and faithfulness campaign Scrutinize were 5.6%
more likely to use condoms;

55% of those often exposed to Siyanqoba Beat It! used condoms as against 33%
of those who did not. Half of those who frequently saw the campaign and its
TV inserts discussed HIV testing with friends, compared to 29% of people who
did not.

89% of young people who frequently saw material for Aids campaign Khomanani
knew that condoms can prevent HIV versus 77% who did not. And 71% of those
exposed to the campaign had had an HIV test in the preceding year, compared
to 50% of those who were not exposed.

Those who saw Soul City: One Love were 17% more likely to use condoms.

Tsha Tsha series six was associated with a 9% rise in condom use among
viewers and a 6% increase in HIV testing.

32% of those not exposed to Aids campaigns told partners the results of
their HIV tests versus 49% of those who were.

More than 75% of children who watch Soul Buddyz agreed that an HIV-infected
person could look healthy. Nearly 90% of regular child viewers said Aids
could not be caused by witchcraft versus 82% of those who did not.



Richard Delate, programme director of Johns Hopkins Health and Education in
South Africa, said the survey had proved that the programmes and advertising
campaigns had succeeded in improving awareness and understanding of
HIV/Aids.



*3*

Door-to-Door Testing Curbs Stigma *
*The Observer, Uganda

24/11/2010



Moses Mugalu



Fourteen months ago when John Mayiteki tested positive for HIV, the deadly
virus that causes AIDS, his main worry was the kind of treatment and
reaction he would get from his relatives and public.



"The first thing I thought was to commit suicide," Mayiteki, 28, said on
November 10 during the Philly Lutaaya Day celebrations at Nakasongola Boma
grounds.



In the late 1980s, music icon Lutaaya became the first person to publicly
declare his HIV status but more than a decade later, stigma remains one of
the major impediments in the fight against HIV/AIDS.



However, in Nakasongola district, there has been a major breakthrough in the
campaign against stigma on HIV/AIDS patients, thanks to the introduction of
door-to-door testing and counselling services.



Through a community based outreach programme, 14,000 people have, since
September last year, tested for HIV and received counselling. Nickson
Atuhaire, the Integrated Community Based Initiative (ICOBI) supervisor and
counsellor, says the number includes children, women and men.



ICOBI, a non governmental organization, has set a target of at least 20,000
people to be tested and counselled by next September. Field teams consisting
of a lab assistant and a counsellor, visit homes and counsel residents
before encouraging them to test for their sero status.



According to Teddy Namara, a lab assistant and counsellor with ICOBI, many
people accept to test after they have been counselled. The testing procedure
is convenient and people get their results in 10 minutes.



She says even people in fishing communities like Lwampanga, where the
prevalence rate is high, have embraced the services. In each sub county
covered, ICOBI officers form Discordant and Positives' Clubs, encouraging
people to go public about their status, live and think positively.



However, Atuhaire says they face both logistical and human resource
challenges in the sparsely populated district, which has an estimated
150,000 people (mostly cattle keepers, fishermen and a few peasant farmers).



For instance, Atuhaire says they have had to employ more field officers
because homes are spread distances apart, a factor that has resulted in
increment on the transport costs. The other challenge is that those tested
and found positive have to wait longer for a decision on whether they should
be put on Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART).



Dr Daniel Kirunda, the in-charge of Nakasongola Health Centre IV, says the
facility doesn't have a CD4 machine, which analyses the infected person's
body defence system. Samples are taken to Kampala at the Joint Clinical
Research Centre (JCRC), where the process lasts a minimum of three weeks.



In the past one year, the health centre has enrolled 1,500 clients for free
treatment. They receive free drugs and counselling services facilitated by
the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), ICOBI and the ministry of health.



Two doctors and two clinical officers (a nurse and a counsellor) have been
employed at the centre to specifically run the ART clinic. To encourage more
people to test for HIV, Kirunda says they have also introduced mandatory
testing for pregnant women and mothers who visit the facility's maternity
wing.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



HIV+ numbers in city see negative growth *
*Times of India

26/11/2010



Malathy Iyer, TNN



MUMBAI: In tune with the global trend, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be
slowing down in Mumbai as well. For decades the city was infamous for being
the HIV capital of India, but figures available with the Mumbai District
AIDS Control Society show that for the third consecutive year the HIV
incidence is falling.



If 5,420  AIDS cases were registered in 2007, there were only 2,942 cases in
2008 and 1,308 cases in 2009. "So far this year, we have registered 966
cases," said MDACS chief Dr S S Kudalkar, adding that the epidemic is
clearly on the wane.



The city has many reasons to cheer on the HIV/AIDS front. Many of the
indicators that are used to assess the epidemic's spread in the general
population show a downward trend. The virus is lower than ever before among
pregnant women, dipping from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in the first 10 months
of 2010. Public health experts say this unsuspecting segment provides the
best indicator of the disease's presence in the general population.



People who queue up voluntarily to donate blood provide another indicator of
HIV's presence in the society: seropositivity has fallen from 1.06% in 2002
to 0.46% in 2009. In the period up to October 2010, only 903 from 2,19,332
donors tested positive for HIV. "This means only 0.41% were positive," said
Kudalkar.



But the statistic that the MDACS director is most pleased about is the
dipping number of deaths among HIV-positive people whose disease progressed
to full-blown AIDS. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, say in 2004, the
death rate stood at 8.67% among the 3,205 AIDS patients identified that
year. This year, the rate has fallen to 3.7%?that is, 36 deaths among 966
patients. "It is obvious that with better availability of ART ( anti-retro
viral therapy), patients are leading healthier and longer lives than
before," said Kudalkar.



The downward trend in Mumbai is not surprising as the recently released
United Nations AIDS organization's figures show. Globally, HIV infection
rates have fallen by nearly 20% in the last 10 years to 2.6 million in 2009
from 3.1 million in 1999. Also, AIDS-related deaths have come down by 20% in
the same period across the world. UNAIDS showed that India has 2.4 million
HIV patients at present. The only factor clouding the happy picture is the
fact that though seven lakh HIV-positive Indians need ART, less than half
have access to it.



In Mumbai, ART access improved only because more centres started
distributing the life-saving drugs in the last few years. In Mumbai, MDACS
statistics show that 24,086 of 52,828 HIV-positive patients registered for
care in the city received ART in the period between 2006 and 2010.



*2*

Shot in the arm for health funding
Phnom Penh Post

24/11/2010



Emilie Boulenger



CAMBODIANS suffering HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will benefit from a
three-year commitment to UNITAID, the United Nations organisation set up to
purchase drugs to combat the diseases, of US$150 million a year by France,
according to France?s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.



The multi-year pledge ? the first since UNITAID was founded in 2006 ? was
made possible because of a ?4 (US$5.44) levy on international economy-class
flights from France.



The tax, which has been collected since 2006, has been well accepted by the
public and did not have any impact on tourism, the ministry said. And it
raised 172. ?9 million (US$235.16 million) in 2008 towards aid for people
living in the world?s poorest countries, including Cambodia.



UNITAID funds long-term programmes to promote access to health products
(treatments, diagnostic tests and prevention tools) to combat HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis. African countries are the main beneficiaries of
UNITAID, as 85 percent of funding targets low-income countries. The body
funds programmes in 27 Asian countries.



In four years it has funded antiretroviral treatment for more than 800,000
patients, distributed anti-malarial treatment for more than 18 million
people and anti-tuberculosis treatment to 1.5 million people.



France, which provides 60 percent of UNITAID?s funding, urged ?all potential
donors throughout the world to start implementing this innovative financing
mechanism in order to make further progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis?.



Several other donor countries, such as Korea, Brazil, the United Kingdom and
Norway, have also confirmed their support for UNITAID.



*3*

India lifts HIV related questions in visa forms
OneIndia News

26/11/2010



Bangalore, Nov 26: India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has clarified
that there are no travel or residency restrictions for People Living with
HIV (PLHIV) coming to India.



MEA has sent an an official e-mail to all its Embassies and Consulates
asking them to remove the requirement for HIV testing from all the visa
forms. The latest move came after a Parliamentary Question regarding the
issue.



On Apr 15, 2010 Rajya Sabha MP and State Organiser of the Forum of
Parliamentarians on HIV & AIDS (FPA) Dr EM Sudarsana Natchiappan raised the
issue in Parliament.



Welcoming the initiative from MEA, Oscar Fernandes, Rajya Sabha MP and
President, FPA said, "I am pleased that India has clarified its position to
lift HIV related travel restrictions".



Earlier, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had earlier withdrawn the
requirement for HIV testing of foreigners, including foreign students. The
latest move from MEA will ensure that HIV related questions will not be
asked on any visa application forms.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



A quarter of British people with HIV do not know it
The Guardian, UK

26/11/2010



Sarah Boseley, health editor



An estimated 86,500 people are living with HIV in the UK, according to
figures released today, but around a quarter of them do not know they are
infected.



"We're very concerned that a large number of people in the UK are unaware of
their HIV status, and that half of all newly diagnosed people are diagnosed
late, meaning they may not benefit from very effective treatments," said Dr
Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the Health Protection Agency
which published the figures.



They show that HIV is more prevalent in certain areas of the country ?
particularly in London, Brighton and Manchester. Pilot projects looking at
the acceptability of increased testing in such areas are underway.



"The HPA would like to see increased access to ? testing in areas where
rates of HIV infection are high. Pilot studies have shown that in these
areas testing all adults registering at GPs or accessing certain hospital
services can make an impact," said Delpech.



"The evidence shows that this testing is feasible to undertake and
acceptable to patients. We would like to see this rolled out in areas where
HIV infection is more common to reduce the number of people who are unaware
of their HIV status and increase the chances of early diagnosis, when
treatment is more successful."



People who seek medical help only when they have the symptoms of Aids are
far more likely to die. In 2009, 547 people were diagnosed with Aids and
hardly any of them had been for an HIV test. Of the 516 people with HIV
infection who died last year, 73% had been diagnosed late, when the virus
had already taken a big toll on their immune system.



In 2009, 6,630 people were newly diagnosed with HIV, 4,400 of whom were men
and 2,230 women. This is a decline in new diagnoses, for the fourth year in
a row, but the agency says there is no evidence of a drop in the numbers who
are living in ignorance of their HIV status.



Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said the figures
showed the need to increase testing. "Prevention is an immensely
cost-effective activity ? one HIV transmission is up to ?360,000 in direct
costs to the NHS."



The agency warned in July that the number of new HIV infections among
over-50s had more than doubled in seven years.



*2*

Is antiretroviral therapy modifying the HIV epidemic? ? Authors' reply *
*The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



Julio SG Montaner a, P Richard Harrigan a, Thomas Kerr a, Evan Wood a,
Patricia Daly b



We acknowledged in our paper that ours was an ecological study, and as such
the results could not be taken as definitive proof of causality. We also
indicated that the association between increasing coverage of highly active
antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected individuals who met
contemporary treatment guidelines and decreasing yearly new HIV diagnoses
occurred against a background of increased yearly HIV testing, as well as
improved risk ascertainment due to mandatory HIV reporting, and increased
rates of sexually transmitted infections.



Notably, our results were internally reproducible. We recorded decreases in
yearly new HIV diagnoses during two distinct periods of HAART expansion,
which were separated by a stable period of HAART use. The latter two periods
were characterised on a prospective basis and were entirely consistent with
the predictions of our previously published mathematical models.1 Finally,
we were able to relate the reductions in community plasma viral load during
HAART expansion with the decrease in new HIV diagnoses, providing a
plausible biological mechanism to account for the association, as proposed
by others.2

We also acknowledged that the use of yearly new HIV diagnoses represented a
limitation of the study; however, it is also clear that there is no widely
accepted gold standard to estimate HIV incidence, particularly in
population-wide studies. In this regard, the consistency of our results with
our previous report looking at the correlation between community
concentrations of HIV-1 RNA in plasma and HIV incidence in a well
characterised cohort of injection drug users is highly reassuring.3

Andrew Grulich and David Wilson express concerns about our previous report
of declines in unsafe injecting. However, that report was based on a small
study within Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the present study reports on
all of the province of British Columbia, where it has been estimated that
the number of sterile needles and syringes distributed remains inadequate.4

Grulich and Wilson call for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to further
characterise the associations described in our paper. However, the
feasibility of RCTs within the segment of HIV-infected individuals eligible
for treatment could prove ethically difficult if this requires withholding
HAART against current standard of care. RCTs might be more realistic within
the segment of HIV-infected individuals not eligible for therapy, as
proposed by the ?test and treat? strategy, yet the most recent guidelines5
are so inclusive that this segment has become very small in our setting.
Alternative approaches, such as a modified delayed-start or randomised-start
design, might be successfully adapted to existing HAART rollout initiatives.

In the absence of such data, the available evidence strongly points to a
substantial preventive benefit that can be derived from aggressively rolling
out HAART to all those in medical need?the actual focus of our report.



We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.



References

1 Lima VD, Johnston K, Hogg RS, et al. Expanded access to highly active
antiretroviral therapy: a potentially powerful strategy to curb the growth
of the HIV epidemic. J Infect Dis 2008; 198: 59-67. CrossRef | PubMed

2 Das M, Chu PL, Santos G-M, et al. Decreases in community viral load are
accompanied by reductions in new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco. PLoS One
2010; 5: e11068. CrossRef | PubMed

3 Wood E, Kerr T, Marshall B, et al. Longitudinal community plasma HIV-1 RNA
concentrations and incidence of HIV-1 among injecting drug users:
prospective cohort study. BMJ 2009; 338: b1649. CrossRef | PubMed

4 Harvard SS, Hill WD, Buxton JA. Harm reduction product distribution in
British Columbia. Can J Public Health 2008; 99: 446-450. PubMed

5 Thompson M, Aberg J, Cahn P, et al. Antiretroviral treatment of adult HIV
infection?2010 recommendations of the International AIDS Society?USA Panel.
JAMA 2010; 304: 321-333. CrossRef | PubMed



a British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6,
Canada

b Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada



*3*

LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to HIV Risk
IPS Terra Viva-Europe

26/11/2010



By Marcela Valente



BUENOS AIRES, Nov 24, 2010 (IPS) - "My mother used to beat me. She would
lock me away, and then she started chaining me to the table," says
Elizabeth. Teresa recounts how she was seven months pregnant when her
husband grabbed her by the hair, threw her to the ground and kicked her.



These testimonies from women living with HIV/AIDS were published in a report
released this week in Buenos Aires, revealing the different forms of
violence that most of these women face of the course of their lives.



The study "Two Sides of One Reality: Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay" states that 78 percent of the women
with HIV/AIDS surveyed in the four countries had suffered some type of
abuse.



When the women became infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which
causes AIDS), many already had a long history of abuse and gender violence
that made them more vulnerable, according to the study.



Seventy percent of the 399 HIV-positive women interviewed in the four
countries said they had endured psychological abuse -- the most widespread
-- manifest in humiliation, insults, mocking and scorn.



Likewise, 55.6 percent suffered physical violence from parents, stepparents,
caretakers and then from boyfriends or husbands, which included punching,
shoving, slapping, beating (with fists or objects), kicking, burning and
choking.



The interviews were conducted in pairs. In Argentina, 10 women from the
Buenos Aires Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS took part in the
project. One of the interviewers, Caty Castillo, told IPS that many of the
women surveyed did not consider the violence they had suffered as something
negative.



"It even happened among us, the interviewers. When we answered the
questionnaire among ourselves first, we realised that many of us had endured
situations of violence and abuse -- and we didn't see it as something bad,"
she admitted.



The women interviewed were identified only by their first names. Such as
Griselda, of Uruguay, who says: "My mother liked to abuse me a lot. I don't
know why. It wasn't slapping or beating. She used to gag me; she shoved
sponges in my mouth."



Around 60 percent of the women interviewed had seen their mothers suffer
aggression from the spouse or boyfriend, and then they themselves faced
similar abuse from their own companions. "He put a knife to my throat, he
cut my wrists, and he beat me out of jealousy," says Florence, also from
Uruguay.



The study, compiled by physician Mabel Bianco and sociologist Andrea Mari?o,
of Argentina, states, "The family, supposed shelter for one's affective
world, does not seem to be the safest environment for many of these women."



The experts are from the Argentine Foundation for Women's Studies and
Research (FEIM), which worked on the interviews with the Brazilian
organisation Gestos, the People's Education in Health Foundation in Chile,
and Women and Health in Uruguay. Mari?o explained to IPS that "the women who
suffered violence over the course of their lives are more vulnerable to HIV
infection because, in general, they lose autonomy, self-esteem and also the
power to negotiate the use of condoms."



For example, a relatively large portion of the interviewed women (36.3
percent) said they had been victims of sexual violence, almost always at the
hands of their husband or boyfriend, and sexual abuse in childhood or
adolescence (32.8 percent).



"There is a 'naturalisation' of violence in the lives of many of these women
from childhood. They don't register that this isn't normal, that it is a
crime," she said.



The report contains several testimonies about sexual violence: "I didn't
want to (have sex) when he was on drugs," says Sandra, a Uruguayan. "He
would be staggering and he would want to do it. He forced me, and beat me,
and I had to do it because he was the father of my children."



Many of the women interviewed also recalled episodes of sexual abuse in
childhood that went beyond touching. "He (father) raped me from when I was
five until I was seven or eight, and it was a very bad experience," says
Iris, from Chile.



Castillo, the interviewer, agreed that most of the women who acknowledged
they had been abused saw it as something "normal" because the perpetrators
were close family members.



Despite the evident link between gender violence and HIV, the study warns
about the "worrisome lack of official data" in the four countries, which it
says prevents the experts from "determining the scope of the problem."



The study also lays out a panorama of the AIDS epidemic's traits across the
Southern Cone region and highlights advances, such as the universalisation
of treatment for HIV/AIDS and laws against domestic violence.



However, "There are no national government programmes that coordinate
strategies for mitigating both pandemics," states the report, except in
Brazil, where such a plan exists but has yet to be implemented.



When they are told they are HIV positive, most women react with surprise
because they did not see themselves as part of a high-risk group because
they were in stable, heterosexual relationships. "I thought this could never
happen to me," says one woman.



According to the report, there is a lack of policy coordination aimed at
stopping gender violence and promoting women's health, a fact that has
repeatedly given rise to institutional violence.



One of the women interviewed in Argentina recalls that when her
gynaecologist found out she was HIV positive, he refused to work with her
anymore. "He said that he didn't see patients with HIV," she said.



Another woman, from Uruguay, who carries a Bible with her, says that when
the physician, a woman, told her the HIV diagnosis, she also said: "You
might read the Bible, but you're no saint."



Such mistreatment by medical professionals led some of the women to abandon
any treatment at all for HIV/AIDS.



Faced with this situation, the researchers lay out 20 recommendations,
including a call for comprehensive public policies that coordinate
prevention and attention for both HIV/AIDS and abuse, from a gender
perspective.



*4*

HIV treatments directory
Lancet Infectious Diseases, UK

December 2010



Volume 10, Issue 12, Page 827



Luigi Buonaguro



HIV Treatments Directory

Differding Virginia

NAM Publications, 2010

?64?95. Also available for free online at
http://www.aidsmap.com/page/1412506/



HIV Treatments Directory is definitely much more than merely a directory. It
is, in my opinion, a comprehensive manual that provides adequate general
background information on HIV infection and AIDS, with a subject-by-subject,
rich, and up-to-date bibliography.

The book is given a logical structure with appropriately titled and well
written chapters that highlight the most relevant information for the whole
spectrum of potential readers. Lay readers will find a great deal of
interesting information on the complexity of HIV/AIDS. Educators will find
much information that can be passed on to their students. Patients can use
this book to answer any questions they have about current and future
treatments. Health-care professionals will have a single and easy-to-consult
book?along with its accompanying digital media?providing the most
comprehensive information about available antiretroviral drugs.

The whole book is available online?for free. Such unrestricted access will
definitely help to increase the level of knowledge and awareness in
communities that have limited access to information because of either
economic or social factors. The possibility of sharing the book via the most
popular social networks or by email will further enable the access of
information about HIV infection, AIDS, and treatments. Several other
guidelines on HIV treatment are available online, but none of these seem to
be as comprehensive, organised, or as well structured as NAM's HIV
Treatments Directory. The information offered by the other guidelines is
scattered between different unconnected web pages, which, in most of the
cases, can be printed only for personal use. Perhaps the unrestricted access
provided by NAM will set a precedent for access to all similar publications
in the future.

In conclusion, NAM's HIV Treatments Directory is an essential manual that
should be advertised to as many people as possible worldwide and should not
be missing from the library of anyone with a professional or personal
interest in HIV/AIDS.



*5*

No kidding
The Economist, UK

25/11/2010



FROM the headlines, it sounded like a sensational climbdown: Pope Benedict
XVI had said the use of condoms in some circumstances was permissible. In
fact, the pontiff had not announced a U-turn, but shifted a nuance. In an
interview with a German journalist, Peter Seewald, for a book published by
the Vatican (and checked before publication), he gave an example of a
situation in which condom use might be acceptable. If a male prostitute was
trying, responsibly, to do his bit to halt the spread of AIDS, that would be
?a first step towards moralisation?.



That is a long way from a full embrace of modern contraceptive technology
(and secular thinking about sexuality). The pope used a case in which a
condom could have no contraceptive role. His careful scholarly words also
reiterated the Church?s teaching that condoms trivialise sex, reducing it to
a ?self-administered drug?, stoking promiscuity, and thus AIDS.



Yet the headlines were merited. The idea that the use of a condom may be a
sign of responsibility in sexual relations is a powerful one. If its use is
acceptable for a male prostitute, it would be harder to deny that a female
one seeking to protect herself, or her clients, from disease should do
likewise. (Indeed, the Vatican later clarified that female and even
transsexual prostitutes were included.) But if so, then what about married
couples where one partner is HIV positive? The pope?s arguments seem to open
the door to Catholics choosing the lesser of two ?evils?. He has already
stressed that sex is an expression of love as well as a means of
procreation. By the cloistered standards of the Catholic hierarchy, this is
hot stuff.



Charities and campaigners dealing with AIDS, which afflicts 22.5m people in
Africa alone, welcomed the news but hoped for more. Some conservative
Catholics responded with dismay. Once condom use is accepted in some
circumstances, they feel, it is only a matter of time before it becomes
universal: for them abstinence and fidelity, not making promiscuity safer,
is the way forward. But many lay Catholics?who, polls suggest, use all kinds
of contraception despite their church?s rules?think differently. They long
for a time when really important ideas such as the power of redeeming love
will be unencumbered by arcane quibbles about sex.



*6*

Number with HIV/AIDS in Portugal reaches 42,000
The Portugal News

27/11/2010



In 2009, 42,000 people in Portugal suffered from HIV/AIDS, up from 31,000 in
2001, the specialised UN agency said on Tuesday in a global report covering
182 countries.



The UNAIDS study noted that 100% of infected people also suffering from
tuberculosis has access to anti-retroviral treatment in Portugal, in
contrast to 10% of infected drug users.



It placed the survival rate for those with HIV/AIDS receiving
anti-retroviral treatment at 80%.



UNAIDS said 25% of men and 10% of women ran a high risk of contracting the
HIV virus in Portugal, where 50% of men and 45% of women use condoms as a
contraceptive or a disease prevention device.

TPN/Lusa



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Conciencian a guatemaltecos sobre prevenci?n contra VIH/sida  *
*Prensa Latina, Cuba

26/11/2010



Guatemala, 26 nov (PL) Las autoridades de salud contin?an hoy la celebraci?n
de actividades en busca de concienciar a los guatemaltecos sobre lo decisivo
de la prevenci?n para combatir al VIH/Sida.



  Esas acciones est?n concebidas en el ?mbito de la conmemoraci?n del D?a
Mundial de lucha contra esa pandemia instaurado para cada 1 de diciembre,
d?a de 1981 en el cual fue diagnosticado el primer caso en el orbe.



La jornada en este pa?s comenz? cuando el Ministerio de Salud y Asistencia
Social instal? kioscos, denominados Expo-Vida, para informar a la poblaci?n
acerca de las maneras de evitar el contagio con el virus de
inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH).



En muchos lugares fueron ubicados esos locales provisionales atendidos por
activistas, principalmente en mercados y otros sitios con gran presencia de
personas.



Durante estos d?as tambi?n son reconocidas organizaciones cuyo trabajo est?
centrado en contender con la discriminaci?n sufrida por quienes son
diagnosticados como seropositivos.



Su fin est? programado para el mismo d?a de la conmemoraci?n, cuando el
gobierno lanzar? su plan estrat?gico nacional en el periodo de 2011 a 2015
dirigido a combatir la epidemia del S?ndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida.



Entonces las autoridades presentar?n una actualizaci?n del n?mero de casos
registrados en el pa?s, aunque siempre esas cifras quedan por debajo de la
realidad debido al ocultamiento de informaci?n de los propios infectados y
otras causas.



Por esos motivos los datos en Guatemala son divergentes, seg?n la fuente que
los proporciona, y se cifra en unos 10 mil nuevos los seropositivos en los
?ltimos cuatro a?os, en buena medida por el impacto agravado con la
ignorancia sobre el mal.



Cuentan reportes period?sticos que el primer caso en esta naci?n
centroamericana fue comprobado en 1984 y a partir de entonces suman 20 mil
591, de los cuales un bajo porcentaje ha podido acceder adecuadamente a los
medicamentos para controlar la enfermedad.



De aquel a?o al pasado 62,61 por ciento de los infectados correspondi? al
g?nero masculino, en tanto la mayor forma de contagio, 94,4 por ciento, fue
por relaciones sexuales desprotegidas.



*3*

Tres millones de consumidores de droga inyectable en el mundo tienen Sida
ABC Digital, Paraguay

26/11/2010



GINEBRA. M?s de tres millones de los 15,9 millones de consumidores de drogas
inyectables en todo el mundo contrajeron el sida, seg?n la Federaci?n
Internacional de la Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna Roja (FICR), en un informe
publicado este viernes.



Los toxic?manos seropositivos son particularmente numerosos en cinco pa?ses:
China, Malasia, Rusia, Ucrania y Vietnam, seg?n el informe divulgado antes
de la Jornada mundial de lucha contra el sida (1 de diciembre).



Pero la ?tendencia est? al alza? en ?frica, Medio Oriente, Am?rica Latina y
en la mayor?a de las regiones de Asia, seg?n la organizaci?n basada en
Ginebra.



En Europa oriental y en Asia central hasta el 60% de los consumidores de
drogas inyectables contraen de esta manera el sida.



En varios pa?ses de estas regiones las legislaciones estigmatizan a estas
personas, las reprimen o las excluyen, se lamenta la FICR.



El organismo considera que las pol?ticas que dificultan el acceso de los
toxic?manos a servicios de apoyo, prevenci?n o tratamiento ?constituyen
violaciones de los derechos humanos?.



?Los derechos humanos se aplican a todo el mundo, incluso a las personas
consumidoras de drogas y a aquellas encarceladas debido a su adicci?n? ,
seg?n Sadia Kaenzig, una portavoz de la Federaci?n.



Seg?n el informe, un elemento ?clave? para evitar la transmisi?n del sida en
los toxic?manos es ?proporcionarles un ?lugar seguro??, como las salas de
inyecci?n que existen en Suiza, Holanda, Espa?a, Noruega (...)?, entre otros
pa?ses.



*4*

USP recebe R$ 4,8 milh?es para desenvolver droga contra a Aids
Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil

25/11/2010



DE RIBEIR?O PRETO - Quatro projetos de desenvolvimento de medicamentos da
USP de Ribeir?o Preto, um deles sobre AIDS, ter?o investimento de R$ 9,85
milh?es. Os recursos ser?o liberados pela Finep (Financiadora de Estudos e
Projetos), ligada ao Minist?rio da Ci?ncia e Tecnologia.



O maior volume, de R$ 4,8 milh?es, ser? destinado ? Faculdade de Ci?ncias
Farmac?uticas, para o desenvolvimento e produ??o do antirretroviral
tenofovir.



O rem?dio comp?e o coquetel anti-HIV. A patente da droga deve expirar em
breve, segundo um dos integrantes da pesquisa, o professor Giuliano Cesar
Clososki.

At? l?, a USP deve tornar poss?vel sua fabrica??o em escala industrial, em
parceria com uma farmac?utica cujo nome n?o foi divulgado.



A Finep tamb?m destinar? ? Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeir?o Preto R$ 1,8
milh?o para o desenvolvimento de uma droga para imunoterapia de pacientes
com HIV.

Mais R$ 1,6 milh?o ser? destinado a uma pesquisa sobre o uso farmac?utico do
?leo da copa?ba, e R$ 1,4 milh?o ser? empregado na avalia??o de um
anfi-inflamat?rio.

A Finep ainda aprovou recursos para pesquisas do HC de S?o Paulo, da Unicamp
e das universidades federais de S?o Paulo, Goi?s, Pernambuco e Santa
Catarina.

(JULIANA COISSI)



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



AIDS: Delaying Treatment Has Health and Financial Costs *
*Voice of America News

25/11/2010



Joe DeCapua



A new study says delaying treatment for people infected with HIV can have
long-term health and financial consequences.  The findings add to the debate
over when anti-retroviral treatment should begin.



A growing body of research says starting HIV-infected people on drug
treatment sooner is better for the patient.  Initially, the drugs were given
when a person?s CD4 immune cell count fell to 200 or below.  By that time,
the patent could have full-blown AIDS.



Now the general recommendation is to start treatment when CD4 counts reach
350 ? before the immune system collapses.  Despite that recommendation, many
people are receiving delayed treatment.



Looking at the evidence

Dr. Kelly Gebo ? a Johns Hopkins University professor of Epidemiology ? is
the senior author of the study.  Gebo and her team reviewed the medical
records of more than 8,000 patients in the United States between 2000 and
2007.



?So, we actually didn?t look at when to start treatment.  We looked at when
people presented for care.  And we found that unfortunately nearly half of
people ? 43 percent of people ? were presenting late for care.  And those
people cost more over the long run,? she says.



Gebo says the study did not look at why treatment was delayed, but the
findings did give a few hints.



?One of the things anecdotally that we do tend to find,? she says, ?is that
people are hospitalized for a severe opportunistic illness and then sort of
follow-up for outpatient care.  They may have known they were HIV infected
for a long period of time and not come for care just because they didn?t
feel bad or everything was going well.  And then when something catastrophic
happens is when they start embarking on care.?



CD4 countdown

Once a person is infected with HIV, unless treatment is given, there?s
usually a long but steady decline in CD4 cells.  So, symptoms of the disease
may not appear right away.



Gebo says, ?Most people have a CD4 count between 800 and 1200.  So we say an
average of a thousand.  And in HIV when we didn?t have antiretrovirals the
average CD4 count fell by about a hundred cells per year.  So we said it was
about eight years from infection to development of AIDS.  And in general, it
was about a 10-year life expectancy.  Now, with antiretrovirals, the whole
ballgame has changed.?



Earlier treatment with antiretrovirals gives a person a much better chance
of avoiding other illnesses besides full-blown AIDS.



?So clinically we know that people do better,? she says, ?They have fewer
opportunistic illnesses.  They seem to have fewer non-traditionally
AIDS-related events.  So, cardiovascular disease, malignancies, end stage
liver disease, end stage renal disease ? all appear to be higher in
HIV-infected patients.  So treatment with antiretrovirals has been shown to
slow the progression of some of those.?



And then there are the medical costs

The average difference - between those receiving treatment early and those
who didn?t - ranged from about $27,000 to more than $60,000 over the first
seven to eight years.  Costs are higher for the so-called late presenters
because they are often sicker than early presenters.



?We did look at direct medical costs.  And in the direct medical costs, it
was certainly cheaper with treating people with antiretrovirals, even given
the cost of 10 to 12 thousand dollars a year for antiretrovirals when you
look at the reduction in hospitalizations, other medications used and some
of the other outpatient utilization and laboratories that we evaluate in our
study,? she says.



And earlier treatment allows people to be more productive longer.

While the study was not done in a developing country, the findings may
provide guidance.  Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, are
debating whether to start antiretroviral treatment earlier.  However, that
means spending more on HIV/AIDS at a time when many economies are still
reeling from the global recession.



More details on the study can be found in the December issue of the journal
Medical Care.



*6*

Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations
Associated Press

25/11/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



By JOHN HEILPRIN



GENEVA -- The spread of HIV and AIDS among millions of people could be
slowed if addicts who inject drugs were treated as medical patients rather
than as criminals, the International Federation of the Red Cross said
Friday.



More than 80 percent of the world's governments "are inclined to artificial
realities, impervious to the evidence that treating people who inject drugs
as criminals is a failed policy that contributes to the spread of HIV," the
Red Cross said.



An estimated 16 million people worldwide inject drugs, mainly because it
delivers the fastest, most intense high, in what has become a growing trend
on every continent, according to the Red Cross.



The launch of the International Federation of the Red Cross' 24-page report
- essentially to promote a new strategy for nations to stop the spread of
the virus among injecting drug users - comes in the week before World AIDS
Day on Dec. 1.



The federation, which represents national Red Cross chapters in almost every
country of the world, suggests ways to lessen the risk that addicts will
contract the virus from tainted blood transmitted through shared needles.



It also points out that many of the addicts are selling sex to pay for their
habits, which "massively increases the likelihood of spreading HIV into an
unsuspecting public."



More than 3 million people who inject drugs now have HIV - almost one-tenth
of all the 33.3 million people worldwide who are infected with HIV.



In the United States, about 56,000 people, many of them injecting drug
users, become infected each year, a rate that has held steady for about a
decade. But many of those who are infected don't know it and spread the
virus unwittingly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.



For years the U.S.-based organization recommended routine testing, mainly
for intravenous drug users and other people at high risk. If new infections
are discovered early enough, HIV patients can be treated with drugs potent
enough to postpone the slide into full-blown AIDS.



Meanwhile, the Red Cross report says China, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine and
Vietnam have "mega-epidemics" of injecting drug use. In some countries, such
as Russia, Georgia and Iran, drug-injecting users account for more than 60
percent of HIV infections.



The Red Cross calls the increasing rate of HIV infection among drug users
who use needles "a public health emergency" and recommends more governments
provide health services such as substitute drug therapy and clean needle and
syringe exchanges.



It says studies consistently show that needle exchanges can lower
transmission rates by as much as 42 percent.



"The IFRC is focusing on injecting drug users because a growing body of
evidence shows that failing to reach them with hard reduction programs not
only jeopardizes their own health, but also the safety of the public at
large," said Tadateru Konoe, the group's president.



The Geneva-based United Nations' AIDS agency said earlier this week that the
global AIDS epidemic among the general population has slowed, with a 20
percent decrease in new HIV infections over the past decade.



But that agency's report also noted there are still 7,000 new infections
each day - a rate that means two people are becoming infected with the virus
for every one who is starting treatment.



*7*

Myanmar allows HIV shelter to continue operating
Associated Press

25/11/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



YANGON, Myanmar -- Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar gave a last-minute
reprieve Thursday night to HIV patients living in a shelter run by
supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, after earlier saying it had
to be shut down.



Yarzar, one of the shelter's staff, said the authorities agreed Thursday
night to let the patients stay. Last week, local officials ordered the 80
patients to be moved by this week, saying without explanation that it would
no longer approve the requests for overnight guests that are legally
required.



The shelter's organizers believed the eviction threat was issued because Suu
Kyi visited it just days after her Nov. 13 release from extended house
arrest, promising to help provide badly needed medicine. The ruling junta
regards Suu Kyi and her nonviolent struggle for democracy as a threat to its
power.



The conciliatory gesture has a hitch, however: The permits must be renewed
each week, and there is no guarantee that they will be.



Still, Yarzar said, "I am greatly relieved and so are the patients."



The shelter's organizers, who are public supporters of Suu Kyi's political
movement, said earlier that they would not send the patients away despite
the threat of legal action



The state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper said Wednesday that health officials
had inspected the shelter in July and August and found it to be unhygienic,
with patients susceptible to infections due to overcrowding.



Yarzar acknowledged the shelter was crowded but said preventive measures
have been taken against the spread of diseases among the patients.



He said health authorities had offered to relocate the patients to a
state-run HIV center but the patients refused to move, saying their shelter
not only offers medical care, food and accommodation but "warmth and
affection that no other center can provide."



*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Next steps with 1% tenofovir microbicide gel

UNAIDS

25/11/2010



After nearly 20 years of research, the results of the CAPRISA 004 trial
provided the first evidence that the use of a vaginal microbicide could
provide a safe and effective way to prevent HIV infection in women.



Following results from a South African study (CAPRISA 004) showing that a
vaginal microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir was 39%
effective in reducing a woman?s risk of becoming infected with HIV during
sex, WHO and UNAIDS convened a meeting in August 2010, just a month
following the announcement, to review the implications of the CAPRISA 004
results and determine the appropriate next steps.



The meeting participants agreed on the below priority actions for follow-up:



?Additional safety studies;

?Effectiveness trial in South Africa to confirm the CAPRISA 004 BAT 24
dosing regimen;

?Effectiveness and safety trial of simplified dosing and HIV testing
schedules;

?Implementation study in South Africa; and,

?Treatment outcome and resistance study.

To find out more, read the executive summary of the meeting report
here<http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/rtis/WHO_UNAIDS_Next_steps_tenofovir_gel_Ex_sum.pdf>
, or download the full report
here<http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/rtis/WHO_UNAIDS_Next_steps_tenofovir_gel_Ex_report.pdf>
.



*2*

The Secretary-General Message for World AIDS Day, 1 December 2010
UNAIDS

26/11/2010



Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic.  This
milestone offers a moment to reflect ? and to renew our resolve.



Over the past three decades, AIDS has caused untold suffering and death.  But
another story has unfolded through the years, one of the global community
uniting with passion to take action and save lives.  These efforts are
making a real difference around the world.



Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV.  Millions of people have gained
access to HIV treatment.  More women are now able to prevent their babies
from becoming infected with HIV.  Travel restrictions for people living with
HIV are being lifted by many countries, as stigma gives way ? still too
slowly ? to compassion and recognition of human rights.



With commitment and solidarity, this movement is helping the world turn the
corner on the AIDS epidemic.  We have finally reached the first part of
Millennium Development Goal 6 ? by halting and beginning to reverse the
spread of HIV.  We must continue to chart a new and bold path ahead.



Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support.  We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable.



Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the
?three zeros? ? zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
AIDS-related deaths.  On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together
to realize this vision for all of the world?s people.



Download print version:

English<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_en.pdf>|
French<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_fr.pdf>|
Spanish<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_es.pdf>|
Russian<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ru.pdf>|
Arabic<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ar.pdf>|
Chinese<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ch.pdf>



*3*

Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths *
*UNAIDS

26/11/2010



*Statment for World AIDS Day, 1 December 2010 by Michel Sidib?, Executive
Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations *



On this World AIDS Day we can be proud.

Globally we have reduced the number of new HIV infections and deaths by
nearly 20%. This means less people are becoming infected with HIV and less
people are dying from AIDS. 56 countries have either stabilized or
significantly reduced the rate of new HIV infections.



For the first time, we have broken the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic and
reached the first part of the Millennium Development Goal for HIV. We have
achieved this amazing milestone because families, communities,
governments?and UNAIDS have united the world in an unprecedented movement.
We are prevailing?with political commitment, leadership from all sectors
including leaders of faith?with science, with evidence, with human rights,
and passion.



On this World AIDS Day we can remember.

Our successes have not come without sacrifice. Today we mourn friends and
family?some 30 million people who have lost their lives to AIDS. An
estimated 10 million people are waiting for treatment. We must remember that
punitive laws and stigma still hurt too many people around the world.



On this World AIDS Day we can commit.

Our hard-won gains are fragile?so our commitment to the AIDS response must
remain strong. AIDS is a proven investment and must be a shared
responsibility today and tomorrow.



On this World AIDS Day we can be hopeful.

With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing
the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination
of mother-to-child transmission by 2015.



Nothing gives me more hope than knowing that an AIDS free generation is
possible in our lifetime. So on this World AIDS Day, take action
today?together we can reach Zero new infections. Zero discrimination. Zero
AIDS-related deaths!



Download print version:

English<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_en.pdf>|
French<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_fr.pdf>|
Spanish<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_es.pdf>|
Russian<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_ru.pdf>





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From tanguyen at chemonics-vn.com  Mon Nov 29 04:49:46 2010
From: tanguyen at chemonics-vn.com (Nguyen Thu Anh)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:49:46 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Extension of the Request for Proposal HIV/10/01 -
 Deadline December 15, 2010
Message-ID: <AANLkTimHAh14gBVgX90_rzVnFbLu74YbGGJB4gB--+h_@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Sir/Madam,

Chemonics is seeking a sub-contractor to work on the area of pre-credit
services and facilitation of referrals of potential loan recipients who are
people living with HIV and high risk individuals to TYM Fund in Hanoi, Nghe
An, and Thai Nguyen province/city. We enclose herewith our information for
the Request for Proposal.

Should you have any queries feel free to contact us.

Thank you

Thu Anh Nguyen

-- 
Nguyen Thu Anh, MD, PhD
Chief of Party | USAID HIV Workplace Project
Country Representative | Chemonics International Inc. Representative Office
Office Phone:  04 - 6251 0745 (ext 108)
Address:        B16, Lane 34, Nguyen Thi Dinh str., Trung Hoa, Cau Giay
District, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 09:31:51 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:31:51 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] FW: Consultant recruitment - PLAN
Message-ID: <AANLkTinaAAsAYgfJWDi=j5pU66SE+g23x=k2L_7P0F6K@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ho Van, Thao <Thao.HoVan at plan-international.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Subject: [opportunities] FW: Consultant recruitment
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


  Dear Ha,



Please help to post the attached TOR of Plan Vietnam in INGO website.



Thanks,

Thao



[image: Click on this banner to make it
STOP.]<http://plan-international.org/learnwithoutfear>

Around the world 350 million children are affected by school violence every
year.
Click on this banner to make it STOP.

------------------------------

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Tue Nov 30 01:44:54 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:44:54 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] REMINDER/RAPPEL
In-Reply-To: <0C315E3BCE46E44B9A898B078B34D99B54804FBED9@EXCH-MBX-A.ulaval.ca>
References: <0C315E3BCE46E44B9A898B078B34D99B54804FBED9@EXCH-MBX-A.ulaval.ca>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=zHWLDohubwdU7kvx0pQ+g2DKo65C085gcCrWp@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gilles Tremblay <Gilles.Tremblay at svs.ulaval.ca>
Date: 2010/11/30
Subject: [msm-asia] REMINDER/RAPPEL
To: "martinjamesw at gmail.com" <martinjamesw at gmail.com>, "jzoske at siena.edu" <
jzoske at siena.edu>, "jkosberg at bama.ua.edu" <jkosberg at bama.ua.edu>, "
crr03 at earthlink.net" <crr03 at earthlink.net>, "cremy at elon.edu" <cremy at elon.edu>,
"emujica at psychoanalysis.net" <emujica at psychoanalysis.net>, "
RFCARLBOM at CSBSJU.EDU" <RFCARLBOM at csbsju.edu>, "modersitzki at un.org" <
modersitzki at un.org>, "Angela.Forghani at mczcr.gov.on.ca" <
Angela.Forghani at mczcr.gov.on.ca>, "pmcmaho at tulane.edu" <pmcmaho at tulane.edu>,
"william-liu at uiowa.edu" <william-liu at uiowa.edu>, "
andrespayarola at yahoo.com.ar" <andrespayarola at yahoo.com.ar>, "
lina.ricciardelli at deakin.edu.au" <lina.ricciardelli at deakin.edu.au>, "
drum0031 at flinders.edu.au" <drum0031 at flinders.edu.au>, "
apurva.pandya at rediffmail.com" <apurva.pandya at rediffmail.com>, "
todd.morrison at usask.ca" <todd.morrison at usask.ca>, "johnbeebe at msn.com" <
johnbeebe at msn.com>, "Ratelk at unisa.ac.za" <Ratelk at unisa.ac.za>, "
travisryan13 at gmail.com" <travisryan13 at gmail.com>, "JIMONEIL1 at aol.com" <
JIMONEIL1 at aol.com>, "msm-asia at googlegroups.com" <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>,
"jhpleck at ILLINOIS.EDU" <jhpleck at illinois.edu>, "jsaintsardos at hotmail.com" <
jsaintsardos at hotmail.com>, "jobsoares at gmail.com" <jobsoares at gmail.com>, "
EliseS at reform.no" <EliseS at reform.no>, "j.l.lorentzen at stk.uio.no" <
j.l.lorentzen at stk.uio.no>, "lars.jalmert at ped.su.se" <lars.jalmert at ped.su.se>,
"a.burgess at fatherhoodinstitute.org" <a.burgess at fatherhoodinstitute.org>, "
TLloyd at workingwithmen.org" <TLloyd at workingwithmen.org>, "
colin at mensproject.org" <colin at mensproject.org>, "Pattman at ukzn.ac.za" <
Pattman at ukzn.ac.za>, "gaycentre at mweb.co.za" <gaycentre at mweb.co.za>, "
asturkum at anadolu.edu.tr" <asturkum at anadolu.edu.tr>, "
P.Branney at leedsmet.ac.uk" <P.Branney at leedsmet.ac.uk>


 **

* *

*RAPPEL*

Nous vous rappelons que vous avez jusqu?au 30 novembre 2010 pour profiter du
tarif r?duit pour votre inscription au colloque international sur les hommes
et les masculinit?s qui se tiendra ? Qu?bec les 9, 10 et 11 mars 2011. Ce
colloque s?annonce des plus prometteurs puisque, en plus de pr?senter 12
grandes conf?rences de chercheurs r?put?s, et un choix de 130 pr?sentations
en divers ateliers s?lectionn?es parmi plus de 200 soumissions en provenance
de plus de 30 pays diff?rents. Toute l?information se retrouve sur le site
du colloque :

http://www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe/colloque_masculinites_societe/

Au plaisir de vous voir en mars prochain lors de cet important colloque.



*REMINDER*

Please note that you have until November 30th 2010 to register at the
discount fee for the international conference on men and masculinities to be
held in Quebec City on March 9th, 10th and 11th 2011. This conference
promises to be one of the best in the field with 12 keynote speakers and a
choice between 130 papers in different workshops selected between more than
200 submissions coming from more than 30 different countries. All
information available on the web site:


http://www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe/colloque_masculinites_societe/

Looking forward to seeing you next March at this important conference.





Gilles Tremblay, PhD, t.s.
Professeur titulaire

?cole de service social

Pavillon Charles-De Koninck, local 5444
Universit? Laval
1030, avenue des Sciences humaines

Qu?bec, QC

Canada, G1V 0A6
418-656-2131 poste 12671
t?l?c. 418-656-3567
gilles.tremblay at svs.ulaval.ca
?quipe Masculinit?s et Soci?t?

www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe



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From nguyen.yen at healthright.org  Mon Nov 29 10:19:37 2010
From: nguyen.yen at healthright.org (Nguyen Yen)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:19:37 -0500
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Announcement of office relocation
Message-ID: <9C6D98BC6FAC55459E315A9581D8D39158127817@nycmail>


ANNOUNCEMENT OF OFFICE RELOCATION
Dear partners,
HealthRight International would like to announce our office relocation from 29th November 2010 from 25 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Hai Ba Trung district, Ha Noi to the new address as below:

6 floor, 141 Hoang Hoa Tham street,
Ngoc Ha ward, Ba Dinh district, Ha Noi

Our telephone numbers and fax number will remain the same:

Tel: 04.3944.7761/04.3944.7762
Fax: 04.3944.7763

Thank you so much!

TH?NG B?O CHUY?N ??A ?I?M

K?nh g?i c?c t? ch?c ??i t?c,

T? ch?c HealthRight International xin tr?n tr?ng th?ng b?o, k? t? ng?y 29 th?ng 11 n?m 2010 v?n ph?ng t? ch?c HealthRight International s? chuy?n t? ??a ch? c? t?i t?ng 4, s? 25 B?i Th? Xu?n, qu?n Hai B? Tr?ng, H? N?i ??n ??a ch? m?i nh? sau:

T?ng 6 ? T?a nh? 141 Ph? Ho?ng Hoa Th?m
Ph??ng Ng?c H? ? Qu?n Ba ??nh ? H? N?i

S? ?i?n tho?i v? s? fax c?a v?n ph?ng HealthRight kh?ng thay ??i:

S? ?i?n tho?i: 04. 3944.7761/ 3944.7762
Fax: 04.3944.7763

Xin ch?n th?nh c?m ?n!

---------------------
Nguyen Thi Yen
Administrative Assistant

HEALTHRIGHT INTERNATIONAL

25 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (844)39447761/62   Fax: (844)39447763
Email: nguyen.yen at healthright.org
www.healthright.org<http://www.healthright.org/<https://mail.healthright.org/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>>

Celebrating 20 YEARS
Building lasting access to health for excluded communities



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Tue Nov 30 01:45:16 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:45:16 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.29ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D964B5@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
References: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D964B5@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimbmNsZFYKQ0UuxJTC=SoDLa+GrRks5T7hVjEGN@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 8:14 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.29ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. People?s Daily, China - ONUSIDA: Nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida
(INTERVIEW)

2. Voice of America News - South Africa Assesses Progress in Fight Against
AIDS



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. The Citizen, Tanzania - EAC to have common HIV policy

2. Angola Press - Government's commitment to fighting HIV/Aids reiterated

3. Health-e, SA - Call for MSM to Be on Aids Agenda

4. Tehran Times - HIV/AIDS under control among IV drug users: Iranian health
minister



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. Straits Times, Singapore - Same-sex marriage could curb HIV

2. NDTV, India - City records fall in HIV cases

3. Jakarta Post - National AIDS commission upbeat on reaching targets

4. Today Online, Singapore - HIV insights

5. The Age, Australia - Experts pushing for rapid HIV testing

6. The Australian - Third of South African men admit rape



*EUROPE***

1. The Guardian, UK - Canc?n must be about more than climate change

2. The Lancet, UK - Mobile phones to improve HIV treatment adherence

3. The Lancet, UK - Striving for universal health coverage (Editorial)

4. AFP - Chine: pr?s de 20.000 nouveaux morts du sida en un an



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Gleaner - Unite against AIDS

2. O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil - Hiv ? protagonista de document?rios



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. New York Times - An AIDS Advance, Hiding in the Open

2. Los Angeles Times - Promising HIV prevention

3. Huffington Post - New Prevention Advances: Can We Now Imagine a World
Without AIDS?

4. IPS Terra Viva - Prenatal Care Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality

5. Washington Post - Review calls for State Department to focus more on
civilian response to conflict



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Asia-Pacific region UNiTEs to end violence against women and
girls





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



*UNAIDS*



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



ONUSIDA: Nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida (INTERVIEW)
People?s Daily, China

29/11/2010



C'est la premi?re fois que nous pouvons annoncer au monde que nous avons
bris? la trajectoire du sida, a affirm? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA
(le Programme commun des Nations Unies sur le VIH/sida), Michel Sidib?, lors
d'une interview accord?e ? Xinhua peu avant la Journ?e internationale du
sida.



DES NOUVELLE INTERESSANTES DANS LA LUTTE CONTRE LE SIDA

Selon les donn?es du Rapport ONUSIDA sur l'?pid?mie mondiale de sida 2010,
rendu public le 23 novembre dernier, on estime ? 2,6 millions le nombre de
personnes nouvellement infect?es par le VIH, soit une baisse de 20% par
rapport au chiffre de 1999.



En 2009, 1,8 million de personnes sont d?c?d?es de maladies li?es au sida,
chiffre inf?rieur de pr?s de 20% ? celui de 2004.



En 2009, on estimait ? 33,3 millions le nombre de personnes vivant avec le
VIH, chiffre l?g?rement sup?rieur ? celui de 2008 (32,8 millions). Cela est
essentiellement li? au fait que les gens vivent plus longtemps gr?ce ?
l'?largissement de l'acc?s au traitement antir?troviral.



Le monde a r?ussi ? enrayer l'?pid?mie de sida et commence ? inverser la
propagation du VIH. Le nombre des nouvelles infections a recul? de pr?s de
20% en dix ans, et les d?c?s li?s au sida ont diminu? de pr?s de 20% ces 5
derni?res ann?es, alors que les personnes vivant avec le virus voient leur
nombre se stabiliser.



"Pour la premi?re fois notre rapport nous donne des nouvelles tr?s
int?ressantes. C'est la premi?re fois que nous pouvons annoncer au monde que
nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida. Nous avons r?ussi ? atteindre la
premi?re partie des Objectifs du Mill?naire pour le D?veloppement (OMD) dans
le cadre du sida", a soulign? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA.



"Aujourd'hui nous avons 56 pays dans le monde qui ont stabilis? de mani?re
significative les niveaux du sida. Cela signifie aussi que nous constatons
une r?duction de 20% du nombre de d?c?s et que nous avons ?galement une
r?duction des nouvelles infections de 20% en dix ans", a indiqu? M. Sidib?.



"Nous avons r?ussi ? ?viter le point critique des 500.000 nouvelles
infections. Je pense que cela nous aide ? combler le foss? qui existe entre
pr?vention et traitement", a-t-il ajout?.



UN GRAND PROGRES ENREGISTRE EN AFRIQUE

Lorsqu'on regarde les chiffres de mani?re globale, l'Afrique demeure la
r?gion qui a le plus de personnes infect?es par le sida (22,5 millions, soit
68% de la charge mondiale du VIH), a affirm? M. Sidib?.



"Personnellement, je pense que nous avons r?ussi ? briser la conspiration du
silence dans cette partie du monde", a-t-il indiqu?.



Dans 22 pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, le taux d'incidence du VIH a diminu?
de plus de 25% entre 2001 et 2009.



"Nous avons r?ussi ? associer l'Afrique du Sud dans ce programme, nous avons
r?ussi ? mobiliser un pays comme la R?publique D?mocratique du Congo (RDC),
nous nous sommes ?galement assur? de la participation du Nigeria ? la
d?marche et, aujourd'hui, nous nous acheminons vers l'?limination de la
transmission m?re/enfant ce qui repr?sente ? mes yeux une grande avanc?e", a
pr?cis? M. Sidib?.



L'AMBITION DE L'ONUSIDA

"Nous avons actuellement 500.000 d?c?s dus ? la co-infection SIDA /
tuberculose dans le monde, ce qui repr?sente un quart des d?c?s caus? par le
sida. Actuellement nous ?tablissons un nouveau momentum autour de la
co-infection. Nous voulons ?tre s?r de mobiliser le mouvement de la soci?t?
qui combat le sida et nous nous associons au mouvement de lutte contre la
tuberculose", a indiqu? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA.



"Notre ambition est de r?duire de moiti? le nombre de d?c?s d'ici 2015.
C'est cet objectif que nous essayons d'atteindre avec naturellement la
collaboration de nos coll?gues de l'OMS et de ceux qui ?uvrent contre la
tuberculose. C'est capital pour nous", a soulign? M. Sidib?.



"Cette question est tr?s importante particuli?rement parce que durant cette
p?riode difficile que nous traversons, je pense ? la crise financi?re, nous
devons obtenir un maximum de r?sultats sur nos investissements.
L'int?gration de la probl?matique de la tuberculose dans le combat contre le
sida est une mani?re d'atteindre cet objectif", a-t-il ajout?.



AUCUN ENFANT NE NAIT AVEC LE SIDA EN 2015

"Je souhaite que plus aucun enfant ne naisse avec le sida et cet objectif se
r?alise, car je suis convaincu que le monde peut le r?aliser. Rien ne peut
apporter plus de satisfactions que de dire que nous sommes en pr?sence d'un
monde o? les b?b?s naissent sans sida. C'est tout ? fait possible et nous en
recevons d?j? le signal", a martel? le chef de l'ONUSIDA.



"La Chine a virtuellement d?cid? d'?liminer la transmission m?re/enfant.
Suite ? ma visite en Chine, lorsque j'ai rencontr? des dirigeants chinois,
ils ont d?cid? d'?liminer la transmission du VIH/SIDA de la m?re ? l'enfant,
ils ont pris la d?cision que plus aucun nouveau-n? chinois ne na?trait
infect? par le VIH", a rappel? M. Sidib?.



L'Afrique du Sud a fait la m?me d?claration. Ce pays a incroyablement
progress? car aujourd'hui la couverture du traitement antir?troviral visant
? pr?venir la transmission du VIH de la m?re ? l'enfant a d?pass? les 80%.
Le Botswana, la Namibie, tous ces pays sont proches de l'?limination totale
de la transmission m?re/enfant.



"J'esp?re que d'ici 2015, le monde n'aura plus de nouveaux n?s VIH/SIDA",
a-t-il soulign?.



Michel Sidib? est le directeur ex?cutif d'ONUSIDA depuis le 1er d?cembre
2008. Il est entr? dans l'organisation en 2001 en tant que directeur du
D?partement d'appui aux pays et aux r?gions. Il y a supervis? une vaste
r?forme, reconnue pour avoir transform? l'ONUSIDA en un programme commun
mieux cibl? et plus efficace.



*5*

South Africa Assesses Progress in Fight Against AIDS
Voice of America News

28/11/2010



Scott Bobb | Johannesburg



International AIDS Day provides an opportunity to examine the efforts to
combat the deadly virus that attacks the human immune system. In South
Africa, whose 5.7 million HIV victims make it the most affected country in
the world, officials and activists are assessing an ambitious campaign
launched by the government on AIDS Day (Dec 1st) last year.



South Africa's President Jacob Zuma one year ago announced what he called a
new era in his government's fight against the HIV/AIDS virus.



"To take our response a step forward, we are launching a massive campaign to
mobilize all South Africans to get tested for HIV. Every South African
should know his or her HIV status."



Mr. Zuma said 15 million people would be tested for HIV in the next year,
treatment programs would be expanded and a major prevention campaign would
be launched.



He also called for a change of attitude toward the disease. "Let there be no
more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigma. Let
the politicization and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop," said Zuma.



This represented a dramatic shift in policy from the previous government (of
Thabo Mbeki) which downplayed the seriousness of the epidemic. Critics said
it caused hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.



AIDS activist Mark Heywood is deputy chairman of South Africa's National
AIDS Council. He says nearly four million people have been tested in the
past eight months and the number of people receiving treatment has doubled.



"There are many, many positives. But having stressed the positives I also
want to say that HIV remains a massive challenge for this country," he said.



Heywood says HIV prevalence in South Africa has stabilized but deaths and
new infection rates are largely unchanged. He blames this on a lack of
resources, determination and planning.



The United Nations issued a report last week saying that, nevertheless,
progress is being made across Africa where two-thirds of all HIV victims
live.



The report said that in the past decade (2001 - 2009) new infections and
deaths continent-wide had declined by 25 percent.



South African Deputy-Health Minister Gwen Ramakgopa called it significant
progress.



"We are encouraged that particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, including in our
country South Africa, we are seeing the dawn of a new era where we are
starting to halt the epidemic and indeed we need to consolidate our efforts
so that we can get into a phase of the reversal," she said.



But UNAIDS Regional Director Sheila Tlou said the battle was not over and
warned against complacency.



"Even though the number of HIV infections is decreasing, there is still a
need for prevention, because there are two new HIV infections for every one
person that is put on HIV treatment," said Tlou.



Heywood believes the global fight against HIV is at a pivotal point. "Many
gains of the last decade have been driven by activism, by people with HIV
standing, making themselves seen, making themselves heard, by HIV being cast
as a moral issue globally, as an issue of inequality. But I fear that
approach has run out of steam, not that it has run out of legitimacy," he
said.



Activists say global politics and economics are more complex now and they
fear a loss of momentum and political commitment along with a decline in
funds due to the ongoing financial crisis.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



EAC to have common HIV policy
The Citizen, Tanzania

27/11/2010



Arusha: The East African Community (EAC) is harmonising existing policies,
protocols, plans, strategies and legislation in partner states on the
prevention, treatment, care and management of HIV/Aids.



The EAC deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors) Mr Jean
Claude Nsengiyumva, says the aim is to attain an HIV/Aids free population.



He explains that the HIV/Aids challenge is cross-cutting and multi-sectoral
in character, and hence needs concerted efforts by all key stakeholders.



Mr Nsengiyumva explains that the EAC Treaty puts strong emphasis on joint
regional strategies and interventions for the prevention and control of
HIV/Aids in EAC  partner states.



He says the EAC plays a coordination role for activities within the partner
states in support of the existing national policies on the pandemic.  He
reveals that partner states were currently undertaking joint action towards
the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
They include HIV/Aids that endangers the overall health and welfare of
citizens of EAC member countries.



He notes that HIV/Aids poses a serious threat to sustainable development in
the region and the integration agenda.

?The focus is on the prevention of HIV/Aids, care and the mitigation of its
impact in order to ensure sustainable human development within partner
states,? said Mr Nsengiyumva.



The EAC official noted that the disease affects everyone, irrespective of
the status in society. Generally governments cannot undertake this
initiative of fighting the pandemic alone, and thus arises the need to seek
private sector partnerships. In this regard, he says the EAC, being
people-centred and private sector driven, is partnering with private sectors
through the East African Business Council to promote and achieve an HIV/Aids
free population.



In an effort to stimulate corporate response to HIV pandemic, Mr.
Nsengiyumva says the East African Business Council organized a regional CEO
Testing Day on November 11, 2010.



The event was simultaneously carried out in each of the five capital cities
across East Africa.  The aim of CEOs testing for HIV/Aids was to ensure that
the CEOs lead by example and also help reduce the stigmatization that is
associated with HIV/AIDS, especially at workplaces.



It also aimed at making HIV/Aids testing a routine activity to reduce the
spread of the disease.  It involved full service with pre- and post-test
counseling.



The World AIDS Day kicked off in 1988 for the purpose of increasing
awareness, raising funds, fighting prejudice and improving HIV/Aids
education.



*2*

Government's commitment to fighting HIV/Aids reiterated
Angola Press

28/11/2010



Luanda ? The Angolan Executive has been committed to fighting HIV/Aids
through the holding of training and sensitisation actions, creation of test
centres, follow-up of HIV positive people, among other measures.



This was said last Saturday in Luanda by the Health minister, Jos?
Van-Dunem.



?Right now there are 500 units used for voluntary tests, in 120 districts of
the country? revealed the minister, who attended a march organised with a
view to sensitising people about the need fight against HIV/Aids, The march
was organised by the Angolan Network for Aids-related Services (ANASO), in
the ambit of the World Day against this disease, to be marked on December
01.



The government official said that each one?s responsibility starts with
protection and the diffusion of the message on this disease.



?We continue to support and intervening in the fight against HIV/Aids?, said
the minister, adding that everyone is called to be part of this struggle.



The march that started at Cidadela sports complex finished in the
Independence Square, and was attended by the ministers of Health, Jos?
Van-Dun?n, Environment, F?tima Jardim, Sports, Gon?alves Muanduba, the
President?s secretary for social matters, Rosa Pacavira, MPs, among other
personalities.



*3*

Call for MSM to Be on Aids Agenda *
*Health-e, SA

28/11/2010



Khopotso Bodibe



As World AIDS Day approaches, activists and service providers in the
non-governmental health sector have warned government that it will never
turn the tide of AIDS if high risk groups such as men who have sex with
other men are not brought into focus in efforts to prevent HIV spreading
further.



An online survey conducted by the OUT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
and Inter-sex network in 2007 shows that 15 - 20% of men in South Africa,
which translates to about 1.8 million men, have sex with other men.
Non-governmental organizations and activists have cautioned that this is a
high-risk group and its continued marginalization in national AIDS
programmes poses a threat to making real progress in addressing AIDS. So
far, programmes in South Africa, largely driven by the National Strategic
Plan for HIV and AIDS, have been designed to respond to what has been
described as a "general heterosexual epidemic". This is of concern to Dr
Oscar Radebe, a medical officer with Health for Men, an NGO that offers
health services to men.



"What we know is the National Strategic Plan, which is expiring next year,
has projections around what our targets are in terms of prevention. But,
unfortunately, we haven't reached any targets in terms of MSM. We'll never
get to bringing down the prevalence of HIV if we don't target a group that
is most vulnerable, who cannot access any kind of service. We've come a long
way with the struggle. I think this is another struggle that we have to look
at in a different manner", Radebe says.



Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, Nonkosi Khumalo said the
struggle for inclusion of men who have sex with men in government AIDS
programmes will be taken up. She describes their exclusion as "a violation
of human rights".



"We can't live in a space where we ideally think these groups do not exist -
there are no men that are having sex with men. Activists will continue to
push for the recognition of these rights because HIV is not HIV on its own.
HIV thrives because there is a high rate of violation of human rights in the
African region", says Khumalo.



Director of the support team of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS in eastern and southern Africa, Professor Sheila Tlou, reiterated
Khumalo's argument on human rights.



"Those are still neglected in a lot of the countries, mainly because in
those countries we still have very punitive laws that criminalize such
behaviours. The problem becomes that such groups then go under-ground and
they have the right to access HIV prevention, treatment, care and support
services just like the other members of society. It's really a question of
human rights".



Gay people and men who have sex with men in Africa have been under threat.
For instance, on the one hand Uganda has policies that are discriminatory on
lesbians and gays, while Malawi has prosecution laws. On the other, South
Africa has a Constitution that protects the right to sexual orientation, yet
is lacking in implementing the right. This is evident in the prejudicial
nature of our public health service in providing care to men who sex with
men.



"We've identified a group that is at risk. But, now, what do we have for
them? How do they access any kind of preventative methods? Do they actually
have any preventative methods because, remember, the closest thing that they
could get is to the clinic, where there are so many barriers?" , says Dr
Radebe of Health for men.



Radebe says government health services have failed to acknowledge and to
understand men who have sex with men.



"It could be a straight or married man who will sleep with another man. If
they test positive it's difficult for them to actually access services. They
get judged a lot. They get stigmatised", he says.



He adds that health care workers need to be sensitized around dealing with
this community of men.



"It's a different approach and it's not throwing this to the health care
workers to say, 'you are forced to actually do this'; it's part of what we
are trained to do. Already you are in the setting where you're providing
services. But you've got to realize that you've got to learn more about your
client in a different perspective because you've got a new epidemic that is
coming in, a new obstacle that doesn't want to bring down HIV prevalence. We
need to try and talk about HIV in that context with health care workers and
the Department of Health and integrate MSM programmes and training".



Deputy Health Minister, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, pointed out that the Bill of
Rights in the Constitution guarantees rights to all regardless of sexual
orientation. She also acknowledged that the country needs to go a long way
to ensure that health services implement this right.



"We still need to ensure that the stigma that is there in society is also
dealt with so that it shouldn't be that you're respected and/or you have
access to services based on one sexual orientation or the other. And, indeed
in the case of HIV and AIDS, men having sex with other men are identified as
one of the high risk groups, so we need to extend services there. Many men
who have sex with men are family members. They are even married to women.
They have children and all that. It's important that we look at high risk
situations and we become as scientific as possible and as humane as possible
in terms of tackling the epidemic", Ramokgopa said.



*6*

HIV/AIDS under control among IV drug users: Iranian health minister *
*Tehran Times

29/11/2010



TEHRAN -- Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi says that Iran has been
successful in curbing the spread of the HIV virus due to intravenous (IV)
drug use, but she warned about the rise in HIV/AIDS cases due to
extramarital sexual relations.



Iran has succeeded in controlling the spread of the disease among IV drug
users, and a very low percentage of the country?s drug users are infected
with the HIV virus, Vahid-Dastjerdi told reporters on Sunday.



But what is a serious danger is the increase in HIV/AIDS cases due to sexual
behavior, she added.



In such a situation, the number of HIV-infected people will quintuple in
Iran, Vahid-Dastjerdi stated.



She went on to say that if AIDS transmission rises due to sexual relations,
it may cause an ?AIDS volcano? in Iran in the future.



She advised Iranian citizens, particularly the younger generation, to follow
moral principles and to avoid sexual behavior that can lead to HIV/AIDS
infection.



Over 20,000 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in Iran, but the real
number of affected people is about three to four times higher, the health
minister added.



On a positive note, Vahid-Dastjerdi said the World Health Organization has
introduced Iran as an international model for controlling HIV/AIDS



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Same-sex marriage could curb HIV
Straits Times, Singapore

29/11/2010



BEIJING - AS HIV/AIDS becomes more prevalent among the gay population on the
mainland, some experts have joined the gay community in calling for the
legal recognition of same-sex marriage as a means of curbing the infection.



Although the rate of HIV infection is 0.05 per cent nationwide, gay men have
been the hardest hit by the sexually transmitted disease, experts warned
ahead of this year's World AIDS Day, which fell on Wednesday.



In some cities, nearly one out of five is HIV positive in the gay community,
experts said.



'To legalise same-sex marriage could help stabilize and sustain gay
relationships, thereby lowering the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS,' said
Zhang Beichuan, a professor at Qingdao University and an outspoken gay
rights advocate.



In the meantime, the government continues to work hard to reach vulnerable
groups, particularly gay men, and to provide safe sex education and free
condoms, said Hao Yang, deputy director of the disease prevention and
control bureau under the Ministry of Health.



While government programs currently reach 90,000 gay men a month, Mr Hao
said it was insufficient. -- CHINA DAILY/ANN



*2*

City records fall in HIV cases
NDTV, India

29/11/2010



Somita Pal, DNA



Mumbai:  In tune with the global trend, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be
slowing down a little in Mumbai with the city registering a lower number of
new HIV positive cases.



According to a study conducted by the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society
(MDACS), the prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women has come down
from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in 2010.



"The reduction in the number of HIV positive pregnant women is a let-up sign
in new infection. We have been doing line listing through which we register
the HIV-infected pregnant women coming for check-ups. In case they come for
check-up again, we already have their case history. This has helped us in
bringing down the number of HIV-infected pregnant women," said Dr SS
Kudalkar, project director, MDACS.



The city has seen a dip in overall AIDS cases too. If 5,420 AIDS cases were
registered in 2007, there were only 2,942 cases in 2008 and 1,308 cases in
2009.



"So far, we have registered 966 cases this year," said Kudalkar.



The MDACS study also reveals that there is a marked change in the attitude
and behavioural patterns of female sex workers in Mumbai towards use of
condoms. The condom use amongst brothel-based female sex workers is as high
as 98% in the case of paying clients.



"As a part of preventing the spread of HIV infection from core group, which
is also called high risk group, into the general population, MDACS is
conducting targeted interventions to bring about behavioural change by
providing awareness, condom promotion and STI treatment with the help of
NGOs. Forty-one such projects are being carried out in high-risk population
areas," added Kudalkar.



The basic purpose of intervention among the most vulnerable and marginalised
population is to reduce the rate of transmission through behaviour change
and encourage health-seeking behaviour.



The high-risk groups include female sex workers, men having sex with men,
injecting drug users and the bridge population that includes migrant workers
and truck drivers.



A United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) organization survey shows that there is a dip
in the number of HIV infection cases.



Globally, HIV infection rates have fallen by nearly 20% in the past 10 years
to 2.6 million in 2009 from 3.1 million in 1999. Also, AIDS-related deaths
have come down by 20% in the same period across the world.



UNAIDS showed that India has 2.4 million HIV patients at present. The only
factor clouding the happy picture is the fact that though seven lakh
HIV-positive Indians need anti-retro viral therapy (ART), less than half
have access to it.



In Mumbai, MDACS statistics show that 24,086 of 52,828 HIV-positive patients
registered for care in the city received ART in the period between 2006 and
2010.



*3*

National AIDS commission upbeat on reaching targets
Jakarta Post

27/11/2010



Tifa Asrianti



The National Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention says it is optimistic it will
achieve its target to increase the use of condoms during sexual activity and
raise greater awareness of the deadly virus among teenagers.



The commission has been establishing clinics for voluntary counseling and
testing (VCT) and care, support and treatment (CST) to assist those living
with HIV and AIDS.



In 2004, there were only 25 VCT and 25 CST clinics. Today, Indonesia has 789
VCT and 259 CST clinics spread across the country, and the commission
targets to implement 872 VCT and 296 CST clinics by 2014.



With more counseling clinics, the number of recorded HIV/AIDS cases has
surged.



In 2004, the commission recorded a cumulative number of 2,682 cases. As of
June 2010, the commission recorded 68,927 people were HIV positive and
21,770 had contracted the AIDS virus.



?Many people are shocked when they learn that Indonesia has many HIV/AIDS
cases,? Nafsiah Mboi, the commission?s secretary-general, said. ?But because
we have many VCTs and CSTs, we have been able to record HIV/AIDS cases that
were not tracked before.?



Four goals have been formed in the attempt to lower the amount of HIV/AIDS
cases.



First, the HIV prevalence in fertile-age citizens should be below 0.5
percent, which has been achieved. Currently, the figure is below 0.2
percent.



Second, the usage of condoms during sexual activity is targeted to reach 65
percent. The current figure is only at 30 percent.



?The low usage of condoms is prevalent in Indonesia, but this is so in
almost every Asian country, excluding Japan,? Nafsiah said.



Next is to ensure the percentage of teenagers with comprehensive knowledge
on HIV/AIDS is at 95 percent. The current percentage is at 14.3 percent.



Nafsiah said that most schools wanted students to practice abstinence and
that they refused to provide sex education.



?In Papua, a region with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, the schools provide
sex education and hold training for teachers. But other regions have yet to
do this. So our strategy is to provide teenagers with life skills [so they
can make informed decisions],? she said.



The fourth goal is to provide anti-retro viral (ARV) drugs to every person
with HIV/AIDS by 2015.



So far, the commission has given the ARV medication to 16,982 people with
HIV/AIDS (64 percent).



Nafsiah said that the commission could ensure ARV availability until 2012.
However, she added, the challenge was to ensure the distribution of the
medicine.



She cited a case in Papua in which administration officials did not provide
ARV medicine to patients because officials were concerned the patients would
not be assiduous in taking it, something that could result in drug
resistance.



Data from the Health Ministry showed that consistently consuming ARV
medication resulted in a lower-mortality rate of people with HIV/AIDS.



In 2006, only 54 percent of patients received ARV and the mortality rate was
46 percent.



The next year, ARV medication increased to 58 percent, while the mortality
rate dropped to 21 percent. In 2008, the percentage of people receiving ARV
treatment was recorded at 62 percent and the mortality rate was as low as 17
percent.



?With a good ARV program resulting in a low mortality rate, the new
challenge is to keep this key group from infecting others,? Nafsiah said.



*4*

HIV insights
Today Online, Singapore

29/11/2010



To commemorate World Aids Day on Wednesday, MTV will air a new hour-long
documentary entitled Me, Myself & HIV as part of its Staying Alive Campaign,
which is a multimedia global HIV and Aids prevention campaign.



The documentary follows the lives of two young people from different worlds
who both live with HIV: Slim, a 21-year-old aspiring DJ and music producer
from Lusaka, Zambia, and Angelikah, a 25-year-old college student from
Minneapolis, Minnesota. They share their real-life stories from when they
first decided to get tested for HIV/Aids to what happened after getting
their results and how it affected their everyday lives.



"Being honest about my status was a really nerve-wracking experience, but it
has changed my life," said Slim. "Stay positive about your future if you are
positive, and don't be negative if you are negative."



The edgy, entertaining self-narrated documentary intends to dispel common
myths and stereotypes associated with HIV, educate youth on HIV transmission
and prevention, and encourage young people to speak more openly about the
disease. In conjunction, local MTV viewers will be able to take advantage of
free anonymous HIV testing offered by Action For Aids. For more details, log
onto www.mtvasia.com from Nov 29 onwards. You can also visit the Facebook
page (http://www.facebook.com/MTVStayingAliveCampaign) or Twitter (
http://twitter.com/mtvstayingalive).



Catch Me, Myself & HIV on Wednesday (Dec 1) at 3pm on MTV Asia (StarHub TV
Ch 533). Repeats on Wednesday at 9pm, Thursday (Dec 2) at 12.30am and
Saturday (Dec 4) at midnight.



*5*

Experts pushing for rapid HIV testing
The Age, Australia

28/11/2010



Jill Stark



HIV tests that can provide results within 30 minutes should be made
available in Australia to curb rising infection rates, according to experts
who say our screening methods have fallen behind the rest of the world.



While-you-wait testing is routine in America and Europe, but here patients
have to make a doctor's appointment and can wait a week or more for the
results.



Gay men who have unprotected sex are advised to be tested at least once a
year, but the inconvenience and stress of several doctor's visits is proving
a barrier to regular testing.



The lag between tests means those who have the virus may be unknowingly
passing it on to sexual partners.



Experts say community drop-in centres staffed by nurses, counsellors and
volunteers, where people can have the finger prick test without an
appointment and receive results in less than an hour, would reduce the
infection rate, which is at its highest since the early 1990s.



Last year 1050 Australians were diagnosed with HIV, up from 718 a decade
ago.



''Australia is the last developed country in the world that doesn't have
access to rapid testing,'' said Mike Kennedy, executive director of the
Victorian AIDS Council. ''All of the studies that have been done on gay men
in Australia that have said, 'If there was a rapid test would you use it?',
overwhelmingly people say yes. If we introduce it here we would see what
we've seen everywhere around the world, we'd see rapid uptake.



''It's not just a substitute for standard testing, you actually get people
who would not use conventional testing where you've got to go to the
doctor.''



Rapid testing centres may also deter people from buying home testing kits on
the internet, which have not been approved for use in Australia, may be
unreliable and are illegal to import.



State and federal governments have been reluctant to introduce rapid testing
in Australia, amid fears it may not be as accurate as conventional
screening, in which blood samples are sent off for laboratory testing before
a result is provided to the patient.



However, there is a growing push for while-you-wait testing, led by NSW
advocacy groups, with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations set to
release a report next month showing the method is highly effective.



Mark Stoove, head of the Burnet Institute's HIV/AIDS program, who has been
commissioned by ACON - a Sydney-based advocacy group - to establish an
effective delivery model for rapid testing, said the tests used widely
overseas, now provided close to 100 per cent accuracy.



''The specificity and sensitivity of these tests is very high. At a
population level if you're testing large numbers of people there are
obviously opportunities for false positives and negatives, which is why we
would use two concurrent tests together to improve the reliability. And any
positive results would go off for full whole blood diagnostic testing,'' Dr
Stoove said.



''We did a study that shows up to a third of sexually active gay men
recruited in nightclubs and sex-on-premises venues, who were HIV positive,
were not actually aware that they were HIV positive.''



*6*

Third of South African men admit rape
The  Australian

27/11/2010



From: AAP



MORE than a third of South African men in a new survey admitted to
committing rape at some point in their lives.



The survey, by the government-funded Medical Research Council and non-profit
organisation Gender Links, found that 37.4 per cent of men in the
north-central province of Gauteng admitted to committing rape at some point
in their lives, while 25.3 per cent of women said they had been victims of
rape.



It follows up on a national survey carried out last year that found more
than one in four South African men admitted to having raped a woman or girl.



"The previous level was so high that we didn't expect it to be even
higher,'' Rachel Jewkes, a researcher at the Medical Research Council, said.



Researchers surveyed 487 men and 511 women in Gauteng, the country's
second-most populous province, which is home to Pretoria, the capital, and
Johannesburg, the largest city.



The study group was 90 per cent black and 10 per cent white, reflecting the
province's demographics, authors said.



Over half the women surveyed said they had experienced some form of violence
- emotional, economic, physical or sexual - in their lifetimes, and 78.3 per
cent of men admitted to perpetrating some form of violence against women.



South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of reported rape, with
36,190 cases - 99 per day - reported to police in 2007, but experts say that
only a small number of attacks are actually reported.



The MRC study found that only one in 25 rapes had been reported to the
police.



South Africa has the highest number of HIV infections in the world,
compounding the trauma rape victims face.



In the 2009 study, one in five confessed rapists tested positive for HIV.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



Canc?n must be about more than climate change
The Guardian, UK

26/11/2010



Wangari Maathai



Twelve months ago I stood up in front of heads of state at the UN climate
talks in Copenhagen and told them that they could not negotiate with the
climate; they would have to negotiate with each other. And as leaders
prepare to meet again in Canc?n next week, I repeat my plea.



I have been attending UN conferences since 1976 and am now part of the
millennium development goals advocacy group. In the past 30 years I have
seen much to be proud of, and much for us to hang our heads at. At times
when action has been needed, the world has responded. Other times we have
not.



Negotiating an issue that has such a vast effect on our world is not easy,
and governments know that negotiations are as much about how countries
interact as they are about what they agree. There is a history of accidental
and deliberate misunderstanding in climate negotiations that has left deep
scars, but leaders must overcome this legacy of mistrust by building on
common ground in a genuine, fair and trusting way that is based on mutual
responsibility ? to ourselves and to billions around the world.



I believe in the ability of humanity to come together in the face of
seemingly impossible difficulties. Finding a way to rise to the challenge of
climate change is not easy. But it is possible. We have the knowledge to
deliver ? the cost of low-carbon technology is falling, our understanding of
how climate change will affect our lives is improving. The UN advisory group
on climate finance has shown that we can generate the $100bn (?64bn) a year
promised to tackle climate change. Now we must work together to make these
possibilities a reality.



It is true that no delegate leaves a conference with a perfect document, but
last year in Copenhagen we caught a glimpse of the potential we have if we
tackle this global crisis together. For the first time, 115 countries
recognised the scientific case for restricting the rise in global
temperatures to 2C. For the first time ever, all the major emitters of the
world accepted their moral responsibility to reduce their emissions and
committed to build trust and transparency. And for the first time ever, we
set out our interconnectedness, with developed countries offering to help
the poorest countries to protect their people from climate change and to
find a path to low-carbon sustainable development.



We appreciate the fact that an international agreement alone will not
deliver the answer ? words and promises mean nothing without action. Trust
is a two-way road and outside of Canc?n, governments must do what they have
promised: take concrete action to reduce their emissions; deliver finance
and work together to make low-carbon development a reality; and protect
those least able to cope with the impact of climate change.



If we are to help steer the world through this uncertainty, we must be clear
that climate change, though important, is only one part of the puzzle. If we
truly want to tackle climate change, poverty and conflict we need to think
holistically. We need to, as Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of the UN global
sustainability panel, "think big, connecting the dots between poverty,
energy, food, water, environmental pressure and climate change".



Focusing on only one dot means that we lose sight of the bigger picture.
Water is a timeless example. We know that the impact of climate change will
be felt through water ? too much, too little or the wrong type. And
improving basic services such as water sanitation and hygiene is vital to
development, reducing child deaths and improving education. There are 884
million people who don't have safe drinking water and 2.6 billion who don't
have somewhere to go to the toilet. The floods in Pakistan are a dramatic
example of how destructive water can be, yet how essential it is to life.
Reducing disaster risk, and providing the most vulnerable with safe water
and sanitation is as much about building their resilience to climate change
as it is about justice, equality and development.



And we saw in 2008 just what can happen when we fail to connect those dots ?
climate change, oil prices, protectionism and global economics collided to
push food prices up and hang a cloud of starvation over the heads of
millions of people.



So these negotiations are about more than climate change ? we need to find
reason to trust each other so that we can find a new way of working together
to tackle the connected global challenges we face. Our failure to link these
issues affects us all. In Canc?n and beyond, the governments of the world
have to learn to work together for our common future. Our planet is finite,
our fates are intertwined, our choice is clear ? stand together or fall
divided.



*3*

Mobile phones to improve HIV treatment adherence
The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9755, Pages 1807 - 1808

Benjamin H Chi a b, Jeffrey SA Stringer a b



In sub-Saharan Africa, access to HIV treatment has expanded at an
unprecedented rate. Nearly 3 million HIV-infected adults and children in the
region have now started antiretroviral therapy, an increase of 30 times
since 2003.1, 2 Despite this undeniable success, there are growing concerns
about long-term outcome in such patients. Ensuring strict adherence to
suppressive antiretroviral regimens remains a formidable challenge,3
particularly in those who are on therapy for a long time. Reports show high
levels of patients' attrition from antiretroviral programmes, as high as 35%
at 3 years.4, 5

In The Lancet, Richard Lester and colleagues6 report the WelTel Kenya1
study, a randomised trial of mobile (cell) phone text-messaging to improve
patients' adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Patients were randomly
assigned to either a short message service (SMS) intervention?designed by
the investigators and with use of the extensive mobile-phone network in
Kenya?or to standard care. Patients in the SMS group received, and were
expected to respond to, weekly text messages that asked about their general
wellbeing. If a patient reported a problem or did not reply within 48 h, a
follow-up phone call was made by a health provider. Primary outcomes were
self-reported adherence to antiretrovirals (defined as having taken >95% of
the prescribed drugs in the past 30 days) at 6 and 12 months and HIV-1 viral
RNA load suppression (<400 copies per mL) at 12 months.

In the intention-to-treat analysis, the SMS intervention was associated with
higher rates of adherence (62%) than was the control group (50%; relative
risk for non-adherence 0?81, 95% CI 0?69?0?94; p=0?006) and with better
rates of virological suppression (57% vs 48%; relative risk for virological
failure 0?85, 0?72?0?99; p=0?04). The primary analysis rightly included
patients' retention and survival as part of its treatment outcome, because
both are potential collateral benefits of the intervention. In a secondary
analysis that censored missing data, the effect of the SMS intervention on
adherence was no longer observed (91% vs 91%; 1?00, 0?94?1?07; p=0?94), but
its effect on virological suppression persisted (75% vs 66%; 0?88,
0?77?1?00; p= 0?047).



WelTel was sensibly designed and well executed, and provides some of the
first randomised data for mobile-phone-based health interventions. Despite
the huge amount of investment and activity in mobile health-technology,7 at
present there are few outcomes data available. As policy makers consider
bringing the SMS intervention to scale?which we think they should?some
questions remain. First, why did the intervention work? The SMS queries were
too infrequent to actually remind patients to take their drugs pill by pill.
Possibly the SMS intervention worked by improving communication and rapport
between health providers and patients (patients reported during the pilot
phase that ?it feels like someone cares?8). A clearer understanding of the
mechanism behind the intervention's effectiveness?perhaps identified by
qualitative research?could provide insight into how the intervention might
be optimised and replicated elsewhere.

A second question is: can these findings be extended to other settings? The
availability of mobile-phone infrastructure will not be a major hindrance to
widespread use of this technology. In many African countries, service
coverage is nearly ubiquitous, and almost everyone has a mobile phone or
access to a shared one. In WelTel, for example, only 39 of the 581 (7%)
candidates were excluded because of the absence of such access. Where the
availability of mobile phones is not so complete, programmes could issue
free phones or subsidise the cost of using the phones for the SMS
intervention.



Finally, what are the cost implications of this intervention? By our
calculations, the yearly mobile-phone costs for the national cohort in Kenya
on antiretroviral therapy (almost 400 000 in 20099) would be about US$2?6
million, roughly 1% of the support provided by the US President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief to Kenya's national antiretroviral programme.10 At
under $8 per patient per year, this intervention might prove cost effective,
particularly when one considers the cost and complexity of second-line
therapy.11 However, this aspect still requires formal analyses.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the science of implementation?particularly focusing
on patients' adherence and retention?has understandably lagged behind the
rapid pace of programme expansion. In this regard, WelTel is an important
step forward, one that shows the promise of technology to assist in settings
where high disease burden and resource constraints threaten a programme's
success. However, technology-based approaches represent only one of many
effective means that should be considered by policy makers and health
providers to improve adherence to antiretrovirals. A comprehensive
multipronged approach tailored to the specific needs of individual local
settings must be used if maximum gains in patients' health are to be
realised.



We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.



References

1 WHO, UNAIDS. Progress on global access to HIV antiretroviral therapy: a
report on ?3 by 5? and beyond.
http://www.who.int/hiv/fullreport_en_highres.pdf. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

2 WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF. Towards universal access: scaling up priority
HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector. September 2009 progress report.
http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/2009progressreport/en. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

3 Nachega JB, Mills EJ, Schechter M. Antiretroviral therapy adherence and
retention in care in middle-income and low-income countries: current status
of knowledge and research priorities. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2010; 5: 70-77.
CrossRef | PubMed

4 Rosen S, Fox MP, Gill CJ. Patient retention in antiretroviral therapy
programs in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. PLoS Med 2007; 4: e298.
CrossRef | PubMed

5 Fox MP, Rosen S. Patient retention in antiretroviral therapy programs up
to three years on treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, 2007?2009: systematic
review. Trop Med Int Health 2010; 15 (suppl 1): 1-15. CrossRef | PubMed

6 Lester RT, Ritvo P, Mills EJ, et al. Effects of a mobile phone short
message service on antiretroviral treatment adherence in Kenya (WelTel
Kenya1): a randomised trial. Lancet 201010.1016/S0140-6736(10)61997-6.
published online Nov 9. PubMed

7 UN Foundation, Vodafone Foundation. mHealth for development: the
opportunity for mobile technology for healthcare in the developing world.
http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions-files.org/unf_website/assets/publications/technology/mhealth/mHealth_for_Development_full.pdf.
(accessed Oct 31, 2010).

8 Lester R, Karanja S. Mobile phones: exceptional tools for HIV/AIDS,
health, and crisis management. Lancet Infect Dis 2008; 8: 738-739. Full Text
| PDF(418KB) | CrossRef | PubMed

9 Kenya National AIDS Control Council, Offce of the President. UNGASS 2010:
United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS. Country
report Kenya.
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2010/kenya_2010_country_progress_report_en.pdf.
(accessed Oct 30, 2010).

10 United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Kenya?FY 2009
approved funding by program area, agency and funding source.
http://www.pepfar.gov/about/122582.htm. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

11 Boyd M, Emery S, Cooper DA. Antiretroviral roll-out: the problem of
second-line therapy. Lancet 2009; 374: 185-186. Full Text | PDF(212KB) |
CrossRef | PubMed



a Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

b University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA



*4*

Striving for universal health coverage (Editorial)*
*The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9755, Page 1799, 27 November 2010



In 2005, WHO urged its member states to commit to develop their health
systems so that all people have access to essential health services without
the financial hardship associated with payment. Yet the world is still a
long way from universal health coverage for rich and poor countries, with
more than half the population lacking any type of social protection, and
billions of people lacking health care.



To guide countries at all development stages to achieve this goal more
quickly and sustain existing achievements, the World Health Report 2010 is
subtitled Health System Financing: The Path to Universal Coverage. Margaret
Chan, Director General of WHO, launched the report on Nov 22 at an
International Ministerial Conference in Berlin, Germany, where high-ranking
decision makers gathered to exchange experiences and discuss strategies for
health financing.

The launch of the report at the ministerial conference means the beginning
of a new push towards universal coverage in the context of both the economic
downturn and the continuing rise of health-care expenditure. The overarching
message is optimistic and practical?that all countries can take steps to
move faster to achieve this goal and maintain their achievements. Many
countries are beginning to embrace universal coverage. The USA and China?two
major economic powers whose health funding had previously been based on
free-market mechanisms?are moving back to some element of universal
coverage. Several low-income and middle-income countries have recently made
great strides in developing their health systems towards universal coverage.
These include Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Moldova.



There are three barriers to progress. By far the greatest obstacle is
over-reliance on direct payments (out-of-pocket payments at the time people
use services), which exclude 1?3 billion poor people from accessing health
services and drive an additional 100 million people into poverty yearly.
Such fees encourage health service overuse by people who can pay and
underuse by those who cannot. Sadly, the poorer the country, the greater the
reliance on direct payments, which represented more than 50% of total health
expenditures in 33 mostly low-income countries in 2007. Only when the
percentage falls to 15?20% does the risk of financial catastrophe become
negligible. Other impediments include the availability of resources and the
inefficient and inequitable use of resources. Global annual expenditure on
health is about US$5?3 trillion, of which it is estimated that 20?40% is
wasted?most often by inappropriate use of medicines. To overcome these
obstacles, the report provides feasible guidance and actions: raising
sufficient funds, reducing direct payments through compulsory prepayment and
pooling to spread the financial risks of the ill across the population, and
spending money more efficiently and equitably.



This timely report sends a message of hope. Nevertheless, David Evans, one
of the principal authors from WHO, stressed that many questions remain. For
instance, it is not known which people miss out on which services, long-term
financial hardship or the impact of direct payments on individuals, and how
much several newly launched global-health initiatives cost. Also unclear is
the proportion of external financial assistance that actually gets through
to low-income countries, which rely increasingly on external assistance to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to save more than 3 million
additional lives by 2015. Ironically, while spending on improving the health
of people in most countries has increased at a historically unprecedented
rate, there is not enough research that assesses health policy and health
systems to guide investment. ?Health systems research is underutilised and
badly needed?, said Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public
Health, in the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research held in
Montreux, Switzerland on Nov 16?19, 2010.



That universal coverage is so distant for so many people is unacceptable.
Health and universal coverage were discussed as a legal right in the 1948 UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Universal health coverage comes down
to political will. Effective governance is the key to health-system reform.
Policy makers must prioritise health in their governmental budgets and move
health financing for universal coverage to the top of the political agenda.
Meanwhile, the international community should use all means possible to
support low-income countries to obtain enough aid and use it more
transparently and efficiently to improve the health of their people.



*5*

Chine: pr?s de 20.000 nouveaux morts du sida en un an
AFP

29/11/2010



PEKIN ? Le nombre de morts du sida en Chine a augment? de pr?s de 20.000 en
un an pour atteindre 68.315 fin octobre depuis le d?but de l'?pid?mie en
1985, selon les chiffres du minist?re de la Sant? rapport?s lundi par la
t?l?vision nationale CCTV.



Dans le m?me temps, le nombre de personnes s?ropositives ou malades du sida
r?pertori?es dans le pays le plus peupl? du monde est pass? de 319.877 ?
370.393, soit une augmentation de plus de 60.000 personnes, pr?cise CCTV
avant la journ?e mondiale contre le sida mercredi.



Le nombre de cas estim?s d'infections par le virus VIH du sida en Chine
demeure lui inchang? ? 740.000, selon la m?me source.



Le sida est d?sormais surtout transmis en Chine par contact sexuel et le
taux de contamination de la population homosexuelle progresse rapidement,
selon CCTV.



Le minist?re de la Sant? s'?tait d?j? alarm? l'an dernier de cette
?volution.



L'?pid?mie progresse au-del? des secteurs de la population initialement les
plus touch?s, comme les consommateurs de drogue par intraveineuse, les
minorit?s ethniques, les prostitu?es, et les malades ayant re?u des
perfusions de sang contamin?.



Les malades du sida ont longtemps ?t? stigmatis?s en Chine, notamment pour
l'acc?s ? l'emploi. Mais les attitudes vis-?-vis des victimes de l'?pid?mie
ont commenc? ? ?voluer gr?ce notamment ? des campagnes de pr?vention.

Copyright ? 2010 AFP. Tous droits r?serv?s



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Unite against AIDS
Jamaica Gleaner

29/11/2010



Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer



Amid talks of financial cutbacks to international funding of Jamaica's fight
against HIV/AIDS, National HIV programme director, Dr Kevin Harvey, has
called for Jamaicans to adopt a unified approach to tackling the challenges
created by the infection.



Harvey made the appeal during the annual World AIDS Day proclamatory church
service held at Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist temple in St Andrew
on the weekend.



World AIDS Day, which is observed each year on December 1, is being held
under the theme 'Universal Access and Human Rights'.



"By combining our resources and competencies, we can have even greater
success. We continue to call on organisations to join the fight,
particularly in the environment of dwindling resources," he said, while
highlighting the roles faith-based organisations can play in helping to
tackle the virus.



Intense discussions

Harvey's comments come at a time when private sector groups and other
entities have been conducting intense discussions on the likely impact on
productivity of expected cuts to funding from agencies such as the Global
Fund.



He said, "Particularly, we call on faith-based organisations to encourage
and facilitate a supportive environment for persons living with HIV/AIDS so
that we can all get on with life."



Harvey noted that while the data reveal an estimated 27,000 people in
Jamaica living with the virus, the country has seen an 18 per cent decline
in reported cases between 2006 and 2009. He added that since the country
started its public access programme for antiretroviral drugs in 2004, the
results have been favourable.



"The country has also achieved a 43 per cent reduction in AIDS-related
deaths when comparing 2009 and 2004."



According to Harvey, approximately 50 per cent of persons living with HIV
and in need of treatment are receiving same. More than 90 per cent of
HIV-positive infants receive antiretroviral medication, and more than 85 per
cent of HIV-infected pregnant women received medication.



"Today, the life expectancy of persons living with HIV who are adherent to
their antiretroviral medication is equal to that of those who are
HIV-negative," he said.



In addition, Harvey said the abolition of the user-fee policy at
government-run hospitals has provided an opportunity for HIV/AIDS, infected
person to have greater access to services and drugs.



He, however, noted that, while all these gains are commendable, the stigma
and discrimination attached to certain lifestyle practices are hampering
gains made.



"We are still lagging behind in improving access to treatment and prevention
programmes for vulnerable groups such as commercial sex workers, and men who
have sex with men," Harvey said.



"Let's work together to uphold the rights of individuals living with HIV and
realise the millennium development goal to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS
by 2015."



According to United Nations estimates, there are 33 million people living
with HIV/AIDS, including 2.1 million children. Last year alone, some 2.7
million people became infected with the virus while two million people died
from AIDS.



*4*

Hiv ? protagonista de document?rios*
*O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil

28/11/2010



Na semana em que se celebra o Dia Mundial de Combate ? AIDS, na
quarta-feira,a TVBrasile o DiscoveryHome&Healthvol-tam suas programa??es
para a doen?a que, se j? n?o ? mais t?o assustadora quanto antes, ainda
requer grande aten??o.



A TV Brasil exibe tr?s document?rios in?ditos na televis?o brasileira: as
produ??es americanas Me,Myself & HIVe OMilagre de L?zaro, al?m do nacional
Positivas.

Produzido pela MTV,Me,Myself & HIV acompanha a vida d

e dois soropositivos, uma norte americana de classe m?dia de 25 anos e um
jovem africano da Z?mbia, de origem humilde - como se pode imaginar,h?
grande diferen?a entre as realidades dos dois pacientes. O Milagre de
L?zaro, produ??o da HBO,mostra a r?pida recupera??o de quatro africanos
infectados pelo HIV ap?s um tratamento antirretroviral na Z?mbia. Os dois
document?rios ser?o exibidos na quarta-feira, ?s 20h30 e ?s 22h30,
respectivamente.

Dirigido por Susanna Lira e vencedor do Trof?u Redentor de Melhor
Document?rio no Festival do Rio 2010, Positivas ser? exibido durante o
Programa de Cinema, na sexta-feira ?s 23horas.O filme mexe comum grande
tabu:conta a hist?ria de mulheres brasileiras infectadas pelos seus maridos
infi?is.



Ainda hoje,?s 23h,o Home& Heath exibe o premiado document?rio Amor Em Tempos
de AIDS (Love In A Time of HIV), considerado o document?rio mais criativo do
ano passado pela Association for International Broadcasting, pelo
"tratamento sens?vel de um tema delicado".

Com uma hora de dura??o, dirigido por Beth Jones e Nicky Lankeste

r, e apresentado pela primeira vez pelo canal americano Showtime, o filme,
como o pr?prio nome denuncia, fala como jovens infectados convivem com a
doen?a e qual ? o impacto dela sobre suas vidas e relacionamentos.



Uma das hist?rias,que exemplifica como o problema ? grave no continente
africano, ? o caso da sul-africana Tender Mayundla,que chegou perto de
realizar o sonho de ser cantora quando chegou ? final de um concurso, mas
duas semanas depois descobriu estar infectada pelo v?rus HIV e foi expulsa
da competi??o.



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



An AIDS Advance, Hiding in the Open *
*New York Times

27/11/2010



By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.



In the war against AIDS, a new weapon has emerged



It wasn?t a secret weapon. It was a well-established treatment pill that has
only now been shown to be effective as a prevention pill too. Which raises a
question: What took so long?



Last week, a clinical trial showed that taking Truvada, a pill combining two
drugs, once a day would greatly reduce a gay man?s chances of getting
infected with the dangerous virus. Although confirmatory studies are still
needed, the practice ? called ?pre-exposure prophylaxis,? or ?prep? ? will,
in theory, also protect sex workers, needle sharers, wives of infected men,
prison inmates and anyone else at risk.



But Truvada has been sold since 2004. And the world has known since 1995
that antiretroviral drugs, used in combination, can rescue people with AIDS.
As far back as at least 1990, it also knew that ?post-exposure prophylaxis?
(?pep?) often works in humans ? that is, that a victim of a needle stick or
rape or unprotected sex who begins taking a short course of antiretrovirals
within 72 hours can probably avoid infection.



A few scientists even knew by 1995 that a drug in Truvada can protect
monkeys from infection with the simian version of the AIDS virus.



So couldn?t ?prep? have been ?discovered? earlier? Why did it take until
2010?



The delay turns out to be a combination of scientific caution and the fiery
politics of AIDS. While a medical advance can be made by a momentary flash
of inspiration or luck ? as legendarily happened with penicillin ? proving
that it works can take forever. And that is particularly true with AIDS, a
disease surrounded by visceral fears, longstanding prejudices and the
potential for huge profits.



The chief reason this advance took so long, said Dr. Robert M. Grant, a
virologist at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco and the study?s
chief author, is that the two drugs in Truvada, tenofovir and emtricitabine,
were not approved for use in humans until 2001 and 2002, respectively. Older
drugs, like AZT, the first AIDS drug, adopted in 1987, were too toxic.



Doctors once debated using nevirapine, approved in 1996. In poor countries,
single doses for mother and baby are given at birth to prevent mother-child
transmission. But taking nevirapine for even a few weeks can bring on brutal
side effects. Over 10 percent of users get rashes. In rare cases, the drug
can kill if not stopped in time.



Giving powerful drugs to healthy people is different from giving them to the
desperately ill. No doctor would give cancer drugs to a healthy person.
Prophylaxis is common with, for example, malaria drugs for travelers making
brief sojourns in the tropics. But a drug to be taken all one?s life ? or at
least for all of one?s sex life ? must be very safe.



Also, the drug must not prompt drug-resistance mutations in the virus.
Tenofovir is unique that way, said Dr. Howard S. Jaffe, president of the
Gilead Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Gilead Sciences, which makes
Truvada. Structurally, it is so nearly identical to the bit of DNA it blocks
that ?the virus can?t easily outsmart it,? he said. Resistance to
nevirapine, by contrast, can develop after a single dose.



Another factor is that not every drug company wants to see its best
treatment drugs, on which it earns billions of dollars, tested for
prevention. Dying patients accept unpleasant side effects; healthy ones
might sue. And any patient who gets infected, even if taking the drug
improperly, could sue. Gilead Sciences was willing to let Truvada be tested,
although it has not yet decided, Dr. Jaffe said, whether to apply for F.D.A.
permission to sell it as prophylaxis.



Also, several AIDS experts said, lab scientists were focused for years on
the dream of an AIDS vaccine, while behaviorists assumed everyone would
adopt condoms or abstinence. None of those hopes has been realized.



The final delay was caused by political battling. Plans to test Truvada
began in 2003, and sites were chosen not just in American cities with gay
populations like San Francisco and Boston, but in countries where the virus
was also killing prostitutes and clients: Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and
Cambodia.



Then, at the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, the Paris
chapter of the AIDS activist group Act-Up unexpectedly attacked Gilead
Sciences? booth, spraying it with fake blood and accusing the company of
experimenting on poor people.



As Dr. Jaffe tells it, French activists ?played the anti-U.S. card in
Francophone countries? and stirred up sex workers? unions in Cambodia,
eventually leading the Cameroonian and Cambodian governments to stop their
trials. Nigeria?s stopped for other reasons, though many Nigerians were
hostile to drug companies because of rumors that polio vaccine was an
anti-Muslim plot and because Pfizer had tested a new antibiotic on children
with meningitis. ?If not for this misplaced activism, we might have had an
answer five years earlier,? Dr. Jaffe said.



Dr. Grant saw the same struggle differently. The activists were disruptive,
he said, but also ?raised significant questions? about whether participants
would be protected from side effects and about who, if anyone, would pay for
lifelong treatment if participants did eventually get AIDS. One result, he
said, was that protocols were improved and more countries added: South
Africa, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Thailand.



But more important, he said, was the emergence of the two agencies that now
pay for treatment in poor countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief. It took until about 2005 for most poor countries to take advantage
of that aid.



Enrollment finally began in 2007. While monkey trials are quick and vicious
? give the drug, zap the caged animals with virus, wait a bit, and dissect a
few ? ethical human trials are complex. At a cost of $44 million, this one
screened nearly 5,000 people to find 2,500 participants to follow for up to
three years.



Any approval process takes time and hits unexpected roadblocks, Dr. Grant
said. ?But,? he insisted, ?we started working on prep the minute the right
drugs became available.?



*2*

Promising HIV prevention *
*Los Angeles Times

29/11/2010



By Seth Berkley



The recent announcement that a pill currently used to treat HIV infection
can also help prevent it was an important milestone in the effort to keep
people from getting the virus.



The breakthrough utilizes a strategy known as pre-exposure prophylaxis.
At-risk people take a drug in advance of exposure to the pathogen that makes
it less likely they will become infected.



The HIV drug's success in a Phase III trial is one of several recent
breakthroughs in HIV prevention. None of the approaches, which also include
a vaginal gel and an AIDS vaccine, is perfect, but all are promising.
Together they add momentum to the growing body of evidence that science, if
properly focused and funded, can deliver effective methods of preventing
HIV. And the advancements have appeared on the horizon at a time when the
battle against AIDS is at a crossroads.



Until recently, there had been just one great advance in responding to HIV
since it was discovered in 1983: a revolution in treatment. Thanks largely
to AIDS activists who demanded expedited research and approvals, today there
are more drugs licensed to treat HIV than there are for all other viruses
combined. Generous donors and innovative pricing mechanisms have made these
antiretroviral drugs available to about 36% of those in the developing world
who need them to stay alive and healthy.



Increasingly, however, both donor and recipient governments are questioning
the sustainability of foreign funding for antiretroviral treatment. Faced
with the economic downturn, donor countries are resisting commitments that
will continue to escalate indefinitely. Currently, about 7,100 people a day
become infected. Two people are newly infected with HIV for every one who
starts antiretroviral treatment. This year, donors to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria committed $1 billion less than the
minimum amount ? $13 billion ? needed for the fund to maintain current
levels of treatment and add programs at a significantly reduced pace.



It has become clear that treatment for HIV, though still crucially
important, can't solve the problem. That will only happen through preventing
transmission of the virus in the first place. The goal of the prevention
revolution that is finally taking off is to end the devastation of AIDS once
and for all. In order for governments to have the confidence to continue
making the enormous investment required to provide access to treatment to
all those living with HIV, they must have reasonable assurance that one day
the bill will be paid in full. That will require having ways to reliably
prevent new infections.



One way of reducing rates of HIV transmission is through campaigns that make
people aware of all the currently available evidence-based methods of
prevention. At the same time, we must expand and improve what is available.
In the recent drug trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of pre-exposure
prophylaxis, which was conducted among men who have sex with men in Peru,
Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and the U.S., volunteers who took a
daily dose of the antiretroviral treatment Truvada ? a combination of two
drugs ? were 44% less likely to become HIV infected than those who took a
placebo.



Experts will now debate whether a confirmatory trial is needed to license
the combination drug for prophylactic use, but because it is already
available, some physicians will probably prescribe it that way off label.



After a clinical trial in South Africa this summer found that an
experimental vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral Tenofovir reduced the
risk of HIV infection in female volunteers by 39%, the FDA has agreed to
rapidly review further studies of the gel.



As for vaccines, the first proof of efficacy ? albeit modest efficacy ? in
an HIV vaccine candidate was established in a large clinical trial in
Thailand last year. Follow-up studies are being planned. And the discovery
of multiple, potent antibodies that neutralize many strains of HIV has
suggested new avenues for the design of AIDS vaccines.



According to some projections, adding microbicides and pre-exposure
prophylaxis to the fully scaled-up implementation of available HIV
prevention options could cut the global HIV infection rate in half. A
broadly effective vaccine, on top of that, could eventually finish AIDS off.



Though the science for these new tools is promising, the funding base is
flat, despite large investments of stimulus dollars by the United States
government. The U.S. deserves praise for financing the lion's share of both
HIV treatment in Africa and HIV prevention research internationally. Other
donor countries that are contributing to HIV treatment globally should also
make simultaneous and significant investments in new prevention methods to
ensure that their HIV costs won't rise indefinitely. Governments of
developing countries can also play their part, first by instituting proven
HIV prevention efforts while being accountable for results as measured by
reductions in new infections. Second, they can demand the development of new
HIV prevention tools as passionately as they have demanded universal access
to HIV treatment.

*Seth Berkley is the CEO of the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative.*

Copyright ? 2010, Los Angeles Times



*3*

New Prevention Advances: Can We Now Imagine a World Without AIDS?
Huffington Post

29/11/2010



Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ward Cates and Salim Karim



Last week, UNAIDS announced that at least 56 countries have stable or
declining incidence of HIV/AIDS. Yet on World AIDS Day this week, there are
still two new infections for every person put on antiretroviral therapy.
However, a series of promising new scientific results in prevention,
including three breakthrough trials in just 16 months, offer the first
glimmer of hope that we may finally be able to achieve the "three zeros" --
zero new infections, zero stigma/discrimination and zero AIDS deaths.



Start with male circumcision, which studies in Kenya, South Africa, and
Uganda have shown to reduce HIV acquisition by up to 60%. Funders such as
the U.S. government, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several African
countries are seizing on these findings -- and WHO's and UNAIDS' conclusion
that "the efficacy of male circumcision ... has now been proven beyond
reasonable doubt" -- to promote male circumcision actively as part of
overall prevention efforts.



Meanwhile, last year's release of the RV144 trial in Thailand, which
provided the first evidence of the effectiveness of any vaccine in
preventing HIV infection, and the discovery of new broadly neutralizing
antibodies have renewed hope in the promise of HIV vaccines in the 21st
century.



But perhaps the greatest excitement centers on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
(PrEP), involving preventive use of antiretroviral drugs already proven in
HIV/AIDS treatment. PrEP offers women in particular a prevention strategy
for dealing with partners who refuse or are unable to use condoms or whose
faithfulness is in question.



The scene was electric in Vienna, Austria, last July when the Centre for the
AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) - with FHI and CONRAD
as collaborating partners - announced that a form of topical PrEP, a vaginal
gel containing the antiretroviral agent tenofovir, had been shown to reduce
acquisition of HIV infection in women by 39% and of herpes by 51%. An even
greater rate of protection -- up to 54% -- was recorded among women able to
adhere to the trial regimen.



This CAPRISA 004 trial was the first to show a statistically significant
result through use of topical gels -- and subsequent mathematical modeling
suggests that tenofovir gel could prevent 1.3 million HIV infections and
800,000 deaths over two decades in South Africa alone.



Next year, the International Partnership for Microbicides will initiate two
trials to test another form of topical PrEP, a vaginal ring containing a new
antiretroviral drug, dapivirine. In addition, CONRAD recently obtained
funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to
develop rings containing tenofovir and a contraceptive.



Oral PrEP is also being investigated. Last week, initial results from the
IPrEx trial, led by the University of California at San Francisco with
funding from the U.S. National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Gates
Foundation, indicated that a once-daily oral dose of Truvada?
(tenofovir/emtricitabine) is 44% effective in preventing HIV infection in
high-risk men who have sex with men (MSM). As in CAPRISA 004, men who best
adhered to the regimen achieved even higher levels of protection.



Results are expected in 2012 from the FEM PrEP trial oral prep trial led by
FHI and funded by USAID testing Truvada and in 2013 from the Partners PreEP
trial of Truvada and Viread, led by the University of Washington with
funding from Gates. The VOICE (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the
Epidemic) trial funded by NIH, brings the topical/oral PrEP field together
by comparing the effectiveness and practicality of both Viread and Truvada
pills and tenofovir gel.



All in all, HIV prevention is on a roll. But major scientific and practical
challenges lie ahead. Further PrEP studies are required to validate
effectiveness, establish dosage, determine long-term safety, assess impact
on sexual behavior and evaluate any effect on HIV drug resistance. But in
these days of economic challenges, lack of money for trials is already
threatening to slow follow-up research on the CAPRISA 004 and IPrEx
successes.



Other practical issues need to be addressed as well once these products are
ready for the market. Cultural, marketing and logistical barriers must be
overcome to increase demand and, since avoiding development of drug
resistance requires PrEP to be used only by people known to be free of HIV,
we will need to expand access to education and testing and implement
protocols to avoid sharing and theft of prophylactic treatments.



Because the science is so promising, we urge everyone -- from scientists to
policymakers to the public -- to use World AIDS Day, Dec. 1 as a catalyst to
build on these advances by mobilizing communities to embrace HIV prevention
as a social norm and advocate for the funding required for the next round of
research. Much work remains to be done, but by building support for these
critical next steps, we can also build hope for a future World AIDS Day free
of AIDS.



See the Global Health Council Position Paper on
HIV/AIDS<http://www.globalhealth.org/images/pdf/publications/2010_position_hivaids.pdf>
..



*4*

Prenatal Care Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality
IPS Terra Viva

29/11/2010



By Soumaila T. Diarra



BAMAKO, Nov 28, 2010 (IPS) - Despite successive awareness campaigns, many
Malian women see no need to attend pre-natal check-ups. Health workers say
this results in an elevated rate of maternal and infant mortality.



"I was present at the death of a young woman of 18 in October," says
Fatoumata Fan??, "who lost a lot of blood during labour." Fane is a midwife
at a birthing centre in the Hamdallaye neighbourhood of the Malian capital,
Bamako. The baby was born healthy, she says, but the mother needed a blood
transfusion urgently.



"Unfortunately, she had not made it to her medical appointments during the
pregnancy which would have allowed us to know what her blood group was. So
it was too late to identify her group."



Adiaratou Doumbia, a young woman visiting the Hamdallaye maternity clinic
told IPS, "I'm four months pregnant. But if I had not fallen ill, I wouldn't
have come here. I didn't know that one had to come to a health centre to
avoid problems during childbirth."



Mali has some progress to show in caring for maternal and infant health, but
the mortality rates remain high. The country's second MDG report - published
by the United Nations Development Programme in March 2010 - says the rate of
infant mortality has fallen from 113 to 96 per 1,000 births between 2001 and
2006. For the same period, the maternal mortality rate has also dropped,
from 582 to 464 deaths per 100,000 live births.



Dr Mariam Diarra, a gynecologist at the Sissmed Clinic in Bamako, says that
millions of women who survive childbirth, go on to suffer adverse
after-effects, infections, illness and disabilities. And despite the
increasing numbers of public and private health facilities, the number of
deaths following childbirth remains a concern for health workers.



"So many women die in hospitals following complications because their health
was compromised during the pregnancy. The truth is, a significant number of
women don't know the risk that they run by not coming in for check-ups,"
said Diarra.



Dr Moussa Diakit?, from Bamako's Acti-Sant? Cinic, says that pre-natal
consultations allow a doctor to predict 90 percent of future complications
that can cause the death of a mother or child.



Up to 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths and illness could be avoided if
women had better access to maternal and primary health care, according to a
2009 report from the Malian Ministry of Health.



"Prenatal consultations allow one to make an initial assessment with the aim
of detecting infections or illnesses which may impeded the smooth
progression of pregnancy," said Diakit?.



"During my first pregnancy, I started coming to the health centre late, when
I got ill. But the midwife advised me to come to the health centre from the
start - from the earliest days after conception - to avoid complications in
the pregnancy," said Kadia Sylla, 23, five months pregnant in Bamako.



Awareness campaigns have borne fruit, and one finds a growing number of
women who do understand the importance of regular monitoring by medical
people of pregnancy for their survival and that of their children.



"[Prenatal visits] allow one to plan childbirth," says Assan Kon?, a
20-year-old mother of a two-month-old infant. "For example, if a pregnant
women is less than 1.5 metres tall, she cannot give birth (vaginally); she
will need a caesarean. These are the sorts of things that prenatal
consultations allow you to see."



Diakit? confirms Kon?'s view, saying that a shorter woman's pelvis is likely
to be narrower, presenting an elevated risk to mother and child during
childbirth.



"One can fight against maternal mortality if pregnant women follow the
advice of health workers," says the midwife Fan?. "We have to encourage
pregnant women to give birth in medical facilities because the leading cause
of maternal deaths is bleeding that occurs from the start of contractions
until 24 hours after the placenta is passed."



*6*

Review calls for State Department to focus more on civilian response to
conflict *
*Washington Post

28/11/2010



By Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post Staff Writer



A high-level State Department review in the works for more than a year will
call for the diplomatic service to give much greater priority to improving
the U.S. civilian response to conflict, according to a sneak preview
released this month.



The draft summary of the review, presented to congressional staffers, also
would give the U.S. Agency for International Development a bigger role in
running President Obama's two main foreign aid initiatives - health and
agriculture.



The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton's answer to the Pentagon's QDR (Quadrennial
Defense Review). She has argued that the once-every-four-years process will
help the State Department set priorities and justify its budget to Congress.




The year-long debate involving State Department and USAID officials has
occurred as the White House has been conducting its own review of U.S.
development policy. There has been some tension over whether State or the
White House should coordinate the aid effort, according to officials
involved in the process.



The final QDDR is expected in mid-December after going through the
inter-agency process.



Development experts had mixed reactions to the version released this month.



Many praised its call for the State Department to embrace conflict
prevention and response as a core mission. One sign of that intensified
commitment would be the establishment of an undersecretary for civilian
security, democracy and human rights, according to the summary.



Currently, the State Department has a coordinator for reconstruction and
stabilization, but that office has been underfunded and often marginalized,
according to officials and analysts. The department has struggled to run
civilian nation-building and peace-promotion operations to complement
military efforts in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.



The idea of the new office would be to prevent conflicts and to expand
diplomatic efforts beyond foreign ministries to tribal elders and other key
figures.



"This is an historically important statement," Oxfam America said in a news
release. It applauded the review's call for more training for diplomats on
conflict prevention, as well as strengthening programs to develop foreign
security forces and judicial institutions.



More than 25 percent of State Department officers and 38 percent at USAID
serve in the 30 countries rated highest-risk for conflict and instability,
the review notes.



Aid organizations also hailed the review's conclusion that USAID should be
in charge of the president's two major international development programs -
Feed the Future, which helps small farmers, and the Global Health
Initiative, which includes the massive U.S. effort to combat HIV-AIDS.



That would reverse a trend in which major aid programs - such asPresident
George W. Bush's HIV-AIDS effort - were set up outside of USAID. Aid experts
say that weakened the agency and further fragmented U.S. development
efforts.



The review also called for tripling mid-level hires at USAID.



Aid groups criticized the review for not resolving a long-running debate
over whether the State Department or USAID should ultimately be in charge of
development. That involves both a battle over turf and a broader question of
how closely the they should work together.



Clinton has maintained that longterm development is a key part of diplomacy
and is elevated by being more closely linked to the State Department.



The review assigns the State Department the lead in political and security
conflicts, while putting USAID at the helm "in humanitarian crises caused by
large-scale natural disasters" or disease.



"On the one hand, USAID is becoming a stronger, more capable agency. But on
the other hand, this murky relationship, especially with regard to crises,
between the State Department and USAID, persists and will continue to
frustrate U.S. foreign policy efforts," said Norm Unger, of the Foreign
Assistance Reform Project at the Brookings Institution.



The report calls for a number of shuffles at State. Energy would get higher
priority, with establishment of a Bureau of International Energy Affairs. A
special coordinator would be created for sanctions and illicit finance.



Rumors had swirled over the past year that some offices from USAID would be
moved over to State and vice versa. In the end, though, neither lost much.



"A middle ground has been the name of the game with what has come out in the
QDDR so far," said one congressional staffer, who was not authorized to
comment on the record.



*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Asia-Pacific region UNiTEs to end violence against women and girls

UNAIDS

26/11/2010



Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from
cancer, car accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data. The
most common form of violence experienced by women globally is physical
violence inflicted by an intimate partner, with women beaten, coerced into
sex or otherwise abused.



On the 25 of November, to coincide with the International Day for the
elimination of violence against women, the United Nations
Secretary-General?s campaign ?UNiTE to End Violence Against Women? was
launched in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was attended by Her Royal Highness
Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand, H.E. the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr
Abhisit Vejjajiva and together with heads of regional offices of United
Nations agencies.



?All forms of violence against women constitute a violation of human rights
and a degradation of dignity and gender equality,? said Her Royal Highness
Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand.

The UNiTE Asia-Pacific campaign aims to rally governments, civil society,
the private sector, the media and the United Nations family around the joint
goal to eliminate gender based violence in the region.



?Neither gender equality, nor development can be fully realized if violence
against women and girls is allowed to take place, unabated and unresolved,?
H.E. Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his statement
at the launch.



Women?s heightened risk of HIV infection through violence was highlighted at
the launch as a central concern for the campaign. According to population
based studies carried out in the region, women who have experienced physical
as well as sexual violence were four times more likely to be infected with
HIV than the women who reported no such experiences.



?To realize UNAIDS vision of zero new infections, zero discrimination and
zero AIDS-related deaths, tackling violence against women is critical,?
Steve Kraus, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the
Pacific, who participated in the launch ceremony.



The UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific and UNFPA Asia
Pacific Regional Office are working closely with campaign hosts UNIFEM and
the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in
the roll out and implementation of the campaign in the region.



Launched in 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon?s UNiTE
to End Violence against Women campaign aims to prevent and eliminate
violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.





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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:14:47 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:14:47 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_ACHIEVING_AIDS-FREE_GENERATION_POS?=
	=?utf-8?q?SIBLE_WITH_STEPPED-UP_PREVENTION_EFFORT_=E2=80=93_UN?=
In-Reply-To: <201011301605.oAUG52Wj021007@mx7.un.org>
References: <201011301605.oAUG52Wj021007@mx7.un.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik8N0xmYPO9wNFBT-G-du-unDaoQQy02y3kecB8@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:05 PM
Subject: ACHIEVING AIDS-FREE GENERATION POSSIBLE WITH STEPPED-UP PREVENTION
EFFORT ? UN
To: news9 at secint00.un.org


ACHIEVING AIDS-FREE GENERATION POSSIBLE WITH STEPPED-UP PREVENTION EFFORT ?
UN
New York, Nov 30 2010 11:05AM
Although 370,000 children are born with HIV each year, achieving an
AIDS-free generation is possible if the world steps up efforts to provide
universal access to prevention, treatment and social protection, according
to a new United Nations <"
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Children_and_AIDS-Fifth_Stocktaking_Report_2010_111610.pdf">report
released today.

But attaining this goal depends on reaching the most marginalized members of
society, the report ? Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report 2010 ?
warns, noting that millions of women and children have fallen through the
cracks due to inequities rooted in gender, economic status, geographical
location, education level and social status.

?To achieve an AIDS-free generation we need to do more to reach the hardest
hit communities,? UN Children?s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony
Lake <"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_57017.html">said in New York in
launching the report, compiled jointly by his agency, the Joint UN Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN World
Health Organization (WHO).

?Every day, nearly 1,000 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV
through mother-to-child transmission. Our Fifth Stocktaking Report on
Children and AIDS highlights innovations like the Mother Baby Pack that can
bring life-saving ARV (antiretroviral drugs) treatment to more mothers and
their babies than ever before.?

Such treatment prevents mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). AIDS is one of
the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age globally and a
major cause of maternal mortality in countries with generalized epidemics.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 9 per cent of maternal mortality is attributable to
HIV and AIDS.

?Around 370,000 children are born with HIV each year. Each one of these
infections is preventable,? UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib? said.
?We have to stop mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with
HIV. That is why I have called for the virtual elimination of
mother-to-child transmission by 2015.?

WHO revised its guidelines earlier this year, to ensure quality PMTCT
services for HIV-positive pregnant women and their infants. In low- and
middle-income countries, 53 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV
received ARVs to prevent mother-to-child transmission in 2009 compared to 45
per cent in 2008. One of the most significant increases occurred in eastern
and southern Africa, where the proportion jumped 10 percentage points, from
58 per cent in 2008 to 68 per cent in 2009.

?We have strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is
achievable,? WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said. ?Achieving the goal
will require much better prevention among women and mothers in the first
place.?

WHO also issued new ARV guidelines for treating infants and children, paving
the way for many more children with HIV to be eligible for immediate
antiretroviral treatment (ART).

In low- and middle-income countries, the number of children under the age of
15 who received treatment rose from 275,300 in 2008 to 356,400 in 2009. This
increase means that 28 per cent of the 1.27 million children estimated to be
in need of ART receive it.

Infants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of HIV, which has lent
urgency to the global campaign for early infant diagnosis. While the
availability of early infant diagnosis services has increased dramatically
in many countries, global coverage still remains low, at only 6 per cent in
2009. Without treatment, about half of the infected infants die before their
second birthday.

In most parts of the world, new HIV infections are steadily falling or
stabilizing. In 2001, an estimated 5.7 million young people aged 15?24 were
living with HIV. At the end of 2009, that number fell to 5 million. However,
in nine countries ? all of them in southern Africa ? at least 1 in 20 young
people is living with HIV.

Young women still shoulder the greater burden of infection, and in many
countries women face their greatest risk of infection before age 25.
Worldwide, more than 60 per cent of all young people living with HIV are
female. In sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is nearly 70 per cent.

?We need to address gender inequalities, including those that place women
and girls at disproportionate risk to HIV and other adverse sexual and
reproductive health outcomes,? UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said.
?While we are encouraged by a decline in HIV incidence among young people of
more than 25 per cent in 15 key countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2001
and 2009, we must do everything possible to sustain and increase such
positive trends in order to achieve universal access to prevention,
treatment, care and support.?

Adolescents are still becoming infected with HIV because they have neither
the knowledge nor the access to services to protect themselves. ?We must
increase investments in young people?s education and health, including
sexual and reproductive health, to prevent HIV infections and advance social
protection,? UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said.
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:24:13 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:24:13 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men
 Worldwide Cannot Access Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services
In-Reply-To: <031e01cb90ae$ed512b20$c7f38160$@org>
References: <031e01cb90ae$ed512b20$c7f38160$@org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimC8nRm7FnY=D3Eqzsc4WhhjkxRM2fA7zrA7CS1@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jack Beck <jbeck at msmgf.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men Worldwide Cannot
Access Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services
To: jbeck at msmgf.org


**Apologies for Cross-Posting***

For Immediate Release*

*Media Contact:*

Jack Beck

510.271.1956 (o)

510.332.0786 (m)

jbeck at msmgf.org



*Groundbreaking Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men Worldwide Cannot Access
Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services*



*As world looks toward new prevention technologies, majority of men who have
sex with men report no easy access to condoms and lubricant*



*November 30, 2010 (Oakland, Calif.)* ? A new survey of more than 5,000
participants worldwide indicates that the majority of men who have sex with
men (MSM) globally find it difficult or impossible to access HIV testing,
HIV counseling, free condoms and free lubricant. Released to coincide with
World AIDS Day, the preliminary findings underscored the importance of
universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, a central theme of this
year?s World AIDS Day observance.



Initial analysis of the survey?s results indicates that fewer than half of
MSM worldwide have access to even the most basic HIV prevention and
services. Of all respondents, only 39 percent reported easy access to free
condoms and barely one in four reported easy access to free lubricant. A
full 25 percent said free lubricant was completely unavailable. Large
percentages of men reported that it was difficult or impossible to access
other essential services as well, including HIV testing (57 percent), HIV
education materials (66 percent) and HIV treatment (70 percent).



Conducted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) in collaboration with Dr.
Patrick Wilson, Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Mailman School
of Public Health, the survey was carried out online in Chinese, English,
French, Russian, and Spanish. Circulated through the MSMGF?s global networks
and those of its partner Fridae.com, the survey closed with a total of 3,875
MSM and 1,009 MSM service providers participating ? another 375 participants
did not identify themselves as MSM or provider. Nearly three quarters of all
study participants were from low or middle income countries.



?Since the beginning of the epidemic, it has been widely recognized that
condoms, lubricant, testing and treatment, when combined with community-led
behavior change and support programs, are the most reliable tools available
in the fight against HIV among MSM,? said Dr. George Ayala, Executive
Officer of the MSMGF. ?More than 25 years in, it is inexcusable that MSM
around the world continue to have such restricted access to these basic
lifesaving resources.?



?With the excitement surrounding the promise of pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP), it can be easy to forget that we already have a rich selection of
prevention measures that we know work right now,? said Patrick Hebert,
Senior Education Associate at the MSMGF. ?Today?s findings reinforce the
fact that we can?t even get condoms and lube to more than half of MSM around
the world. We must look seriously at barriers that prevent MSM in different
country contexts from accessing these proven prevention tools.?



While reporting on levels of access to currently available HIV prevention
tools and services, the survey also explored knowledge about emerging
technologies like PrEP, which involves taking antiretroviral drugs before
exposure to HIV in order to prevent infection. While men in North America,
Western Europe and Australia reported more knowledge about emerging
prevention strategies than men in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern
Europe, and Latin America, large numbers of men in all regions of the world
expressed confusion about these technologies. When asked whether MSM should
use PrEP to prevent HIV infection, 40% of respondents said ?I don?t know.?
This suggests a need for stronger communication and education efforts
targeting MSM worldwide regarding these new potential options.



Regional differences also emerged regarding experiences of stigma and
discrimination. On every measure of stigma related to homophobia, men in
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Latin America reported
higher levels and harsher forms of stigma and discrimination than men in
North America, Western Europe and Australia.



?Stigma and discrimination fuel the HIV epidemic among MSM and other
high-risk populations,? said Othman Mellouk, Co-Chair of the MSMGF and
Advocacy Coordinator of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition
(ITPC) for North Africa. ?Stigma and discrimination undermine access to
prevention and treatment programs by forcing MSM underground and away from
services they may need. Without addressing the bigger issue of homophobia,
we will have no hope of ending AIDS.?



The MSMGF is currently working with Dr. Wilson to complete analysis of the
full data set and is expecting to release a comprehensive report in early
2011. This project is supported by a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.



*The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) is an expanding network of AIDS
organizations, MSM networks, and advocates committed to ensuring robust
coverage of and equitable access to effective HIV prevention, care,
treatment, and support services tailored to the needs of gay men and other
MSM. Guided by a Steering Committee of 20 members from 17 countries situated
mainly in the Global South, and with administrative and fiscal support from
AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), the MSMGF works to promote MSM health and
human rights worldwide through advocacy, information exchange, knowledge
production, networking, and capacity building.*



###



*Jack Beck *|* *Communications Associate

*The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF)
*436 14th Street, Suite 1500

Oakland, CA 94612
P: 510.271.1956
E: jbeck at msmgf.org
www.msmgf.org



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:24:58 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:24:58 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1291204802.5070.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
References: <mailman.1.1291204802.5070.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTikZGpL0nh_mXw=J+YB3kAGr1oTdB57FggsZUvSa@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <general_devel-request at ngocentre.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Subject: general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
To: general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn


Send general_devel mailing list submissions to
       general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn

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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of general_devel digest..."


Today's Topics:

  1. Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or Group - Effective
     communication training (Nguyen Thuy Nga)
  2. Consultancy service - International consultant to design
     framework for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in
     justice sector reform (Nguyen Thuy Nga)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 14:28:35 +0700
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Subject: [general_devel] Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or
       Group - Effective communication training
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Message-ID:
       <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1 at vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit

Dear colleagues and friends,

UNDP Viet Nam seeks a Consultant Firm or Group (preferably consisting of 1
international consultant ad one national consultant) to conduct
communication training for UNDP projects

NIM is defined as a modality whereby a national partner is directly
responsible for managing and implementing the entirety or a part of
UN-supported programme or project, including the procurement and delivery of
the activity inputs required and their use in producing the outputs as set
forth in the approved work plan. Accordingly, the national partner is
accountable to the Government and the UN Agency supporting the project for
the production of the results expected from the programme/project activities
assigned and for the effective use of the resources allocated to it.

It has been identified through the training need survey that that a need on
communication training has been raised by many projects. Main objectives
are:

-            Raise awareness on the importance of effective  communication
in the communication formal channels (upward, downward, lateral), and
provide knowledge and skills on how to ensure effective communication in the
channels;
-            Provide knowledge and skills on ensuring effective
communication in the project team, and suggested  methods and tools of
communication;
-            Provide knowledge and skills in designing a communication plan
for a project component (or for the whole project) and an action plan to
effectively implement the communication plan;
-             Lead and facilitate discussions on the current communication
practice between PMUs and UNDP; and propose recommendations for enhancing
effective mutual communication (using inputs from the TNA survey)

Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:

http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3723&languageId=1

Interested bidders are invited to send their proposals to:

Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org<mailto:le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org>
Procurement Unit,  UNDP Viet Nam

Deadline for submission: by 5 pm, 10 December 2010 (Hanoi time).

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------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 14:53:37 +0700
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Subject: [general_devel] Consultancy service - International
       consultant to design framework for gender mainstreaming and women's
       empowerment in justice sector reform
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Message-ID:
       <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5 at vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit

Dear colleagues and friends,

The UNDP in Viet Nam seeks an International Consultant to design framework
for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in justice sector reform,
under the Project "Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights
in Vietnam"

The main objective of this consultancy is to study and recommend
issues/potential areas on gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in the
justice sector for interventions in 2011; to provide substantive inputs for
supporting the Committee for the Advancement of Women in Ministry of Justice
to develop a framework on promoting gender mainstreaming and women
empowerment in the justice sector reform.

Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:

http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3716&languageId=1

Interested candidates are invited to send Technical and Financial Proposal
to:

Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org<mailto:le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org>
Procurement Unit, UNDP Viet Nam

Submission deadline: 05.00 pm, 6 December 2010




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------------------------------

Sent from the General Development Information and Events Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
kilobyte maximum for each email.



End of general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
********************************************



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:26:58 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:26:58 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] CARE looking for consultants
In-Reply-To: <64C6B0103B4E4FECB008E75372677862@care.org.vn>
References: <64C6B0103B4E4FECB008E75372677862@care.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=Z0YS1c9+8smFOcZEpw1qPVxKJhikrReUXV6u-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phan Phuong Hong <pphong at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 3:36 PM
Subject: [opportunities] CARE looking for consultants
To: Administrators Working Group <ngo-admin at ngocentre.org.vn>,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear All,



CARE is looking for consultant as Project Finance Officers and Baseline
evaluation. Please find attached the advertisements for these consultants.
Could you please forward these advertisements for anyone suitable and
interested to apply.



Thanks & best regards,

Hong

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
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kilobyte maximum for each email.
Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
To change your subscription:
http://ngocentre.org.vn/mailman/listinfo/opportunities






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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:27:18 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:27:18 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Consultancy service - Consultant
 Firm or Group - Effective communication training
In-Reply-To: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
References: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimbaiHH45pMj2Tc7gbDLxvkNMsRUe8qya5pBPai@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or Group -
Effective communication training
To:


*Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit*



Dear colleagues and friends,



UNDP Viet Nam seeks a Consultant Firm or Group (preferably consisting of 1
international consultant ad one national consultant) to conduct
communication training for UNDP projects



NIM is defined as a modality whereby a national partner is directly
responsible for managing and implementing the entirety or a part of
UN-supported programme or project, including the procurement and delivery of
the activity inputs required and their use in producing the outputs as set
forth in the approved work plan. Accordingly, the national partner is
accountable to the Government and the UN Agency supporting the project for
the production of the results expected from the programme/project activities
assigned and for the effective use of the resources allocated to it.



It has been identified through the training need survey that that a need on
communication training has been raised by many projects. Main objectives
are:



-            Raise awareness on the importance of effective  communication
in the communication formal channels (upward, downward, lateral), and
provide knowledge and skills on how to ensure effective communication in the
channels;

-            Provide knowledge and skills on ensuring effective
communication in the project team, and suggested  methods and tools of
communication;

-            Provide knowledge and skills in designing a communication plan
for a project component (or for the whole project) and an action plan to
effectively implement the communication plan;

-             Lead and facilitate discussions on the current communication
practice between PMUs and UNDP; and propose recommendations for enhancing
effective mutual communication (using inputs from the TNA survey)



Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:



http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3723&languageId=1



Interested bidders are invited to send their proposals to:



Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org

Procurement Unit,  UNDP Viet Nam



Deadline for submission: by 5 pm, 10 December 2010 (Hanoi time).



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:27:33 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:27:33 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Consultancy service -
 International consultant to design framework for gender mainstreaming and
 women's empowerment in justice sector reform
In-Reply-To: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
References: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=j31V3MnaS=_m-LD7SEtqOku5COAyMaxkRz9N7@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:53 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Consultancy service - International consultant to
design framework for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in justice
sector reform
To:


*Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit*



Dear colleagues and friends,



The UNDP in Viet Nam seeks an International Consultant to design framework
for gender mainstreaming and women?s empowerment in justice sector reform,
under the Project ?Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights
in Vietnam?



The main objective of this consultancy is to study and recommend
issues/potential areas on gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in the
justice sector for interventions in 2011; to provide substantive inputs for
supporting the Committee for the Advancement of Women in Ministry of Justice
to develop a framework on promoting gender mainstreaming and women
empowerment in the justice sector reform.



Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:



http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3716&languageId=1



Interested candidates are invited to send *Technical* and *Financial
Proposal* to:



Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org

Procurement Unit, UNDP Viet Nam



Submission deadline: 05.00 pm, 6 December 2010









Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:28:43 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:28:43 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] FW: Quang cao tuyen consultant
In-Reply-To: <20101201032858.02058770315@ngocentre.org.vn>
References: <20101201032858.02058770315@ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinKujSxN6Xs6EFUu5bscD5u8HfS3wZPHLrgm04n@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Trinh Thi Hong Tham <tham.tth at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Subject: [opportunities] FW: Quang cao tuyen consultant
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear all,



I would like to send you our Advertisement for 2 jobs, please post it on
your website.



Thanks & Best
regards.






*From:* Trinh Thi Hong Tham [mailto:tham.tth at care.org.vn]
*Sent:* Monday, November 29, 2010 11:50 AM
*To:* 'opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn'
*Subject:* Quang cao tuyen consultant
*Importance:* High



Dear chi Ha,



Chi post giup em 2 jobs nay len trang quang cao cua NGO nhe



Thanks chi.

Em Tham


 ------------------------------













Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
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kilobyte maximum for each email.
Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
To change your subscription:
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:29:27 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:29:27 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT,
	UN URGES WORLD NOT TO RELENT
In-Reply-To: <201012011405.oB1E52gk002200@mx7.un.org>
References: <201012011405.oB1E52gk002200@mx7.un.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=R83A=AhC6vagMxHaKS4t0U7vmTGt6XY0kyTLU@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Subject: WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT, UN URGES WORLD NOT TO
RELENT
To: news9 at secint00.un.org


WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT, UN URGES WORLD NOT TO RELENT
New York, Dec  1 2010  9:05AM
Significant progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS has been achieved over
the past three decades, but the world must not relent in its efforts to roll
back the pandemic, United Nations officials said today, stressing the
importance of preventing new infections and deaths.

?Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable,?
Mr. Ban said in his <"
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/sgsm13274.doc.htm">message to mark
World AIDS Day, observed annually on 1 December.

?Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the
?three zeros? ? zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
AIDS-related deaths. On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together
to realize this vision for all of the world?s people,? he said.

He pointed out that despite the untold suffering and death that AIDS had
visited upon mankind, the global community had united with passion to take
action and save lives.

?Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV. Millions of people have gained
access to HIV treatment. More women are now able to prevent their babies
from becoming infected with HIV.  Travel restrictions for people living with
HIV are being lifted by many countries, as stigma gives way ? still too
slowly ? to compassion and recognition of human rights,? the
Secretary-General said.

He called for stronger commitment to efforts that enabled the world to reach
the first part of Millennium Development Goal 6 ? halting and beginning to
reverse the spread of HIV. ?We must continue to chart a new and bold path
ahead,? Mr. Ban said.

Michel Sidib?, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), noted that the number of new HIV infections and deaths have been
reduced by nearly 20 per cent, but lamented that some 30 million people had
lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses over the past three decades,
while an estimated 10 million people are currently awaiting treatment.

?Our hard-won gains are fragile ? so our commitment to the AIDS response
must remain strong,? Mr. Sidib? said in his <"
http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_en.pdf
">message.

?With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing
the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination
of mother-to-child transmission by 2015,? he added, stressing that an
?AIDS-free generation is possible in our lifetime.?

The latest UNAIDS report released last week shows that an estimated 2.6
million people became newly infected with HIV, nearly 20 per cent fewer than
the 3.1 million people infected in 1999. In 2009, 1.8 million people died
from AIDS-related illnesses, nearly one-fifth lower than the 2.1 million
people who died in 2004.

According to the report, from 2001 to 2009, the rate of new HIV infections
stabilized or decreased by more than 25 per cent in at least 56 countries
around the world, including 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the five countries with the largest epidemics in the region, four
countries ? Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe ? have reduced rates
of new HIV infections by more than 25 per cent, while Nigeria?s epidemic has
stabilized.

Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the UN World Health Organization
(WHO), called in her <"
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2010/AIDS_Day_20101130/en/index.html">message
for the protection of the human rights of those living with HIV/AIDS and
urged all sectors to combat discrimination against those infected.

?Working with people living with HIV is critical for an effective HIV
response and Member States need to be mindful of the commitments made in the
2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS to promote better legal and social
environments for people to access HIV testing, prevention and treatment,?
Ms. Chan said.

She stressed that those affected by the disease are entitled to social
services, including education, housing, social security and even asylum.

?Ensuring the rights of people living with HIV is good public health
practice, by improving the health and well-being of those affected and by
making prevention efforts more effective.

?A wide range of countries have enacted legislation to prevent
discrimination against people living with HIV. However, in many cases, there
is poor enforcements of such laws and stigmatization of people living with
HIV and most-at-risk populations persist,? she added.
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:29:52 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:29:52 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] Financial Times: Asia: Punitive laws
 on sex workers and drugs hamper progress
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinhR7GsJbXoY3tLsTVCyqQt_MXhjz82tCeWJzkd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTinhR7GsJbXoY3tLsTVCyqQt_MXhjz82tCeWJzkd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik79odJkPNC7O8SCtKabWtqmSfQ=CEMaMT7x+_Y@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roger TATOUD <r.tatoud at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 9:40 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] Financial Times: Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and
drugs hamper progress
To: msm-asia digest subscribers <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00a8fc2-fc0c-11df-b675-00144feab49a.html#axzz16s1MjARo
Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and drugs hamper progress

By Tim Johnston

Published: November 30 2010 16:59 | Last updated: November 30 2010 16:59

The tide has turned in the fight against HIV in Asia, but the UN and
activists are warning that it is going to become harder to maintain
progress.

?As a minimum, most national Aids epidemics have been halted, stabilised and
reversed,? says Steven Kraus, the UNAids regional director for Asia and the
Pacific.

The number of Asians living with Aids has remained stable at some 4.9m for
the past five years, and the number of new infections in countries as
diverse as India, Nepal and Thailand has fallen by 25 per cent over the past
nine years.

But Mr Kraus warns that preserving that momentum is becoming more
challenging.

In many ways, such groups as UNAids are victims of their own success: they
are starting to hit the law of diminishing returns. Progress so far has not
been easy, but making further inroads against the epidemic is going to
become ever harder.

The key vectors of the Asian epidemic are well known: commercial sex,
intravenous drug use, and what the industry refers to as MSM ? men who have
sex with men.

It is MSM that is proving the most difficult segment to reach.

?We have underestimated the MSM issue,? says Mr Kraus. ?We?ve done
inadequate programming in this area.?

But that is starting to change.

Nung spent years as a transgender sex-worker on the streets of the Thai
capital Bangkok. Now she works for Swing, an organisation that promotes
education for other sex workers, particularly in the MSM market.

?We have to educate them about HIV, but we have to make it enjoyable,? she
says, describing going into clubs and massage parlours to find out the date
of the owner?s birthday before returning with gifts to turn a birthday party
into an education session.

Nung says that Swing addresses not just the medical needs of sex workers ?
condoms, lubricants and regular health checks ? but also issues of
self-esteem. ?It is a low-class occupation; everyone looks down on sex
workers,? says Nung. She says lack of self-esteem makes it more difficult
for prostitutes to resist pressure from clients who do not want to use a
condom.

There has been significant progress in the broader heterosexual sex
industry, particularly in places such as Thailand, where there was a very
public education programme.

It even spawned its own restaurant, ?Cabbages and Condoms?, which is popular
with ordinary tourists, many of whom like to pose for a picture with the
larger-than-life statue of a Santa Claus made of gaily coloured condoms.

Aids workers say projects with commercial sex workers are still vital, and
more funding is needed, but the techniques are known and effective.

The anti-HIV message has also been reaching intravenous drug users, although
the picture is more mixed. Among the success stories has been Malaysia.

?Malaysia had a draconian view of drug use, and has done a 180 degree turn.
It used to have mandatory detention for drug users but now it has closed all
the detention centres and reopened them as voluntary support centres. The
authorities don?t see drug use as a law and order issue but as a personal
and public health issue,? says Mr Kraus. The new approach has led to some
startling improvements. In 2007, just 28 per cent of Malaysia?s injecting
drug users said they had used sterile equipment: in 2009, that had risen to
83 per cent.

And there are some surprising outliers. Burma, not known for its progressive
policies in other spheres, has supported an intervention programme of needle
exchanges and clinics provided by international aid organisations. The
UNAids 2010 global report shows 81 per cent of intravenous drug users using
sterile equipment.

Aids workers say much of problem now lies in the legal framework. In some
countries, laws drive sex workers and drug users so far underground that
they become hard to reach. In others, unconnected legislation against
trafficking and illegal migration are changing the dynamics of the sectors
of society worst affected by Aids.

In its Global Report, UNAids estimates that 90 per cent of countries in Asia
have laws that obstruct the rights of those living with HIV.

?Punitive laws that prevent us reaching key sectors of the population are a
danger,? says Mr Kraus. ?They do not build partnerships and they don?t
create supportive environments, where community groups can access these key
populations.?

These are significant problems, but they could be overcome by lobbying
governments to change laws and modify the ways those that remain are
implemented. The cultural challenges to controlling the MSM aspect of the
HIV epidemic are much more difficult to solve.

?Culture matters,? says Mr Kraus. ?How societies view same-sex relations
affects our ability to promote good programming. Until the culture changes,
it is always going to be a problem getting to MSM.?

The figures bear him out. In a 2007 survey, 88 per cent of Thai respondents
who had anal sex with a male partner said they had used a condom: in
Malaysia the number was 21 per cent.

Mr Kraus says that although almost all the governments in the region report
that they are addressing the stigma attached to men who have sex with men,
less than half have budgets. This, he says, gives a clearer indication of
the real situation.

?If it doesn?t get budgeted, it doesn?t get addressed.?

Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The Financial
Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut
articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "MSM Sexual Health - Asia" group.
To post to this group, send email to msm-asia at googlegroups.com
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:07 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:07 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] CARE recruit IT Administrator
In-Reply-To: <1B8A57FADA2C4C3A9978837CAD16B858@care.org.vn>
References: <1B8A57FADA2C4C3A9978837CAD16B858@care.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinf+nDfHU8=OTStRz2_RJ__-W0LaSxY+jDetkLs@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phan Phuong Hong <pphong at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 4:11 PM
Subject: [opportunities] CARE recruit IT Administrator
To: Administrators Working Group <ngo-admin at ngocentre.org.vn>,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear All,



We are looking for IT Administrator, based in Hanoi. Please find attached
the advertisement for this position. I?m grateful if you can share this
information for anyone suitable.



Thanks & best regards,

Hong

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
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Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:24 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:24 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Career Opportunity at PSI
 Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales Supervisor
In-Reply-To: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>
References: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinM_s1WxKTFoBrcyQUZT1o55cggengS6POeoxZs@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Le Quang Son <sonle at psi.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 6:45 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Career Opportunity at PSI Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales
Supervisor
To: hivaids-twg at ngocentre.org.vn, hivaids-twg-bounces at ngocentre.org.vn,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn, administrator at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear Colleagues,



Population Service International (PSI) is now seeking for talented, dynamic
and highly motivated Vietnamese individual to contribute to our growing
organization and to meet the challenging demand of the position of *Safe
Water Sales Supervisor. *The position will be based in Can Tho or An Giang.



We therefore would appreciate if you could help us to circulate the attached
Vacancy Announcement among those who have interest.



Thank you very much

Best regards

Son Le



----------------------------------------------

Le Quang Son

Population Services International

Administration Manager

4th Floor, Side B, TOSERCO Building

273 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Email:   sonle at psi.org.vn

Tel:       04 39446326 Ext. 108

Fax:      04 39446323



Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
kilobyte maximum for each email.
Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
To change your subscription:
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:42 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:42 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] New regional network calls for
 greater funding to combat HIV in gay men. Landmark conference to be held in
 Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010
In-Reply-To: <43ECC869-84EE-472C-9AFE-76248D0BD06A@revisionasia.com>
References: <43ECC869-84EE-472C-9AFE-76248D0BD06A@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=qDO5J8XRDe65A3Mryp5e76kEnv6N+nsNzm-z-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] New regional network calls for greater funding to combat
HIV in gay men. Landmark conference to be held in Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>, AP Rainbow <
ap-rainbow at yahoogroups.com>, APTransNet <APTransNet at googlegroups.com>
Cc: asiapacificmedia at googlegroups.com, msm-pacific at googlegroups.com, MSMGF <
contact at msmgf.org>


**

*
MEDIA ADVISORY*

* *

*New regional network calls for greater funding to combat HIV in gay men.***

*Landmark conference to be held in Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010*

*Singapore, 1 December* ? Action for AIDS Singapore and Fridae.com, a
leading Asian LGBT networking website, will host the first Developed Asia
Regional Consultation on HIV in MSM (men who have sex with men) and
transgender people (TG) in Singapore.

 Seventy delegates including health sector officials, researchers/academics,
United Nations officials and community representatives representing 40
organisations in Hong Kong/Macau, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,
Malaysia, Thailand and China will attend the conference. Over the 2 days
delegates are expected to formalise the creation of a network of
organisations advocating for HIV prevention and treatment services for MSM
and TG in developed Asian countries.

 "This is a landmark event for the region. There is currently no dedicated
information and discussion platform that joins communities and researchers
in developed Asian countries and territories. Developed Asian countries have
similar HIV epidemics, especially in MSM communities. These communities
share common challenges that have led to increasing HIV infections, and have
similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Programmes targeting MSM
communities are still under-resourced," said Professor Roy Chan, President
of Action for AIDS and co-organiser of the conference.

 Prevalence of HIV among MSM and TG is on the rise in most developed Asian
countries, with rates soaring significantly higher than that of the general
population as is the case in Korea (55 times), Japan (44 times) and Taiwan
(210 times, 2004 figures). In China MSM HIV prevalence is 88-times higher
than the national rate.

 However of the six countries and territories in Developed Asia, only Japan,
Singapore, and Hong Kong have included MSM/TGs in their national strategic
plans. While Japan has a program for MSM/TG, the program does not have an
allocated budget, according to the* *October 2010 *Asia Pacific Coalition
for Male Sexual Health (APCOM)* report.

 "Communities in these countries suffer from insufficient funding from their
national governments for HIV programs targeting MSM and TG,? said Laurindo
Garcia, HIV Program Manager of Fridae. ?They are also ineligible for
international technical assistance from agencies such as UNAIDS or UNDP
because of their country's ?developed? status. This situation contributes to
an inability to respond adequately, or scale-up programmes effectively.
Insufficient investment in prevention programs leads directly to the
increased infection rates that we are now observing. We hope this
consultation will begin to address these challenges through better regional
cooperation."

 In 2008, the Commission on AIDS in Asia warned that in Asia, a new wave of
infections is imminent particularly among vulnerable groups, and that by
2020, 50% of new infections would come from the MSM/TG population. (
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080326_report_commission_aids_en.pdfpp
77-79). ?The lack of government support and political leadership in
the
provision of HIV/AIDS services for MSM/TGs manifests and discrimination at
the level of policies and mainstream public health infrastructure,? the
report read.

 Acceptance of gay, bisexual men and transgender people in society remains a
sensitive issue in many developed Asian countries. Prevailing social norms
make it difficult for the needs of these sexual minorities to be thoroughly
discussed in parliamentary discussion and the public domain. These same
norms pose a barrier for the community to speak out and advocate for better
services. Criminalisation of male-to-male sex ? as is the case in Singapore
and Malaysia ? impedes promotion of safer sex campaigns. Harassment and
other punitive law enforcement practices in other countries also inhibit
effective outreach programs.

 This consultation seeks to improve cooperation between countries with the
view that increased collaboration will result in more effective prevention
programs and improved quality of treatment and support for MSN and TG. An
action plan and series of recommendations will be drafted, with advocating
for increased research, community involvement and specific programs that are
sensitive to the needs of vulnerable groups such as young people and people
already living with HIV.

*Conference attendees*

 Hong Kong
-       Aids Concern
-       Midnight Blue
-       A Backup
-       Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (Chinese University)



Japan
-       Rainbow Ring
-       MASH Osaka
-       NPO PLACE Tokyo
-       JaNPlus (Japanese Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS)
-       Nagoya University



Singapore
-       Action for AIDS
-       DSC Clinic
-       Fridae
-       Health Promotion Board
-       National Skin Centre
-       Oogachaga
-       Ministry of Health



South Korea
-       Korea HIV/AIDS Network of solidarity (Kanos)
-       Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea
-       HIV/AIDS Human Rights Solidarity (Nanuri Plus)
-       Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University
-       Department of Health Care Management, Sahmyook University
-       HIV policy and implementation, Korean CDC



Taiwan
-       Taichung Rainbow Paradise
-       Sunshine Queer Centre (Kaohsiung)
-       Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association
-       National Cheng Kung University, Tainan
-       Taiwan Centers for Disease Control


China
-       Tongzhi Mens Health Forum
-       Chengdu Gay Care Organization (CGCO)



Lao
-       Lao Youth  Action for AIDS Programme


Malaysia
-       PT Foundation
-       Malaysian Aids Council/Malaysian Aids Foundation
-       Disease Control Division, Department of Public Health, Ministry of
Health



Thailand
-       Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand
-       Mahidol University?s Centre for Public Health Policy Study
-       PR-DDC, DDC, Ministry of Public Health
-       HIV, Health & Development Team, UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Center,
Bangkok



Others
-       *Asia Pacific* Coalition on Male Sexual Health (*APCOM*)
-       Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO)
-       HPI/Burnett Institute
-       International Planned Parenthood Foundation
-       UNAIDS Regional Support Team, Asia Pacific, Thailand
-       UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education


*Media Conference Invitation*

*Journalists are welcome to attend the presentations on statistics and
comparative analysis across Developed Asia on December 2, 8.30am-10am
*(Registration
from 8am. Media credentials required.)

Date: December 2-3, 2010

Venue: Peninsula Excelsior Hotel, 5 Coleman Street, Singapore 179805

Media Enquiries:

Sylvia Tan (English-language media): +65 9747 1264, sylvia at fridae.com

Choo Lip Sin (Chinese-language media): + 65 9797 9396, lipsin at fridae.com

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:31:12 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:31:12 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] HIV prevention efforts go mobile [San
	Francisco]
In-Reply-To: <2D850A07-4675-41B5-81DB-AA0A2126BE0E@revisionasia.com>
References: <2D850A07-4675-41B5-81DB-AA0A2126BE0E@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTin-rFEaq-MAVbiTvy9c_HCF+G8NBRP_hKGe+oT+@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] HIV prevention efforts go mobile [San Francisco]
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


HIV prevention efforts go mobile
http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5281

AIDS advocacy organizations are increasingly building high-tech online tools
to keep safer sex at the top of San Franciscans' minds.

Among those new tools are a sex-education app for the iPhone and iPad,
condom-locators, a conference on youth media and sexual health, and a
revamped website for the San Francisco AIDS foundation.

The digital emphasis coincides with two new studies in the journal AIDS and
Behavior that indicate a need for more online outreach.

One study found that men who pursue "online partnerships" are more likely to
engage in unsafe sex. Although Internet hookups themselves do not
necessarily cause riskier behavior, the authors concluded, online usage may
be a "marker" of a tendency towards heightened risk-taking.

Another study found that 85 percent of men who use the Internet to find
partners check their partners' online profiles to determine their HIV
status. A close percentage ask verbally prior to sex, but nearly half ask
after sex and nearly a third of Internet-using gay men simply guess.

Reaching and educating that third, the study concluded, is critical to
stemming the tide of HIV transmissions.

San Francisco's Department of Public Health hopes to do just that. Local
health officials recently unveiled STD411, a new app for the iPhone and iPad
that provides users with quick access to information about sexual practices
and diseases. The app cost about $4,000 to develop and was paid for with a
federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Users are presented with a chart that indicates the risk of transmitting
various STDs based on different sex acts. An array of multicolored flashing
condoms indicates risk levels.

For example, users who tap "oral sex" along with "syphilis" receive the
message, "if there is no sore, there may still be an infection. Having
routine STD screening every 3 to 6 months is the best way to know."

STD411 can be downloaded from the iTunes store or at http://bit.ly/std411.

On a recent evening in the Castro, prospective users checked out the new app
and mostly gave it high marks.

"It's a great idea," said San Francisco resident Benni Rodriguez. As he
scrolled through the list of STDs, he added, "There's some stuff I didn't
know about."

"I like that it's an app," said Brittney Caraway, visiting the Castro from
Las Vegas. Caraway pointed out that the interface isn't intuitive, since the
explanation of the color-coded condoms is difficult to find and there's no
indication that lists are scrollable and tappable. As she spent a few
minutes browsing the STDs and sex acts, she added, "I don't even know what
half of these things are."

Phillip and Liam, two young men who asked to be identified only by first
name, were surprised to learn that even masturbation can carry a risk of
transmitting syphilis if sex toys are shared.

They spent a few minutes engrossed by STD411 before closing it with a shrug,
saying that they probably wouldn't use it.

"I learned pretty much everything I need to know in 7th and 8th grade," said
Phillip.

The key to connecting with users is approaching them in the proper context,
said Deb Levine, executive director of the Oakland nonprofit Internet
Sexuality Information Services. For the last decade ISIS has specialized in
providing sex education through emerging media channels.

"One of the things we've learned at ISIS over the last 10 years is that
interventions don't work in isolation," Levine said. "Technology works best
when there's some physical location component."

One recent ISIS success involved recruitment for a sero-sorting study.
Participants were initially approached in person with a survey, rather than
online, which doubled the rate of follow-up response.

Levine expressed concern that STD411 would have difficulty gaining
widespread adoption, comparing it to outreach that ISIS performed in Toronto
for an app called M2Men.

"Here we go back to 'what's the context,'" she said. "I might take an STD
quiz online if there's a context, but to download to my phone and keep it on
my phone, I don't really understand the benefit of that process. In Toronto,
they went out to the community, and said, 'Here you go, download our app.'"

Dr. Susan Philip, deputy health officer and director of STD prevention and
control services at San Francisco's health department, said that her section
would engage with users via LGBT media such as the Frameline film festival,
Gay.com and the Bay Area Reporter, as well as with banner ads on adult sites
such as Hot House Studios.

Philip said she is also open to sharing STD411 with other organizations.

"We try as much as possible to reach out to partners in our previous work
with other websites," she said.

Another online strategy that could see a revamp soon is the long-running
"Ask Dr. K" feature on the website of the San Francisco health department's
STD section. The department's longtime STD chief Dr. Jeffrey Klausner had
been the "Dr. K" answering people's sexual health questions.

Klausner resigned from the job earlier this year to work on AIDS issues in
Africa. But he has continued to post responses to people's queries as an
unpaid volunteer.

Philip, who permanently replaced Klausner in July, was asked in a recent
interview with the B.A.R. if the online Q&A feature would be renamed "Ask
Dr. P." She said she is currently reviewing her section's web presence and
the social media platforms it is using.

"We are looking at all of those things," said Philip. "We know there is a
lot of interest in 'Ask Dr. K' and there are still questions that need to be
answered."

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:23:15 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:23:15 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] APCOM World AIDS Day 2010
In-Reply-To: <70E1ABAF-2A30-4427-8EFB-988EA75A9EBC@revisionasia.com>
References: <70E1ABAF-2A30-4427-8EFB-988EA75A9EBC@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimmJD8yza-VXxRL3=CxDLA-ADdxLzpvHJP+paeb@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Subject: [msm-asia] APCOM World AIDS Day 2010
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 30 November 2010*

*Authorities across Asia Pacific severely undermine progress made in
addressing the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men and transgender
people*<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20news/10-11_News/APCOM_WAD_2010_FIINAL.pdf>

*APCOM uses the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010 to sound a regional alarm*

(BANGKOK, 01 December 2010)  During 2010, authorities across the Asia
Pacific region have increasingly been targeting men who have sex with men
(MSM) and transgender people, thereby violating basic human rights at best
and, at worst, denying access to lifesaving HIV prevention, treatment and
care.  As a result, recent progress in addressing the HIV epidemic among
these particularly vulnerable populations is being severely undermined, with
potentially disastrous consequences for the region, a situation that has the
Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) truly alarmed.

?The incidents in question have occurred in every sub-region and numerous
countries, including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia and
the Philippines,? noted Shivananda Khan, APCOM Chairperson and Chief
Executive of Naz Foundation International.

?Sometimes they are isolated incidents acted out by local police seeking
things other than mere justice. But in many instances, they are part of what
can only be called a campaign of hate and discrimination directed at the
most vulnerable of citizens.This is all the more shameful and sad because it
undermines progress that is being made and negates the good work of those
officials and authorities who are trying to help.?

"APCOM strongly believes that open dialogues is a first step towards
ensuring that all people across Asia and the Pacific and the world,
irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity, can access HIV
prevention, care, and treatment services for HIV," said Midnight
Poonkasetwatana, APCOM Board member representing the Greater Mekong
Sub-region.

"The need is for an environment free of government-sanctioned stigma,
discrimination and criminalization," explained Roy Wadia, Executive
Director, Heroes Project (India) and APCOM Communications Advisor. "The next
step is for governments and authorities, in partnership with communities, to
begin rectifying laws and harmonising legal practices and policies intended
to help efforts to address HIV, strengthen public health for all, and most
importantly save many lives from being lost."

These are just some of the actions taken by authorities against MSM and
transgender people that have been reported in Asia Pacific over the past
year:

   - In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, transgender and female sex workers have been
   continually harassed by police citing anti-trafficking laws and forcing sex
   workers into streets and parks where physical dangers increase and access to
   private spaces and safe sex commodities are limited or non-existent.
   - In Beijing, China, police swept through Mudanyuan Park, a popular
   hangout, taking some 80 people into custody to be photographed,
   fingerprinted and reportedly forced to undergo blood tests.
   - In Hong Kong, China, a transgender woman (male to female) was denied
   the opportunity to marry a man in a high-profile case that tested the
   special administrative region?s commitment to human rights.
   - In North Delhi, India, a transgender woman was reportedly physically
   and sexually assaulted when taken to the Beggars House (a prison for people
   begging for food and money on the streets); reports of such assaults are
   received regularly.
   - International, national and local community delegates in Surabaya,
   Indonesia at the Fourth ILGA - Asia Regional International Lesbian, Gay,
   Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association Conference were attacked in
   the conference hotel, forcing the cancellation of the meeting.
   Fundamentalist and hard-line Islamic groups in full view of local police,
   who refused to intervene, perpetrated the attacks.
   - Recently in Melaka, Malaysia, as in Penang and Butterworth earlier in
   the year, local police raided privately operated ?spas? and gyms, harassing
   patrons and, at times, charging them with indecent public behaviour (one
   such example reported was ?being naked while taking a shower?).
   - In Pasay City, Philippines, the local police raided a legitimately
   operated gay/bisexual establishment, arresting and detaining over 100
   patrons and staff.  They were charged with violating the Anti-Human
   Trafficking Law (RA 9208) and a city ordinance against ?male prostitution?,
   citing the presence of condoms and lubricants as evidence of the charges.
   Police were reported to have confiscated mobile phones, extorted ?fees? and
   abused the patrons.

According to the recent Legal environments, human rights and HIV responses
among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia and the
Pacific: An agenda for action report jointly produced by UNDP and APCOM
earlier this year, 19 out of some 49 countries in this region currently
criminalize male to male sexual behaviour, while other arbitrary and
inappropriate legal provisions are used to violate the human rights and
dignity of MSM and transgender people. These punitive laws and selective,
discriminatory enforcement practices dramatically reduce the effectiveness
of national HIV responses, and obstruct advocacy, outreach, and delivery of
life-saving HIV and health services in these communities.

To address these access issues and achieve rights-based universal coverage,
APCOM has demonstrated that strategic partnerships are required among
affected communities, the legal profession, health care providers, human
rights bodies, parliamentarians and other policy makers, including religious
leaders, faith-based organisations and the media.  To that end, APCOM will
support the efforts of the recently formed Global Commission on HIV and the
Law,  by facilitating community participation in the first Commission
Regional Dialogue, for the Asia Pacific, scheduled for February 2011 in
Bangkok.  APCOM?s initiatives parallel the objectives of the Commission, and
its work APCOM feeds into this crucial effort.

?The theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is Universal Access and Human Rights. As a
regional coalition advocating for universal access for MSM and transgender
people to HIV and community-appropriate services, good health and a
productive life, APCOM joins with its international partners in demanding an
end to these harmful actions,? said Steven Gu, APCOM Executive Director.
?Such actions have direct, adverse impacts on HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. Further, existing laws and ordinances pertaining to human
trafficking and sex work must be reviewed, and appropriate policies and
guidelines formulated regarding possessing condoms.?

The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) is a regional
coalition of MSM and HIV community-based organisations, the government
sector, donors, technical experts and the UN system. The main purpose is
advocating for political support and increases in investment and coverage of
HIV services in Asia Pacific. APCOM promotes principles of good practice and
lessons learnt by bringing together representatives from diverse groups in
an effort to share experience, knowledge and expertise.

APCOM website:  http://www.apcom.org

UNDP and APCOM report, ?Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses??  direct link:
http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final_low_res_200710.pdf<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final_low_res_200710.pdf>

*APCOM Media contact:*
Shivananda Khan OBE, Lucknow, India: +91-98392-21091 (mobile); email:
shiv at nfi.net

Steven Gu, Bangkok, Thailand: +6682-963-6492 (mobile); email:
steveng at apcom.org

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From nhuynt at medecinsdumonde.org.vn  Tue Nov 30 10:59:50 2010
From: nhuynt at medecinsdumonde.org.vn (Nguyen Thi Nhuy)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:59:50 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Job announcement
Message-ID: <AANLkTikfZcvtRjf4eSQBCMgU4rwDH1gsv+SBG7k8uXtt@mail.gmail.com>

Dear colleague,

Pls help to circulate the attached Job announcement from Medecins du Monde
France to the TWG - network.

Thank you & Best regards,

MdM Hanoi team
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From Ngoc at fhi.org.vn  Tue Nov 30 17:08:31 2010
From: Ngoc at fhi.org.vn (Anh Ngoc (MSH), Nguyen)
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 00:08:31 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] FW: APCOM WAD Statement
Message-ID: <98DC86CEF032774F8F4FDE97CDC08CFA01337AD3@fhi-server1.fhi.org.vn>

FYI and help with posting. 

 

Many thanks,

 

Nguyen Anh Ngoc | Program Officer

Male Sexual Health Interventions (MSH)


FHI: The Science of Improving Lives| Ho Chi Minh city Program Office

1st floor, Colonnade Building, 27 Nguyen Trung Truc street | Hochiminh,
Vietnam

Mobile: +84 (0) 904 302 864 | Office: +84-8-3824-3134 | Fax:
+84-8-3822-4985

E-mail: ngoc at fhi.org.vn

www.fhi.org

 

________________________________

From: Midnight Poonkasetwatana
[mailto:midnight.poonkasetwatana at treatasia.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:56 PM
To: Kyaw Myint; Nay Oo Lwin; Anh Ngoc (MSH), Nguyen; Danai Linjongrut;
Dr. Nou Vannary; Dr. Phengphet Phetvixay; Duan Chen Feng; Frank (Jian
Gang Zhao); Kosol Chuenchomsakulchai; My Linh Thi Nguyen; Phal Sophat;
Renzhong Zhang; Vieng Akhone Souriyo; Wei Hai Bo
Cc: Steven Gu; qiufeng at alliancechina.org; Matt Avery
Subject: Please circulate: APCOM WAD Statement

 

**Please circulate**

 

Regards, 

 

Midnight

 

________________________________

From: stevengu2008 at gmail.com [mailto:stevengu2008 at gmail.com] On Behalf
Of Steven Gu
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:53 PM
To: andrew tan; Colin Fan; Dede; Ferdie; Joe Chan; Joleen; Khartin;
Laxmi; Manvendra Singh; Midnight Poonkasetwatana; niru; Roger Meng;
Sagara; Sean Slavin; Shale; Stuart Koe; Vieng Akhone; Vijay; Vivek;
David Traynor
Cc: paul causey; shiv; stuart
Subject: APCOM WAD Statement for immediate release

 

Dear APCOM community sector representatives,

Please help distribute the statement to your networks.
Thanks.

Steven Gu
---------------------
Authorities across Asia Pacific severely undermine progress made in
addressing the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men and
transgender people
<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20news/10-11_News/APCOM_WAD_2010_FIINAL.
pdf> 

APCOM uses the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010 to sound a regional alarm

(BANGKOK, 01 December 2010)  During 2010, authorities across the Asia
Pacific region have increasingly been targeting men who have sex with
men (MSM) and transgender people, thereby violating basic human rights
at best and, at worst, denying access to lifesaving HIV prevention,
treatment and care.  As a result, recent progress in addressing the HIV
epidemic among these particularly vulnerable populations is being
severely undermined, with potentially disastrous consequences for the
region, a situation that has the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual
Health (APCOM) truly alarmed.

"The incidents in question have occurred in every sub-region and
numerous countries, including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Malaysia and the Philippines," noted Shivananda Khan, APCOM Chairperson
and Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International.

"Sometimes they are isolated incidents acted out by local police seeking
things other than mere justice. But in many instances, they are part of
what can only be called a campaign of hate and discrimination directed
at the most vulnerable of citizens.This is all the more shameful and sad
because it undermines progress that is being made and negates the good
work of those officials and authorities who are trying to help."

"APCOM strongly believes that open dialogues is a first step towards
ensuring that all people across Asia and the Pacific and the world,
irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity, can access HIV
prevention, care, and treatment services for HIV," said Midnight
Poonkasetwatana, APCOM Board member representing the Greater Mekong
Sub-region.

"The need is for an environment free of government-sanctioned stigma,
discrimination and criminalization," explained Roy Wadia, Executive
Director, Heroes Project (India) and APCOM Communications Advisor. "The
next step is for governments and authorities, in partnership with
communities, to begin rectifying laws and harmonising legal practices
and policies intended to help efforts to address HIV, strengthen public
health for all, and most importantly save many lives from being lost."

These are just some of the actions taken by authorities against MSM and
transgender people that have been reported in Asia Pacific over the past
year:

*	In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, transgender and female sex workers have
been continually harassed by police citing anti-trafficking laws and
forcing sex workers into streets and parks where physical dangers
increase and access to private spaces and safe sex commodities are
limited or non-existent.
*	In Beijing, China, police swept through Mudanyuan Park, a
popular hangout, taking some 80 people into custody to be photographed,
fingerprinted and reportedly forced to undergo blood tests.
*	In Hong Kong, China, a transgender woman (male to female) was
denied the opportunity to marry a man in a high-profile case that tested
the special administrative region's commitment to human rights.
*	In North Delhi, India, a transgender woman was reportedly
physically and sexually assaulted when taken to the Beggars House (a
prison for people begging for food and money on the streets); reports of
such assaults are received regularly.
*	International, national and local community delegates in
Surabaya, Indonesia at the Fourth ILGA - Asia Regional International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association Conference
were attacked in the conference hotel, forcing the cancellation of the
meeting. Fundamentalist and hard-line Islamic groups in full view of
local police, who refused to intervene, perpetrated the attacks.
*	Recently in Melaka, Malaysia, as in Penang and Butterworth
earlier in the year, local police raided privately operated "spas" and
gyms, harassing patrons and, at times, charging them with indecent
public behaviour (one such example reported was "being naked while
taking a shower").
*	In Pasay City, Philippines, the local police raided a
legitimately operated gay/bisexual establishment, arresting and
detaining over 100 patrons and staff.  They were charged with violating
the Anti-Human Trafficking Law (RA 9208) and a city ordinance against
"male prostitution", citing the presence of condoms and lubricants as
evidence of the charges.  Police were reported to have confiscated
mobile phones, extorted "fees" and abused the patrons.

According to the recent Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia
and the Pacific: An agenda for action report jointly produced by UNDP
and APCOM earlier this year, 19 out of some 49 countries in this region
currently criminalize male to male sexual behaviour, while other
arbitrary and inappropriate legal provisions are used to violate the
human rights and dignity of MSM and transgender people. These punitive
laws and selective, discriminatory enforcement practices dramatically
reduce the effectiveness of national HIV responses, and obstruct
advocacy, outreach, and delivery of life-saving HIV and health services
in these communities.

To address these access issues and achieve rights-based universal
coverage, APCOM has demonstrated that strategic partnerships are
required among affected communities, the legal profession, health care
providers, human rights bodies, parliamentarians and other policy
makers, including religious leaders, faith-based organisations and the
media.  To that end, APCOM will support the efforts of the recently
formed Global Commission on HIV and the Law,  by facilitating community
participation in the first Commission Regional Dialogue, for the Asia
Pacific, scheduled for February 2011 in Bangkok.  APCOM's initiatives
parallel the objectives of the Commission, and its work APCOM feeds into
this crucial effort.

"The theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is Universal Access and Human Rights.
As a regional coalition advocating for universal access for MSM and
transgender people to HIV and community-appropriate services, good
health and a productive life, APCOM joins with its international
partners in demanding an end to these harmful actions," said Steven Gu,
APCOM Executive Director. "Such actions have direct, adverse impacts on
HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Further, existing laws and
ordinances pertaining to human trafficking and sex work must be
reviewed, and appropriate policies and guidelines formulated regarding
possessing condoms."

The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) is a regional
coalition of MSM and HIV community-based organisations, the government
sector, donors, technical experts and the UN system. The main purpose is
advocating for political support and increases in investment and
coverage of HIV services in Asia Pacific. APCOM promotes principles of
good practice and lessons learnt by bringing together representatives
from diverse groups in an effort to share experience, knowledge and
expertise.

APCOM website:  http://www.apcom.org <http://www.apcom.org/> 

UNDP and APCOM report, "Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses..."  direct link:
http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final
_low_res_200710.pdf

APCOM Media contact:
Shivananda Khan OBE, Lucknow, India: +91-98392-21091 (mobile); email:
shiv at nfi.net

Steven Gu, Bangkok, Thailand: +6682-963-6492 (mobile); email:
steveng at apcom.org

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Developed Asia Network (DAN) for MSM & TG" group.
To post to this group, send email to DAN-MSM at googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
DAN-MSM+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
<mailto:DAN-MSM%2Bunsubscribe at googlegroups.com> 
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/DAN-MSM?hl=en




-- 
Steven Gu
Executive Director
Asia Pacific Coalition of Male Sexual Health(APCOM)
www.apcom.org
E-mail:  steveng at apcom.org
Tel: 66 (0) 829 636 492
skype: stevengu2003

 

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signature database 5659 (20101129) __________

 

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

 

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From sonle at psi.org.vn  Wed Dec  1 11:45:59 2010
From: sonle at psi.org.vn (Le Quang Son)
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 18:45:59 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Career Opportunity at PSI Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales
	Supervisor
Message-ID: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>

Dear Colleagues,

 

Population Service International (PSI) is now seeking for talented, dynamic
and highly motivated Vietnamese individual to contribute to our growing
organization and to meet the challenging demand of the position of Safe
Water Sales Supervisor. The position will be based in Can Tho or An Giang.

 

We therefore would appreciate if you could help us to circulate the attached
Vacancy Announcement among those who have interest.

 

Thank you very much

Best regards

Son Le

 

----------------------------------------------

Le Quang Son

Population Services International

Administration Manager

4th Floor, Side B, TOSERCO Building

273 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Email:   sonle at psi.org.vn 

Tel:       04 39446326 Ext. 108

Fax:      04 39446323

 

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From info at dansonmedia.com  Tue Nov 30 10:03:55 2010
From: info at dansonmedia.com (Danson Media)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:03:55 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] December Newsletter - National Month for HIV/AIDS
 prevention (and 20 years of response to HIV in Vietnam)
Message-ID: <AANLkTikz1A-rKcNM8fk6zeEbRanq6JzfJL3TaxFutVoU@mail.gmail.com>

>
> *This year, the World AIDS Day uses the main theme ?Universal Access and
> Human Rights? which focuses on communication against discrimination of
> people living with HIV/AIDS, women and vulnerable groups. It emphasizes
> human rights is the basis for the fight against HIV/AIDS. When we respect
> the fundamental rights of each individual, we can prevent HIV infection and
> people living with HIV in the harmonization and supports from the community.
> *
>
**
*We would like to share with you our December newsletter for National month
of HIV/AIDS prevention (and 20 years of response to HIV in Vietnam).*
**
*Regards,*
-- 
Danson Media Team for IBCC

Level 7, Hanoi Tungshing Square, 2 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi, Vietnam | Tel:
+84 4 39263 768 | Fax: +84 4 39263 767 | www.dansonmedia.com



Click to follow us on
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanoi-Vietnam/Danson-Media/156544294367619?ref=sgm>



Danson Media is a full-service media production company offering clients
with engaging and excellent media presentations. We serve as a connection
between clients and the public, the media by developing creative concepts
into comprehensive IEC/BCC materials for communication campaigns,
development projects, and other marketing activities.



Danson Media l? c?ng ty cung c?p d?ch v? truy?n th?ng tr?n g?i cung c?p cho
kh?ch h?ng c?c s?n ph?m, d?ch v? s?ng t?o ??t hi?u qu? cao. Ch?ng t?i th?c
hi?n vai tr? k?t n?i kh?ch h?ng v?i c?ng ch?ng, c?c c? quan b?o ch? th?ng
qua vi?c thi?t k? v? x?y d?ng c?c s?n ph?m truy?n th?ng ?a d?ng ph?c v? c?c
chi?n d?ch truy?n th?ng, c?c d? ?n ph?t tri?n, v? c?c ho?t ??ng marketing
kh?c.

This email transmission is intended only for the use of the individual or
entity to which it is addressed and may contain information which is
privileged and confidential to Danson Media. If the reader of this message
is not the intended recipient, or the employee responsible for delivering
this communication to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that
any disclosure, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify
us immediately and delete it. Thank you.
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From recruitment.hn at medecinsdumonde.org.vn  Thu Dec  2 03:45:44 2010
From: recruitment.hn at medecinsdumonde.org.vn (MDM Hanoi - Recruitment)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:45:44 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Job announcement
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTim5VxJOnN4yL0MHoGohrtnsH3uWAqtaX1KfpCPR@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTikfZcvtRjf4eSQBCMgU4rwDH1gsv+SBG7k8uXtt@mail.gmail.com>
	<AANLkTim5VxJOnN4yL0MHoGohrtnsH3uWAqtaX1KfpCPR@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimxj=3JEiuKiW4neUY0x=EB+KHnZ2GX28SbbGyV@mail.gmail.com>

Dear colleague,

Pls help to circulate the attached Job announcement from Medecins du Monde
France to the TWG - network.

Thank you & Best regards,

MdM Hanoi team



---

*Do Thi Minh Quyen*, Administrative Assistant



*M?decins du Monde* 5th Floor, No. 58, Lane 221 Ton Duc Thang, Hanoi

Tel. (84.4) 3719 2523 ext. 11, Fax. (84.4) 3719 2529, Mob. (84) 912 464 169,
doquyen at medecinsdumonde.org.vn <vietanhk at medecinsdumonde.org.vn>
 <doquyen at medecinsdumonde.org.vn>
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From mangluoivnmts at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 08:23:25 2010
From: mangluoivnmts at gmail.com (Bright Futures Network)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 16:23:25 +0800
Subject: [hivaids-twg] =?utf-8?b?VGjDtG5nIGLDoW8gY2h1eeG7g24gxJHhu4thIMSR?=
	=?utf-8?q?i=E1=BB=83m/_Announcement_of_office_relocation?=
Message-ID: <AANLkTim+MiyqXRKoiV6__1vRQmQ_kDMBgx4gOjxqShRS@mail.gmail.com>

*TH?NG B?O CHUY?N ??A ?I?M *

**

M?ng l??i V? Ng?y mai T??i s?ng xin tr?n tr?ng th?ng b?o, k? t? ng?y 01
th?ng 12 n?m 2010 v?n ph?ng m?ng l??i s? chuy?n  ??n ??a ch? m?i nh? sau:

S? 7b Ng? 344 ???ng Ng?c Thu?, Long Bi?n, H? N?i


Xin tr?n tr?ng c?m ?n

Ong V?n T?ng



* ANNOUNCEMENT OF OFFICE RELOCATION *

* *

Bright Futures Network would like to announce our office relocation from 1st
December  2010  to the new address as below:

No 7b Lane 344, Ngoc Thuy Str, Long Bien Dist, Ha Noi



Best Regard

Ong Van Tung



-- 
Bright Futures Network of PLWHA
No 7b Lane 344 Ngoc Thuy Str, Long Bien Dist, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Tel: 84.4. 38724148, 84.4.38727149
Fax: 84.4.38727929
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:23:35 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:23:35 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.30ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D96627@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
References: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D96627@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimgVJBYjaFB2rMPNiT_EuuZZUpKY_bEJtPGSFW-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 6:40 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.30ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. Vanguard, Nigeria - HIV infections declining, says UN

2. IRIN PlusNews - AFRICA: Straight Talk with Sheila Tlou, new UNAIDS head
for Eastern and Southern Africa

3. La Raz?n, Spain - La epidemia de sida se estabiliza a nivel mundial

4. Sify News, India - Cricketers to sport red ribbons on World AIDS Day



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. IRIN PlusNews - Somalia: Baby Steps Towards a PMTCT Programme

2. New Vision, Uganda - Let Us Protect the Young Ones

3. Arab News - Need to raise AIDS awareness stressed



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. People?s Daily, China - Sex becomes main source of AIDS spread in
drug-plagued China province

2. VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City to build on HIV success rate

3. The Himalayan, Nepal - Govt to treat HIV-AIDS woes of migrants

4. Sify News, India - HIV/AIDS support services in South Asia largely
absent: UN

5. Straits Times, Singapore - Campaign to target risk groups



*EUROPE***

1. Irish Times - Gender bias evident in Aids spread

2. Reuters - Best to focus on preventing HIV in Africa: report

3. AFP - Journ?e contre le sida: Aides d?nonce une baisse de l'aide m?dicale
d'Etat

4. AFP - Journ?e contre le sida: ruban g?ant et 250 "caf? capote" ? Paris



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Observer - World AIDS Day

2. La Prensa, Bolivia - En 2 meses hubo 38 denuncias de discriminaci?n por
VIH-Sida



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. New York Times - An Enlightened Exchange in Iran

2. New York Times - Farewell, Digital World. (It?s All for a Cause.)

3. New York Times - AIDS in South Africa (Letter)

4. Wall Street Journal - Merck Halts Study of Once-Daily HIV Drug

5. Associated Press - Panic among Kenya's gays after PM's arrest threat



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Cricket unites on World Aids Day: Players to wear red ribbons in
international matches

2. UNAIDS - Model General Assembly held at Huleb?ck secondary school Sweden
highlights HIV epidemic

3. UNAIDS - Help put HIV prevention on the global agenda this World AIDS Day


4. UNAIDS - Photographer Rankin joins The Body Shop/UNAIDS HIV solidarity
campaign





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



*UNAIDS*



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



HIV infections declining, says UN
Vanguard, Nigeria

30/11/2010



By Chioma OBINNA & Emmanuel ELEBEKE



AS Nigeria joins the world to celebrate World AIDS Day, the United Nations
has said that the number of new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS are
falling globally.



IN a new statistics released by the world body on its programme  on HIV and
AIDS, it said there are now signs the epidemic is declining, saying that the
stigma and discrimination have continued to cause problems for the estimated
33m people living with HIV.



According to the report, there were 2.6m new HIV infections last year, which
is almost 20 percent since the peak of the Aids epidemic in 1999, adding
that 1.8m died from Aids-related illnesses in 2009, down from 2.1m in 2004.



The report further revealed that the rates of treatment using
anti-retroviral drugs have risen from 700,000 in 2004 to over 5m people in
2009. And that while Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most
affected by the epidemic, with around 70 percent of all new HIV infections
occurring in the region,  infection rates are falling, particularly in South
Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.



It noted that there is a mixed picture in other parts of the world such as
Eastern Europe and central Asia showing sharp rise in new infections and
Aids-related deaths.



It however blamed bad laws and discrimination for mitigating against AIDS.



?We are breaking the trajectory of the Aids epidemic with bold actions and
smart choices.



?Investments in the Aids response are paying off, but gains are fragile?the
challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress,? said Mr Michel
Sidib?, Executive Director of UNAIDS.



*4*

AFRICA: Straight Talk with Sheila Tlou, new UNAIDS head for Eastern and
Southern Africa
IRIN PlusNews

29/11/2010



JOHANNESBURG, 29 November 2010 (PlusNews) - Sheila Tlou, former Minister of
Health in Botswana, took over as UNAIDS director for East and southern
Africa in November, just a month before the deadline for achieving universal
access to treatment, prevention, care and support expires.



With only two countries in the region having met the target for treatment,
Tlou talked to IRIN/PlusNews about the value of setting goals and what
countries should aim for next.



QUESTION: How do you think the targets have contributed to the AIDS
response, in light of the fact that many countries have not met them?

ANSWER: Universal access to me means access not just to treatment but
prevention, care and support. And from the report, we?ve seen that a lot of
countries have moved towards universal access. In the ones that have reached
it ? Botswana and Rwanda ? it?s really contributed in that we?ve seen deaths
from HIV go down... you?ve  seen quite a lot of reductions even in countries
that may not reach it and once people are on treatment their infectivity
goes down so it contributes even to the prevention side.



So it?s come up with a good momentum in terms of looking at all the
indicators such as child mortality, maternal mortality, including even the
overall economy of countries, as more and more people are not absent from
work - we?re finding that productivity increases thanks to universal access.




Q: Do you think having the targets is useful in terms of galvanizing a
response?

A: People need targets. This is where you really get to see that we are a
global community? especially when you review them occasionally because then
you create competition between countries. With ?3 by 5? [UNAIDS initiative
to provide three million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income
countries with antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005] for example, all
countries knew how many at a minimum they should put on ARVs (antiretroviral
drugs) and a lot of countries reached that, especially in southern Africa.
So we need targets.



Q: Were the targets realistic?

A: To me they were a little bit too high, but I feel they were realistic in
the sense that we always say, ?Aim for the sky and you?ll reach somewhere?.
Had countries been given targets that were just mid-way, chances are they
would actually by now only have realized half of that. As long as we don?t
have sanctions for countries that don?t meet the targets; the main thing is
to encourage, to say ?We can make it?.



Chances are, once we get to 2015, we?ll set some more targets and I have a
feeling those targets will not be as harsh as the ones we?re having because,
let?s face it, the world was suffering [when the targets were set in 2005],
ARVs were very expensive, so we needed that impetus.



Q: As far as you are concerned, the next set of goals to focus on would be
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

A: Well, the MDGs have number six in there ? to halt and reverse the spread
of HIV. I would say we are reaching that goal so by 2015, we will be saying,
have we reached our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero deaths and zero
discrimination? We won?t have, so I can see us now taking that vision and
saying, let?s see how by 2020, for example, we can reach that particular
target.



Q: Is this vision of zero new infections new?

A: Yes, it?s a new vision we?re now aiming for? because as you put more and
more people on ARVs, it means the prevalence increases - those people are
not dying. So you can no longer look at prevalence because it?s going up,
but you can look at incidence, which is the number of new infections and
we?re saying we?re aiming for zero.



Q: Besides money, what do you think are the greatest barriers to achieving
universal access?

A: The greatest barriers so far are really stigma and discrimination. There
is still criminalization of certain groups that we call key populations: men
who have sex with men, sex workers, injecting drug users, transgender
populations. To me, that is still the barrier in the sense that we have
already statistics that show that in Africa, [34 percent of] men who have
sex with men also reported that they were married and 54 percent reported
that they had had sex with both men and women in the past six months.



You are now seeing that because these populations are excluded, if you
criminalize them, they will go underground and? even before you talk about
human rights it means you?ll never achieve zero infections because we have a
group that?s not accessing services.



Of course, when you look at human rights, these people have the same rights
to access HIV prevention, care and support services as the other
populations. So I think in the next two years, those are the issues that
we?ll be grappling with. We?re seeing that certain countries are putting
them in jail, it doesn?t help at all; some countries have gone backwards.
But fortunately it?s not all African countries. We have South Africa that
recognizes men who have sex with men, and Rwanda. Little by little we?ll get
there.



*5*

La epidemia de sida se estabiliza a nivel mundial *
*La Raz?n, Spain

30/11/2010



En concreto, los datos del 'Informe de ONUSIDA sobre la epidemia mundial de
sida 2010' muestran que, en 2009, unos 2,6 millones de personas se
infectaron por primera vez con el VIH, una cifra casi un 20 por ciento
inferior a los 3,1 millones de 1999. Asimismo, se estima que 1,8 millones de
personas fallecieron en 2009 como consecuencia de esta enfermedad, cerca de
un 20 por ciento menos que los 2,1 millones que murieron en 2004.



Se estima que, a finales del a?o pasado, 33,3 millones de personas viv?an
con VIH, una cifra "ligeramente superior" a los 32,8 millones de 2008,
explican los autores de este documento. Esto se debe en gran parte a que las
personas viven cada vez m?s tiempo gracias al aumento del acceso a la
terapia antirretroviral, aseguran.



En este sentido, entre 2001 y 2009, la tasa de nuevas infecciones se
estabiliz? o se redujo en m?s de un 25 por ciento en, al menos, 56 pa?ses en
el mundo, 34 de los cuales se encuentran en el Africa Subsahariana, la zona
m?s castigada por esta epidemia a nivel   global.



Sin embargo, los especialistas advierten de que, aunque el n?mero de nuevas
infecciones por el VIH sea cada vez menor, por cada persona que inicia el
tratamiento, dos contraen el virus, debido en gran parte a que las
inversiones en los programas de prevenci?n "no han sido en su conjunto
adecuadas o se han distribuido deficientemente", indican.



Sobre las nuevas infecciones, desde esta organizaci?n han dado la voz de
alarma en siete pa?ses, la mayor?a en Europa oriental y Asia central, donde
las tasas de nuevas infecciones por el VIH han aumentado un 25 por ciento.




A?n as?, desde ONUSIDA reconocen que hay campos de la prevenci?n en los que
se ha invertido de forma correcta, como aquellos   destinados a evitar que
las madres con VIH transmitan la enfermedad a sus hijos. Fruto de estas
iniciativas, el n?mero total de ni?os que nacen con el virus ha disminuido
un 24 por ciento en cinco a?os, hasta los 370.000 registrados en 2009.



Respecto al tratamiento, el informe constata que las personas que viven con
el VIH viven m?s tiempo y que las muertes relacionadas con   el sida est?n
descendiendo gracias a la ampliaci?n del acceso a las terapias.



As?, las estad?sticas de ONUSIDA afirman que el n?mero total de personas que
siguen la terapia se ha multiplicado por 7,5 en los ?ltimos cinco a?os: de
700.000 personas en 2004 a 5,2 millones de afectados en 2009.



De hecho, s?lo en el transcurso del ?ltimo a?o, 1,2 millones de personas m?s
accedieron al tratamiento, un aumento del 30 por ciento respecto a 2008. En
la vertiente negativa, casi el doble de personas, 10 millones, todav?a est?n
a la espera de recibir antirretrovirales, la mayor parte de ellos en pa?ses
empobrecidos.



En referencia a las relaciones sexuales de riesgo en la adolescencia, el
documento subraya que entre los j?venes de los 15   pa?ses m?s afectados por
la epidemia, la tasa de nuevas infecciones ha descendido m?s de un 25 por
ciento, debido principalmente a que   este grupo "est? adoptando pr?cticas
sexuales m?s seguras".



El informe de ONUSIDA hace especial hincapi? sobre el estado de la infecci?n
en Africa, el continente m?s castigado por el VIH, donde   s?lo el Africa
Subsahariana acapara el 69 por ciento de todas las nuevas infecciones de
todo el mundo. Entre los datos positivos, los   analistas de la ONU han
destacado que el VIH entre ni?os ha ca?do un 32 por ciento en el Africa
Subsahariana.



Adem?s, de los cinco pa?ses con mayores tasas de infecciones de la regi?n,
cuatro (Etiop?a, Sud?frica, Zambia y Zimbabwe) han reducido los niveles de
nuevas infecciones por el VIH en m?s de un 25 por ciento, mientras que en
Nigeria la epidemia se ha estabilizado, de   acuerdo con los ?ltimos datos.




En el caso espec?fico de Sud?frica, con la mayor concentraci?n de casos de
todo el planeta (de los casi 50 millones de habitantes, 5,6 est?n
infectados), la tasa de nuevas infecciones entre j?venes de 18 a?os
descendi? de un 1,8 por ciento en 2005 a un 0,8 por ciento en   2008,
mientras que en las j?venes de entre 15 y 24 a?os, descendi? de un 5,5 a un
2,2 por ciento entre 2003 y 2008.



"Estamos desviando la trayectoria de la epidemia de sida con   acciones
audaces y decisiones inteligentes", afirma el director ejecutivo de ONUSIDA,
Michel Sidib?. "Las inversiones en la respuesta al sida --asegura-- est?n
dando sus frutos, pero las ganancias son fr?giles. El reto es ahora ver c?mo
podemos trabajar juntos para acelerar los progresos".



*6*

Cricketers to sport red ribbons on World AIDS Day
Sify News, India

29/11/2010



New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Leading international cricket players will be
sporting red ribbons in their upcoming matches to mark World AIDS Day (Dec
1) and to support those living with HIV, according to a release.



The initiative is a part of the Think Wise partnership - a joint partnership
between the International Cricket Council (ICC), UNAIDS, Unicef and the
Global Media AIDS Initiative since 2003. It aims to raise awareness around
HIV prevention and eliminate discrimination against people living HIV and
AIDS.



'Two million people die of AIDS-related deaths each year and nearly
three-quarters of them come from sub-Saharan Africa. These are people who
watch me play cricket on television, support me in the stadium and this
makes it all seem very real to me,' said South African cricket captain
Graeme Smith, a release here said.



'By wearing a red ribbon we are sending a message to the millions of fans
across the world that you shouldn't discriminate against people living with
HIV,' he added.



Three one-day internationals - between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, India and
New Zealand and Sri Lanka and West Indies as well as the opening day of the
Ashes Test match between Australia and England will see players sporting the
red ribbon.



Sri Lanka captain and Think Wise champion Kumar Sangakkara said: 'Many
people living with HIV live in cricket-playing countries. It is something
that you cannot escape, no matter where we play.'



'This lack of awareness is compounded by the discrimination that those
living with HIV and AIDS undergo. It is, therefore, important to create
awareness to stop the spread of the virus while also curbing discrimination
and as international cricketers we can help to achieve this objective,' he
said, according to the release.



'The red ribbon that we wear symbolises our support for the cause to help
those living with HIV and AIDS to live a full and productive life in society
without giving up hope. It is a disease that we should fight by
understanding how it spreads and encouraging people to talk about things
like sexuality in their homes.'



Players will also wear red ribbons in important matches at the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011, including the quarter-final, semi-final and final matches,
an official said.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



Somalia: Baby Steps Towards a PMTCT Programme *
*IRIN PlusNews

29/11/2010



Nairobi/Hargeisa ? Many African countries are struggling to eliminate
mother-to-child HIV transmission, a vital component of the universal access
to HIV prevention target, but in Somalia a programme to prevent such
infections is just getting started.



In 2008, only six Somali women received prevention of mother-to-child HIV
transmission (PMTCT) services, although more than 2,600 women were estimated
to need them. Not a single health centre delivered the complete PMTCT
package which includes HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral
prophylaxis and infant feeding support.



Earlier this year, however, a programme finally got off the ground, with
PMTCT services starting to be offered at 21 sites in all three Somali
regions - Puntland in the northeast, Somaliland in the northwest and
south-central Somalia.



Faisa Abdirashid, HIV officer with UNICEF in Puntland, explained that women
who test positive receive psychosocial support and are referred to hospitals
where they receive antiretrovirals to prevent transmission as well as advice
on infant feeding options.



In addition, UNICEF and its partners are strengthening Somalia's weak health
system by renovating health facilities and training health workers.



Progress

The PMTCT programme aims to reach 5,000 pregnant women annually with a
comprehensive package, but so far, uptake has been slow.



In the first half of 2010, 1,344 women were tested at the PMTCT sites, 10 of
whom tested positive (HIV prevalence in Somalia is comparatively low at 0.7
percent, according to the latest figures from UNAIDS).



I know that a mother can transmit [HIV] to her child, but I don't know how



Abdirashid said although uptake of services is low, it has been increasing
every month. In Eldere and Harardhere (in south-central Somalia), for
example, the number of pregnant women who accepted HIV counselling and
testing nearly doubled during the July to September period compared to
previous months. In total, 41 percent of the 2,185 women who came for
antenatal visits agreed to be tested.



Challenges

Abdirashid noted that health services remain unavailable in most villages
and that most Somali women still have very low awareness of HIV.



"I know that a mother can transmit [HIV] to her child, but I don't know
how," said Hibo Osman, a mother of one from Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland.



According to the latest UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS
report from Somalia, a knowledge, attitude and practice baseline survey
conducted in Puntland's Mudug region in 2008 found that less than 1 percent
of respondents identified PMTCT as an important intervention for preventing
HIV transmission to an unborn baby.



According to Abdirashid, stigma is also a major barrier to PMTCT efforts.



"Some of the women who refused the HIV testing did so because they feared
the stigma that an HIV-positive diagnosis would bring, especially within
their own families," she said



Anwar Abdirahman Warsame, executive director of the Sahan Network, a local
NGO working in the field of HIV in Somaliland, confirmed that people with
HIV are severely discriminated against, often by their own families and
communities. "It is very necessary to give more education of the disease and
its transmission to the public," he said.



Efforts to expand the PMTCT programme are also limited by the country's poor
health infrastructure and continuing insecurity in south-central Somalia. In
areas that are particularly difficult to work in, UNICEF is partnering with
local NGOs to ensure women can access services.



"UNICEF and partners plan to scale up the number of [PMTCT] sites," said
Abdirashid. "Awareness-raising will also be increased - messages are passed
on at maternal and child health centres, through radio and other education
and communication materials."



*2*

Let Us Protect the Young Ones
New Vision, Uganda

29/11/2010



Diana Kadama



NO doubt, HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence - thanks to antiretroviral
therapy and people opening up about their status.



As the world commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday (December 1), under
the theme, Universal Access and Human Rights; Uganda is fighting hard to
bring down the high infection rate among babies by getting more parents to
participate in the cause.



Under this year's theme, the world has pledged to work towards universal
access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as
fundamental human rights.



Statistics show that 25,000 babies are infected every year, despite the
availability of free prevention of mother-to-child transmission services at
over 1,000 health facilities.



The high infection rate is attributed to failure to attend antenatal
clinics, stigma and ignorance, among others. Luckily, with antiretroviral
treatment, we can bring down HIV infections among babies.



We also discuss urinary tract infections among children. According to Mulago
Hospital statistics, 14 out of 100 children that seek treatment at the
referral centre have the infection. We explore the causes, symptoms and
prevention.



We also take you through the tremendous medicinal benefits of hibiscus, the
flower that many have grown in their homes for beauty purposes.



*5*

Need to raise AIDS awareness stressed
Biomed Middle East

30/11/2010



By MAHER ABBAS | ARAB NEWS



RIYADH: AIDS levels in Gulf Cooperation Council countries are at a minimum
compared to other countries in the east of the Mediterranean, an official
from the Council of GCC Health Ministers said on Monday.



?The rate of AIDS in the GCC countries is 1.95 per 100,000 people,? Tawfiq
Khoja, director general of the council?s executive office said in a
statement to mark World AIDS Day, which falls on Wednesday.



According to a study from the World Health Organization in 2007, more than
33.4 million people in the world are HIV positive, including 2.5 million who
have recently contracted the disease.



The study put AIDS-related deaths at 2.1 million, while the most affected
region is Africa, accounting for 68 percent of the total number of cases in
the world.



?Many unhygienic habits have to be stopped to bring the disease under
control,? Khoja said, adding that fears of the disease spreading in the GCC
region is attributed to some undesirable behavior among some sections of the
population.



Khoja said some of the causes of the disease in the Gulf region included an
insufficient knowledge about HIV and AIDS, high rate of migration and
movement of people to cities, and increased hypodermic drug use, in addition
to expatriates from high-risk countries seeking jobs in the region.



?Given the magnitude of the problem, the issue should be dealt with by all
sections of society and establishments. It is the responsibility of each
individual to protect society from the spread of the disease,? he said.



?Concerted efforts should be made by all with planning, education and
awareness about the prevention and treatment of the disease,? he added.



Khoja pointed out that strategies adopted by the ministries of health in the
GCC to combat AIDS include a decision to stop importing blood from abroad
and surveillance and comprehensive medical examination of all employees
coming to work in the GCC countries.



The strategy also includes intensified awareness campaigns among citizens.



He also stressed the need for strengthening religious values against illegal
sexual relations, especially among young people, apart from conducting
awareness campaigns about how its transmission could be avoided.



The strategy also includes steps to eliminate any social stigma and
isolation against patients.



He added that procedures for those who volunteer for AIDS checkups have also
been simplified. Those who intend to marry should also undergo tests to
check for contagious diseases, including AIDS.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Sex becomes main source of AIDS spread in drug-plagued China province
Pleople?s Daily China

29/11/2010



Sexual transmission has overtaken drug use as the main cause of the spread
of the HIV/AIDS virus in southwest China's Yunnan Province where AIDS has
killed up to 11,609 people in the past two decades, local health officials
said Monday.



Yunnan neighors Asia's notorious opium producing region, known as the
"Golden Triangle" stretching across the mountainous borders of Myanmar,
Thailand and Laos. The sharing of contaminated needles among drug users was
the most common cause of transmission in Yunnan in the past.



But about 71 percent of new infections reported to the health authorities in
the first 10 months this year were a result of sexual contact, said Xu
Heping, vice director of the provincial health bureau.



About 8,670 people living with HIV/AIDS were reported in Yunnan from January
to October. More than 2,000 patients died of AIDS in that period.



The number of infections through sex were up 6.7 percent from the same
period last year, Xu said. A fifth of new cases contracted the virus from a
spouse.



"The epidemic spread among spouses is alarming," Xu said.



The ratio of infections through drug use had been declining steadily since
2005, while infections among prostitutes -- a key guage for sexual
transmission -- remained largely unchanged, Xu said.



Health experts say the spread of HIV/AIDS through spouses indicates the
virus is spreading from high risk groups to the general public.



About 740,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in China, according to government
statistics.

Source: Xinhua



*2*

HCM City to build on HIV success rate
VietNamNet Bridge

29/11/2010



*VietNamNet Bridge ? HCM City planned to reduce the rate of new HIV
infections to less than 1 per cent in 2015 and maintain it in the following
years, health officials said at a conference last Saturday*



Since 2008, the number of new HIV infections, those who contract AIDS, as
well as those who die of the disease had reduced consistently, they said.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu, who chaired the conference that reviewed
20 years of struggle against the pandemic, praised the city for its
unstinting efforts to contain and prevent the pandemic.

Lauding the achievements recorded in curbing the spread of the virus and
disease, he said: "Compared with other localities, HCM City, with 25 per
cent of the nation's new HIV cases, has always taken the lead in fighting
AIDS."

Dr Le Truong Giang, deputy head of HCM City AIDS Committee, expressed
confidence that the city could build on its achievements so far to vastly
improve results in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the next five years and
beyond. He estimated the rate of new HIV infections among those above 15
years of age at 1.27 per cent for 2010.

He said the number of newly infected HIV persons above 15 years of age would
grow from 6,152 in 2011 to 7,102 in 2015, adding that if the city maintained
the same HIV prevention campaign, it would have more than 33,000 new HIV
infections five years from now.

Customers of sex workers were most vulnerable to the pandemic, while drug
users, sex workers and men who have sex with men would also form a
significant part of new HIV infections in coming years, Giang said.

He warned that HIV transmission among men who have sex with men could spread
very quickly during the years to come. The rate of infection within the
group could double in five years, from 9.38 per cent in 2010 to 18.64 per
cent in 2015. Until 2007, HIV infections had increased sharply in the city,
with 10,515 new cases and about 700 people dying of AIDS that year, the
conference heard.

The city's first HIV case was diagnosed in 1990. The situation had improved
a lot from 2008 onwards and the number of fatalities from new infections had
reduced dramatically, Giang said, adding that several HIV/AIDS prevention
programmes implemented by the city had taken effect.

Awareness campaigns had received strong support from peer educators,
officials said at the conference. There are currently 58 groups of HIV peer
educators in the city and they work hard to educate street youth,
particularly those who are more vulnerable to contracting the virus.

The city's programme on free HIV consulting, treatment, awareness on
mother-to-child HIV transmission and others has contributed to the city's
success in curbing the pandemic spreading.

Every year, the city provides consultancy services and HIV tests to at least
100,000 pregnant women, of whom about 600 are found HIV positive. It has
been able to save 150 children from contracting the virus. During the past
five years, about 800 children have been saved.

The city's provision of free ARV treatment for HIV positive individual has
reached half of the city's people living with the virus, it is estimated.
According to the AIDS committee, the city currently has been offering free
treatment to around 40,000 HIV patients.

The free anti-retroviral treatment offered to every HIV/AIDS patient had
also been very successful, helping save an estimated 10,000 patients from
death, Giang said.

VietNamNet/Viet Nam News



*3*

Govt to treat HIV-AIDS woes of migrants
The Himalayan, Nepal

29/11/2010



Himalayan News Service



KATHMANDU: The Ministry of Health and Population is all set to announce a
new ?comprehensive programme for migrant workers? for the first time in the
country to address the HIV/AIDS epidemic.



Dr KK Rai, director of National Centre for AIDS and STD Control (NCASC) said
the government has identified migrant workers as the ?Most At Risk
Population (MARP) ? of HIV/AIDS and is accordingly introducing new programme
which is targeted towards them after two months.



According to Central Bureau of Statistic-July 2010, there are about 1.5
million migrant workers in the country. Hill districts in the far west and
highway districts are the source population for migration.



A recent report of NCASC showed that among the total estimated population of
HIV/AIDS, 41 per cent are migrant population from India and 21.5 per cent
are spouses of these migrants from rural and five per cent from urban areas.
It further showed that 22 per cent of migrants from mid- and far-west
districts and 10 per cent from west had had sex with sex workers in India.



?We are focusing over awareness programme at the origin and transit points
in the initial phase in coordination with various NGOs,? said Karki adding
that for the first time the government has dispersed money directly to
address the problem of migrant workers in a wider perspective. Earlier, the
government was addressing the problem of migrant workers along with other
risk groups.



According to NCASC-2010, the estimated number of people living with HIV in
Nepal is about 64,000 and the estimated adult HIV prevalence was 0.39 per
cent. As of June 2010, a total of 15,945 HIV cases of AIDS had been reported
and about 31 per cent of reported HIV cases were women aged 15-49.



The government is serious towards migrant workers? issues as a high
proportion of migrants with risk behaviour in the far- and mid-west has
added a new dimension to the disease, said Karki, adding that NGOs are
playing a vital role in creating awareness among MARPs.



According to UNGASS Country Progress Report Nepal 2010, the estimated adult
with HIV prevalence rate in Nepal was 0.49 per cent, and nearly 50 per cent
of total HIV infections were recorded along the



highway districts across the country. While the overall HIV prevalence among




the labour migrants and rural/ urban women is low, the labour migrants and
low risk women (rural and urban) account for almost 40 per cent and 26 per
cent to total infection, respectively, showed the report.



*4*

HIV/AIDS support services in South Asia largely absent: UN
Sify, India

30/11/2010



New Delhi, Nov 30 (IANS) HIV/AIDS support services and treatment for
migrants in South Asia, including India, are largely absent and need to be
stepped up, a UNDP report released here Tuesday said a day ahead of World
AIDS Day.



The report, 'HIV/AIDS and Mobility in South Asia', offers analysis and
recommendations to address current HIV and migration trends in seven
countries of the Asian sub-region which is home to 2 to 3.5 million of the
estimated 33.3 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide.



Caitlin Wiesen, UNDP country director in India, said: 'While migration
itself is not considered a vulnerability factor for HIV infections, the
unsafe conditions under which people migrate exposes them to a greater risk
of infection.'



The report said that the region's HIV epidemic is concentrated among
vulnerable groups such as injecting drug users, men who have sex with men,
and sex workers and their clients. Several million migrant male workers are
at risk of infection as they tend to buy sex when they are away from home,
it added.



Trafficking of women and children from the northeast and neighbouring
countries in India is a serious issue that needs to be tackled, it said.



In Bangladesh, 67 percent of identified HIV positive cases are returned
migrant workers and their spouses. In Nepal, 2007 statistics showed that 41
percent of reported HIV cases were among migrant workers. More than 40
percent of Sri Lankan women who have tested positive, abroad and at home,
are or have been international migrants, the report said.



Countries that send migrants out, such as Bangladesh, India and Nepal, have
clear national policies against mandatory HIV testing. In Sri Lanka,
mandatory medical testing for departing migrant workers is approved by the
government. In the Maldives, HIV screening is required for all jobseekers
and all workers who spend more than a year outside the country.



Calling for a strong support system for reintegration of migrants, the
report said: 'HIV-positive returnees often prefer to hide their deported
status, as well as their HIV status, for fear of exclusion and humiliation.'




Among the report's recommendations are safe mobility and migration under
international labour standards and conventions, non-discrimination and
protection against abuse and other human rights violations, minimum wage and
gender equity, improved access to HIV services, counselling and legal aid
and protection from deportation on grounds of HIV positive status.



While the report takes a strong stand against mandatory HIV testing, it says
that the test maybe done for migrants with their consent. Confidentiality of
the person however must be respected and pre and post counselling should be
done.



*5*

Campaign to target risk groups
Straits Times, Singapore

29/11/2010



BEIJING - AN INTERVENTION program will be expanded to include at least 90
per cent of groups considered at high risk of contracting HIV/AIDS by 2015,
in a move to reverse the spread of the virus, a leading health official
said.



Currently, less than 40 per cent of such groups, including men having sex
with men (MSM) and sex workers, have ever been reached for HIV/AIDS
intervention, Hao Yang, deputy director of the disease prevention and
control bureau of the Ministry of Health, told China Daily.



'The disease is striking these groups particularly hard with infections
rising sharply, though the government has checked the trend of fast-rising
HIV infections,' he said ahead of World AIDS Day, which falls on Wednesday.



By the end of October, China detected roughly 44,000 new HIV infections this
year, with nearly 13 per cent infected through gay sex, the latest ministry
statistics showed.



Reported AIDS-related deaths reached 68,000, up nearly 20,000 year-on-year.



The latest intervention target is set in China's next Five-Year Action Plan
to Control HIV/AIDS (2011-2015), which is still under discussion, Mr Hao
said. -- CHINA DAILY/ANN



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



Gender bias evident in Aids spread *
*Irish Times

30/11/2010



BILL CORCORAN in Cape Town



Young South African women are three times more likely to be infected with
HIV than men of a similar age



ONE OF the main barriers to significantly reducing new HIV infections and
Aids deaths in sub-Saharan Africa is the negative attitude towards gender
equality held by many men.



While the United Nations announcement last week that the number of new
infections and deaths from the virus were falling globally for the first
time was a welcome breakthrough, experts say the virus continues to affect
women disproportionately due to their low status in the developing world.



According to the UN?s programme on HIV/Aids (UNAids), the virus has become
the leading cause of death and disease among women of reproductive age
worldwide.



The combination of the female anatomy, which is more susceptible to
contracting the virus than the male?s, and a broad base of gender
inequalities, means young South African women are three times more likely to
be infected with HIV than men of a similar age.



On a global scale, the UN has estimated that of the 5.5 million young people
aged 15-24 living with HIV in developing countries in 2007, about 62 per
cent were female.



In South Africa, considered at the heart of the HIV epidemic, it appears
that some men?s negative attitude to gender equality regularly manifest
themselves in the form of violence against women.



Last week, a medical study on violence against women released by South
Africa?s Medical Research Council (MRC) revealed some startling findings
about violence against women in a country where the culture of patriarchy is
dominant.



Conducted in Gauteng, South Africa?s the most densely populated and
cosmopolitan province, The War At Home survey showed that more than one in
three men questioned admitted to rape, while three in four men said they had
perpetrated violence against women.

In addition, researchers found that nearly nine out of 10 men believe a
woman should obey her husband. And, surprisingly, the study also revealed
that almost six out of 10 women agreed with this assertion.



Rachel Jewkes of the MRC said: ?We see a situation where the use of violence
is so widespread that not only is it seen as being legitimate, but I think
quite often women forget it. They just see it as a normal effect.?



Nonhlanhla Mokwena, the executive director of the Gauteng-based People
Opposing Women Abuse, believes the combination of women?s low socio-economic
standing and men?s adherence to patriarchy has left females so vulnerable to
HIV.



?Women from disadvantaged areas tend to be dominated by their partners due
to the patriarchy that exists in their culture, so they accept a lot of bad
behaviour from men. And because men control the finances, it is difficult
for them to break away,? she said.



African culture has often been accused of being the main factor when it
comes to trying to understand why large numbers of men have problems in
accepting equality between the sexes as the norm.



However, independent gender, politics and culture analyst Nomboniso Gasa
said that pointing to your culture as a way to justify your actions was
misleading.



?I think that blaming culture to justify your actions is a conscious choice
made by some men to not take responsibility. They do it to justify social
behaviours that are unacceptable. They dress it in the ?culture? garb so it
can?t be questioned ? because if you do question, you are accused of
emasculating men.



?But it is not only South African society. Globally there is a stereotype
around women and sexuality ? it?s just that African communities are more
susceptible to it due to their socio-economic situation,? she explained.



One of the most effective ways to stop the spread of HIV is through the use
of condoms, but the UN believes up to 70 per cent of women worldwide have
been forced to have unprotected sex. Why is this the case, given the dangers
of contracting HIV in this manner are widely known? Nomboniso Gasa believes
the issue for men is about control.



?Because of their fear of losing control, for many men knowledge does not
translate into behavioural change. The notion of sexuality is considered
very private and it is an area in which they can assert their dominance, so
they will not be dictated to,? she concluded.



However, Breda Gahan, a HIV/Aids specialist with Concern in Ireland,
believes it would be disingenuous to suggest that all African men are the
same when it comes to their views on gender equality issues.



?In many countries, men are engaging and endeavouring to try to change
social and cultural norms to reduce sexually transmitted disease such as
HIV.



?For instance, Concern Worldwide works with the Movement of Men Against AIDS
in Kenya [MMAAK]. This group tries to involve men from all segments of life
to actively participate in HIV prevention, care and support. And there are
others as well,? she said.



MMAAK founder Michael Onyango had this to say about positive masculinity:
?It is about men reaching out for help, however strong and courageous they
may be. It is also about men not being threatened by the empowerment of
women, but taking a lead in supporting their role in development.?



*4*

Best to focus on preventing HIV in Africa: report
Reuters

29/11/2010



By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Efforts to treat everyone in Africa infected with the
AIDS virus are virtually futile, and public health experts should instead
focus on preventing new cases, a committee of experts reported on Monday.



Currently 22.5 million people in Africa have HIV, but this number will rise
to more than 30 million by 2020 -- far more than can be treated with current
resources, according to the report from the U.S. Institute of Medicine.



At least 12 million of them will need treatment, but only seven million will
likely get those drugs, the committee of international AIDS experts
appointed by the Institute said.



"The number of people that are infected with HIV/AIDs in sub-Saharan Africa
is projected to far outstrip the available resources for treatment by 2020,"
Dr. Thomas Quinn of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore and the National
Institutes of Health told a news conference.



"Because treatment will only reach a fraction of those who need it ...
preventing new infections should be the central tenet of any long term
response to HIV/AIDS in Africa," added Quinn, who co-chaired the committee.



The committee's report projects that 70 million Africans will be infected
with the virus by 2050 unless something changes.



"Already in Uganda and a few other nations, we don't have enough health care
workers or (HIV drugs) to meet demands, and health centers are increasingly
turning away patients who need these drugs to survive," David Serwadda of
Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, said in a statement.



"If we don't act to prevent new infections, we will witness an exponential
increase in deaths and orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa in just a
couple of decades," added Serwadda, co-chair of the committee.



AIDS is caused by the human immunodeficiency virus, or HIV, which is
transmitted sexually, in blood and on shared needles, and from mother to
newborn. There is no cure and experimental vaccines are still in the early
stages of development.



A cocktail of AIDS drugs can keep patients healthy but they must be taken
for life and only a fraction of patients who need them get them.



HUGE BURDEN

"There are still at least 18 million people who are going to need treatment
if they don't already need it. Even if incidence was zero, we would still
have a huge burden of care to provide over the coming decades," said Patrick
Kelley, director of the Institute's Board on Global Health.



The U.S. government, other governments and non-profit groups have spent
billions to get drugs to patients in Africa and elsewhere and have
negotiated deals to get companies to agree to license and make cheap generic
versions of the drugs.



But it is not enough and spending is unlikely to grow much, the committee
said. African nations need to share responsibility more, the report
suggests.



"In the United States, the effects of an historic global financial crisis
and a domestic deficit approaching $2 trillion will likely drive greater
congressional scrutiny of spending on foreign assistance," the report notes.



Serwadda noted there are some good options for prevention besides using
condoms and encouraging safer sex.



Last week researchers reported that taking a once-a-day pill combining two
Gilead Sciences Inc AIDS drugs reduced the HIV infection rate by nearly 44
percent in high-risk gay and bisexual men .



In February researchers reported that HIV-infected people who took drug
cocktails were 92 percent less likely to infect their partners with the
virus. . Circumcision has been shown to protect men, as well.



A study in July showed a gel called a microbicide could help protect women
against the virus and one last year showed a vaccine had a partially
protective effect.



*5*

Journ?e contre le sida: Aides d?nonce une baisse de l'aide m?dicale d'Etat
AFP

29/11/2010



PARIS - L'association Aides a d?nonc? lundi les restrictions d'acc?s des
?trangers ? l'aide m?dicale d'Etat (AME) pr?vues dans de dispositions
l?gislatives que doit examiner le S?nat mercredi, journ?e mondiale de lutte
contre le sida.



"Aucune tr?ve n'est pr?vue, m?me pour le 1er d?cembre", a d?plor?
l'association dans un communiqu?.



"C'est le jour choisi par les s?nateurs pour valider les r?centes attaques
parlementaires contre le dispositif le plus important pour l'acc?s aux soins
des migrants les plus d?munis, l'AME", a-t-elle ajout?.



L'instauration d'un droit d'entr?e de 30 euros, et la limitation du panier
de soins couvert par l'AME "auront de graves cons?quences sur l'acc?s aux
soins d'un public d?j? vuln?rable, et sur la sant? publique sur notre
territoire", a analys? Aides.



"Plus grave encore", poursuit l'association de terrain, "c'est aujourd'hui
le droit au s?jour des ?trangers gravement malades qui se trouve menac?"
dont les s?ropositifs, "jusqu'ici en situation r?guli?re, qui seront menac?s
d'expulsion vers des pays o? il n'existe aucune garantie d'acc?s aux soins
et aux traitements".



Selon Aides, "les ?conomies d?risoires faites sur le dos des ?trangers
malades seront vite englouties par le surco?t de ces mesures pour notre
syst?me de soins".



L'association a rappel? que "la soci?t? savante et le corps m?dical ont eux
aussi vigoureusement d?nonc? ces mesures".



D?but novembre, juste apr?s l'adoption de ces mesures par l'Assembl?e
nationale, le Conseil national du sida (CNS) s'?tait insurg? contre ce droit
d'entr?e ? 30 euros, estimant que cela allait "?loigner encore davantage"
les populations d?munies de l'offre de soins.



De son c?t?, l'Ordre national des m?decins avait ?crit le 9 novembre aux
pr?sidents de groupe ? l'Assembl?e et au S?nat pour s'opposer ? une telle
mesure, contraire ? la d?ontologie et ? sa signature appos?e ? la
D?claration europ?enne pour un acc?s aux soins de sant? sans discrimination.

?AFP



*6*

Journ?e contre le sida: ruban g?ant et 250 "caf? capote" ? Paris
AFP

30/11/2010



PARIS - La journ?e mondiale contre le sida, mercredi, se traduira ? Paris
par le d?ploiement d'un ruban rouge de 10 m?tres de haut sur la fa?ade de
l'H?tel de ville et par des "caf? capote" avec distributions de
pr?servatifs, a annonc? mardi la mairie de Paris.



"Pour marquer son engagement dans la lutte contre le sida, ? Paris et dans
le monde, la ville de Paris organise des ?v?nements autour du 1er d?cembre",
annonce la mairie dans un communiqu?, citant la fa?ade de l'h?tel de ville,
qui sera illumin?e en rouge.



Un ruban rouge g?ant (de 10 m de haut) sera aussi install? sur la fa?ade de
mardi jusqu'? jeudi.



La ville organise en outre l'op?ration "caf? capote" dans plus de 250 caf?s
parisiens o? des pr?servatifs et des sous-bocks "Paris prot?ge l'amour"
seront distribu?s gratuitement. Par exemple, dans le XXe, 45 bars et
restaurants, dont des lieux connus comme La Bellevilloise ou le Mama
Shelter, participeront ? ces distributions, selon la mairie de cet
arrondissement.

?AFP



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



World AIDS Day
Jamaica Observer

30/11/2010



BY ORNELLA GREEN



Inaugurated on December 1, 1988 by the World Health Organisation, World AIDS
Day is about raising money, increasing awareness, fighting prejudice and
improving education on the issue of the AIDS pandemic caused by the HIV
infection. Observed on December 1st each year, the World AIDS Campaign is
the leading international organisation which plans and implements the
observance and provides governments, national AIDS programmes, faith
organisations, community organisations, and individuals with an opportunity
to raise awareness and focus attention on the global AIDS pandemic. The Red
Ribbon used is the global symbol for solidarity with HIV-positive people and
those living with AIDS.



The World AIDS Day theme for 2010 is 'Universal Access and Human Rights'.
This theme is designed to encourage political leaders to keep their
commitment to achieve universal access to HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment,
care, and support, recognising these as fundamental human rights. World AIDS
Day is important for reminding people that HIV has not gone away, and that
there are many things still to be done.



According to UNAIDS estimates, there are now 33.3 million people living with
HIV, including 2.5 million children. During 2009, some 2.6 million people
became newly infected with the virus and an estimated 1.8 million people
died from AIDS. Despite recent, improved access to antiretroviral treatment
and care in many regions of the world, the AIDS epidemic claimed an
estimated 2 million lives in 2007, of which about 270,000 were children. The
vast majority of people with HIV and AIDS live in lower- and middle-income
countries. But HIV today is a threat to men, women and children on all
continents around the world. In low- and middle-income countries, less than
half of those in need of antiretroviral therapy are receiving it, and too
many do not have access to adequate care services.



One of the regions of the world that is most affected by the HIV/AIDS
pandemic is the Caribbean. At the end of 2008, an estimated 240,000 people
were living with HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. Some 20,000 people were
newly infected during 2008, and there were 12,000 deaths due to AIDS.



In two countries in this region ? The Bahamas and Haiti ? more than two per
cent of the adult population is living with HIV. Higher prevalence rates are
found only in sub-Saharan Africa, making the Caribbean the second most
affected region in the world. Half of adults living with the virus are
women.



Overall, the main route of HIV transmission in the Caribbean is through
sexual intercourse. Much of this transmission is associated with commercial
sex, but the virus is also spreading in the general population. Cultural and
behavioural patterns (such as early initiation of sexual acts, and taboos
related to sex and sexuality), gender inequalities, lack of confidentiality,
stigmatisation and economic need are some of the factors influencing
vulnerability to HIV and AIDS in the Caribbean. As a result, AIDS is now one
of the leading causes of death in some of these countries, with Haiti being
the worst affected. An estimated 7,500 lives are lost each year to AIDS in
Haiti, and thousands of children have been orphaned by the epidemic.



*3*

En 2 meses hubo 38 denuncias de discriminaci?n por VIH-Sida
La Prensa, Bolivia

30/11/2010



Datos: En Bolivia, hasta septiembre se registr? un total de 5.835
seropositivos. El Defensor del Pueblo pide respeto para estas personas.



?Mar?a (nombre ficticio), una se?ora portadora del virus de
inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH) tuvo que trasladarse repentinamente de Apolo
(municipio pace?o) porque los comunarios la echaron de su poblaci?n ?Por
qu?? S?lo porque es seropositiva?, cont? la representante de Vivo en
Positivo en La Paz, Olivia Loayza.



Ante la conmemoraci?n, ma?ana, del D?a Mundial de Lucha Contra el VIH-Sida,
Loayza evoc? el caso de Mar?a, que lleg? deshecha a La Paz por la
humillaci?n que vivi? y que adem?s afect? a toda su familia. ?M?s bien
recibi? el apoyo de sus parientes en esta ciudad y la acogieron en la casa
de uno de ellos?.



El caso de Mar?a es uno de los 38 que fueron denunciados en La Paz por
discriminaci?n s?lo en dos meses.



El defensor del pueblo, Rolando Villena, asegur? que entre septiembre y
octubre de este a?o, de las 38 denuncias, 10 fueron registradas por la
Defensor?a. ?Eso es realmente grave, por lo que nos tiene que llevar a tomar
conciencia para que se tenga muy pronto una estrategia de la protecci?n a
estas personas por el Estado y por la sociedad?.



La discriminaci?n se presenta en varios sectores, coment?, ocasiona la
p?rdida de fuentes laborales y la negaci?n de atenci?n m?dica oportuna y
esencial, ?lo que se constituye en una franca violaci?n a los derechos
humanos?.



De acuerdo con Villena, la discriminaci?n a las personas en el pa?s provoc?
incluso la muerte de portadores del VIH (PVV). ?Tener el VIH no es raz?n
para que se niegue o limite derecho alguno. Todas las personas tienen
derecho a un desarrollo integral y al trato igualitario en todas las esferas
sociales?.



Por su parte, Loayza afirm? que en Bolivia se necesita de muchos aliados
para que la sociedad se abra un poco m?s a esta realidad y a la sexualidad.
La gente ?maneja este tema como un tab? y no deber?a manejarse as?. Debe
abordarse con los ni?os y j?venes, porque a?n nos falta mucho, creo que hay
que trabajar con el Ministerio de Educaci?n para impartir el tema en la
curr?cula?.



Seg?n datos del Ministerio de Salud, desde 1984, cuando se present? el
primer caso de VIH-Sida en Bolivia, hasta septiembre de 2010 se registr?
5.835 seropositivos, de ?stos el 89 por ciento est? en Santa Cruz,
Cochabamba y La Paz.



El grupo m?s vulnerable a la infecci?n por el VIH-Sida es el de las personas
entre los 14 y 35 a?os, y la relaci?n entre hombre/mujer es dos a una.



Villena manifest? que se debe dar prioridad a tres derechos fundamentales de
esta poblaci?n: igualdad y no discriminaci?n, dignidad y salud.



El derecho a la igualdad significa que estas personas puedan ejercer en
plenitud sus derechos sin que su serolog?a, sexo, edad, situaci?n econ?mica
u otros impliquen limitaciones en el ejercicio de sus actividades. En cuanto
al acceso a la salud, el Defensor afirm? que es obligaci?n del Estado
asegurarles el acceso y prestaci?n de tratamiento gratuita y oportunamente.
Finalmente, destac? la dignidad como valor fundamental del ser humano. Toda
persona que vive con el VIH-Sida recibir? un trato digno acorde con su
condici?n de ser humano.



Ni?os hacen tarjetas para juntar dinero

Con el fin de adquirir pa?ales y leche, los ni?os de la organizaci?n Vivo en
Positivo de la filial La Paz realizaron una variedad de dibujos para que la
Defensor?a del Pueblo pueda imprimirlas en tarjetas para su venta entre la
poblaci?n.



Seg?n la representante de la organizaci?n, Olivia Loayza, los 30 ni?os
registrados en La Paz como seropositivos hicieron varios dibujos, los que
fueron entregados al Defensor del Pueblo para que les apoye con la impresi?n
para su venta como tarjetas navide?as. ?Esta actividad la realizaron para
poder ayudar a los ni?os y luego comprar leche y pa?ales. Se beneficiar? a
menores de cero a ocho a?os de edad?.



Si las ganancias son mayores a lo que espera la organizaci?n, dijo Loayza,
entonces no s?lo ayudar? a los peque?os de La Paz, sino tambi?n a los que
est?n en el interior del pa?s.



Las tarjetas navide?as estar?n a la venta desde la pr?xima semana en las
oficinas del Defensor, en las tiendas de la ciudad y en las oficinas de Vivo
en Positivo, en la calle Fernando Guachalla, edificio Guachalla. Su costo
ser? menor a 10 bolivianos.



Aseguran que falta medicamentos

La organizaci?n Vivo en Positivo filial La Paz asegur? que en el pa?s hay
muchas deficiencias para responder a la necesidad de medicamentos para las
personas que viven con el VIH-Sida, por lo que pidi? al Estado dise?ar
nuevas pol?ticas que ayuden a los enfermos a tener un acceso m?s f?cil a sus
tratamientos.



?En el pa?s faltan medicamentos, muchas veces las personas y los ni?os, por
no terminar r?pido los f?rmacos que les otorga el Gobierno, consumen la
mitad de una pastilla o toman la mitad de lo que un m?dico les receta. Eso
?por qu??, para no comprarlos porque son muy caros y muy escasos en las
farmacias?, explic? la representante de la organizaci?n, Olivia Loayza.



Sin embargo, la ministra de Salud, Nila Heredia, replic? que no es que en
Bolivia falten los medicamentos: ?Nada m?s que los Servicios Departamentales
de Salud (Sedes) no piden a tiempo?. Agreg?, adem?s, que estos f?rmacos se
los obtiene a trav?s de donaciones y mediante compras que realiza el
Ministerio a su cargo.



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



An Enlightened Exchange in Iran
New York Times

29/11/2010



By TINA ROSENBERG



This is a story about a courageous policy in an unexpected place. In this
place homeless shelters have vending machines selling clean syringes for
injecting drugs.  Drug users are not prosecuted as long as they are in
treatment programs.  Drug addicts are given clean needles and methadone
maintenance therapy ? available on a widespread basis even in prison.  These
tactics have worked to reduce crime, lower H.I.V. rates among drug users and
keep AIDS from spreading out into the general population.  The place is not
Amsterdam.  It is Tehran.

In a week when the news about Iran is centered on nuclear facilities and
desperate diplomacy, I?d like to focus instead on another serious problem,
toward which this repressive, seemingly irrational theocracy has taken a
pragmatic and enlightened approach.



Sometimes there is no mystery about the best strategy to solve a problem,
but for political reasons, that strategy is not used.  Iran?s story offers
useful lessons on how to build political support for effective solutions in
tough circumstances.



In Africa, AIDS is spread mostly by sexual contact.  We know that people
need to abstain from sex, be faithful to one partner, or use condoms.  But
there has been limited success on this front. We just aren?t very good at
getting people to do these things.



In many countries, however, the primary propeller of AIDS is not sex, but
hypodermic needles shared by injecting drug users.   This is the biggest
driver of the H.I.V. epidemic in Eastern Europe, much of the Middle East and
Asia and parts of the rest of the world.  By recent measures, 62 percent of
H.I.V. infections in Russia came directly from a shared needle.  In Malaysia
it is 76 percent, in Iran 68 percent. This is not just a problem for drug
users.  Unchecked H.I.V. epidemics among drug users move out into the
general population by way of drug users? sex partners.  In a recent (and
highly entertaining) book, ?The Wisdom of Whores,? Elizabeth Pisani, an
epidemiologist and advisor to Unaids, argued that Jakarta, Indonesia, has an
H.I.V. epidemic 50 times larger than it would be if it had not allowed
H.I.V. infection rates for drug users to climb from 0 to 47 percent in the
late 1990s.



America?s AIDS emergency among black women ? who have an AIDS rate 23 times
higher than that of white women ? could have been prevented with timely
programs to prevent needle sharing.  Few of these women got H.I.V. from a
needle ? but the needle is how H.I.V. got into the black community to begin
with.



Preventing H.I.V. transmission among drug users, then, is a way to protect
everyone.



Unlike preventing sexual transmission of AIDS, this is something we can do.
The strategy is needle exchange ? giving drug abusers new needles, usually
in return for their used ones.  One reason it works is that drug users want
it: every drug injector prefers using clean needles.



Needle exchange is part of an overall approach to drugs called harm
reduction, which seeks to make drug use less deadly to the addict and to
diminish the crime and disease that drug addiction causes.  In most
countries that use harm reduction, possessing drugs is still illegal.  But
drug abuse is treated mainly as a disease, not a crime.  An example of what
harm reduction looks like  can be seen in the Persepolis clinics, in
Tehran?s south.  Persepolis began as one drop-in center in a drug-ridden
neighborhood, and later expanded to five centers.   The clinics have
outreach teams of former drug users who contact their peers on the street.  The
clinics offer needles, methadone, treatment for sexually transmitted
diseases, AIDS tests and other medical care.  They get people into drug
treatment programs.  Drug users can take showers, and sit all day and drink
tea. When there is money, the clinics serve lunch and give out clothing.  One
clinic, with an all-female staff, is only for women.  The clinics are an
avenue for drug users to come into the health system, where they can get
help.



The evidence that harm reduction works is overwhelming. Critics of needle
exchange have argued that it causes more drug use, but it has proven not to
do so. Instead, it drastically reduces H.I.V. rates by preventing a small
H.I.V. problem among drug users from becoming a large one in the general
population.  It saves money, especially compared with the usual alternative
? prison.  It fights crime.  Drug users on methadone maintenance therapy
commit far fewer crimes than other users, and are usually able to hold down
jobs and have otherwise normal lives.



But the overwhelming majority of drug injectors have no access to harm
reduction.  Widespread, effective needle exchange is mainly found in the
expected places  ? Western Europe, Australia and New Zealand.  In Russia,
the country that most needs harm reduction, methadone is illegal and needle
exchange is done only by tiny groups in a handful of cities.  While some
American cities use needle exchange (New York City is a much safer place
because of its excellent needle exchange programs), it was illegal to use
federal funds for needle exchange until last year. And under the Bush
administration, Washington bullied international agencies to abandon their
support for needle exchange.



The problem is the politics.  It seems wrong for the government to be
muddying a ?don?t-do-drugs? message by supplying the equipment for an
illegal and dangerous activity.  But to oppose harm reduction only provides
the illusion of morality.  Surely it is more moral to choose a strategy that
does not increase drug use, but does save lives.



Harm reduction is relatively new in Iran.  After the Islamic Revolution in
1979, Iran cracked down hard on drug users, declaring addiction to be
counter-revolutionary.  All drug treatment was stopped.  Hundreds of
thousands of drug users were sent to labor camps.  Possession of heroin was
a capital offense.



These punitive policies only added to a spiraling epidemic of drug use.   Ten
years ago, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) estimated
that Iran?s drug problem was one of the most serious in the world (sharing a
570-mile border with opium-growing Afghanistan does not help.)  The harsh
policies only drove drug users further underground; fear of being caught
with a needle meant users would use the community needle the dealer
provided.  Going to prison was particularly dangerous.  Prisons are havens
of needle sharing, and having been incarcerated is the single strongest
predictor of H.I.V. infection in Iran.   Good data is scarce, but at one
prison surveyed in 2001, 63 percent of all injecting drug users were H.I.V.
positive.  Testing of drug users who visited the Persepolis clinic found
that fully a quarter of them had the AIDS virus.



Yet by 2005, harm reduction had become official policy in Iran. Ayatollah
Mahmoud Shahroudi, the head of the judiciary, sent a letter to all courts
and judicial authorities instructing them to support methadone and needle
exchange.  Even prisons in Iran now have widespread methadone, and there
have been pilot projects in prisons for needle exchange ? something not yet
found in prisons in the United States, Canada or Australia.  In 2007, 95
percent of drug injectors surveyed in Iran said they had used safe equipment
when they last injected. (UNAIDS report, p. 94)



The rate of new H.I.V. infections in Iran rose until 2005, and has dropped
ever since.  A top drug control official, Saeed Sefatian, said in 2008 that
18 percent of injecting drug users were H.I.V.-positive, but estimated that
if it weren?t for harm reduction, that number would have been 40 percent.  New
infections among drug users have continued to drop.  Surveys at sentinel
sites in pre-natal clinics have not yet turned up not a single pregnant
woman with H.I.V. (UNAIDS report, p. 97) ? an excellent indication that the
epidemic has been contained.



By pointing out the success of this program, I do not mean to endorse Iran?s
prisons, where political dissidents are being tortured.  Nor does Iran?s
modern approach to harm reduction redeem the government?s stone-age approach
to just about everything else. The same ayatollah who told judges not to get
in the way of harm reduction was the man who closed dozens of newspapers.
The important point here is that even a theocracy as repressive and rigid as
Iran ? the anti-Amsterdam ? managed to create policies that have likely
saved the country from an AIDS and drug disaster. In Saturday?s column, I?ll
tell the story of how the pragmatists in Iran managed to convince the
clerics to adopt these policies ? and what other countries can learn from
their accomplishment.



*Tina Rosenberg won a Pulitzer Prize for her book ?The Haunted Land: Facing
Europe?s Ghosts After Communism.? She is a former editorial writer for The
Times and now a contributing writer for the paper?s Sunday magazine. Her new
book, ?Join the Club: How Peer Pressure Can Transform the World,? is
forthcoming from W.W. Norton.*



*2*

Farewell, Digital World. (It?s All for a Cause.)
New York Times

28/11/2010





By AMY WALLACE



ON Wednesday, Kim Kardashian is going to die a little. So is her sister,
Khlo?, not to mention Lady Gaga, David LaChapelle, Justin Timberlake, Usher,
Serena Williams and Elijah Wood.



That day is World AIDS Day, and each of these people (as well as a host of
others ? the list keeps growing) will sacrifice his or her own digital life.
By which these celebrities mean they will stop communicating via Twitter and
Facebook. They will not be resuscitated, they say, until their fans donate
$1 million.



?Dry your eyes, everybody,? Ryan Seacrest, the ?American Idol? host and
another participant in this cyberstunt, says in a videotaped ?Last Tweet and
Testament? that will be posted on his Facebook profile ? and appended to a
final post on Twitter ? sometime after midnight on Tuesday night. ?I don?t
plan to be dead for too long.?



He adds, ?Please buy back my life.?



?Come on, y?all,? the actress Jennifer Hudson says in a similar videotaped
plea. ?Buy my life back. Go on a shopping spree and buy as much of it as you
can.?



It?s all part of the latest gambit by the singer-songwriter Alicia Keys to
raise money for her charity, Keep a Child Alive, which finances medical care
and support services for children and families affected by H.I.V. and AIDS
in Africa and India.



It?s rare that the Prototype column pays attention to celebrities, but Ms.
Keys is the second one who has caught our attention by harnessing fame to
philanthropy in an innovative way. The actor Ed Norton, who was featured in
the September column, created a Web site that makes it easy to rally people
to your cause.



Ms. Keys is up to something slightly different. She knows that she?s not
alone in thinking that America increasingly treats its celebrities like
commodities. But she believes she?s the first to tether that reality to
technology to do some good.



?It?s really exciting. No foundation has used the technology before like we
are,? says Ms. Keys, 29, a multiple Grammy Award winner.



On Sept. 30, Ms. Keys and her charity?s co-founder, Leigh Blake, started Buy
Life, which sells $35 gray T-shirts imprinted with a bar code. People who
have uploaded a Stickybits or Wimo application to their smartphones can
donate $10 to Keep a Child Alive simply by scanning any Buy Life T-shirt?s
bar code.



?This Shirt Fights AIDS,? the shirts say on the back. ?Scan the bar code or
Text ?BUYLIFE? to 90999 to Join the Fight.?



The planned ?Digital Death? this week will take that idea a step further.
Famous people with lots of friends, fans and followers will go silent
online, but not before calling for an outbreak of generosity. The
participants are believed to have nearly 29 million fans on Twitter alone.



And as of Sunday, three days before World AIDS Day, stylized full-color
photographs of celebrities lying in coffins, seemingly lifeless, with eyes
closed, are to be displayed on the Buy Life Web site.



?Kim Kardashian is DEAD,? says the text that accompanies one of those
photos, which features the reality-show star in a low-cut sequined burial
outfit that suggests she ?died? after a night out clubbing. ?Kim sacrificed
her digital life to give real life to millions of others,? it adds, asking
fans to ?visit Buylife.org or text ?KIM? to ?90999? to buy her life now.?



The strategy here is not just to shock people into paying attention but to
enable them to give by doing, as Ms. Keys puts it, ?what you always do.?



?You?re always texting your friends,? she says. ?Now, you?re going to text
to Buy Life.?



All that fans have to do is text the first name of the celebrity they?re
?mourning? to 90999, and $10 will be donated.



?It?s a really instant way of grabbing their compassion,? Ms. Blake says.



You?ve heard of impulse buying. These women hope to create a new phenomenon:
impulse giving. But the twist is that they?re still couching it in retail
terms ? winking at people in a way that makes them want to join in. ?We?re
taking the fixation with retail and with buying and all of that, and we?re
turning it on its head,? Ms. Blake says.



Ms. Keys first learned the power of texting a couple of years ago, when she
appeared on ?American Idol? and, with a single on-the-air plea, raised ?half
a million dollars in about four minutes,? Ms. Blake says, adding that to
date, Keep a Child Alive has raised $27 million.



More recently, when Ms. Keys set out to recruit her fellow luminaries to
?die? along with her ? she made all the calls herself ? she was struck that
?when I laid down the whole concept, it was impossible to say no.?



Ms. Blake has a theory about why. By packaging famous people like any other
consumer product, she says, Keep a Child Alive is acknowledging something
that many A-listers already know. ?The artists and celebrities get that they
are sort of being devoured already,? she says. ?So they might as well have a
bar code.?



She adds, however, that she expects the Buy Life campaign to spread far
beyond its most recognizable participants: ?My dream is to walk around New
York City and see the traffic stopped because people are all scanning each
other?s T-shirts.?



Whether people will miss their favorite stars? 140-character missives enough
to pay money to restore them remains to be seen. But if even one in 1,000 of
the 3,465,527 followers of @jtimberlake is willing to donate $10 to
reactivate the account on which he recently posted ?Happy Halloween
everybody!? ? well, it will start to add up.



Similarly, if each of the 3,649,592 people who follow @RyanSeacrest texts
?RYAN? to 90999, well, it won?t be long before we all can again enjoy such
pearls of wisdom as this recent post: ?have u ever been getting a massage
... then feel some gurgling in ur stomach ... and fear a gas attack?? What
do u do?!?



MS. BLAKE says she is braced for the digital-death campaign to create some
confusion. ?I?m sure there will be some people who get it wrong,? she says,
predicting ?a flurry of freak-outs among a few who think Kim Kardashian or
Alicia Keys are actually dead. That will be outrageous.?



But that?s part of the point.



?We?re not one of those enormous twinset-and-pearls kind of bureaucracies;
we?re a small, energetic activist organization,? Ms. Blake says. ?And we
think the language of donations is boring.?



Ms. Keys agrees, describing her philanthropic approach as simply ?rock
star.?



?Everything is done just rebellious,? she says. ?You want to show all your
folks and your friends: ?Look what I?m into. Get into it, too!??



E-mail: proto at nytimes.com.

*A version of this article appeared in print on November 28, 2010, on page
BU3 of the New York edition*



*3*

AIDS in South Africa (Letter)
New York Times

29/11/2010



To the Editor:



Re ?Even With Prevention, H.I.V. to Spread in South Africa? (news article,
Nov. 20):



The recent report on AIDS in South Africa, where Doctors Without Borders has
been providing AIDS treatment for 10 years, lays out stark policy choices
its government must make in order to reduce AIDS deaths and avert millions
of infections in the next 20 years.



As a first step, South Africa must fully implement new World Health
Organization guidelines for earlier initiation of antiretroviral therapy.



In our program in neighboring Lesotho, where the government adopted these
guidelines in 2008, we documented dramatically lower hospitalization and
mortality rates and improved retention in care among patients starting
treatment earlier. But so far, South Africa has opted for only partial
implementation of these guidelines because of resource constraints.



To break the back of the epidemic, even more ambitious approaches to
prevention, testing and treatment will need to be explored to reduce illness
and death and ultimately prevent new infections. Averting disaster will
require greatly increased international financing at a time when the Global
Fund is facing a budget shortfall and the United States government has
virtually frozen AIDS funding.



After a decade of disastrous AIDS denialism, South Africa is finally getting
back on track. We can?t turn our backs now.

*Rachel M. Cohen, Head of Mission, Doctors Without Borders*

*South Africa and Lesotho, Cape Town, Nov. 24, 2010 *



*4*

Merck Halts Study of Once-Daily HIV Drug
Wall Street Journal

29/11/2010



By PETER LOFTUS



Merck & Co. said Monday it will end a study of HIV drug Isentress after
initial results showed a once-daily dosage wasn't as effective as the
standard twice-daily regimen.



Merck had hoped a once-daily Isentress would be a more convenient option for
HIV-positive patients who generally take multiple drugs everyday. The
company had expected to file for regulatory approval of the once-daily
version next year but now appears unlikely to do so.



"We will discuss the full results of the study with regulatory agencies,"
said Merck spokeswoman Pam Eisele. The company plans to submit the full data
for presentation at a scientific meeting in 2011.



The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Isentress in 2007 as the
first of a new class of HIV drugs known as HIV integrase inhibitors, which
work by interfering with the virus's ability to replicate itself.



Merck, of Whitehouse Station, N.J., reported Isentress sales of $777 million
for the first nine months of 2009, up 50% from a year earlier.



The new study was designed to demonstrate that once-daily Isentress was
"non-inferior" to the current twice-daily version in suppressing the virus
that can cause AIDS if left unchecked. About 770 patients were enrolled,
with about half taking once-daily and half taking twice-daily Isentress,
which was combined with other HIV drugs in both treatment groups.



After 48 weeks of treatment, some 83.2% of those on once-daily Isentress
achieved undetectable viral levels, versus 88.9% on Isentress twice-daily.
The difference didn't meet the predefined statistical criteria for
noninferiority.



Merck said much of the difference was among patients with high viral load.



Safety and tolerability of the two regimens were similar and consistent with
current information in the drug's prescribing label, Merck said. The
Isentress label warns of infections, nausea and other side effects
associated with the drug's use.

*?Matt Jarzemsky contributed to this article. *

*Write to Peter Loftus at peter.loftus at dowjones.com *



*5*

Panic among Kenya's gays after PM's arrest threat
Associated Press

29/11/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



By TOM ODULA



NAIROBI, Kenya -- An official with Kenya's largest gay rights organization
said Monday there is panic among its members following remarks made by
Kenya's prime minister that homosexuals should be arrested.



The office of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of Kenya received calls from
concerned members, some of whom are HIV-positive and fear they will be
arrested when they collect life-prolonging medicine from government clinics,
board member Nguru Karugu said.



Prime Minister Raila Odinga on Sunday said homosexuals who are found in the
midst of sex acts will be arrested. Odinga's spokesman said in a statement
Sunday night that the prime minister was quoted out of context.



In an audio recording of Sunday's speech heard by The Associated Press, the
prime minister says in the Kenyan language of Kiswahili that "if a man is
caught having sex with the other we jail them, or if a girl is caught with
the other ... we will jail them." In the latter part of his statement he
used profanity to explain lesbianism.



"We want a country that is clean, a clean way of doing thing has clean
mannerisms ... we do not want things to do with sodomy," Odinga said.



Kenya's laws prohibit "sex against the order of nature." That charge is
punishable by up to 14 years in prison.



Karugu said the prime minister's remarks are big blow to Kenya's efforts to
reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS. He said the government has included gays in
its plans to combat the virus.



Civil rights activist Zawadi Nyongo called for a protest outside the prime
minister's office on Wednesday.



Odinga's spokesman, Dennis Onyango, said the prime minister was trying to
convey how groups opposed to the country's new constitution - which was
adopted in August - used lies and scare tactics to get people to vote
against it.



Onyango said the prime minister gave two examples of opposition propaganda
that the new constitution would legalize gay marriage.



"He then added a rider that even if the constitution allowed gay marriages,
census data showed there were more women than men in Kenya and people would
naturally go for marriage with the opposite sex," Onyango said. "The
highlight on the alleged order for a crackdown completely missed the point."




*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Cricket unites on World Aids Day: Players to wear red ribbons in
international matches

UNAIDS

28/11/2010



International cricket will mark World AIDS Day and show its support for
people living with HIV this week. Players will wear red ribbons on their
shirts during international matches.



On 1 December 2010 players and match officials will wear red ribbons in the
One-Day International matches between Bangladesh-Zimbabwe, India-New Zealand
and Sri Lanka-West Indies; as well as on the opening day of the Ashes Test
Match between Australia and England on 3 December. There will also be
activities taking place at South Africa?s domestic matches to show support
for people living with HIV.



Sri Lanka captain and Think Wise champion Kumar Sangakkara believes it is
vital that cricketers show their support for the Think Wise initiative, a
joint partnership between the ICC, UNAIDS, UNICEF and the Global Media AIDS
Initiative. The campaign to raise awareness around HIV prevention and reduce
discrimination towards people living with HIV has been running since 2003.



?It is very important because many of the people living with HIV across the
world live in cricket-playing countries. It is something that you cannot
escape no matter where we play,? said Sangakkara.



?Lack of awareness about HIV is compounded by the discrimination that people
living with HIV face. It is therefore important to create awareness to stop
the spread of the virus while also curbing discrimination, and as
international cricketers, we can help to achieve this objective,? he said.



The UNAIDS Global Report gives new evidence that investments in HIV
prevention are producing significant results in many of the highest burden
countries. Despite these gains, an estimated 2.6 million people became newly
infected with HIV and 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related illnesses in
2009, and 33.3 million people were estimated to be living with HIV.



 ?The red ribbon that we wear symbolizes our support for the cause to help
those with HIV and AIDS to live a full and productive life in society
without giving up hope. It is a disease that we should fight by
understanding how it spreads and encouraging people to talk about things
like sexuality in their homes,? said Sangakkara.



ICC Cricket World Cup 2011

Players will also wear red ribbons in important matches at the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011, including the quarter-final, semi-final and final matches.
South Africa?s skipper Graeme Smith, also a Think Wise champion, is
delighted that that cricket will continue to show its public support for
people living with HIV, particularly at the sport?s flagship event.



?You only have to look at the statistics to understand why I am passionate,
as the captain of South Africa, to make a difference to HIV awareness. 1.8
million people die of AIDS-related deaths each year and nearly
three-quarters of them come from Sub-Saharan Africa. These are people who
watch me play cricket on television, support me in the stadium and this
makes it all seem very real to me,? said Graeme Smith.



?If I can use my position as international cricketer to deliver important
social messages, such as encouraging young people to use protection and wear
a condom, and reduce the number of new infections then it is something that
I am happy to do. By wearing a red ribbon we are sending a message to the
millions of fans across the world that you shouldn?t discriminate against
people living with HIV,? he concluded.



*2*

Model General Assembly held at Huleb?ck secondary school Sweden highlights
HIV epidemic
UNAIDS

29/11/2010



*A couple of weeks ago UNAIDS was approached by two students from a remote
school in Sweden who were looking for information about political leadership
and the AIDS response  in Botswana. They were about to engage in a model UN
General Assembly session together with the students at their schools. The
focus was the HIV epidemic.  UNAIDS invited the students, Amanda Gar? and
Fredrik Hellberg, to share some thoughts on their experience to find out
more about how young people around the world are engaging in the response to
AIDS.  *



 Guest blog by Amanda Gar? and Fredrik Helleberg, students at the Huleb?ck
secondary school



On Tuesday 23rd of November, the students of the IT-Media program at
Huleb?ck secondary school in M?lnlycke, Sweden, performed a model UN General
Assembly session discussing the AIDS epidemic. The whole day was a role
play, where students acted as delegates from different United Nations member
states. Before the big day we prepared ourselves, learning about the HIV
epidemic, our respective adopted countries and international cooperation. As
an example, we were visited by a person living with HIV, who spoke about his
experience.



?We are trying to find ways to educate our young people not only about
international relations but also about burning issues like the HIV
pandemic,? says Maria Sj?lund, teacher at the school.

During the day we held a meeting of the ?General Assembly?, which took place
in the lobby of the school. We also had a press conference and a banquet in
the evening. The students were divided into groups of two and acted as
delegates from the country they had been assigned to represent.

We acted as the honourable delegates of Botswana.



In total, there were 28 countries represented by 57 participants. The
meeting was led by a chairman and some younger students from our school
acted as journalists and photographers of the world press. The meeting was
also open to spectators.



During the day several resolutions were approved, for example regarding
education about HIV in primary schools. Another resolution that was written
by Botswana, India and Nigeria, dealt with the production of a vaccine
against HIV which received a unanimous yes-vote. One resolution which was
not approved was about proposing circumcision for men as an HIV prevention
method. Many countries found this proposal very devastating for their
culture and also that this was a matter for every family to decide. The
delegates of the model session could, like in the real UN, get up on the
podium and speak for or against any proposal.



?It felt like it was a real meeting and it was very educational. I got a
clearer picture about the HIV epidemic. It was a bit nervous when the
opening ceremony started and every country was going to give a speech in
English. After that, it was a lot of fun,? says Victor Fridh, a student at
Huleb?cksgymnasiet who participated in the session.



During these three weeks, we have not just learned about the UN, but also
about the HIV epidemic and the response. We felt that it was a much better
way to learn about the UN and the General Assembly than just reading about
how it works in school books. We really recommend other schools all over the
world to host model UN General Assembly sessions because we think it could
make a difference. Partly because you will learn about the subject, in this
case HIV. Also partly because you will learn about how big decisions are
made and that countries do not always agree, even if the proposal can look
great to someone from the outside.



Before the role play, many students had preconceved ideas about AIDS and
people living with HIV. Many students changed their minds. They felt it was
interesting to realize that it is not only the poorest countries which are
the worst affected. Before the lecturer visited us many were a little afraid
of just being in the presence of an HIV-positive person, because we didn?t
know much about it. Now that we understand more about the topic and how
stigma and discrimination work we feel that these types of interactions
where people can talk and learn can help break the silence around HIV.



*3*

Help put HIV prevention on the global agenda this World AIDS Day
UNAIDS

29/11/2010



By Michel Sidib?, UNAIDS Executive Director



A few days ago, I launched the UNAIDS Report on the global AIDS epidemic
2010 which contains some very encouraging findings that the world has been
long waiting to hear.



Globally, new HIV infections have fallen by 20% over the past 10 years. At
least 56 countries have stabilized or significantly slowed down the rate of
new HIV infections, including almost all countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
South Africa and India, who together contributed nearly half a million new
HIV infections in 2009, have dramatically decreased new HIV infections over
the past decade. India by more than half and South Africa by more than one
third!



This is also the first time we can show that reductions in the number of new
HIV infections are clearly linked to an increase in knowledge about HIV,
changes in social norms and the adopting of safer behaviors. It has given us
evidence that HIV prevention programmes are producing significant results.



However we must not be lulled into complacency or denial. No one is immune
from HIV. Not you, not me?irrespective of whether you are rich or poor. But
we can protect ourselves and our loved ones. And we can show compassion for
all people living with HIV.

We still face significant challenges ahead. Yes, the total number of new HIV
infections is decreasing, but there were 2.6 million people newly infected
with HIV in 2009 and there are two new HIV infections for every one person
starting HIV treatment. 370 00 babies were infected with HIV. Each one of
them could have been prevented. HIV among babies has been virtually
eliminated in high-income countries, but not so in other countries. The
value of human life must be same?across the world.



So while we clearly see that investments in the AIDS response are paying
off, the gains we have made are fragile. This is the time to scale up, not
scale down the response to HIV. We have seen successes, but we cannot say we
have succeeded until there are zero new HIV infections. Access to health
should not be decided by who you are and where you live?but by equity and
social justice.



To reach this goal, nothing less than a prevention revolution is needed.
That is why I ask all of you, this World AIDS Day, to help put HIV
prevention on the global agenda. Tell your friends, your family, your
neighbour, your local politician?more than 7000 new HIV infections every day
is unacceptable!



We can prevent HIV, but to get to zero new infections we need your help.
Join the prevention revolution. Be the prevention revolution.

Find out more about the Prevention Revolution
here<http://www.facebook.com/UNAIDS>
.

*4*

Photographer Rankin joins The Body Shop/UNAIDS HIV solidarity campaign *
*UNAIDS

29/11/2010



UNAIDS has teamed up with The Body Shop and world-renowned photographer
Rankin to launch an international HIV solidarity campaign, which invites you
to be ?an activist? and join the fight against HIV.



To highlight that HIV knows no boundaries, the poster campaign features a
range of everyday ?activists? who come from all walks of life, captured by
British portrait and fashion photographer Rankin. The campaign is a reminder
that being an activist can mean many different things?from taking to a
podium and speaking out, to wearing the red ribbon on World AIDS Day and
supporting the fight against HIV.



Activists featured in the poster campaign include among others Michel
Sidib?, UNAIDS Executive Director and singer and activist Annie Lennox.



This campaign calls on everyone everywhere to show their support and
solidarity with those affected by HIV. The visuals for this campaign
developed in partnership with UNAIDS, herald a new take on the iconic red
ribbon design, with a stencil logo designed by the in-house The Body Shop
creative team.



?As we near 30 years of a world with AIDS, the fresh, new look of the red
ribbon will help inspire the public and re-energize the movement to stand in
solidarity with the more than 30 million people living with HIV worldwide,?
said Mr Sidib?.



The Body Shop stores across the world will support the campaign by selling
red ribbons on World AIDS Day. All proceeds will go to local HIV partners
and charities. The Body Shop Foundation charity, has long supported HIV
activists and supporters, and raised over ?1 million for the Staying Alive
Foundation, a HIV youth-awareness organization.



Rankin is best-known for his portraits of people in the public eye including
Madonna, Kate Moss, and Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. He creates images
that draw out different aspects of each subject?s character, their personal
nuances and with a range of people involved in this campaign, he was the
perfect choice for this campaign.



We asked Rankin to share his thoughts on the images he shot to support the
campaign, as well as asking him about the professional achievements that
make him feel the most proud:



How do you feel about photographing ?real? people for this campaign, as you
work so often with models and celebrities?



I always enjoy meeting new people. This project was really inspiring, as
everyone had their own story to tell, but we all had a common agenda. It
felt great to see so many people with so many different experiences getting
involved in promoting the same message.



I love shooting models and celebrities, and they are often amazing and
surprising people. But working with this group really was special, simply
because they were all passionate, and all wanted to stand clearly for their
cause.



You are known for so many different projects, but which piece of work are
you most proud of ? and what inspired you?



That?s a really tough question. I am a perfectionist and am generally very
proud of the work I do. Being a photographer affords me amazing
opportunities and is very rewarding.



I try to give something back, and the only way I know how to do this is
through photographs. This HIV campaign is very important to me, and I hope
that the images will help influence attitudes.



I also work on an on-going basis with Oxfam, trying to support their aid
effort in Africa. I have visited the Democratic Republic of the Congo twice
in the last 3 years to photograph people displaced by the conflict there. We
held a couple of exhibitions and published a book, which helped raise over a
million pounds. I know that the money raised will make a huge difference to
the lives of the people I met, and I am very proud to have been part of that
effort.



Which image from the shoot is your favourite?



I love my image of Phoebe and Sadie. They are gorgeous girls who suffered
through the loss of their dad. He was an aid worker in Africa, and stood on
a contaminated needle.



They lost so much to HIV/AIDS, and I think their viewpoint is important to
the campaign.



What did you wish to convey through the image of Michel Sidib?, Executive
Director of UNAIDS?



Michel Sidib? is a quietly passionate man. He is one of the most open and
approachable people I have ever met. His sincerity, stature and kindness
shine through in the image, so I feel like it is a success.



What did you wish to convey through the image of Annie Lennox?



Annie Lennox is an incredibly strong person and vocal about her viewpoint.
There is nothing I could portray onto Annie. It all comes from her.



She is beautiful and passionate, and I love my image of her as she has
projected all this in one simple shot.



How do you get your subjects to relax, to best convey their personality in
your images?



I talk to people. It?s hard to get me to shut up actually, and I think just
chatting really relaxes people. Simply asking someone to pose will make them
instantly close down ? it?s just a reflex reaction. I suppose if you feel
like you are being examined, it feels safer to put up a wall. When that
happens, it makes it difficult to see beyond the subject?s projected self to
the real person beneath.



I try to look at a person beyond the image, chatting as I photograph them,
and telling the occasional joke to keep it all light. It is the best way to
bring personality to a portrait.



And finally, how do you think people could ?be an activist ? join the fight
against HIV??



I will wear a red ribbon on 1 December. HIV/AIDS must be acknowledged and we
be brave enough to face it with an open mind. The more people that make a
stand, the better.



They say knowledge is power, but empathy and compassion are the basis of
humanity. If we can promote both by being an activist, there is hope.





-- 
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:26:33 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:26:33 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.12.01ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D967F8@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 10:30 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.12.01ex)
To:




World AIDS Day 2010





Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. CNN - World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern

2. Voice of America News - Prevention, Treatment Efforts Have 'Broken' the
Direction of AIDS

3. Financial Times, UK - Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and drugs hamper
progress

4. Financial Times, UK - Russia: Prevention and education are grave blind
spots

5. AFP - Complacency fuels new AIDS surge in West: UN

6. Xinhua News, China - Nepal needs more efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS: UN

7. Business Daily Africa - Global fight against Aids gains significant
ground, says report



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. Nigerian Tribune - WORLD AIDS DAY

2. Daily Nation, Kenya - Taking the HIV test is a personal decision to
achieving target of zero new infections

3. Daily Monitor, Uganda - World Bank Aids policy failing rural Africa

4. BuaNews, SA - South Africa Marks World Aids Day

5. Jerusalem Post - Those at risk of AIDS show growing apathy toward
protection



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. Sify News, India - Work on inequalities to get rid of AIDS: UN

2. Xinhua News, China - World countries fight to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma,
discrimination

3. Times of India - 'Corporates can do more for AIDS awareness'

4. Jakarta Post - Editorial: It could happen to you

5. Daily Times, Pakistan - Country to mark World AIDS Day today

6. Bangkok Post - Preventing HIV: Thailand shows the way

7. The Australian - No time to rest in battle against AIDS

8. ABC News, Australia - Fight to end HIV infections on track

9. FBC, Fiji - World AIDS Day commemorated



*EUROPE***

1. Financial Times, UK - Treatment: Success of drug regime boosts hopes for
a cure

2. AFP - Sida: Sarkozy rappelle que l'?pid?mie se poursuit et d?nonce ceux
qui disent le contraire

3. The Independent, UK - World Aids Day: A fighting chance

4. The Independent, UK - The bigotry that keeps Aids alive

5. Reuters - MTV launches "Me, Myself and HIV" film on AIDS day

6. Deutsche Welle - Struggle to find an AIDS vaccine continues

7. Financial Times, UK -* *Austerity threatens treatment advances

8. Finanical Times, UK - The ?War on Drugs? has failed: policy should be
based on science and human rights

9. Financial Times, UK - Guest column: Long-term strategy must focus on the
local

10. El Pa?s, Spain - 50.000 personas en Espa?a ignoran que tienen el VIH



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Gleaner - Cricket stars 'Think Wise'

2. Milenio, Mexico - Ilumina GDF de rojo el ?ngel por D?a de Lucha contra el
Sida

3. Terra, Argentina - CAHN: HAY QUE TRABAJAR PARA DEJAR DE ESTIGMATIZAR AL
ENFERMO"

4. PPN, Paraguay - Nicol?s Aguayo: "El SIDA es una enfermedad cada vez m?s
femenina y joven"

5. La Estrella, Panama - Panam?, en vez de frenar el sida multiplica los
casos

6. Pag?na 20, Brazil - Dia Internacional de Luta contra a Aids (Editorial)



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. Washington Post - America's global fight against AIDS

2. USA Today - Building on the progress made this World AIDS Day

3. Huffington Post - Why AIDS First?

4. Bloomberg - AIDS ?Fatigue? May Cause Lack of Funds, Former UNAIDS Head
Says

5. Boston Globe - Bringing the AIDS fight back home

6. Wall Street Journal - CDC: Most Americans Still Haven?t Been Tested for
AIDS Virus.

7. Associated Press - US launches HIV testing program in Zimbabwe

8. Toronto Star - World AIDS Day and a disease that?s no longer a cause
c?l?bre



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Eminent world personalities call for Prevention Revolution

2. UNAIDS - Netherlands serves as example of leadership in AIDS response

3. UNAIDS - WHO: Affordable TB prevention a must for people living with HIV

4. UNAIDS - UNAIDS delegation in Brazil builds awareness around HIV
prevention





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



*UNAIDS*



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



World AIDS Day comes amid progress, concern

CNN

01/12/2010



By the CNN WIre Staff

(CNN) -- As the global community commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday,
international health organizations report both promising and sobering
trends.



While the United Nations says new HIV infections have declined by almost 20
percent worldwide over the past decade, the estimated number of children
living with HIV or AIDS in 11 Asian countries has increased by 46 percent
between 2001 and 2009, the World Health Organization's South-East Asia
office said Wednesday.



"In 2001, an estimated 89,000 children were living with HIV/AIDS," said
Vismita Gupta-Smith, public information and advocacy officer for WHO's
regional office in New Delhi, India. "In 2009, there are an estimated
130,000 children living with HIV infection," including recent HIV infection,
advanced HIV infection and AIDS.



The 11 countries in the region are Bangladesh, Bhutan, North Korea, India,
Indonesia, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor-Liste.



But a report by a United Nations program released last month shows some
encouraging news, including drops in AIDS-related deaths and new HIV cases.



Data from the 2010 global report by the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS) shows that an estimated 2.6 million people became newly
infected with HIV, compared with the estimated 3.1 million people infected
in 1999.



Also in 2009, approximately 1.8 million people died from AIDS-related
illnesses, compared with the roughly 2.1 million in 2004, according to
UNAIDS.



Among young people in 15 of the most severely affected countries, the rate
of new HIV infections has fallen by more than 25 percent, led by young
people adopting safer sexual practices, according to UNAIDS.



"We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and
smart choices," said Michel Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS.
"Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile --
the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress."



But not all the news from the UNAIDS report, which covered 182 countries,
was good.



"Even though the number of new HIV infections is decreasing, there are two
new HIV infections for every one person starting HIV treatment," UNAIDS
said.



Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most affected by the epidemic,
with 69 percent of all new HIV infections, according to UNAIDS.



In seven countries, mostly in eastern Europe and central Asia, new HIV
infection rates have increased by 25 percent.



UNAIDS said in the Asia-Pacific region, 90 percent of countries have laws
that obstruct the rights of people living with HIV.



Despite the lower numbers of new HIV infections and AIDS-related deaths,
UNAIDS said the demand for resources is surpassing the supply.



"Donor governments' disbursements for the AIDS response in 2009 stood at
$7.6 billion, lower than the $7.7 billion available in 2008," UNAIDS said.
"Declines in international investments will affect low-income countries the
most -- nearly 90 percent rely on international funding for their AIDS
programs."



*5*

Prevention, Treatment Efforts Have 'Broken' the Direction of AIDS
Voice of America News

30/11/2010



This is the VOA Special English Health Report

http://www.voanews.com/learningenglish/home/health/Prevention-Treatment-Efforts-Have-Broken-the-Direction-of-AIDS-111090819.html



Wednesday is December first, World AIDS Day. This year, experts are
reporting more signs of success in halting the AIDS epidemic. The number of
AIDS-related deaths and the number of new infections are both decreasing.



Michel Sidibe is the executive director of the joint United Nations program
known as UNAIDS.



MICHEL SIDIBE: "Today we can say with confidence and conviction that we have
broken the trajectory of the AIDS pandemic."



The latest UNAIDS report says new HIV infections have fallen almost twenty
percent in the last ten years. And there has been a similar drop in the last
five years in the number of AIDS-related deaths.



An estimated thirty-three million people worldwide were living with HIV last
year. Two and a half million were children. HIV is the virus that causes
AIDS.



Africa south of the Sahara has the most deaths and new infections. But many
of those countries have made important progress.



Worldwide estimates show that more than two and a half million people became
newly infected with HIV in two thousand nine. At the same time, about one
million eight hundred thousand people died from AIDS-related sicknesses.



Drug treatment to suppress the virus has expanded. One result has been fewer
babies born infected by their mothers. Still, the report says ten million
people are waiting for treatment.



UNAIDS officials also say not enough is being spent for prevention. They say
prevention efforts are responsible for much of the progress.



More and more young people say they are following safer practices. Surveys
find greater use of condoms and people in many countries say they have fewer
sexual partners.



World Health Organization chief Margaret Chan called this year's AIDS report
encouraging. But she noted that the populations most at risk are also those
who have the least access to services. These populations include sex
workers, drug users and homosexual men.



In other health news, a new study has found that one in every one hundred
deaths in the world is caused by other people smoking.



Researchers found that more than six hundred thousand non-smokers died in
two thousand four. They say the deaths were from diseases and infections
caused by secondhand smoke, also known as passive smoking.



The study in the journal Lancet says one hundred sixty-five thousand of
those tobacco victims were children.



And that's the VOA Special English Health Report, written by Caty Weaver.
I'm Steve Ember.



*6*

Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and drugs hamper progress
Financial Times, UK

30/11/2010



By Tim Johnston



The tide has turned in the fight against HIV in Asia, but the UN and
activists are warning that it is going to become harder to maintain
progress.



?As a minimum, most national Aids epidemics have been halted, stabilised and
reversed,? says Steven Kraus, the UNAids regional director for Asia and the
Pacific.



The number of Asians living with Aids has remained stable at some 4.9m for
the past five years, and the number of new infections in countries as
diverse as India, Nepal and Thailand has fallen by 25 per cent over the past
nine years.



But Mr Kraus warns that preserving that momentum is becoming more
challenging.



In many ways, such groups as UNAids are victims of their own success: they
are starting to hit the law of diminishing returns. Progress so far has not
been easy, but making further inroads against the epidemic is going to
become ever harder.



The key vectors of the Asian epidemic are well known: commercial sex,
intravenous drug use, and what the industry refers to as MSM ? men who have
sex with men.



It is MSM that is proving the most difficult segment to reach.



?We have underestimated the MSM issue,? says Mr Kraus. ?We?ve done
inadequate programming in this area.?



But that is starting to change.



Nung spent years as a transgender sex-worker on the streets of the Thai
capital Bangkok. Now she works for Swing, an organisation that promotes
education for other sex workers, particularly in the MSM market.



?We have to educate them about HIV, but we have to make it enjoyable,? she
says, describing going into clubs and massage parlours to find out the date
of the owner?s birthday before returning with gifts to turn a birthday party
into an education session.



Nung says that Swing addresses not just the medical needs of sex workers ?
condoms, lubricants and regular health checks ? but also issues of
self-esteem. ?It is a low-class occupation; everyone looks down on sex
workers,? says Nung. She says lack of self-esteem makes it more difficult
for prostitutes to resist pressure from clients who do not want to use a
condom.



There has been significant progress in the broader heterosexual sex
industry, particularly in places such as Thailand, where there was a very
public education programme.



It even spawned its own restaurant, ?Cabbages and Condoms?, which is popular
with ordinary tourists, many of whom like to pose for a picture with the
larger-than-life statue of a Santa Claus made of gaily coloured condoms.



Aids workers say projects with commercial sex workers are still vital, and
more funding is needed, but the techniques are known and effective.



The anti-HIV message has also been reaching intravenous drug users, although
the picture is more mixed. Among the success stories has been Malaysia.



?Malaysia had a draconian view of drug use, and has done a 180 degree turn.
It used to have mandatory detention for drug users but now it has closed all
the detention centres and reopened them as voluntary support centres. The
authorities don?t see drug use as a law and order issue but as a personal
and public health issue,? says Mr Kraus. The new approach has led to some
startling improvements. In 2007, just 28 per cent of Malaysia?s injecting
drug users said they had used sterile equipment: in 2009, that had risen to
83 per cent.



And there are some surprising outliers. Burma, not known for its progressive
policies in other spheres, has supported an intervention programme of needle
exchanges and clinics provided by international aid organisations. The
UNAids 2010 global report shows 81 per cent of intravenous drug users using
sterile equipment.



Aids workers say much of problem now lies in the legal framework. In some
countries, laws drive sex workers and drug users so far underground that
they become hard to reach. In others, unconnected legislation against
trafficking and illegal migration are changing the dynamics of the sectors
of society worst affected by Aids.



In its Global Report, UNAids estimates that 90 per cent of countries in Asia
have laws that obstruct the rights of those living with HIV.



?Punitive laws that prevent us reaching key sectors of the population are a
danger,? says Mr Kraus. ?They do not build partnerships and they don?t
create supportive environments, where community groups can access these key
populations.?



These are significant problems, but they could be overcome by lobbying
governments to change laws and modify the ways those that remain are
implemented. The cultural challenges to controlling the MSM aspect of the
HIV epidemic are much more difficult to solve.



?Culture matters,? says Mr Kraus. ?How societies view same-sex relations
affects our ability to promote good programming. Until the culture changes,
it is always going to be a problem getting to MSM.?



The figures bear him out. In a 2007 survey, 88 per cent of Thai respondents
who had anal sex with a male partner said they had used a condom: in
Malaysia the number was 21 per cent.



Mr Kraus says that although almost all the governments in the region report
that they are addressing the stigma attached to men who have sex with men,
less than half have budgets. This, he says, gives a clearer indication of
the real situation.



?If it doesn?t get budgeted, it doesn?t get addressed.?

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*7*

Russia: Prevention and education are grave blind spots
Financial Times, UK

30/11/2010



By Isabel Gorst



Infectious Diseases Hospital No 2, located in a garden on the industrial
outskirts of Moscow, seems like an oasis of calm.



But for Vadim Pokrovsky, the head of Russia?s Federal Aids Center, it is an
ideological battleground over measures to contain the spread of HIV.



Russia has become the epicentre of the global HIV pandemic, even as
infection rates plateau in the rest of the world.



The Kremlin has mobilised funds to combat the virus, citing Aids as a threat
to national security. But while the budget for treatment is rising rapidly,
there is no state support for prevention of the disease.



?We are taking a lopsided approach to HIV,? says Dr Pokrovsky. ?Why spend a
lot of money on medicine if there are no funds to control the epidemic??



Official statistics put the number of cases in Russia at 565,000 out of a
total population of about 142m. But independent experts estimate the real
figure is twice as high. Last year alone, there were more than 58,000 new
infections, raising fears that the epidemic could spin out of control.



?The figures are very chilling,? says Denis Broun, regional director for
Europe and Central Asia at UNAids.



More than two-thirds of HIV patients in Russia are intravenous drug users ?
testimony to a surge in heroin addiction since the collapse of the Soviet
Union. Reported cases are clustered in areas overlapping routes followed by
drug traffickers carrying heroin from Afghanistan to Europe. HIV has also
taken hold in affluent Russian cities and oil regions, as the virus spreads
into the wider community.



After years of official denial, Aids appeared on the Kremlin?s public agenda
for the first time in 2003, when Vladimir Putin, then the president, warned
that the epidemic risked hastening population decline.



Dmitry Medvedev, who succeeded Mr Putin in 2008, has also acknowledged the
threat posed by HIV, offering support for a campaign by Bono, the lead
singer of rock band U2, to fight the global pandemic.



But, while Mr Medvedev has set a goal to raise health standards in Russia,
government support for HIV prevention has faded during his presidency.



?There is zero money in the federal budget to fund focused HIV prevention
and education,? says Anya Sarang, president of the Andrey Rylkov Foundation
for Health and Social Justice, a non-governmental organisation that
advocates harm reduction programmes.



Russia has poured funds into testing and treatment, allo?cating larger sums
for imports of antiretroviral drugs each year. HIV patients have complained
that medication is inefficiently distributed, but the programme has had
success in some areas. Transmission of HIV from pregnant mothers to unborn
children has been reduced to almost zero.



Meanwhile the government has faced down international pressure to sanction
opiate substitution that has proved effective in reducing the spread of HIV
among drug users in the west.



Speaking at a UN conference, Viktor Ivanov, the head of the Russian federal
narcotics control agency, denied there was scientific evidence to prove that
opiate substitution worked. ?We will not ban it, but there will be no
federal support for methadone substitution,? he said.



Programmes sponsored by the UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids,
Tuberculosis and Malaria focused on sex education and needle exchanges are
regarded as excessively progressive in Russia, but have helped kick-start
HIV prevention campaigns in some regions.

However, even this limited effort is now under threat, as the Global Fund
winds down its operations in Russia to comply with its mandate to work only
in countries considered poor.



Hopes that the government would step in to fill the gap were dashed this
year when the health ministry said the Global Fund measures were ineffective
and that the HIV epidemic was under control.



Russia has entered a second phase of denial about HIV, says the Andrey
Rylkov Foundation. ?The Ministry of Health is manipulating virtual
percentages and pseudoscientific facts. And in the meantime, real people are
continuing to get infected and die,? it said in a letter to Vladimir Putin,
the prime minister, this month.



Dr Pokrovsky says government officials and agencies disagree over how to
tackle HIV. ?One group is convinced harm reduction [related to drug use]
could reduce the risk of infection, but others have ruled it out on
scientific grounds,? he says. ?They are against substitution therapy but
cannot propose anything more effective.?



Conservative attitudes are also an obstacle. Talk of sex is taboo and drug
users are regarded as pariahs. The Russian Orthodox Church opposes sex
education and condoms on moral grounds and paints illness as retribution for
sin.



Dr Pokrovsky says opposition by the religious lobby to sex education would
hasten the spread of HIV beyond drug users to the wider community.



?It is happening slowly, but in 10 years the results will be very
noticeable,? he says.



?HIV will develop like in Africa. In one or two years, it will be too late
to halt it.?

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*8*

Complacency fuels new AIDS surge in West: UN

AFP
01*/*12/2010



UNITED NATIONS ? Complacency among young people is causing a new surge of
the AIDS epidemic in the United States and European nations like Britain and
Germany, a top UN expert said ahead of World AIDS Day on Wednesday.



The worrying sexual behavior of young adults, particularly men, in rich
nations and a surge of the spread of AIDS in Eastern Europe and Central Asia
linked to drug use, officials said, has tainted positive signs such as
dramatic cut in the number of infections passed from mothers to their
newborn babies.



Agencies including the UN's HIV/AIDS program UNAIDS have cautiously
highlighted a fall in the number of global infections in figures released
ahead of World AIDS Day on Wednesday.



But Paul De Lay, deputy executive director of UNAIDS, said: "There seem to
be secondary and tertiary waves of the epidemic, particularly the sexually
transmitted side.



"You have a young people who don't know enough about AIDS, there is less of
a fear factor about it."



"We find that every five to seven years we need to go through a new
re-energized education campaign. We are doing that in the UK and Germany.
Here in the US we have had a huge resurgence of sexually transmitted AIDS."



According to the UNAIDS annual report released last week there were an
estimated 54,000 new infections in the United States last year and 3,900 in
Germany. There are an estimated 1.2 million AIDS sufferers in the United
States, 85,000 in Britain and 67,000 in Germany.



In Eastern Europe and Central Asia "there has been been an explosion of
young people who are experimenting with injected drugs," according to the UN
expert.



This is "ripe" for spreading HIV/AIDS and pregnant addicts pass on the
infection to their children extending "an ongoing transmission cycle," said
De Lay.



Russia and Ukraine together account for almost 90 percent of new HIV/AIDS
infections in recent years, said the UNAIDS report. Ukraine now has the
highest adult AIDS rate in Europe and Central Asia.



UNAIDS said "there is strong evidence of resurgent HIV epidemics among men
who have sex with men" in North America and Western Europe, where there are
now an estimated total of 2.7 million sufferers, up 30 percent since 2001.



The 3,160 new HIV diagnoses among men who have sex with men in Britain in
2007 were the most ever reported. In the United States, new HIV infections
attributed to unprotected sex between men increased by more than 50 percent
from 1991-1993 to 2003-2006.



Around the world there were an estimated 2.6 million new infections last
year, down from about 3.3 million at the peak of the AIDS epidemic in 1999,
according to De Lay.



"It is a slow, steady decrease," said De Lay, who predicted that at the
current rate it would take about 50 years to conquer Acquired Immune
Deficiency Syndrome.



The 370,00 babies a year born with AIDS is down from 500,000 a year at the
start of the decade and a new UN report said it would be possible to
eradicate mother-to-baby transmission of AIDS by 2015.



Virtually no babies are born with AIDS in Europe and North America now as
wealthier countries launched aggressive screening and prevention programs in
the the 1990s.



But in Africa, 1,000 babies a day are still infected with HIV/AIDS through
mother-to-child transmission.



Anthony Lake, executive director of the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) called
the figure "outrageous" and demanded greater efforts for "the hardest hit
communities."



But, highlighting the greater use of anti-viral drugs and other treatments,
World Health Organisation director general Margaret Chan said "we have
strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is
achievable."

Copyright ? 2010 AFP. All rights reserved



*9*

Nepal needs more efforts to tackle HIV/AIDS: UN
Xinhua News, China

01/12/2010



KATHMANDU, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Despite Nepal's some achievements in
controlling HIV/AIDS, United Nations say Nepal needs more efforts to tackle
the epidemic.



Issuing a statement on the eve of world AIDS Day on Wednesday, UNAIDS said
Nepal is one of at least 33 countries that had achieved significant decline
rate in new HIV infections. "But the significant challenges remains in
tackling the epidemic," the statement said.



Citing the 2010 UNAIDS report, Elena G Filio-Borromeo, UNAIDS Country
Coordinator said the report gave Nepal an encouraging score on some key
indicators in the past few years, such as an increase in condom use, a jump
in the number of people accessing anti-retroviral medication, and greater
overall awareness among the population about HIV and AIDS.



"Despite this good news, progress remains fragile, and Nepal must continue
to address formidable obstacles on several fronts," the statement quoted
Filio-Borromeo as saying.



According to the statement, the increasing efforts to address HIV/AIDS in
Nepal has been awarded with the success that the rate of new HIV infections
decreasing by more than 25 percent.



World AIDS day is observed on December 1 every year.



The theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is same as last year's -- Universal Access
and Human Rights.



*10*

Global fight against Aids gains significant ground, says report
Business Daiily Africa

01/12/2010



A new UNAids report claims the world has finally ?turned the corner? on the
Aids epidemic, citing a downward trend in new HIV infections and
Aids-related deaths over the past decade and stabilisation of the number of
people living with HIV globally.



?We are breaking the trajectory of the Aids epidemic,? said Michel Sidibe,
UNAids executive director, in a statement.



Global HIV prevalence was 33.3 million by the end of 2009, a slight increase
from 2008, in large part because many more people are accessing
antiretroviral (ARV) treatment and living longer with the virus.



More than five million people are receiving ARVs and in 2009 alone, 1.2
million people were initiated onto treatment.



As a result, Aids-related deaths are down nearly 20 per cent compared with
five years ago and in Botswana, one of only two countries in sub-Saharan
Africa to have achieved universal access to treatment, Aids-related deaths
have halved since 2002.



Detailed snapshot

The bi-annual UNAids report, which provides a detailed snapshot of the
epidemic and progress in achieving the Millennium Development Goal of
halting and reversing the spread of HIV by 2015, attributes the more than 25
per cent declines in HIV incidence seen in 33 countries since 2001 to
effective HIV prevention.



The most dramatic declines were seen in sub-Saharan Africa, the region worst
hit by the epidemic. Only in seven countries, most of them in Eastern Europe
and Central Asia, has HIV incidence increased in recent years.



?We are getting there,? said Sheila Tlou, UNAids director for eastern and
southern Africa, at the launch of the report in Johannesburg on 23 November.




?Our vision of zero new infections, zero discrimination and zero
Aids-related deaths is possible.? While the UNAids report suggests that
prevention is working, Tlou warned that the response was fragile and needed
to be kept alive with adequate funding.



?Domestic funding is still too low,? she said. ?Aids programmes need to be
made more sustainable and affordable and we need to become less reliant on
international donors.?



At a time when donors are flat-lining or cutting back their contributions to
the Aids response, UNAids estimates that nearly $16 billion was available
for combating HIV in 2009, $10 billion short of what was needed in 2010.
Although domestic expenditure is the largest source of HIV financing
globally, UNAids estimates that nearly half the countries in sub-Saharan
Africa are spending less than they can afford and could substantially
increase the portion of their Aids budgets from domestic sources.



Apart from financing, Tlou said the greatest barrier to scaling up the Aids
response was stigma and discrimination, particularly in relation to
marginalised and high-risk groups, such as men who have sex with men, sex
workers and injecting drug users, who have been driven underground by
punitive laws that often prevent them from accessing HIV services.



Greatest barrier

The report revealed that progress on treatment access has also been uneven.
Only 29 per cent of children needing ARVs were getting them by the end of
2009 compared with 37 per cent of adults.



Brian Pazvakavambwa of the World Health Organisation pointed out that access
to treatment for tuberculosis patients co-infected with HIV and for pregnant
women was also comparatively low and blamed weak health systems and
fragmented implementation for the failure to link programmes such as
prevention of mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT) with treatment.



While access to PMTCT has increased significantly, resulting in fewer
children being born with HIV, only 15 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women
received ARVs in 2009. ?A lot of work still needs to be done,? said
Pazvakavambwa at the launch.



?We need to continue expanding and linking all parts of the response; if we
can link our programmes better we can do better in terms of all health
outcomes.? - IRIN



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



WORLD AIDS DAY
Nigerian Tribune

01/12/2010



IT is doubtful that the women were told that they faced any danger and
possibly a slow, painful death. They were, after all, prostitutes,
unfortunate women that some people see as expendable.



THE prostitutes were Nigerians but they were used as guinea pigs for an AIDS
drug manufactured in the United States of America. Six Americans flew into
the country to conduct the trial in collaboration with some Nigerian
scientists. The drug was a gel called SAVVY, but it proved to be dumber than
a disoriented sheep.



THIRTY-THREE prostitutes contracted HIV during the trial, which ran from
August 2004 to August 2006. Most scientists do not lie about laboratory
results so it may be true that only 33 out of the trial group of 2,153
prostitutes contracted HIV.



WHERE are the oppressed prostitutes today, six years after they contracted
HIV? It is likely that some of them are dead. Those who conducted the trial
that led to the infection of the women said they would provide psychological
and pharmaceutical support for the women. But this is a country where
promises, made with cross-my-heart solemnity, are hardly redeemed.



THE prostitutes almost certainly continued to work and they must have
infected hundreds of men and the men may have infected many women, including
other prostitutes and their wives.



PROSTITUTES, of course, are not the only source of HIV infection.
Prostitutes have not patented promiscuity; the most promiscuous people are
not prostitutes. Those who exuberantly play the field are usually married
men and sometimes married women. The population of AIDS orphans continues to
rise in Nigeria.



MANY HIV-infected babies are still being born in the country. They suffer
but they do not know why. One five-year-old HIV-positive girl spoke
innocently about her cruel circle of drinking water and urination. She drank
water because her throat was always parched and this was followed almost
immediately by an urgent urge to urinate. This went on throughout the whole
day.



HIV/AIDS, a devastating disease, remains a serious health problem in
Nigeria. It is, therefore, a great worry that there appears to be a long
lull in activities to prevent the spread of the disease and succour the
infected. The number of people contracting the disease may have reduced, as
it has been claimed, but the prevalence of the disease remains high in some
parts of the country.



ALLEGATIONS of corruption have swirled around the government agency charged
with preventing and managing AIDS in the country. Foreign donors are no
longer very keen to provide money and materials to confront the disease. The
honesty of many of the non-governmental organisations that say they are
involved in the fight against the spread of the disease and its treatment is
doubtful.



THE disease in Nigeria spreads  mostly through heterosexual  contact. Blood
transfusion is also a significant source of infection.  It seems anybody can
now operate a blood bank. About three years ago, many blood banks could be
seen in residential buildings in an environment of filth.



BUT some teaching hospitals operate blood banks that are only a little
better than those to be found in the poor part of town. One teaching
hospital transfused two pregnant women with HIV-contaminated blood in the
1980s and the then health minister had no word of sympathy for the women.
The blood was unscreened, a crime against care and competence.



A baby was the victim of unscreened blood about three years ago. It
contracted HIV and the teaching hospital in a desperate bid at
self-exculpation falsely stated that the baby?s parents were HIV-positive.



HIV/AIDS sufferers are sometimes treated as people without rights in
Nigeria. One HIV-positive woman was sacked by her employers because of her
health status and not because they were not satisfied with her work.



THE theme of this year?s World AIDS Day ? Universal Access and Human Rights
? seeks to remind the world that HIV/AIDS sufferers are no less human than
other citizens simply because they live with the disease.



IT is their human rights that they should have access to drugs that will
enable them to live a fairly normal life. But most people living with HIV in
Nigeria do not have access to subsidised anti-retroviral drugs. The disease
develops into full-blown AIDS and they die a wasting death, a death without
dignity.



HIV is a terrible threat to Nigeria, a country with a large population.
Government should show more seriousness in combating the disease. But the
prostitute used as guinea pigs, people whose human rights were cavalierly
violated, may be beyond help. They may have been long dead.



*2*

Taking the HIV test is a personal decision to achieving target of zero new
infections
Daily Nation, Kenya

01/12/2010



By RAILA ODINGA



Today (Wednesday), as we have done since December 1, 1988, we join the world
in marking World Aids Day. We take a moment to remind ourselves that HIV has
not gone away, and that although so much has been done in fighting it, there
is still a lot more to be done. We join the international community in
committing to increase awareness, fight prejudice, and improve education on
Aids.



And we stand together to reflect on the debt we owe to the infected and
those who have succumbed to this disease. We recognise their families,
caregivers, and communities who have to cope every day with the burden of
this disease.



As a nation, we have a reason to smile even in the midst of the devastation
and pain that HIV and Aids continue to cause. We can look back and say that,
as a result of the interventions we have undertaken since Aids was declared
a national disaster in 1999, we have made good progress.



An estimated 1.5 million Kenyans are living with HIV. Those are many people.
But there is remarkable progress. In 2009, 80,000 died from Aids-related
illnesses, down from 150,000 in 2003.



Our HIV prevalence rate, which peaked in 2000 at 13.4 per cent, up from 5.1
per cent in 1990, has been on a downward trend. The infection rate currently
stands at 6.3 per cent.



That is good news that is still bad enough. Bad because the percentages may
be falling, but as long as they stand, they mean people are still getting
sick and dying.



It is also bad because women, traditionally marginalised, are
disproportionately affected by HIV/Aids. In 2008/9, prevalence among women
was at 8 per cent, compared to men?s 4.3 per cent.



We know that women form the backbone of our economy, particularly in the
rural areas. This high infection among them is, therefore, a policy issue
crying for intervention.



As a nation, we can be proud that treatment and care for those living with
HIV/Aids has tremendously improved, particularly since 2003 when the concept
of Comprehensive Care Centres was introduced.



This has seen the number of patients on antiretroviral drugs increase to
336,980 in 2009, up from 172,000 in 2007. Several support groups are working
to alleviate the suffering of those living with HIV/Aids and encourage
positive living.



But we are yet to overcome stigma. Many people living with HIV/Aids still
face discrimination. It is necessary to put in place education programmes
and to implement policies to address this.



I call upon employers to implement workplace HIV/Aids policies currently in
force. We also need to implement the Kenya National HIV/Aids Communication
Strategy for the Youth.



The government is doing its part. We have committed to spend $34 million
(Sh3 billion) annually for five years on Aids programmes from 2009 to 2013.



We appreciate the external financiers who between them pay 85 per cent of
our expenditure on HIV/Aids.



As a government, we have enabled the creation of more voluntary testing and
counselling centres. We have improved availability of safe blood supplies
and injections, expanded maternal child care, and management of sexually
transmitted infections.



We have emphasised behaviour change and we continue to encourage our youth
to delay sexual debut. We encourage female sex workers to take precautions
against infection.



The government has established circumcision centres across the country and
male circumcision rates have increased from 10,000 to 90,000 in just over
one year since 2009.



We have not been left behind in providing the highly active antiretrovirals,
which have reduced the mortality and morbidity associated with HIV/Aids. Our
institutions continue to participate actively in research on post-exposure
prophylaxis and the vaccine against HIV.



In the end, however, it is incumbent upon each one of us to make a personal
decision. Last Sunday, I took an HIV test in Kibera. It was one of many that
I have taken in recent years. Taking the test matters. Ultimately, people
need to know their status if they are to benefit from the initiatives we are
making.



Only when we all agree to take the test shall we rightfully join the global
community in moving towards the target of zero new HIV infections, zero
discrimination, and zero Aids-related deaths.

*Mr Odinga is the Prime Minister of Kenya.*



*3*

World Bank Aids policy failing rural Africa *
*Daily Monitor, Uganda

01/12/2010



World Aids Day 2010 is set to be marked by a realisation that the global
response to the Aids epidemic is beginning to have positive, meaningful
impact. Prevalence rates and incidence are down, and provisions to stop
mother-to-child transmission are starting to work.



This year?s UNAIDS global report revealed positive developments in the
number of people receiving HIV antiretroviral therapy. In 2009, 1.2 million
people received HIV antiretroviral drugs for the first time.



However, the prevailing headlines obscure the continued obstacles facing
people living with and affected by HIV and Aids. Many of these success
stories will not apply to rural areas of sub-Saharan Africa. In fact, you
are more likely to see an increase in the number of people living with HIV
in these areas as poverty continues to drive the epidemic.



The poverty drivers of HIV are well known ? access to education, gender
inequality, hunger, lack of job opportunities ? and are more acute in rural
areas as services tend to be more distant, social patterns and stigma harder
to penetrate, and geographical coverage often impossible to manage for
public service providers. However, the fundamental problem lies in the
inability of African governments and, crucially, the global donors that
support their HIV interventions to think locally while funding globally.

Global policy making and funding streams have not become more decentralised
as institutions such as the World Bank and the Global Fund suggest. Policy
and decision making still resides in Washington and Geneva and is then
implemented at country level on a consent-for-cash basis.

Bureaucratic procedure, inertia and a lack of co-ordination among donor
agencies has limited the amount of money actually reaching those that need
it, specifically in rural areas.



Governments in sub-Saharan Africa operate through National Aids Councils
which are tasked with governing the money and agenda in each country.
However, the policies and institutional components of these agencies tend to
be similar across different countries and conform to the objectives and
institutional mandates of those global agencies that support them.



These councils are constricted by the multiple demands of different donors -
to the detriment of any local or national response, or ownership. The
homogeneity of these global policies lacks an understanding of local
difference and the sustained problems facing communities. Funding towards
antiretroviral therapy uptake has shown a significant increase in the number
of people accessing treatment for free. However, the numbers are still
comparatively low.



The assumption is that if you provide the drugs and align procurement and
distribution practices, people will have access to treatment. However, such
access is limited by where you live, the state of the roads, the amount of
money needed for travel and the availability of transportation that is able
to care for those in the advanced stages of Aids.



Some countries have seen a rise in community responses to these problems.
For instance in Tanzania I have helped to establish a charity called Trans
Tanz that provides free transport to people living in remote rural
communities.



Grassroots community organisations present effective models that governments
should be able to replicate in multiple rural settings, reducing their
reliance on international aid. However, groups and community responses are
few and far between. The global agenda-setting by organisations like the
World Bank means that local awareness of these problems continues to go
unrecognised.



Simple initiatives to increase access to HIV treatment do work. However, the
ability to scale up such interventions will depend on directives issued by
the likes of the World Bank and the Global Fund listening to people living
in rural communities, the problems that they face, and supporting
initiatives that they design as well as implement.



If governments and donors fail to listen to people living in rural areas and
consider the problems that they face, any short term gains made in the
response to HIV and Aids will be just that, and the problem of how to rid
the world of this terrible disease will continue.

*Dr Harman is co-founder of the charity Trans Tanz (www.transtanz.org) and
senior lecturer in international politics at City University London*



*5*

South Africa Marks World Aids Day
BuaNews, SA

01/12/2010



Gabi Khumalo



Driefontein ? Red ribbons and t-shirts carrying HIV and Aids messages are
expected to be seen on every corner of Driefontein in Mpumalanga today where
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi will
commemorate World Aids Day.

The Deputy President, who is also Chairperson of the South African National
Aids Council (Sanac), will visit families as well as address community
members and health care workers.



He will be accompanied by Motsoaledi, Mpumalanga Premier David Mabuza and
representatives of International organisations which include the World
Health Organisation and the joint UN Programme on HIV and Aids (UNAIDS).



The theme of the event is "We are Responsible". This year's World Aids Day
theme is informed by the need to work collectively in addressing South
Africa's response to the HIV and Aids pandemic.



The build-up activities for World Aids Day commenced in November with a
series of community dialogues with all social partners. These social
dialogues will culminate in various Cabinet ministers, deputy ministers,
premiers and MECs being deployed to various communities across the country
today to discuss how to reduce new HIV infections.



North West Premier Thandi Modise, together with newly appointed MEC for
Health Dr Magome Masike, will lead community dialogues in Boitekong, a
mining community near Rustenburg.



Provincial activities are also expected to take place in KwaZulu-Natal,
where MECs including mayors and councilors will be hosting the event in
select ward-based venues in each of the 10 districts and one metro of the
province.



In KwaZulu-Natal, Premier Dr Zweli Mkhize will be in the rural community of
KwaNongoma to heighten HIV and Aids awareness, while the MEC for Finance,
Ina Cronje, will visit the previously violence-torn town in Richmond, which
is one of the areas in the Mgungundlovu District with a high infection rate.
Health MEC Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo will be leading a march at New Castle.



Gauteng Health and Social Development MEC Ntombi Mekgwe will join hundreds
of people in commemorating the day at the Saul Tsotetsi Hall in Sebokeng,
where the community will have an opportunity to test for chronic illnesses.



World Aids Day is observed around the world on 1 December.



This year will see the World Aids Day campaign continuing until next year
June as Government aims to reach a target of testing 15 million people for
HIV and AIDS, through the HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign
launched by President Jacob Zuma in April.



*9*

Those at risk of AIDS show growing apathy toward protection *
*Jerusalem Post

01/12/2010



By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH



World AIDS Day: Although infection rate of HIV is declining, health official
warns of ?trend of returning to behaviors? in Israel of having unprotected
sex.

Although the infection rate of HIV and the number of new AIDS cases in the
world is declining, Health Ministry Director-General Dr. Ronni Gamzu has
warned that in Israel, there is a ?trend of returning to behaviors? of
having unprotected sex that existed before the virus was discovered 30 years
ago.



To mark World AIDS Day, which takes place on Wednesday, Gamzu said that many
high-risk individuals felt that because the improvement in medication has
turned AIDS into a chronic disease rather than a fatal one, in many cases,
it was not a great threat. The high-risk groups include homosexuals and drug
addicts who inject themselves.



He added that prevention was vital and that early detection of HIV in those
infected was urgent, to reduce the spread of the disease and lower the death
rate. The directorgeneral asked his staff to speed up approval of quick
detection kits during 2011 and reduce the wait for results.



According to international statistics, 2.7 million people were infected with
HIV in 2008, and a total of 33 million people live with the virus. In
Israel, from 1981 until the end of 2009, 6,147 people have become HIV
carriers or developed full-blown AIDS. A total of 1,277 of them have died or
left the country, and there are 4,870 reported AIDS patients and HIV
carriers here. However, as many have not been tested, it is believed that
some 7,000 in Israel have the virus.



There were 382 new cases reported in 2009, the ministry said.

Blood tests for HIV are free for everyone in health fund clinics and in
seven hospital AIDS centers. Last year, 280,000 people went for voluntary
testing, but 70 percent of Israelis have not gone for testing, according to
an Israel AIDS Task Force poll.



A ministry survey of a representative sample of youths aged 15 to 18 found
that a fifth of them had had full sexual relations, but 30% of them did not
use condoms. An Internetbased campaign through sites frequented by young
people will urge them to use condoms to prevent infection with HIV.



The ministry said there was an increase of male HIV carriers and AIDS
patients who reported having sex with other men.



A separate campaign will be aimed at them.

The ministry supplies thousands of condoms to homosexual organizations that
distribute them to members.



The rate of drug users among HIV carriers is 18%. For the fourth year, the
ministry has had a program of needle exchanges so that addicts will not
infect themselves and others with HIV.



There are five distribution centers around the country that also hand out
condoms.



As AIDS is endemic in many African countries, immigrants from Ethiopia are
taught about protection from infection with help from Amharicspeaking women
from the community, who have been trained to help the newcomers in their
encounters with the health system.



UNAIDS reports that after collecting data from 182 countries, it found that
the number of new cases has remained steady or declined in 56 of them,
including in some sub-Saharan countries where AIDS has been an epidemic.
There has also been a drop in the number of newborn babies infected by their
mothers during pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding.



The anti-AIDS ?cocktail? has become more accessible to many.

According to the Israel AIDS Task Force, the number of new cases of HIV
infection in 2010 is likely to be similar to that in 2009. The biggest
problem is among homosexuals; there were 140 homosexual men among the new
cases last year.



Anonymous HIV testing will be held on Wednesday at Dizengoff Center in Tel
Aviv between 5 and 8 p.m. The test costs NIS 50, but will be free for
soldiers. There will also be anonymous testing at Ben- Gurion University of
the Negev in Beersheba between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; at the Technion in Haifa
between 10:30 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.; at Shenkar College in Ramat Gan between 10
a.m. and 1 p.m.; and at the Israel AIDS Task Force center in Tel Aviv
between 5 and 8 p.m.



The Israel AIDS Task Force, in opposition to Health Ministry policy, calls
for the testing of all pregnant women for HIV infection so carriers will not
pass it on to their infants. The ministry says universal screening is
?unnecessary? because the test is recommended to high-risk groups.
Nevertheless, each year, a few dozen babies are born with HIV.



According to Tel Aviv Sourasky Medical Center, one out of every five
carriers is resistant to one of the anti- AIDS drugs even before starting
treatment. As a result, carriers have to take more types of medications and
thus suffer from more side effects, the hospital said.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Work on inequalities to get rid of AIDS: UN
Sify News, India

01/12/2010



New Delhi, Dec 1 (IANS) Removing deep rooted inequities in gender, economic
status and education - from which millions of AIDS and HIV positive women
and children suffer - is crucial to universal access to knowledge,
protection and prevention of mother-to-child transmission, a UN report said.




Dec 1 is observed as World AIDS Day.



'Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report 2010' by UN agencies Unicef,
UNAIDS, WHO and United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) which was released
Tuesday in New York said the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of
HIV can be achieved through universalisation of anti-retroviral treatment.



A statement quoting the report and Unicef's executive director Anthony Lake
Wednesday said: 'To achieve an AIDS-free generation we need to do more to
reach the hardest hit communities. Every day, nearly 1,000 babies in
sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV through mother to child
transmission.'



'Our Fifth Stocktaking Report on Children and AIDS highlights innovations
like the Mother Baby Pack that can bring life-saving anti-retroviral
treatment to more mothers and their babies than ever before,' he added.



The report said: 'There are new guidelines and better methods to diagnose
children with HIV, and more opportunities to provide them with life-saving
treatment, but lives are lost because these are not used as widely as they
should be.'



'Only 28 percent of the 1.27 million children currently estimated to be in
need receive antiretroviral treatment (ART). Treatment coverage among adults
is higher, at 37 percent,' it added.



The report further said reducing the inequalities that drive the epidemic,
among them gender and poverty, will also help to overcome barriers to access
treatment.



Talking of the importance of awareness in curbing the spread of the disease,
the report said: 'In 2001, 5.7 million young people aged 15-24 were
estimated to be living with HIV.'



'At the end of 2009, that number dropped to five million. This decline is
linked to safer behaviour and practices. If more people knew how to protect
themselves, more lives could be saved,' it added.



According to a UN report, India is home to about 2.3 million people living
with AIDS.



*2*

World countries fight to reduce HIV/AIDS stigma, discrimination
Xinhua News, China

01/12/2010



BEIJING, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Countries around the world have made unswerving
efforts to fight HIV/AIDS-related stigma and discrimination, both of which
jeopardize attempts to fight the deadly epidemic.



People infected with HIV/AIDS face a number of problems caused by social
discrimination. Many nations nowadays still have restrictions regarding the
entry of people with HIV/AIDS.



However, instead of curbing the spread of the disease, stigma and
discrimination will only make things worse as they are the main reasons why
people are reluctant to be tested, to disclose HIV/AIDS status or to take
antiretroviral drugs.



"Stigma remains the single most important barrier to public action. It is a
main reason why too many people are afraid to see a doctor to determine
whether they have the disease, or to seek treatment if so," U.N.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said.



"It helps make AIDS the silent killer, because people fear the social
disgrace of speaking about it, or taking easily available precautions.
Stigma is a chief reason why the AIDS epidemic continues to devastate
societies around the world," he said.



Countries across the world and international organizations have made
unremitting efforts to reduce discrimination against HIV/AIDS patients and
help them come to terms with the disease.



In recent years, China has started methadone treatment for drug addicts, an
important move by the government to prevent and control the spread of the
virus.



Taking methadone, a synthesized narcotic, helps reduce addicts' craving for
drugs and keeps them from using hypodermic needles that can spread HIV/AIDS
and other blood-transmitted diseases.



The Chinese government this year has also lifted a 20-year-old rule that
banned foreigners with HIV/AIDS from entering the country.



South Africa, where the disease is rampant, is implementing a five-year plan
to combat HIV/AIDS in a bid to ensure the majority of HIV-infected people
have access to treatment.



In early 2010, the United States lifted a 22-year-old immigration ban which
kept anyone with HIV/AIDS from entering the country. The lifting of the ban
came into effect on Jan. 4.



In July, the Obama administration also released its National HIV/AIDS
Strategy, the first domestic action plan to combat HIV/AIDS since the
emergence of the disease 30 years ago in San Francisco.



In 2009, Russia approved a new HIV/AIDS strategy to offer free medical
consultation and treatment for those infected with the disease.



The country has increased spending on HIV/AIDS programs by 33 times since
2006. It has also expanded drug treatment dramatically for HIV/AIDS
sufferers.



Meanwhile, the United Nations has launched various campaigns to urge the
international community to make joint efforts to fight the epidemic as well
as to respect and protect the legitimate rights and interests of
HIV-infected people.



*3*

'Corporates can do more for AIDS awareness'
Times of India

01/12/2010



The corporate houses in India should come forward and undertake HIV/AIDS
awareness programmes within the organisations to sensitise their employees,
an International Labour Organisation (ILO) official said Tuesday.



"More corporate houses need to come forward and undertake HIV/ AIDS
awareness program to increase awareness among its employees and labour force
because the possibilities of exposure to HIV are quite high in workplaces,"
said P. Joshilla, ILO program officer (training and advocacy) at a seminar
'Prevention of HIV/AIDS in the world of work: A Tripartite Response'.



A study has revealed that in corporate houses where the employers have not
undertaken any HIV/AIDS awareness program, the employees are less informed
about the modes of transmission of the diseases and measures to prevent
exposure and infection.



Besides, the stigma and discrimination attached to the disease is at times
harder to cope with than the disease itself, said Joshilla, while addressing
the seminar organised by the Bharat Chamber of Commerce on the eve of World
AIDS Day (Dec 1).



Joshilla later said that West Bengal is a vulnerable state compared to the
other states because it has a large number of migrant labours.



"So if more corporate houses take up awareness programmes without delay,
then it will be more cost effective. Otherwise, if such programmes are
delayed, then it would lead to increased cost to the employer and decreased
productivity because of loss of skilled and experienced manpower," he said.



*4*

Editorial: It could happen to you
Jakarta Post

01/12/2010



The thrill of eating the exotic Japanese dish fugu (pufferfish) reportedly
comes from the small possibility that you might drop dead from its toxic
substance, regardless of how carefully the chef prepared the fish.



The chefs, we are told, are trained rigorously for at least two years before
they are allowed to serve fugu to diners ? who know the risk.



Now in unprotected sex it would not be so much the adrenaline rush of the
risk of danger despite thorough cautionary steps rather than the
recklessness in dismissing the possibility of being infected with any
disease or virus.



Ahead of World AIDS Day commemorated every Dec. 1, the National Commission
on AIDS has revealed that as of August this year, there were a cumulative
total of 21,770 people with Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS).



Among the vulnerable groups are teenagers, with the Commission revealing
that those most prone to contract the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)
were aged 15 to 19 years old. It also revealed that in a survey of
youngsters aged 15 to 24 years old, only 14.3 percent of them had sufficient
understanding of how the virus was spread.



Yet all age groups are relatively ignorant of the issue. Condoms are far
from the favorite contraception here; while for want of better technology,
the condom for males is still the best preventive measure, earning
recognition ?in certain cases? from no less than the Pope himself.



Sex workers have long said that asking clients to wear condoms runs the risk
of a lower income for them, or worse, physical abuse.



For those of us who are neither promiscuous nor sell our bodies, this does
not quite explain the increase in HIV prevalence among supposedly faithful
housewives, according to the Commission.



And for others who think AIDS is a disease that only gays get, another
telling figure is that the largest incidence of the spread of AIDS in
Indonesia, of over 49 percent as of June, is through heterosexual
intercourse.



The only choice? Protect yourself, and your loved ones.



*5*

Country to mark World AIDS Day today
Daily Times, Pakistan

01/12/2010



Staff Report



LAHORE: Pakistanis along with other nations will mark the World AIDS Day
today (Wednesday) to create awareness among public about this fatal disease.




A number of public and private organisations including UNAIDS and UNICEF
have planned a number of events including seminars and walks across the
country to mark the day. Meanwhile, the Punjab AIDS Control Programme (PACP)
has organised a drama competition in a local hotel.



The objective of the events is to strengthen and support the ongoing efforts
for sustained response to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. The PACP has also planned a
number of activities regarding the issue throughout the month of December.
They have also decided to involve youths from different educational
institutions to be part of their awareness campaign. A large number of
student groups from various educational institutions would participate in
the drama competition and the PACP would give prizes to prominent
participants. HIV patients told Daily Times that the disease was still a
stigma in Pakistan?s society, unlike developed countries. ?The struggle to
get equal rights and polite treatment by society and medical practitioners
is still an uphill task,? they said.



The patients added that that those with the deadly virus were condemned by
society as a whole and were even declared ?untouchables? by their own
families. They said a lack of awareness was the key reason behind the
disease. They urged the government to eliminate reasons behind the spread of
the deadly virus and to ensure proper check and balance to achieve concrete
results.



*6*

Preventing HIV: Thailand shows the way *
*Bangkok Post

01/12/2010



Despite great achievements in prevention and treatment, World Aids Day today
reminds us that HIV/Aids remains a serious public health problem globally.



In the 11 countries that comprise the World Health Organisation's Southeast
Asia Region, the latest data suggest a downward trend in new HIV infections.
But still, 3.5 million people in the region are living with HIV, mainly in
India, Indonesia, Burma, Nepal and Thailand.



In 2009, there were an estimated 220,000 new HIV infections and 230,000
people died due to Aids-related illnesses in the region. People most at risk
of HIV infection are female sex workers, men who have sex with men,
transgender persons and people who inject drugs.



The most vulnerable face of this disease are the HIV-positive children. As
long as a new generation continues to get the virus from HIV-positive
mothers, the battle against HIV/Aids cannot be won. Protecting these
children against HIV infection and safeguarding their mothers' health is a
priority for WHO.



The HIV threat to children highlights the need to strengthen health systems,
particularly primary health care and to address issues of gender and stigma.



The estimated number of children living with HIV in Southeast Asia increased
from 89,000 in 2001 to 130,000 in 2009. Almost half of HIV-positive children
in the region have access to treatment, compared to about a quarter
globally.



Women constitute 37% of the 3.5 million people living with HIV/Aids in the
region. Barely 34% of the estimated 58 000 HIV-positive pregnant women who
need anti-retroviral prophylaxis are receiving it. Without any intervention,
15-45% of their infants will become infected during pregnancy, delivery or
breastfeeding. Effective intervention to prevent children from getting the
virus exists, and there is good evidence that earlier and more effective
treatment can prevent nearly all mother-to-child transmissions. "Prevention
of mother to child transmission" (PMTCT) of HIV is a priority, and the
elimination of such transmission by 2015 is possible.



In 2010, WHO released new guidelines on the prevention of mother to child
transmission of HIV based on recent evidence that recommended earlier
initiation of anti-retroviral prophylaxis in pregnancy (as early as 14 weeks
of gestation) to prevent mother-to child transmission of HIV, and the
provision of life-long anti-retroviral treatment to all HIV-infected
pregnant women in need of treatment. Widespread implementation of these
guidelines could reduce the risk of mother-to-child transmission to less
than 5% or even lower and would increase maternal and child survival.



Effective antenatal care services at the primary health care level is key to
safeguarding the health of mothers and children. A more comprehensive
approach for preventing HIV in children must include preventing women of
child-bearing age from becoming HIV-infected in the first place, as well as
meeting their needs for family planning.



Thailand has achieved universal access to effective prevention of mother to
child transmission of HIV services, and this provides a valuable lesson for
other countries. Early in this decade, Thailand was the first country in the
region to integrate PMTCT interventions into its existing infrastructure of
antenatal care. The programme had many important components, including
confidential voluntary HIV counselling and testing at all health care
facilities for all pregnant women, as well as PMTCT services for pregnant
HIV-positive women.



An estimated 20,000 children have been protected from HIV infection in
Thailand since the launch of the programme at the beginning of the decade.
Moreover, new laboratory methods are being scaled up for earlier
determination of a child's HIV status, which will allow for better
protection of the child's health and well-being. Strong political commitment
and the implementation of evidence-based policies within a system already
based on a strong primary health care foundation have been key factors in
Thailand's success.



Ultimately, the epidemic of HIV/Aids cannot be dealt with in isolation.
Experience from countries such as Thailand that have had the greatest
success in controlling the epidemic suggests that measures to prevent and
control HIV/Aids have to be an intrinsic part of primary health care
services. Removing stigma and building stronger health systems are crucial,
as are improving the education and status of women. Barriers to accessing
PMTCT services must be removed, and appropriate care and social support for
the affected child, mother and family must be ensured.



In this way we can ensure that HIV/Aids does not destroy the lives of young
children even before they have begun.



*8*

No time to rest in battle against AIDS
The Australian

01/12/2010



Kevin Rudd



BACK in the early 1980s, the medical profession warned us all that HIV was a
complicated virus and AIDS would be difficult to cure. Four decades later,
this remains the case.



On this anniversary of World AIDS Day, there remains no vaccine and no cure
to the disease. But we are encouraged by strong evidence that we can turn
things around.



This year's UNAIDS Report on the Global Epidemic shows that fewer people are
becoming infected with HIV, dropping by 19 per cent since the peak in 1999.
Fewer people are dying from HIV-related illnesses and in the past five years
we have increased the number of people receiving treatment by about 750 per
cent. More people with HIV are well, and living longer



As we mark World AIDS Day, we welcome this trend while maintaining our
strong commitment to prevention and treatment to achieve a dramatic
reduction in HIV infections.



Australia is a global leader in the international response to HIV,
particularly in the Asia-Pacific. The way we treat those most at risk
determines whether it spreads through a population with further devastating
impacts on families, communities and economies.



Australia's work on prevention of HIV is also part of our global leadership
on women's rights and of non-discrimination on the basis of sexual
orientation.



The international community must not let down its guard. We must continue to
invest in the programs that work and make these available in more corners of
the world. Australia recently announced a 55 per cent increase in our
commitment to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria,
bringing our new pledge to $210 million over three years.



As of June this year, the fund had helped nearly three million people
receive anti-retroviral treatment and nearly one million HIV-positive women
with treatment to prevent HIV transmission to the child. That's a million
children with a start in life.



Papua New Guinea has made real progress in rolling out anti-retroviral
treatment. Just six years ago, there was practically no access to this
treatment. People, sadly, simply waited, then died. By last year,
three-quarters of eligible people had access to treatment. A huge leap
forward.



In total, Australia will commit more than $170 million this year to help
Papua New Guinea and other countries respond to HIV.



The establishment of a new Global Commission on HIV and the Law has
Australia's support in principle and we are also a major donor. The
commission is tasked with finding practical, evidence-based recommendations
to protect and promote the rights of people affected by HIV. Michael Kirby
has been appointed a commissioner and a co-chairman of the commission's
Technical Advisory Group.



Last year, we saw the strong international leadership needed, with
Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono endorsing a declaration
calling for HIV prevention among most-at-risk groups in Indonesia.



The world is about to enter its fourth decade of the AIDS epidemic.
Australia and many other countries know we can do more, and that we can
accelerate the decline in transmission of HIV.



The executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, says we know there is
political and societal will to bring change. The real challenge is following
through.



*9*

Fight to end HIV infections on track
ABC News, Australia

01/12/2010



By Paula Kruger



A report by UNICEF shows there has been a big improvement in getting help to
deal with HIV infection to mothers in need.



Half of the pregnant women with HIV in developing countries are getting the
drugs that prevent their babies from being infected.



But the report also shows there is still a long way to go if UNICEF is to
reach its goal of eliminating mother to child transmission of HIV by 2015.



UNICEF Australia CEO Norman Gillespie says some progress is being made.



"There is indeed a message of hope on this World Aids Day that very
significant progress is indeed being made and particularly in an area that
we are interested in, which was the transmission of HIV from mothers to
children," he said.



"We really succeeded in making progress, such that we can probably
confidently say that this will be eliminated by 2015."



Mr Gillespie says increased awareness in countries that are being affected
through education, supply of drugs, free clinics and breaking down of
cultural taboos was the reason for optimism.



"In 2005, only 15 per cent of HIV-positive pregnant women in these
developing countries were actually getting access to antiretroviral drugs.
And that figure in 2009 has dramatically risen to 53 per cent," he said.



"So we are seeing marked progress, however I would caution that, because
there clearly are pockets in the world that we are still not getting to.



"So we must always be conscious that these averages, while sounding very
encouraging, really we should be concerned about the least able in that
society."



Challenges ahead

With many infected people living in remote areas that do not have
established HIV clinics, getting drugs to people who most need it remains an
ongoing challenge.



Mr Gillespie says one of the countries that is of particular concern is
Papua New Guinea, where only 13 per cent of HIV positive women are receiving
treatment due to the combined factors of isolation, cultural and social
stigma.



In a bid to address these issues, UNICEF, together with the World Health
Organisation and others, have developed a mother-baby pack containing
essential drugs and instructions for safe delivery practices for those
mothers who cannot get to clinics and hospitals.



"Clearly that's what we'd prefer, but if not, getting these packs out can be
a life saver and these packs are very inexpensive. They're selling for about
$95 and they really are making a huge difference," Mr Gillespie said.



Mr Gillespie says PNG, along with Cambodia, remain a major focus of UNICEF's
HIV reduction efforts in the Asia-Pacific region.



"I've been there recently and seen for myself where things are really
working, they've arrested it but there's still a long way to go," Mr
Gillespie said.



"These statistics are still only 53 per cent - that's a great increase in
five years, but that's not 100 [per cent].



"If you go down the street in Cambodia, you will not miss the banners about
preventing aids, about the use of condoms, about encouraging people to go to
the free clinics.



"That's really what you need, that widespread education and a reduction in
the stigma that's attached to this terrible disease."



*10*

World AIDS Day commemorated *
*FBC, Fiji

01/12/2010



The Ministry of Health in conjunction with WHO and UNAIDS and other NGO?s
joined hands this morning to commemorate World Aids Day.



Health spokesperson PENI NAMOTU says to date, a total of 354 cases have been
reported since 1989.



Namotu says the message for todays celebration is simple, be faithful and
use protection.



?HIV AIDS doesn?t respect any boundaries and you will get the virus if you
don?t follow advises.?



World Aids Day 2010 is aimed at raising awareness to tackle HIV prejudice
and help stop the spread of HIV.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



Treatment: Success of drug regime boosts hopes for a cure
Financial Times, UK

01/12/2010



By Clive Cookson



Next year marks the 30th anniversary of the identification of Aids as a
disease and the 15th of the introduction of combination antiretroviral
therapy ? sometimes known simply as ART and sometimes as highly active
antiretroviral therapy or HAART.



No scientific advance has done more to stem the advancing tide of Aids than
ART, which uses a drug cocktail to prevent HIV replicating in human cells.
The notorious genetic changeability of the virus can only be overcome if the
patient takes at least three drugs at the same time.



While ART is far from painless ? the patient still faces a gruelling regime
of pill-taking and risks unpleasant side-effects ? it does enable people to
live almost normal lives for many years after infection.



>From the public health point of view, ART is important, too, because it
greatly reduces the amount of HIV circulating in the patient?s blood and
present in body fluids (by a factor of 1,000 to 10,000). This means people
on ART are much less likely to transmit the virus, even if they engage in
risky behaviour such as unprotected sex. A study of couples where only one
partner was infected, published in the Lancet medical journal this year,
showed that ART cut transmission between partners by 92 per cent.



With the continued failure to develop an effective HIV vaccine (see panel),
some public health experts see ART as an alternative way to prevent
infection spreading. Brian Williams, based in Geneva and affiliated with the
South African Centre for Epidemiological Modelling and Analysis, has been
very active this year in promoting ?treatment as prevention?, with
presentations at the annual meeting of the American Association for the
Advancement of Science and the Congress on Drug Therapy in HIV Infection.



Modelling studies suggest that HIV transmission could be eliminated within
10 years through a huge expansion of ART, according to Dr Williams. The
strategy requires everyone in the target population to be tested for HIV
and, if found to be infected, put on treatment immediately, whether or not
he or she shows any sign of disease.



Although small-scale trials of treatment as prevention are being organised
in North America and South Africa, there would be huge practical, financial
and ethical obstacles to overcome before the strategy could be rolled out
globally.



Meanwhile the success of ART is encouraging others to dream of going further
than merely suppressing HIV ? which requires a life-long drug regime ? and
actually curing Aids by eradicating the virus from patients. This would mean
overcoming the issue of ?HIV persistence? by tackling the ?HIV reservoirs?
in which the virus lurks in several places around the body.



Aids 2010, this year?s biggest international conference on the disease,
heard several ideas for how to attack these reservoirs. ?The science in this
area is evolving rapidly, but HIV persistence remains a daunting challenge,?
says Fran?oise Barr?-Sinoussi, president elect of the International Aids
Society.



She adds: ?There is a strong need for continued investment in research to
better understand why and how HIV infection persists under therapy. Solving
these mysteries is critical for developing therapeutic strategies that will
not depend on life-long therapy.?



Orvacs, a French Aids research foundation, is testing one approach in a
phase II clinical study just getting under way in four European countries.



It combines two powerful antiretroviral drugs that work in different ways ?
the integrase inhibitor raltegravir from Merck and CCR5 inhibitor maraviroc
from ViiV Healthcare (a joint venture of GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer) ? with
an experimental drug that modulates the immune system, from Cytheris, a
French biotechnology company.



The almost paradoxical strategy of the Orvacs trial is to use interleukin-7,
Cytheris?s immune modulating agent, to reactivate the cells that carry
latent infection. The two antiviral drugs should then inhibit viral
replication while the patient?s strengthened immune system attacks and
eliminates the infected cells.



At the same time, researchers continue to learn more about the way HIV
enters human cells and attacks their DNA ? information that may in time lead
to better ways of removing the virus from its cellular reservoirs.



For example, researchers from Imperial College London recently used X-ray
beams at Diamond Light Source, the UK?s national synchrotron, to show how
retroviruses such as HIV use the enzyme integrase to insert their own
genetic material into the DNA of a human cell.



?Only 18 months ago we had a sketchy understanding of retroviral
integration,? says Peter Cherepanov, lead researcher on the project. ?Now we
have obtained snapshots depicting the whole process in atomic detail ... It
has truly been a breathtaking ride.?



Even after three decades of intensive research, costing tens of billions of
dollars and engaging some of the best minds in biomedical science, there is
still much to learn about the disease.

..................................................

Vaccines: The search takes a hopeful turn

After a quarter century of frustration, the search for an effective HIV
vaccine that could prevent new infections has taken a more hopeful turn over
the past year or so, reports Clive Cookson.



The headline event that renewed optimism was the first success in history of
a large-scale HIV vaccine trial, reported in September 2009. The efficacy in
Thailand was much too modest for a commercial vaccine ? 51 people in the
vaccinated group and 74 in the placebo group became infected ? but
researchers took it as a positive signal that a vaccine could in principle
be developed.



?Even though the effect was modest and barely reached statistical
significance, it showed it was possible to prevent HIV infection in people ?
and that was a game changer,? says Gary Nabel, director of the Vaccine
Research Center at the US National Institutes of Health. ?Until then, some
people thought we might never be able to prevent infection.?



Since the Thai trial announcement, scientists have been encouraged by the
discovery of a dozen ?broadly neutralising antibodies? which act against the
vast majority of HIV strains.



These antibodies are produced naturally by between 10 and 25 per cent of
people infected with HIV ? those whose immune system mounts an unusually
strong defence against the virus. Scientists have extracted the antibodies
from the blood of HIV-positive volunteers and found they prevent more than
90 per cent of known HIV strains infecting human cells in lab tests.



Researchers are analysing how these antibodies attach to parts of the virus
that remain fairly constant as HIV mutates. One of the biggest problems in
vaccine development is that HIV is more changeable and variable than almost
any other virus ? even flu.



The challenge now is to produce a viable vaccine that will stimulate the
human immune system to produce such broadly neutralising antibodies before
it encounters HIV, in a way that will prevent infection in most people.



Even optimists recognise it will take a long time to build on recent
progress to develop a vaccine that is safe and effective to give to everyone
at risk of infection.



?I would be very surprised if we see such a vaccine [licensed for commercial
use] in less than 10 years from now,? says Dr Nabel. ?Clinical development
moves slowly.?

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*2*

Sida: Sarkozy rappelle que l'?pid?mie se poursuit et d?nonce ceux qui disent
le contraire
AFP

01/12/2010



ORBEC (Calvados) - Nicolas Sarkozy a rappel? mercredi, ? l'occasion de la
journ?e mondiale contre le sida, que l'?pid?mie n'?tait pas termin?e et a
d?nonc? le "comportement irresponsable" de ceux qui laissent croire le
contraire, lors d'une table ronde sur la m?decine ? Orbec.



"Contrairement ? ce qu'on entend dire, l'?pid?mie de sida se poursuit. Il y
a 7.000 nouvelles contaminations par an (en France), et laisser ? penser ?
nos compatriotes, et notamment aux plus jeunes, que c'est termin? c'est un
comportement irresponsable", a d?clar? M. Sarkozy.



"Quand on laisse croire que c'est termin?, que c'est derri?re nous parce que
les m?decins ont fait des progr?s consid?rables, on met en danger des jeunes
en leur laissant ? penser qu'ils n'ont pas l'obligation de se prot?ger, de
se pr?munir et d'avoir un comportement qui ?vitera que leur vie soit
boulevers?e par la maladie", a-t-il poursuivi.



"Tant mieux si la m?decine a fait des progr?s, et tant mieux s'il y en a
moins (de cas de contaminations, ndlr) qu'avant, mais 7.000 contaminations
de plus, imaginez ce que ?a signifie pour 7.000 familles d'avoir un de ses
membres qui a la maladie ?", a insist? le chef de l'Etat.



"Sur les un peu moins de 150.000 personnes qui vivent avec le VIH
aujourd'hui, il y en a pr?s de 50.000 qui ne savent pas qu'ils sont porteurs
de la maladie, 50.000 personnes qui se mettent en danger elles-m?mes et qui
mettent en danger la vie des autres", a ajout? M. Sarkozy.



"La mission de sant? publique, c'est quelque chose qui compte, c'est pas une
lubie m?diatique, c'est pas un probl?me anecdotique, c'est un probl?me et
une question absolument cruciale", a-t-il conclu.

?AFP



*3*

World Aids Day: A fighting chance
The Independent, UK

01/12/2010



This battle is being won. With global co-operation, we can give hope back to
the helpless, writes Elton John



This World Aids Day marks the beginning of a fourth decade living with a
global killer. I understand that many of you have just picked up your
morning paper and may not want to think about disease, death, and
devastation. I understand that you may think Aids is too complicated and too
persistent for us to solve. I understand that you likely have a dozen other
issues clamouring for your attention ? global warming, poverty, world peace,
just to name a few ? and the day has only just begun.





But I would make the case that Aids is still worthy of our attention,
resources, and effort ? now, more than ever before. Not because of my
personal connection to a disease that has taken so many friends and
colleagues over the years. It's not the troubling fact that Aids continues
to attack young adults as they make their way into the world and start their
own families. Nor is it the way Aids devastates household incomes and
national economies, propelling the perpetual cycle of poverty.



In fact, I am compelled not by despair but by hope. I'm heartened by the
recent statistics from UNAIDS that tell a promising story ? 5 million people
on treatment and a 25 per cent drop in new infections across the
worst-affected countries since 2001. I'm motivated by the progress that Aids
has quite unintentionally moved forward, rather than the destruction it has
left in its wake.



Because despite the chaos Aids has wrought, it has also resulted in
remarkable human compassion and ingenuity. When it struck the gay community
with such ferocity, Aids galvanised gay men not only to demand medical
treatment as patients, but also equal treatment as human beings. When
religious leaders and moral crusaders declared it to be "God's judgment",
brave and unlikely champions such as Princess Diana and Ryan White emerged
to challenge the prejudices and taboos that lived in the hearts of millions.
And when epidemics claimed the lives of millions of nurses, teachers,
miners, and soldiers, an army of ordinary people proved to be much stronger,
building networks, raising funds, and opening their hearts to the sick and
their homes to the orphaned.



In 2001, the Global Fund ? the most ambitious response to a global
catastrophe since the Marshall Plan ? was established to fight Aids, TB, and
malaria. And in 2003, George W Bush launched the President's Emergency Plan
for Aids Relief ? PEPFAR ? the largest international health initiative ever
directed at a single disease. What has this incredible and unprecedented
convergence of love, compassion, money, political will, and science given
us?



For one thing, it it has shattered the belief that poor countries are unable
to manage complicated medical treatment. When PEPFAR was announced, only
500,000 Africans had access to HIV treatment, now 5.2 million people are on
life-saving medicines. In Botswana, where 39 per cent of the population was
infected with HIV in 2002 and life expectancy was under 40 years, President
Mogae has claimed the Aids treatment that now reaches 80 per cent of
patients saved his country from the brink of extinction.



For another, the innovation and ingenuity that has enabled millions to live
longer lives has benefited so many more. The Global Fund has increased
resources for more than just Aids: 35 per cent of its funding strengthens
health systems that reach all patients, not just those with HIV. Since the
Global Fund there is a real goal to eradicate malaria and usher in the first
new TB drugs since the 1970s. The Aids epidemic has created an architecture
to improve global health. It has given new impetus to improving primary
education for a generation of Aids orphans. It has sharpened focus on gender
equality and reinvigorated efforts to end maternal mortality. It has
challenged stigmas and double standards that persisted long before the
disease appeared.



I am proud that the Elton John Aids Foundation has contributed to this
progress for nearly 20 years. Through the Foundation I have witnessed the
ingenuity, the compassion, and the human love that has made a difference,
not just in the fight against Aids, but in all aspects of the complex,
globalised world in which we live.



Before I sound too much like a musician with his head in the clouds, let me
be clear. I agree with President Clinton, who writes today, about how much
work remains to be done. I understand the challenges of getting 10 million
patients the treatment they still need and filling a funding shortfall of
$10 billion in the midst of a widespread economic crisis. I recognise the
need for business expertise and leadership, good government policies, and
engaging affected communities. I know the barriers that exist to building up
the capacity of health care systems, training enough health care workers,
and eradicating dangerous stigmas that keep many people from knowing their
status and obtaining the medicines that could save their lives.



Yet, on this World Aids Day, I hope to share how a disease that once made us
feel helpless can make us feel hopeful ? and even proud. I hope these
stories restore your faith in compassion. But most of all, I hope to leave
you with a renewed sense that not only is this battle worth fighting, it is
one we can win. And in many ways, it's the very thing that could save us
all.



*4*

The bigotry that keeps Aids alive
The Independent, UK

01/12/2010



By David Furnish



Why is Aids such a horribly tenacious disease? Statistics released by Unaids
for World Aids Day share some encouraging developments ? new HIV infections
worldwide have decreased by 19 per cent since 1999. However, there is a
disturbing lack of progress in reducing HIV infection among gay men,
particularly in developing countries. Experts have long stated that HIV
epidemics cannot be successfully quelled unless the underlying spread of HIV
by male-to-male sex is addressed. Yet, across the globe, socially accepted
homophobia and violence against sexual minorities have created barriers to
HIV-prevention efforts in this population.





To shed light on a problem that concerns me deeply as a gay man, I spoke
with Dr Robert Carr of the International Council of Aids Service
Organisations ? a leading advocate for human rights from the Caribbean. A
disturbing picture emerged from our conversation of the ways politicians and
religious and social leaders ? all around the world ? have justified the
isolation, harassment, abuse, violation and even murder of sexual minorities
in the name of preserving religious beliefs or family and community
"values".



What follows in the wake of this inhumane treatment of stigmatised people is
the inevitable rise in rates of HIV infections and deaths due to Aids, not
only among vulnerable groups, but also within the general population. Fear
and isolation prevent people exposed to the virus from seeking HIV testing
and treatment, and the disease continues to spread unabated. "It can be very
dangerous to be gay in the Caribbean," Dr Carr told me, "and to speak up is
to risk bodily harm."



Although Caribbean attitudes about people living with HIV/Aids have become
much more tolerant in recent years, the opposite has been the case for
sexual minorities. Homosexuality triggers tremendous hostility in all
sectors of Caribbean society. "There is great resistance to the idea that
men who have sex with men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgendered persons are
deserving of social and legal protections," Dr Carr said. "Many reject the
idea that the brutalisation of sexual minorities is wrong."



What is true of the Caribbean is true of Africa and many other parts of the
developing world. Such attitudes are encouraged by conservative religious
leaders (backed by funding from right-wing evangelical organisations in the
United States and Canada) waging a righteous "Christian war" against
homosexuality to preserve what they see as traditional values and morality.



"Homosexuality has been declared a 'satanic influence', and gay people have
been demonised and depicted as less than human," Dr Carr said. "There have
been many documented instances of vicious attacks against gay people, which
have been videotaped and posted on YouTube with comments applauding the
violence as right and just."



I am proud to be a Canadian, but was disgusted and deeply saddened to
discover that Canadian right-wing extremist religious groups would stoop to
such sickening levels. According to Dr Carr, these people feel the Western
world has fallen prey to these satanic influences (gay marriage is
rightfully legal in Canada) and that they must turn their energies and their
pocketbooks towards preserving the sanctity of the developing world. They
are solely taking advantage of a part of our world where people are less
educated to promote their own evil agenda.



This horrifying situation in the Caribbean is just one example of ingrained
societal prejudices around the world resulting in inhumane behaviour that is
highly counterproductive to reducing the spread of HIV infection. Dr Carr
said: "Gay sex workers in some countries have been taken to detention
centres and systematically raped in the name of 'curing' their
homosexuality."



In Kenya and Uganda, religious groups have circulated photos, names, and
addresses of gay rights activists to be placed on posters in communities and
published in newspapers with messages urging that they should be killed. "In
every case, deeply entrenched attitudes and prejudices, which have been
taken for granted over a lifetime as being correct, have enabled people to
do things they would otherwise find abhorrent," Dr Carr said.



Last week at the Elton John Aids Foundation office in London, I met a man
named Alan who runs a support group for HIV positive men in Mombasa. I was
floored when he showed me a flyer posted in major Kenyan towns by a
Christian evangelical group called Project See. This flyer featured a
photograph of David Kuria, the director of the Gay and Lesbian Coalition of
Kenya. It shockingly encourages people to hunt him down and kill him. To aid
in this goal, they printed Mr Kuria's phone number and email in bold type.



How this barbarism can exist is beyond my comprehension, but when it is
encouraged in the name of Christianity it is truly repulsive. It directly
flies in the face of the Christian values of love and forgiveness on which I
was raised.



Adding fuel to this witch hunt is Raila Odinga, the Prime Minister of Kenya.
On Sunday at a rally in his constituency, he said: "Homosexuals should be
arrested and taken to the relevant authorities." What is happening in such
situations, explains Dr Carr, is that people are "regarded as disposable,
less than human".



They are "left with no protection under the law and no means of seeking
redress for the wrongs done to them", he said.



In recent years the Elton John Aids Foundation has funded innovative
programs to establish models of how such misguided attitudes about sexual
minorities and people living with HIV/Aids can be changed.



Through a series of grants to the Caribbean Broadcast Media Partnership on
HIV/Aids, the foundation has enabled community-based organisations, such as
Dr Carr's Vulnerable Communities Coalition, to educate Caribbean radio
stations and media groups ? who have in the past fanned anti-homosexual
fervour ? about the connection between violence against sexual minorities
and the rise in HIV infection.



As a result, over 90 Caribbean media outlets have joined together to produce
documentaries, news reports, public service messages and entertainment
programmes humanising gay people, promoting tolerance for sexual minorities
and people living with HIV/Aids, and educating the public about the
realities of the Aids epidemic.



Since the advent of this programme in 2004, there have been substantially
improved relationships between the gay community and the police and even
somewhat improved relationships with religious leaders.



Programmes like this now need to be promoted in other parts of the world
where 79 countries continue to criminalise sexual relationships between
same-sex consulting adults. Until it is, the price of unreasoning hatred
will be measured in human lives.



*5*

MTV launches "Me, Myself and HIV" film on AIDS day

Reuters

01/12/2010



(Reuters) - The head of MTV's AIDS charity was nervous about launching this
year's World AIDS Day campaign without a celebrity, but decided to put her
faith in two personal tales told by unknown youngsters.



The music channel is airing an hour-long television documentary "Me, Myself
and HIV," which follows the lives of 25-year-old U.S. college student
Angelikah and 21-year-old aspiring musician Slim from Zambia. Both are
living with HIV.



"It's the first time that Staying Alive has done self-related reality, and I
was very much influenced by some of the strong MTV programing like 'Teen
Mom'," said Georgia Arnold who helped create the Staying Alive Foundation in
2004.



"I was very nervous about not having a celebrity, as distribution is often
driven by the fact that there is a celebrity hosting it," she told Reuters
ahead of World AIDS Day on Wednesday.



"But I think this program is so strong because of the two voices - Slim and
Angelikah.



"Celebrities are fantastic and have a role to play in all this, but the real
voices of young people living with HIV are turning people on to the issue."



Both of the featured youngsters go into some of the complications of living
with HIV, but also share the positive message that people with the infection
can lead full lives.



The show follows Angelikah and her boyfriend Taylor, who is HIV negative, as
he gets himself tested, and the couple discuss how they can enjoy a normal
sex life as long as they take the necessary precautions.



She has not told everyone at college about her condition and recounts to one
fellow student how she fell out with her best friend who blamed her for
ending up with HIV.



Slim is reluctant to open up about being HIV positive, but finds it a
liberating experience when he eventually does.



Both discuss the daily routine of taking medication and the risks they face
should they grow immune to its effects.



Arnold said the purpose of the film, airing on MTV's global network of 63
channels in 159 countries reaching up to 596 million households, was not to
trivialize HIV and AIDS.



Medication had serious physical side effects, and sufferers could be
psychologically fragile, she added.



After the film was made, for example, Angelikah and Taylor broke up.



"Being HIV positive may not be the death sentence it used to be, but at
times like these it leaves me feeling like I've been sentenced to life in
solitary confinement," Angelikah wrote in a blog from a hospital where she
was being treated for depression.



"I know with my being undetectable and by being safe every time, the odds of
me passing it on to someone else are slim or next to nothing. Sadly facts
don't always win over fear. It shouldn't be this way, but stigma is a
powerful thing."



*6*

Struggle to find an AIDS vaccine continues  *
*Deutsche Welle

01/12/2010



There has been a lot of hopeful progress made in the area of HIV vaccine
research over the years, but many a setback as well. One reason for this is
that there are many different strains of HIV.



Since HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, was discovered in 1982, scientists
around the world have been trying to create a vaccine against it.



But 28 years later after its discovery, and 22 years after the first World
AIDS Day on December 1, 1988, the world is still waiting for the big
breakthrough.



Nevertheless, scientists haven't given up yet. They know that a well
tolerated, effective vaccine could effectively stop the worldwide spread of
AIDS.



Developing an AIDS vaccine is an ambitious undertaking. There have been
signs of promise, but setbacks as well, largely due to the changing nature
of the virus. The fact is, there is no single strain of the human
immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but many viruses, all of them slightly
different.



"The virus is constantly changing, altering its structure, its genetic
composition. That makes it harder for the immune system to fight," said Gerd
Faetkenheuer, a professor at the University Clinic in Cologne, in an
interview with Deutsche Welle.



When a person is infected with HIV, his or her immune system develops
antibodies that fight the virus, but he or she is unable to stop it from
spreading.



Simulated antibodies created in the lab

"Everyone who is infected, every patient, has antibodies. But these
antibodies don't protect against the virus - as a rule, they just indicate
it," Faetkenheuer said.



Researchers have been able to create simulated antibodies in the lab that
are better than natural ones. They can protect people from numerous HIV
strains and can even stop the virus from entering and infecting cells. But
it's not clear whether these molecules will be able to function outside of
the lab.



A further approach to vaccine research aims to teach the immune system what
HIV-infected cells look like, so that the body can recognize the cells and
get rid of them. According to Faetkenheuer, this kind of vaccine wouldn't be
able to prevent infection, but could at least teach the body how to control
it.



"We need immune cells that can recognize and kill the virus," he said. "A
major problem in HIV infection is that the virus attacks the immune cells as
well. You can even say that it attacks the most important cells of the
immune system - the helper cells. They control the immuno-response."



The Thai exception

None of the possible vaccines that have been tested on people so far have
proved effective - with one exception.



In Thailand, a combined vaccine was effective to a certain level. Its double
aim was to stimulate antibody production while teaching the immune system to
recognize infected cells. In a test group, those vaccinated showed 31
percent fewer incidents of infection.



This is the first small success after a series of setbacks. Yet there is one
major problem: to this day, researchers cannot explain how the vaccine
worked, and they aren't sure whether or not the results can be trusted.



"[31 percent] is a very slight difference, which also can be affected by
external factors," Faetkenheuer said. "So we can't be sure if it was a real
result, or if external factors that we haven't yet identified played a
role."



Looking for answers in healthy populations

Researchers hope that a new, detailed analysis of the Thai experiment -
already underway - will bring an answer to this question. Results are
expected in around two years.



So what does a vaccine need to be able to do in order to protect someone
from contracting HIV?



Dr. Bruce Walker, an AIDS expert at Boston University, is looking for the
answer. He is testing carriers of the HIV virus who have the unusual ability
to control the virus to the point where it almost doesn't replicate at all.



Walker has discovered genetic material in these subjects that doesn't exist
in other HIV patients.



"The challenge is now for us to reach the point that we understand the
mechanism and find out how to really control the virus," he said.



But there is likely to be a long road before that point is reached. There
may never be a 100 percent reliable vaccine against HIV - but even a vaccine
with a 50 or 60 percent protective effect could help to slow the spread of
the virus, experts say.



Multifaceted strategy for fighting the disease

A complete disease-fighting strategy wouldn't rely entirely on the vaccine.
Other techniques include: condoms, male circumcision, and medication.
Because as it turns out, HIV-infected patients who are medically treated are
less infectious, Faetkenheuer said.



"At present, the most successful tool we have isn't vaccination, it is
treatment," Faetkenheuer said. "When people are treated, it means that fewer
people will be infected."



The problem with that, however, is that even in wealthy Europe, about half
of the people who are HIV positive don't know it.



"If they don't do an AIDS test, they can infect other people without even
wanting to," said Jens Lundgren, a professor at the University of
Copenhagen. "They don't know that they are a risk for their partner, and a
risk for society."



As ever, taking a simple AIDS test is one method for proving an existing
infection - and for getting early treatment. And it is still the surest way
to know whether or not you could spread the virus to other people.

Author: Martin Winkelheide/jen

Editor: Cyrus Farivar



*7*

Austerity threatens treatment advances
Financial Times, UK

30/12/2010



By Andrew Jack



The Vatican provided an early birthday present for World Aids Day last
month, when the Pope offered an unexpected endorsement of condoms to prevent
HIV. It was a rare positive development at a time of concern over slowing
efforts to tackle the epidemic.



A decade after new approaches and funding began to spark a revolution in
treatment and prevention around the world, outdated attitudes and a slowdown
in funding risk restricting further advances. Greater faith, hope and
charity are now all required.



The latest report from UNAids stresses achievements since the start of the
millennium. More than 5m people now receive life-saving drugs, and
prevention measures have reduced the rate of new infections each year by a
fifth from its peak in 1997.



?We have broken the trajectory of the Aids epidemic,? says Michel Sidib?,
the agency?s executive director. ?We are closing the gap between prevention
and treatment.?



Optimists point to clinical trials offering distant hopes for an HIV
vaccine, and therapies that could allow long-term suppression of the virus.



Very recent studies support much expanded ?treatment as prevention?, with
greater use of medicines both by those with HIV to reduce their infectivity,
and as prophylaxis in others to prevent initial replication of the virus
immediately after transmission.

?You could look forward to a day in five or 10 years? time when we could
have a pretty good armatorium for prevention,? says Mark Dybul, former head
of Pepfar, the US government?s programme to fight Aids in the developing
world.



In the meantime, the burden of HIV remains heavy, with an estimated 33.3m
living with the virus, 1.8m dying from complications and 2.6m new infections
each year. Even on the most optimistic estimates, there could still be 1m
new cases annually 20 years from now, and an ever-larger number on long-term
treatment.



Yet progress has slowed in some countries and there has been backsliding in
others. Without a ?magic bullet? to cure or prevent transmission, the field
is becoming more crowded with a series of incremental interventions that
raise hopes but add to short-term costs and complexity.



Moreover, further growth in the relatively large sums channelled to fighting
Aids is threatened by austerity measures imposed since the 2008 financial
crisis.



In October, donors pledged just under $12bn over the next three years to the
UN-backed Global Fund to Fight Aids, TB and Malaria. That is more than the
agency has ever received, but still short of the lowest of its three target
scenarios of $13bn-$20bn.



Michel Kazatchkine, the Fund?s director, says: ?We are seeing major advances
and successes despite the financial climate. But this [level of funding]
means countries will slow down scale-up of access to treatment and
prevention programmes and will not get us on target.?



UNAids calculations suggest $16bn in total was spent last year, $10bn less
than required. Funding is already being squeezed, including to the agency
itself which, to make best use of its $250m annual budget, has frozen posts
and cut staff and travel.



To critics, the axe could fall more aggressively still. Former US President
Bill Clinton, whose foundation has helped reduce treatment costs, and Bill
Gates, the founder of Microsoft, whose philanthropy has supported much work
in the field, both chose efficiency as their theme at the biennial Aids
conference last summer.



UNAids proposals include ?Treatment 2.0?, a package of new approaches,
including longer-lasting medicines with fewer side-effects that are cheaper
and easier to take, combined with more use of simpler diagnostics and
community health workers to ease the burden on more costly medical staff.



Unitaid, another multilateral agency, has funded a ?patent pool?, which is
trying to stimulate development of better and cheaper drug combinations,
while lobbying for funding generated in innovative ways including via a
financial transactions tax.



Better value for money is also the main recommendation of a report by
aids2031, a think-tank, which highlights the need for improvement, as well
as greater emphasis on funding targeted approaches for prevention, long the
poor relation of treatment.



While much progress has been made in preventing mothers from transmitting
HIV to children, for instance, coverage could be considerably higher and
efficacy boosted through the use of better drug combinations given over
longer periods.



Nicholas Hellmann, executive vice-president at the Elizabeth Glaser
Pediatric Aids Foundation, says: ?Our challenge is not only to reach the
other half of women in need, but also to make sure all have access to
combination prophylaxis or treatment regimens.?



Circumcision is now being offered to men in sub-Saharan Africa, but
implementation is slow.



President Yoweri Museveni of Uganda, an early champion of HIV prevention,
has been reluctant to encourage the practice, according to Musa Bungudu, the
local UNAids representative. ?There is a general complacency, with gradual
decline in commitment and support from the leadership.?



Yusef Azad, director of policy and campaigns at the National Aids Trust in
London, also sees the need for reinvigoration, in an era when widespread
drug treatment has eased the fear of death. In the UK, that means finding
new ways to tackle HIV infection in gay men. ?When normal gay life is put
forward as going clubbing every weekend with drugs and alcohol, we?re doing
everything we can to make it as difficult as possible to use condoms,? he
says.



A change in approach by many more governments could ensure limited resources
are better spent. Eastern Europe and Central Asia are causing particular
concern, with prospects for treatment ? an essential precursor to persuading
people to be tested for HIV ? often lower than in Africa.



By neglecting needle ex?change programmes, victimising drug users and
forbidding methadone substitution for heroin addicts, Russia and some of its
neighbours have spurned the most effective strategies for ?harm reduction?
among injecting drug users, the greatest contributors to their epidemics.



?The criminalisation of drug users undermines public health efforts by
driving them underground and away from prevention and care services,? says
Elly Katabira, president of the International Aids Society.



A resurgence in laws to criminalise homosexuality and intentional infection
with HIV ? an issue highlighted by the recent trial in Germany of the singer
Nadja Benaissa ? are having a similar effect.



Joseph Amon, health and human rights director at Human Rights Watch, is
equally concerned about the impact of the misappropriation of donor funds,
including recent cases in Uganda and Zambia.



He also criticises countries for using scarce donor money when they could
contribute more. ?China seems to have no problem with bilateral funding and
investment in Africa, but gives a very pathetic amount? to the Global Fund,
he says.



That makes the choices all the more painful for countries such as South
Africa, which has shown strong leadership on HIV in recent months, but will
need substantial extra support to fund new policies.



The next stage in tackling Aids demands acceptance of shared responsibility
by donors, recipients and individuals.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*8*

The ?War on Drugs? has failed: policy should be based on science and human
rights
Financial Times, UK

30/11/2010



By Elly Katabira



The War on Drugs is a failure and is undermining the fight against HIV-Aids.
On World Aids Day 2010, the International Aids Society is asking its
19,000-plus membership of HIV professionals around the globe to sign up to
the Vienna Declaration ? drug policy should be based on science, not
ideology ? and speak with one clear and credible voice to call for a new,
evidence-based approach to dealing with illicit drugs.



The evidence has long been in for IAS ? more than a third of the
organisation?s members work as healthcare and social services providers on
the front lines of the HIV epidemic. They know that the criminalisation of
drug users undermines public health efforts by driving them underground and
away from prevention and care services.



They know that the War on Drugs places individuals already vulnerable to HIV
infection in even higher risk settings; incarcerating them in overcrowded
prisons where a high prevalence of HIV, a risk of violence, the use of
non-sterile drug injection equipment, sexual contacts, tattooing and sharing
of razors create an ideal breeding ground for the disease.



Our members also know that in a number of countries, record drug-related
incarceration rates have negatively affected the social functioning of
entire communities.



Racial disparities in drug incarceration rates are also evident worldwide,
and are particularly severe in the US, where approximately one in nine
African-American males in the age group 20 to 34 is incarcerated on any
given day, primarily as a result of drug law enforcement.



But don?t just take our members? word for it. Look at the terrifying picture
on injecting drug use and HIV infection emerging in some parts of the world.



Outside sub-Saharan Africa, drug users account for approximately one in
three new cases of HIV. In some areas where HIV is spreading most rapidly,
such as eastern Europe and Central Asia (EECA), HIV prevalence can be as
high as 70 per cent among people who inject drugs, and in some areas more
than 80 per cent of all HIV cases are among this group.



Policymakers in the EECA region, however, have failed to respond to these
startling statistics, and the region is unfortunately notorious in the
sector for its human rights abuses, police brutality and disastrous drug
policies.



Methadone maintenance therapy, for instance, remains illegal in Russia,
despite a high incidence of heroin use and despite the fact that methadone
is on the World Health Organisation?s list of essential medicines and is
recognised as one of the most effective treatments for heroin addiction.



IAS members working on the front line also know what the solutions are.



They know that a human rights-based approach to drug use is the only sane
public health response.



This approach has seen extraordinary policy changes in countries such as
Malaysia where substitution therapy with methadone and needle exchange
programmes are now available for injecting drug users. Much of this
turnround in policy has been driven by the work of IAS member Adeeba
Kamarulzaman, professor and head of infectious diseases at the University of
Malaya, Kuala Lumpur.



This human-centred approach to drug use also has seen changes, albeit on a
more minor scale, in countries such as Ukraine, where the prevalence of HIV
in prisons is at least 10 times that of the overall population.



On October 21 2010, several changes, each vital to the protection of the
rights of those living with, working with or affected by HIV in Ukraine,
were incorporated in legislation, including the right of HIV-positive
injecting drug users (IDUs) and other IDUs to receive Opioid Substitution
Therapy (OST).



The implementation of these policies needs to be carefully monitored by the
local and international community, but there can be doubt that these changes
represent an important step forward. There is strong evidence that Ukrainian
law enforcement officers have systematically harassed and intimidated
medical and other health personnel involved in providing legal substitution
therapy.



We must also continue to look to the experiences of countries such as
Portugal to remind us that revolutionary policy changes can be implemented
and achieve successes.



Ten years ago, Portugal had one of the worst IDU problems in Europe, and the
rate of HIV infections in drug users was described as a ?humanitarian
crisis?.



In 2001, it became the first country in Europe to officially abolish
criminal penalties for possession of drugs intended for personal use,
implementing a decriminalisation programme that focused on prevention,
education and treatment.



Officials say the policy is working and records show a significant fall in
levels of petty crime associated with addicts stealing to buy drugs,
addiction rates themselves, and the number of HIV diagnoses among
intravenous drug users.



The Vienna Declaration, the official statement of the XVIII International
Aids Conference (Aids 2010) held this year in Vienna, draws attention to ?
and advocates the removal of ? futile drug policies that not only fail to
achieve the stated objectives of drug law enforcement, but produce
overwhelmingly negative health and social consequences.



More than 17,000 people, including many of the world?s leading scientists,
have signed the declaration. As a scientist, I am painfully aware that most
governments will only respect scientific evidence when public pressure is
applied.



I urge all IAS members and the wider public to sign the Vienna Declaration
and force governments to acknowledge that the only way forward is an
evidence-based approach to address the individual and community harms that
stem from illicit drug use.

*Elly Katabira is president of the International Aids Society*

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*9*

Guest column: Long-term strategy must focus on the local
Financial Times, UK

30/11/2010



By Peter Piot, Heidi Larson and Stefano Bertozzi



Next year the Aids epidemic will enter its third decade.

The global response has been one of big failures but also of measurable
achievements.

In spite of the progress, Aids has not gone away.



The latest UN Aids estimates found 2.6m new infections last year and 1.8m
deaths, with the disease remaining the top cause of death in sub-Saharan
Africa.



Global averages also mask local problems, such as second waves of HIV
infection in Uganda and elsewhere in Africa, and among gay men in western
Europe, continuing HIV transmission among injecting drug users in the former
Soviet republics, and explosive epidemics among men who have sex with men
throughout Asia.



In many societies HIV infection is now endemic. Thanks to the growing
availability of antiretroviral therapy, Aids has become a chronic disease
for those who are fortunate to have access to such treatment. But, in 2009,
only 36 per cent of those needing treatment had access to the life-saving
drugs.



In the absence of a cure and a vaccine, it is increasingly obvious Aids will
be with us for many decades.



This implies that we need to replace the reactive, short-term response with
proactive, long-term measures. Especially in a prolonged crisis, it is
important to consider the long-term implications of short-term budget
decisions.



A report, Aids: Taking a Long Term View, soon to be released by the aids2031
initative ? a multi disciplinary think-tank ? makes a number of
recommendations.*



First, adapt the strategy. Prevention must be re-emphasised to reduce new
infections. Resources should be concentrated on the most effective
interventions where they make the most impact: which is where most new
infections occur.



This also means customising prevention, based on up-to-date local
epidemiological and behavioural data.



Thus, a strategy for the long term means moving from a predominantly global
approach to national and local agendas.



At the same time, prevention cannot be effective if legal and societal
obstacles prevent it from reaching those at risk.



This implies that anti-discrimination campaigns, decriminalisation of
same-sex relationships and of harm-reduction approaches for prevention of
HIV among those injecting drugs should be an integral part of anti-Aids
efforts.



Second, increase efficiency. We need to be more effective with available
resources ? from optimising treatment to ensuring more efficient programme
management.



Business practices should be employed for rapid feedback on performance at
local levels, so that every prevention or treatment effort is better than
the previous one.



Third, lengthen budget cycles. We cannot continue to address a long-term
problem and life-long treatment with annual funding cycles. Budget cycles
should move to 10-15 years, while programme performance indicators should
change to measure long- term impact, such as new infections and deaths,
rather than just short-term process gains.



Fourth, continue to innovate. It is critical to invest in science and
technology. Yet, while we maintain focus on innovation, delivery needs equal
attention ? evaluating what is working and why or why not.



Last, renew leadership. We are concerned leadership on Aids is waning. It
has made a critical difference at multiple levels and is still needed.



While funding will remain a big issue, that needs leadership commitment. In
some countries ? such as expanding economies in Asia ? policy leadership
rather than money may be the biggest issue. The real challenge will be for
leaders to put policies in place to prevent the most infections possible and
save the most lives.



As we mark World Aids Day, it is crucial to remind ourselves, Aids remains
one of the greatest health crises of our time, having killed nearly 30m
people since 1981. There is an urgent need to take a long-term view and make
bold changes so millions more do not die needlessly.



Peter Piot is director and Heidi Larson senior lecturer at the London School
of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine. Stefano Bertozzi is Director, HIV and TB at
the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

*To be published by FT Press on December 13 2010

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010



*10*

50.000 personas en Espa?a ignoran que tienen el VIH
El Pa?s, Spain

01/12/2010



EMILIO DE BENITO ? Madrid



Alrededor de 50.000 personas en Espa?a no saben que est?n infectadas por el
VIH. Esta cifra representa un tercio de las aproximadamente 150.000 que
viven con el virus (el 80%, hombres). Como qued? patente ayer en un acto
organizado por la ONG Apoyo Positivo, saber si se est? infectado es un
beneficio para la persona, para sus parejas y para los sistemas sanitarios.
Para el afectado, porque desde el primer momento de la infecci?n el virus
influye en su salud, produce inflamaciones y da?o neurol?gico. Adem?s, se
est? privando de la posibilidad de acceder a los tratamientos, que en Espa?a
son gratuitos y de f?cil administraci?n (lo normal es que sean tres
pastillas en una toma al d?a).



Estos f?rmacos han evolucionado tanto que ya hay estudios y centros privados
que recomiendan suministrarlos desde el primer momento, porque se ha visto
que el posible riesgo de efectos secundarios y de aparici?n de resistencias
es inferior al beneficio de evitar que la infecci?n prospere. Esto, sin
embargo, no es lo que se hace en los sistemas sanitarios p?blicos (s? en
algunos privados) porque en el balance no entran solo los efectos
sanitarios, sino que tambi?n hay que tener en cuenta el econ?mico. Un
tratamiento est?ndar para un paciente primerizo cuesta de 6.000 a 8.000
euros al a?o, y una vez que se empieza no se puede abandonar. Por eso -y m?s
en este tiempo de crisis- las recomendaciones son esperar a que el sistema
inmunitario empiece a debilitarse, pero no tanto como para que aparezcan
infecciones oportunistas (las que no surgir?an si la persona no tuviera el
VIH, como algunos hongos o neumon?as), y ese l?mite est? actualmente en los
450 linfocitos CD4 por mililitro de sangre (lo normal en una persona sana es
que este recuento est? entre 800 y 1.200).



En este aspecto de beneficio propio entra otro factor: aparte de los que no
saben que tienen el VIH, est?n quienes se enteran tarde, cuando su sistema
inmune ya est? muy deteriorado.



Para ellos el peligro est? en que pueden sufrir infecciones oportunistas, y
que los antivirales funcionan peor, o pueden incluso fallar. Se calcula que
de los 2.264 nuevos diagn?sticos notificados en los seis primeros meses de
2009 en las 15 comunidades con registro, el 50% de los casos se trataba de
personas que ya empezaban a sentir efectos adversos de la infecci?n.



Otra ventaja importante de saber si se est? infectado es que puede
protegerse a las parejas. De hecho, se calcula que ese 30% de personas que
no saben que tienen el VIH son la fuente del 70% de las transmisiones del
virus, seg?n una estimaci?n del Grupo de Estudio del Sida (Gesida) de la
Sociedad Espa?ola de Enfermedades Infecciosas y Microbiolog?a Cl?nica
(SEIMC).



Por ?ltimo, los sistemas sanitarios tambi?n se benefician si todos los
afectados saben que lo est?n, porque permite actuar antes, de manera
preventiva, y se evitan hospitalizaciones y medicaciones a?n m?s caras.
Incluso una de las herramientas emergentes, las pruebas r?pidas, aunque son
m?s caras, podr?an ayudar al respecto. Ya hay varias ONG que las hacen y, en
algunas comunidades, como el Pa?s Vasco y Catalu?a, las ofrecen las
farmacias. En Madrid, los centros de salud del distrito centro (donde est?
la zona de Chueca, considerado el barrio gay, y otras zonas con muchos
inmigrantes) tambi?n tienen un programa para hacerlas. Tienen la ventaja
para el usuario de que en 20 minutos se conoce el resultado.



Precisamente la promoci?n de la prueba es el objetivo de la campa?a que, con
motivo del d?a mundial de la lucha contra el sida que se conmemora hoy, ha
presentado el Ministerio de Sanidad. El objetivo es que quienes hayan tenido
una relaci?n de riesgo (la transmisi?n sexual supone un 80% de los nuevos
diagn?sticos de VIH, seg?n los ?ltimos datos del registro estatal que
engloba a 15 comunidades) se hagan la prueba. Para ello, Sanidad cuenta este
a?o con que convencer a los sanitarios detecten a quienes est?n en esta
situaci?n, y les indica que sugieran que se hagan la prueba todas las
embarazadas; quienes tengan una hayan padecido una enfermedad de transmisi?n
sexual, tuberculosis o hepatitis viral; los que quieran dejar de usar el
preservativo con una pareja estable; y los que hayan tenido una relaci?n
desprotegida con alguien.



La preocupaci?n no es solo espa?ola. En Europa, el Centro de Control de
Enfermedades (ECDC) calcula que hay 850.000 personas que viven con VIH, de
las que 255.000 no lo saben. De hecho, pa?ses como Francia y Estados Unidos
se plantean que la prueba de detecci?n del VIH se ofrezca a toda la
poblaci?n. Algunos estudios apuntan a que si se hiciera la prueba a toda la
poblaci?n y se tratara desde el principio a quienes dieran positivo, en 50
a?os se habr?a acabado con la pandemia.



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Cricket stars 'Think Wise' *
*Jamaica Gleaner

01/12/2010



UNITED NATIONS, New York, (CMC): The United Nations said yesterday that
international cricketers will show their support this week for a UN-backed
initiative supporting people living with HIV and AIDS by wearing red ribbons
on their playing shirts during matches.



The effort comes as the UN celebrate World AIDS Day on December 1 and is
part of the 'Think Wise' initiative, a partnership between the International
Cricket Council, the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN
Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Global Media AIDS Initiative that has been
running since 2003.



"The red ribbon that we wear symbolises our support for the cause to help
those living with HIV and AIDS to live a full and productive life in society
without giving up hope," said Sri Lanka captain and Think Wise Champion,
Kumar Sangakkara.



"It is a disease that we should fight by understanding how it spreads and
encouraging people to talk about things like sexuality in their homes,"
added Sangakkara, who will wear a red ribbon along with the rest of his team
when Sri Lanka face the West Indies today.



Players taking part in other One-Day Internationals in Bangladesh and India
today will also wear red ribbons, while players for England and Australia
will wear the ribbons

 on the first day of the second Ashes Test on December 3, the UN said.



It said the 'Think Wise' campaign will continue through the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011, under the theme "Get the Facts, Protect Yourself."



INFORMING young people

The UN said the campaign will encourage young people to be informed, take
appropriate action to prevent HIV infection and stand together against
stigma and discrimination often facing people living with HIV and AIDS.



Players will wear red ribbons during the important matches of the
tournament, including the quarter-finals, semi-finals and final of the 2011
CWC.



The UN said the positive results of AIDS awareness campaigns, such as the
'Think Wise' initiative were beginning to bear fruit, with a new UNAIDS
report showing the beginnings of a reversal of the spread of HIV.



New HIV infections have fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years,
AIDS-related deaths are down by nearly 20 per cent in the last five years,
and the total number of people living with HIV is stabilising, the report
says.



*2*

Ilumina GDF de rojo el ?ngel por D?a de Lucha contra el
Milenio, Mexico

01/12/2010



Ciudad de M?xico.- A unas horas de que arranque la jornada mundial por el
D?a de lUcha contra el Sida, el jefe de Gobierno del Distrito Federal
encabez? la ceremonia en la que se ilumin? el ?ngel de la Independencia, en
Reforma, de color rojo con proyecciones de listones blancos.



Marcelo Ebrard llam? a trabajar en conjunto para evitar que la falta de
recursos sea motivo para no combatir el virus.



Durante el encendido del sistema de iluminaci?n roja, el mandatario local
dijo: ?No podemos permitir que nadie muera porque no tenga los recursos para
poder acceder a medicamentos muy caros?.



Ebrard explic? que la iluminaci?n de Paseo de la Reforma, busca simbolizar
la importancia que tiene la atenci?n al problema del Sida, y reconoci? que
la ciudad de M?xico juega un papel destacado en el pa?s en la lucha contra
el s?ndrome de inmunodeficiencia adquirida (Sida).



Destac? que para prevenir y contener la pandemia se requiere de informaci?n,
por eso en el Distrito Federal se distribuy? el libro de la sexualidad, obra
que, coment?, gener? una batalla cultural con diferentes sectores del pa?s,
incluyendo la iglesia.



Por otra parte, reconoci? la labor de distintas organizaciones que trabajan
para controlar esta pandemia, al tiempo que presumi? que en el Distrito
Federal se permite que cada quien ame a quien quiera, a diferencia de otros
estados en donde prevalecen los prejuicios.



*3*

CAHN: HAY QUE TRABAJAR PARA DEJAR DE ESTIGMATIZAR AL ENFERMO
Terra, Argentina

30/11/2010



El presidente de la Fundaci?n Hu?sped, Pedro Cahn, afirm? hoy que es
fundamental para dejar de estigmatizar al enfermo de VIH que "se lo trate
como a cualquier otra persona que padece una patolog?a cr?nica y que no
tenga que estar explicando por qu? tiene la enfermedad.



De cara a un nuevo aniversario del D?a Internacional de la Lucha contra el
VIH, el inf?ctologo explic? a T?lam que la buena noticia es que dej? de ser
una enfermedad mortal para ser cr?nica, pero que esto sucede si se cumplen
dos condiciones: El acceso al tratamiento antirretroviral, como sucede en
Argentina, y el conocimiento de que se padece la enfermedad.



Seg?n datos de ONUSIDA, de 15 millones de personas padecen la enfermedad en
el mundo, pero s?lo 5 millones acceden al tratamiento antirretroviral.



El tratamiento antirretroviral tiene un beneficio doble. Por un lado, baja
el virus en la persona enferma mejorando su calidad de vida, y por el otro
al haber menos concentraci?n del virus se disminuye el contagio, lo que
afecta directamente a la salud p?blica, explic?.



Cahn consider? que en Argentina hay una adecuada respuesta ante las personas
que se acercan a realizar la detecci?n del virus y ante el tratamiento y que
el desaf?o a futuro consiste en que haya m?s promoci?n para realizar el
testeo.



Hay que salir a buscar a la gente, concientizar a la poblaci?n y tambi?n a
los trabajadores de la salud sobre la importancia de ofrecer el an?lisis
para poder realizar la detecci?n de la enfermedad", dijo el m?dico Y puso
como ejemplo que, incluso en los casos en los que es obligatorio el examen
como en el embarazo, "muchas veces los obstetras no lo ofrecen.



Adem?s de presidir la Fundaci?n Hu?sped, Pedro Cahn es Jefe de Infectolog?a
del Hospital Fern?ndez, miembro del Comit? T?cnico Asesor del Programa
nacional de Sida y fue el Primer Presidente de la Sociedad Argentina de
Sida.



Para ma?ana la organizaci?n tiene previstas diferentes actividades en todo
el pa?s entre las que Cahn destac? la emisi?n el 3 de diciembre por Canal 13
del programa Sutiles Diferencias, en el que se habla justamente de la
necesidad de informaci?n, la no discriminaci?n y la solidaridad.



*4*

Nicol?s Aguayo: "El SIDA es una enfermedad cada vez m?s femenina y joven"
PPN, Paraguay

01/12/2010



En la fecha se conmemora el "D?a Mundial de lucha contra el SIDA", en tal
sentido el Doctor Nicol?s Aguayo, del Programa Nacional de Lucha Contra el
SIDA (PRONASIDA), en contacto con Radio UNO, inform? sobre los ?ndices de
esta enfermedad en nuestro pa?s



"Unas 10.436 personas fueron v?ctimas del SIDA en el Paraguay, desde el a?o
1985 hasta el 2010. Del total de infectados ya han fallecido unas 1.641
personas", relat? el profesional m?dico.



El Director del PRONASIDA manifest? asimismo su preocupaci?n por que "el
SIDA se ha vuelto una enfermedad cada vez m?s femenina y joven".



*5*

Panam?, en vez de frenar el sida multiplica los casos *
*La Estrella, Panama

01/12/2010



PANAM?. La informaci?n sobre los casos del sida y VIH es contradictoria. Por
un lado, organismos internacionales como Onusida, en su reciente informe,
registran un frenazo de la enfermedad; por el otro, asociaciones locales
como Probidsida reportan un aumento de casos y el propio ministro de Salud,
Franklin Vergara, expresa preocupaci?n por el aumento de los casos. ?Hay un
alto conocimiento en la poblaci?n sobre el peligro que representa el sida
para la salud, pero en el tema de las pr?cticas y conducta es donde se est?
fallando. En Panam? unas 5 mil personas reciben tratamiento gratuito en las
14 cl?nicas antirretroviral que regenta el MINSA?, sostiene Vergara, m?dico
internista.



Pero, como lo se?ala el doctor Orlando Quintero, de Probidsida, cumplir con
la meta del milenio en el 2015 ?detener la enfermedad? no es un asunto del
MINSA ni de Probidsida. ?Hay otros sectores que no hacen nada, que est?n
esperando que los dem?s hagan?.

Quintero dice que hay factores que abonan la transmisi?n de la enfermedad,
tales como la econom?a de servicios, puertos en ambos mares, crisis de
valores, un problema en la educaci?n sexual, adem?s de la ignorancia en que
vive un gran porcentaje de la poblaci?n.



El m?dico tambi?n lamenta que a?n los padres no les hablen de la sexualidad
a sus hijos, que este tema sea un tab? generacional, tampoco hay
sensibilidad en la poblaci?n, se aborda el tema espor?dicamente durante los
once meses; sin embargo, segundo a segundo el virus no descansa. ?33
millones de personas est?n afectadas; 7 mil 400 casos diarios se reportan;
de esos, 2 mil 500 son j?venes?, detalla.



En Panam?, seg?n Quintero, hay unos 11 mil casos de sida y estima que 20 mil
personas viven con el VIH sin conocer la condici?n de portadores
asintom?ticos y estos son los m?s preocupantes porque tardan diez a?os para
presentar s?ntomas y a cu?ntas personas contagian en este tiempo, la cadena
es enorme, expresa.



El m?dico expone que cuando una persona se acuesta con otra lo hace tambi?n
con todo su historial sexual.



Las adolescentes tampoco se hacen el control prenatal y esto aumenta el
riesgo de que los ni?os nazcan con VIH. ?Es toda una mara?a de situaciones
que hay que atacar, no es solo un problema de salud, Panam? ocupa primeros
lugares en prevalencia en la regi?n?, advierte.



Sobre el cumplimiento de la sexta meta del milenio, donde todos los pa?ses
se comprometieron a frenar los casos de sida, mirando el comportamiento de
la enfermedad en Panam? durante los ?ltimos a?os, donde los casos aumentan
de 600 a 800 al a?o, Quintero ve dif?cil que el pa?s pueda cumplir con esa
promesa.



En tanto, el ministro considera que es necesario que el sida sea una
prioridad de Estado y de inter?s nacional por sus graves repercusiones a la
salud, a la sociedad y a la econom?a nacional, ya que esta enfermedad es
real y la ?nica forma de contenerla es que cada persona ayude a que otras
adopten comportamientos sexuales seguros, dado que la principal v?a de
transmisi?n sigue siendo la sexual.



Quintero se pregunta qu? est? pasando en el pa?s, que los ciudadanos no
toman conciencia del peligro; ?si hay aumento de los casos de sida, ni lo
dudes que han aumentado los casos de VIH?, matiza, y contin?a diciendo que
la gente debe asumir su responsabilidad, pues ?somos muy dados a pedir, pero
no se asume una responsabilidad y esto conlleva una gran inversi?n, solo en
tratamientos, 12 millones de d?lares al a?o?, aclara.



OTROS RESULTADOS

C?sar N??ez es director regional del equipo de apoyo de Onusida para Am?rica
Latina. Este m?dico hondure?o es optimista con el trabajo realizado hasta el
momento contra la propagaci?n del sida.



Explica que el informe recoge un momento en el tiempo de la epidemia en la
mayor?a de los pa?ses del mundo en un periodo de 2009 y principios de 2010.
Contiene informaci?n de c?mo estaban las infecciones, c?mo estaban las
personas que ya ten?an la enfermedad, cu?ntas estaban recibiendo
tratamientos, cu?nto se gasta en prevenci?n, cu?nto en tratamientos.



N??ez detalla que este documento marca cu?nto se ha logrado y entrega una
propuesta de trabajo para llegar al acceso universal, tanto para la
prevenci?n como para el tratamiento. ?Existen desaf?os y logros en estos
diez a?os, y nos permiten enfocarnos en el compromiso de cumplir con el
objetivo del milenio del sida, que es detener la epidemia?.



El m?dico resalta que el informe muestra noticias halag?e?as: reducci?n en
las nuevas infecciones, el tratamiento se vio bastante favorecido, lo que no
significa que est? resuelto el problema, ?tenemos un camino extenso que
recorrer?, enfatiza.



N??ez dice que la prevenci?n es una de las deudas que se tiene en todo el
mundo, que hasta ahora se ha enfocado en el tratamiento.



Para el 2015 hemos pedido que los pa?ses nos digan cu?les ser?n los
escenarios, ahora est? controlado, esperar?amos que para ese a?o tengamos
mejores resultados, mayor cobertura y que la prevenci?n del aepidemia sea
triplicada.



MAPA DE COBERTURA

Seg?n el informe, un 52% de la poblaci?n afectada tiene acceso a los
tratamientos en Am?rica Latina. ?Esto no es as? cuando miramos adentro de
estos pa?ses, esa cifra es el promedio, pa?ses como Argentina, Brasil y
M?xico tienen coberturas importantes. Otros como Panam? y Costa Rica tienen
un 100% de cobertura. En tanto que algunos como Bolivia reportan menos de
30% de cobertura?.



En Am?rica Latina la concentraci?n de casos est? entre los 15 y 35 a?os de
edad y es una epidemia dominada por los hombres, de tres infectados, dos son
varones. ?Con el avance del tratamiento se considera una enfermedad cr?nica
que con los cuidados y los medicamentos la persona sigue su vida normal?.



Concluye con la recomendaci?n a una prevenci?n combinada. ?No existe una
varita m?gica para resolver el problema, se tiene que combinar la
informaci?n para todas las personas?.



*6*

Dia Internacional de Luta contra a Aids (Editorial)
Pag?na 20, Brazil

01/12/2010



Hoje, 1? de dezembro, ? o Dia Mundial de Luta contra a AIDS. A campanha
deste ano busca a conscientiza??o de jovens, mulheres e homens, com idade de
15 a 24 anos, sobre a import?ncia da preven??o por meio do uso do
PRESERVATIVO.

Outro ponto importante da campanha est? voltado para o combate ?
discrimina??o com que s?o tratadas as pessoas que convivem com o v?rus HIV
no planeta. E essa luta incita a participa??o solid?ria de outros homens e
mulheres de mente e cora??es abertos.

Nos dias atuais a doen?a n?o ocorre em um grupo espec?fico de pessoas, o que
exige que todos observem as orienta??es dos especialistas em sa?de, quando
dizem que o melhor meio de prevenir a contamina??o pelo HIV ? o uso do
PRESERVATIVO.

A mat?ria publicit?ria da campanha alerta que a AIDS n?o tem preconceito com
rela??o ? cor, ra?a, credo, classe social ou g?nero, o que deve servir de
reflex?o para que as pessoas tamb?m abandonem o preconceito e passem a
discutir mais o assunto.

Na realidade, o di?logo tem sido a arma mais eficaz contra qualquer tipo de
fobia ou preconceito. Quando o assunto passa a fazer parte das rodas de
conversa, as informa??es fluem, as mentes se abrem e os mitos se desfazem.



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



America's global fight against AIDS
Washington Post

01/12/2010



By George W. Bush



During a presidency often forced to focus on issues of national security,
the fight against global disease was sometimes viewed as an anomaly or
exception. It wasn't and isn't. America has a direct stake in the progress
and hope of other nations.



Many of the world's problems - terrorist networks, criminal gangs, drug
syndicates, pandemic diseases - are no more than a half-day plane ride from
the United States. These challenges tend to take root in hopeless, poorly
controlled areas. This does not mean that promoting health and development
is a substitute for confronting immediate threats. It does mean that no
national security strategy is complete in the long run without promoting
global health, political freedom and economic progress.



Early in my first term, it became clear that much of sub-Saharan Africa was
on the verge of catastrophe. In some nations perhaps a quarter of the
population was infected with HIV. The disease was prevalent among teachers,
nurses, factory workers, farmers, civil servants - the very people who make
a society run. Drugs to treat the disease existed and were falling in price,
but they could hardly be found in Africa. Whole countries were living in the
shadow of death, making it difficult for them to plan or prepare for the
future.



Our response began with an effort to reduce mother-to-child transmission of
the virus - the saddest, most preventable aspect of the crisis. In 2002,
America helped found the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
to encourage the concerted action of wealthy nations. In 2003, I announced
the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), an ambitious
bilateral program to confront the worst of the pandemic with speed and
urgency. Members of Congress from both parties, leaders of African nations
and outside advocates such as Bono became partners with my administration in
a tremendous undertaking.



In all of these efforts, my concern was results. I was frankly skeptical of
some past foreign assistance programs. In this crisis, we needed not only
more resources but also to use them differently. So we put in place a
unified command structure; set clear, ambitious, measurable goals; insisted
on accountability; and made sure that host governments took leadership and
responsibility. The results came more quickly than many of us expected.
Early in 2003, there were perhaps 50,000 people in sub-Saharan Africa on
AIDS treatment. Today, thanks to America, other donor nations and the
tireless work of Africans themselves, nearly 4 million are. Fragile nations
have been stabilized, making progress possible in other areas of
development.



But the most vivid results, for me, had a more human scale. On World AIDS
Day in 2005, two young children from South Africa, Emily and Lewis, came for
a White House visit. They chased around the Oval Office before Emily did
what many others no doubt wanted to do - she fell asleep in her mother's lap
during my speech. Both young children were HIV-positive but had begun
treatment. I could not even imagine all that curiosity and energy still and
silent.



I firmly believe it has served American interests to help prevent the
collapse of portions of the African continent. But this effort has done
something more: It has demonstrated American character and beliefs. America
is a certain kind of country, dedicated to the inherent and equal dignity of
human lives. It is this ideal - rooted in faith and our founding - that
gives purpose to our power. When we have a chance to do the right thing, we
take it.



On this World AIDS Day, considerable progress has been made. The United
Nations recently reported that the world has begun to halt and reverse the
spread of HIV/AIDS. However, considerable need remains. Every human life is
precious, and far too many people around the world continue to suffer from
the disease.



We still hope for an AIDS vaccine. In the meantime, there are millions on
treatment who cannot be abandoned. And the progress in many African nations
depends on the realistic hope of new patients gaining access to treatment.
Why get tested if AIDS drugs are restricted to current patients? On AIDS, to
stand still is to lose ground.



I am happily out of the political business. But I can offer some friendly
advice to members of Congress, new and old. A thousand pressing issues come
with each day. But there are only a few that you will want to talk about in
retirement with your children. The continuing fight against global AIDS is
something for which America will be remembered. And you will never regret
the part you take.

*The writer was the 43rd president of the United States. *



*2*

Building on the progress made this World AIDS Day
USAToday

01/12/2010



>From the Empire State Building to St. Paul's Cathedral in London to the
Opera House in Sydney, the world is going red today to commemorate World
AIDS Day.



Since the beginning of the epidemic, more than 60 million people have been
infected with

HIV and nearly 30 million people have died of HIV-related causes. But there
is some good news to report. Thanks in large part to education and
prevention efforts, HIV infection rates have declined by almost 20%
worldwide over the past decade, according to the United Nations.



However with resource demands outstripping supply and funding in decline,
these advances are in jeopardy, warns a report from UNAIDS.



"Investments in the AIDS response are paying off, but gains are fragile --
the challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress," Michel
Sidibe, executive director of UNAIDS, says in a press release.



Here are several ways folks are working to keep a spotlight on this issue
along with ways you can help continue the progress this World AIDS Day and
beyond:



- The total number of children who have lost their parents due to HIV
increased to 16.6 million in 2009. For World AIDS Day, Save the Children has
released a new multimedia video highlighting new hope for orphans and other
children affected by AIDS in Ethiopia, where 530,000 children have benefited
from U.S.-funded programs. See the video and learn how you can help support
children affected by HIV and AIDS here:
www.savethechildren.org/worldAIDSday2010



- Currently, more than 56,000 million Americans continue to be infected with
HIV each year. As part of the NBA Cares Season of Giving, the NBA family,
along with partner Greater Than AIDS campaign, is debuting a new television
and radio public service campaign to raise HIV/AIDS awareness in the U.S.
The PSAs -- featuring NBA stars Pau Gasol (Los Angeles Lakers), Al Horford
(Atlanta Hawks), Russell Westbrook (Oklahoma City Thunder), and WNBA star
Candice Wiggins (Minnesota Lynx) -- will encourage fans to visit an
information-packed website at www.greaterthanaids.org/nba.



- According to a top U.N. official, complacency among young people is
causing a new surge of the AIDS epidemic in the United States and European
nations like Britain and Germany. MTV's Facebook and Twitter profiles are
turning red today in honor of World AIDS Day, encouraging young people to
GYT (Get Yourself Tested). As part of this day, MTV and mtvU will air a new
documentary, "Me, Myself and HIV" along with special World AIDS Day
programming on MTV, MTV Hits and MTV Jams, in addition to teaming up with
Planned Parenthood of New York City to offer free HIV testing in Washington
Square Park on December 1st. MTV will also join landmarks from around the
world- from the Empire State Building to Table Mountain in Cape Town, South
Africa - that will be illuminated the color red as part of the (RED)'s new
campaign, 'The AIDS Free Generation is Due in 2015.' For more details on any
of these initiatives, head to www.GYTNOW.org.



- In honor of World AIDS day, users can head to the online Apple store to
download a free iPhone App based on Pos or Not, an interactive game
developed with the Kaiser Family Foundation that challenges stereotypes and
breaks down the barriers that may prevent people from talking openly about
HIV/AIDS, getting tested, and using protection. People from across the U.S.
- half of whom are living with HIV and half who are not - share parts of
their lives for "Pos or Not" by divulging their HIV status to help dispel
myths and misconceptions about HIV and AIDS. Players confront their own HIV
stereotypes as they guess whether a profiled participant is positive or
negative based only on a photo and a few personal details, such as what they
do on the weekends or their favorite kind of music. To date, the game has
been played 10.1 million times online.



- Planned Parenthood is commemorating World AIDS Day by organizing over 110
tabling events aimed at engaging American youth in the global fight against
HIV/AIDS and educating them about their own risk of contracting the virus.
Head to Planned Parenthood website to learn more.



- Volunteers organizing tabling and outreach events on high school and
college campuses across the country will distribute a new fact sheet on the
global HIV/AIDS epidemic, published today by Planned Parenthood Federation
of America. The fact sheet, available for download, underscores the need for
sex education as a central pillar of HIV prevention efforts.



- Alicia Keys and several celebs, including Lady Gaga and Justin Timberlake,
have staged their "digital deaths" today to raise awareness for the HIV/AIDS
epidemic and money for her charity, Keep a Child Alive. The stars will sign
back on to Twitter and Facebook as soon as the charity raises $1 million.
All money raised will go to support families affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa
and India. Go here for the full story.



To see how the HIV/AIDS epidemic has impacted children, check out this video
from Save the Children:

http://yourlife.usatoday.com/mind-soul/doing-good/kindness/post/2010/12/how-to-continue-the-progress-this-world-aids-day/133111/1



*4*

Why AIDS First?
Huffington Post

01/12/2010



Dr. Mark Dybul and Michael Gerson



In 2003, George W. Bush launched the largest international health initiative
ever directed at a single disease: the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief (PEPFAR). According to a recent Stanford study, the program was
responsible for saving the lives of more than a million Africans in just its
first three years. More than five million people in poorer countries are now
receiving lifesaving drugs, mostly through support from PEPFAR, the Global
Fund and budget contributions of the countries themselves.

The effectiveness of this global fight against AIDS is well established. But
its cost effectiveness is still debated. Some claim this money might have
been better spent on less complex interventions such as clean water, or on
broader priorities such as health infrastructure. Has putting AIDS first
actually diverted attention and resources from more urgent goals? The
implicit challenge of this question is that more lives might have been saved
by other, less costly methods.



Confronting HIV/AIDS through prevention and treatment is a relatively
expensive, long-term commitment. But in Sub-Saharan Africa, it was not
merely one option among many. With the cohesion of whole societies at stake,
confronting AIDS first was the prerequisite for all other progress.



In the last five decades, despite weak health systems, unchecked malaria and
unclean water, life expectancy in much of Sub-Saharan Africa increased by
almost 30 years and infant mortality decreased. But one aggressive pandemic
changed all that. As HIV/AIDS swiftly spread in the 1980s and 1990s, life
expectancy began to fall -- in some cases by more than 30 percent -- and
infant mortality began to climb. In some countries, nearly 50 years of
public health gains were wiped out in less than a decade. In the hardest hit
nations more than one-third of the adult population was HIV-positive, and in
some areas more than 75 percent of pregnant women were infected.



Unlike plagues of the past, HIV is a discriminate killer. It targets the
most productive and reproductive part of society -- those who are 15 to 49
years old. HIV is not a disease of the poorest of the poor. Studies from
India, Russia and Africa show that HIV disproportionately affects those who
have climbed a few rungs on the socioeconomic ladder, including factory and
mineworkers, the military, and those who are more educated, including
teachers and health-care workers.



At the height of the AIDS pandemic, four percent of nurses in Swaziland died
from HIV every year. In Zambia, 38 percent of all departures from the health
workforce were HIV-related. In Kenya, health workers were twice as likely to
be HIV-positive as the general population. And the number of HIV cases was
overwhelming already strained health-care systems. The disease accounted for
50 percent of all hospitalizations in hard-hit countries. Without first
addressing the effects of HIV, there was no chance to build strong health
systems.



The crisis reached further. In Zambia, for example, HIV was killing
two-thirds of newly trained teachers, making progress on education
impossible. The disease was undermining economic growth on the continent.
HIV disproportionately affected militaries, significantly limiting the
strength of African peacekeepers -- 40 percent of all global such forces.
But the largest effect was psychological -- the hopelessness and despair
that came from a sense that death from HIV was every person's destiny. Men
and women living in the shadow of death are less likely to invest in
education, plant for the next season or start a business, and more likely to
embrace radicalism and violence.



HIV was not just another disease to be coldly calculated by cost per life
saved. It was taking the people, and undermining the attitudes, that make
modern society possible. Early in this decade, Africa had many other needs,
but the threat of this disease was overwhelming. Issues such as health
infrastructure are important -- but they become less urgent during the Black
Death. It was necessary, even unavoidable, to put AIDS first.



With the worst of the emergency confronted -- AIDS deaths declined in the
world for the first time in 2008 -- it is now appropriate to begin taking a
broader view. The response to HIV demonstrated that massive investments in
global health could achieve results and shattered the paternalistic myth
that poor countries could not manage complicated health delivery. It is
because of the response to HIV, not despite it, that we can discuss
significant investments in other areas of global health. More than a third
of PEPFAR and Global Fund budgets now support the building of health
systems. The principles of President Obama's Global Health Initiative --
dedicated to better coordinating efforts on an array of health challenges --
are a natural evolution of PEPFAR and deserve broad support.



But on this World AIDS Day, we should not minimize the work that remains.
HIV remains the leading killer of young Africans and is the leading cause of
death of women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries. Were
it not for HIV, deaths around childbirth would have declined an additional
20 percent.



It remains as true today as it was in 2003: Unless HIV is controlled in
Sub-Saharan Africa, there is little hope for progress in any area of health
or development. For seeing the future so clearly and taking decisive,
compassionate action on HIV, President Bush deserves the Nobel Prize. The
irony is that he might be one of the few not to care if he ever receives it.




*Mark Dybul is Distinguished Scholar at Georgetown University's O'Neill
Institute for National and Global Health Law, the Global Health Fellow at
the George W. Bush Institute and was the Global AIDS Coordinator from 2006
to 2009. Michael Gerson is a senior adviser at the ONE Campaign and served
as a policy adviser to President George W. Bush. *



*5*

AIDS ?Fatigue? May Cause Lack of Funds, Former UNAIDS Head Says
Bloomberg

01/12/2010



By Chris Kay



Success in stemming HIV infections caused ?fatigue? toward combating the
virus and may result in reduced funding for treatment and prevention, said
the former executive director of the United Nations? AIDS program.



?There is clearly AIDS fatigue,? Peter Piot, who became director of the
London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in September, said in a Nov.
25 interview in London. ?Things go by fashion. There?s a paradox that when
there?s results, often political leaders think, ?OK, great, declare victory,
we can move to the next problem,? because there are so many problems. That
would be really frightening, with bad consequences.?



AIDS, an immune disease that was first discovered in 1981, killed 1.8
million people last year, down from a peak of 2.1 million in 2004, according
to the UNAIDS annual report last week. About 2.6 million people worldwide
contracted HIV, the AIDS-causing virus, last year, 19 percent fewer than in
1997, when the number of new infections peaked, the report said. New
infections declined for a 12th straight year.



More than 1.2 million people began taking anti-HIV drugs in 2009, up 30
percent from a year earlier, said the Geneva-based agency. About 5.2 million
people in low- and middle-income countries have access to treatments now,
according to the report.



While it?s ?a spectacular success,? that more than 5 million people with HIV
are being treated with antiviral drugs, there are 33 million people with HIV
in the world, said Piot, 61, who speaks at a conference in London today.



Funding Prevention

AIDS funding reached $15.9 billion last year, $10 billion short of what is
needed this year, according to UNAIDS. Funding for prevention needs to be
spent more selectively, Piot said.



?In Latin America, for example, most HIV-prevention programs are directed
towards the general public, people who are not at high risk and there is not
much going on in the gay community where the problem is,? said Piot. ?That?s
a waste of money then. My mother doesn?t need HIV prevention, she?s 87.?



Piot, a Belgium-born doctor and microbiologist, stepped down as executive
director of UNAIDS in 2008 after 13 years as its head. He co-discovered the
deadly Ebola virus in 1976.



Three prevention trials in 14 months that have raised hopes that HIV can be
defeated after decades of failed efforts to develop a vaccine are
?semi-breakthroughs,? Piot said.



Gilead Sciences Inc.?s Truvada, sold since 2004 to subdue HIV in infected
people, cut the risk of contracting the virus by 44 percent, and reduced new
infections as much as 73 percent in those who used it most, according to
results published last week in the New England Journal of Medicine.



Other research milestones on HIV and AIDS include a study presented in July
that showed a vaginal gel containing Gilead?s Viread cut infections by 39
percent among women in South Africa. In September last year, an experimental
vaccine cut infections by 31 percent in a trial in Thailand.

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Kay in London at
ckay5 at bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at
pserafino at bloomberg.net



*6*

Bringing the AIDS fight back home
Boston Globe

01/12/2010



By A. Cornelius Baker

IN THE history of fighting AIDS, progress has been slow in preventing
transmission of the deadly virus. Until this year.



For the first time, a trial in Thailand showed effectiveness of a preventive
vaccine against HIV. Researchers announced the first proof of concept in a
trial with microbicides, gels designed to prevent HIV transmission during
sex.



In addition, Pope Benedict XVI says that condoms can be used in special
circumstances, such as to prevent transmission of HIV. And a trial conducted
in 11 sites, including the United States, with participants in Boston and
San Francisco, showed a protective benefit for HIV-negative gay men who took
a daily antiretroviral pill.



But on World AIDS Day, the question remains: Even with all this new promise,
and with the great progress the United States has made in fighting AIDS in
other countries, why aren?t we more committed to end AIDS at home? And why
aren?t we doing more on the prevention front with African-Americans who
comprise nearly half of all new HIV infections?



There are an estimated 1.1 million US residents living with HIV, and 25
percent of them are unaware of their infection. Each year, an estimated
56,300 people become newly infected. And each year, more and more of the
people infected are African-Americans. For instance, among black gay men
ages 13 to 24, the number of detected cases rose a stunning 93 percent from
2001 to 2006 in 33 states reporting.



Some will argue that anyone living in the United States should fully know
about the risks of contracting HIV through unprotected sex, and take full
precautions.



But think for a moment about a 17-year-old gay youth. HIV is invisible in
his community. He may not know it. He is young and vulnerable, just at the
beginning of understanding his sexuality, and like all 17-year-olds may not
make the right decision every time. Now imagine if he gets infected with
HIV. In many places in the United States, this young person can?t receive
drugs that can save him and has to join a waiting list. There are now more
than 4,000 Americans on waiting lists for AIDS treatment.



The problem partly rests with the federal government not providing enough
funds for states, which are in the midst of budget crises. The National
HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States that the White House released in
July sets a vision where HIV infection is rare and when it does occur the
person will have full access to care. Our nation must fully commit to
implement that goal.



To do so requires an investment in research and programs, including
demonstration projects in the 12 cities most impacted by HIV to use this
potential new tool of antiretroviral drugs for prevention.



If further trials look equally as promising, this so-called PrEP approach ?
Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis ? raises the obvious question about whether the
United States will mount an aggressive protection campaign for key
vulnerable populations, most notably African-Americans, Latinos, and all gay
men.



Some may say the costs of making the pill available are too large. But those
costs may be a down payment that saves us money in the end, if targeted
preventions prevent a significant number of people from contracting HIV.



We must face an ugly truth: As we think about how to respond to HIV, we must
face the fact that we have yet to do so in full force in all of America?s
towns and cities. That needs to change. HIV is untamed, frighteningly so
among African-American communities, and we need to fight it with all our
might.

*A. Cornelius Baker is an HIV/AIDS expert at the Academy for Educational
Development and a member of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS. *

? Copyright 2010 Globe Newspaper Company.

*7*

CDC: Most Americans Still Haven?t Been Tested for AIDS Virus
Wall Street Journal

30/11/2010



By Betsy McKay



More than half of adult Americans have never been tested for the AIDS virus,
despite a four year-old campaign to make screening routine, according to a
report out today from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.



About 45% of adults aged 18-64 ? that?s almost 83 million people ? reported
in 2009 that they had ever been tested for HIV infection, the CDC said.
That?s 11.4 million people more in 2006, when about 40% of adults said they
had ever been tested. Fewer people are being diagnosed late in their
infection, when they may already have developed full-blown AIDS.



The improvement comes after the CDC in 2006 recommended routine screening
for HIV in health-care settings, expanding its earlier guidelines in the
hope of slowing an epidemic that has affected an estimated 1.1 million
people in the U.S. About 56,000 people are newly infected every year.



The latest numbers represent ?significant progress? in getting people tested
and into care, said CDC head Thomas Frieden on a conference call with
reporters. But more is needed, he said.



Most troubling is that more than 28% of people at elevated risk of HIV
infection say they have never been tested. The CDC estimates that as many as
21% of the 1.1 million people living with HIV in the U.S. don?t know they?re
infected. Three out of five African-Americans reported having ever been
tested, even though they made up more than half of those diagnosed with HIV
in 2008.



Moreover, the agency says, nearly one-third of diagnoses still occur late.



People at higher risk of HIV infection, such as gay and bisexual men and IV
drug users, should get tested once a year, the CDC says. Catching an
infection early reduces medical costs ? estimated to be $367,000 over the
lifetime of an infected person ? extends life expectancy and cuts down on
further transmission of the virus.



While many of those at higher risk are hard to reach because they don?t have
regular access to health care, that?s not always the case, Frieden said.
Some gay and bisexual men diagnosed late with HIV infection often had seen
doctors in the previous year and were not offered an HIV test, he said.



?We would like to see HIV testing as routine as cholesterol screening,? said
Jonathan Mermin, director of the CDC?s HIV/AIDS prevention program.



*8*

US launches HIV testing program in Zimbabwe
Associated Press

01/12/2010



By ANGUS SHAW



HARARE, Zimbabwe -- The United States launched a program in Zimbabwe
Wednesday to encourage HIV testing, with the U.S. ambassador, local
musicians, broadcast personalities and soccer stars taking tests to mark the
occasion.



Alexio Kawara, one of the nation's most popular musicians, said Zimbabwean
celebrities are leading the U.S. program launched on World AIDS day to
dispel fears over knowing one's HIV status.



U.S. Ambassador Charles A. Ray said "wiser older folk" like him are not
always listened to, but he hoped the young, popular celebrities should set
example that others would follow.



After the tests Wednesday, all the results were kept personal and
confidential, a core principle of the program.



The U.S. is the biggest contributor to modern AIDS treatment centers across
Zimbabwe that have tested and counseled 2 million people.



Kawara told attendees at a testing center in downtown Harare that AIDS
deaths were common in the music industry.



Stardom made "our temptations higher," he said. "Every lady wants to say
something to you."



Munyaradzi Chidzonga, 24, an actor and filmmaker who is widely known in
Zimbabwe as the runner-up in the last "Big Brother Africa" television
reality show, said many of his friends and contemporaries hid their fears
over AIDS "behind closed doors."



Health workers also say there is still a stigma attached to HIV infection in
some communities, compounded by ignorance over the effectiveness of
antiretroviral medication.



"We need to be open," Chidzonga said. "Knowing your status one way or the
other gives you the power to control your life. Let's perpetuate this and
change the way people think."



Official figures put Zimbabwe's HIV infection rate at about 13 percent of
the overall population, but more than 20 percent in the 13-30 age group.



Soccer star Desmond Maringwa of the top-of-the-league Dynamos Football Club
has played the game for 15 years since he was a child.



After receiving counseling from social workers about the implications of the
test, he and the others waited 15 minutes for the result of the analysis of
their blood, taken from a light jab in the thumb.



"Hey, that was a long 15 minutes, but we've got to get the fans to come and
do this," he said.



*10*

World AIDS Day and a disease that?s no longer a cause c?l?bre
Toronto Star

30/11/2010



Debra Black,  Staff Reporter



As a cause c?l?bre, AIDS is no longer as sexy or compelling as it once was,
losing much of its national and international cachet over the last couple of
years.



The disease no longer grabs as many headlines. Politicians no longer feel
compelled to be seen to invest huge dollars into research, transmission and
prevention of the disease in the developing world. And closer to home many
in the developed world, at least, treat the disease as nothing more than a
chronic irritation.



As the world gets ready to celebrate World AIDS Day 2010 on Wednesday, many
lament the apparent lack of interest in the disease. AIDS fundraising
continues, but many donors turn a deaf ear and have turned to other issues
and organizations. And the United Nations promise to have universal care,
treatment and prevention of HIV by 2010 has yet to be achieved.



Thirty years after AIDS made headlines, the world?s attention has turned to
other things: tuberculosis, malaria, malnutrition, mother and child health,
Haiti, and the strengthening of the health system worldwide.



?I think back in the early days of the epidemic there was a sense of urgency
that somehow has been lost,? said Dr. Julio Montaner, the Director of the
British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS in an interview with the
Star.



Put simply, AIDS is no longer sexy, agrees Montaner, who also serves as the
Chair in AIDS Research and Head of Division of AIDS in the Faculty of
Medicine at University of British Columbia, and the Past-President of the
International AIDS Society.



Partially it?s because in North America many no longer face a certain death
if diagnosed with AIDS. Thanks to daily medication, most people here with
AIDS live long and productive lives, he said. The same cannot be said in the
developing world, where the epidemic continues to be ?devastating and
killing.?



?But if you?re not there and don?t see it, it?s pretty easy to move on and
say, ?Let?s focus on our priorities?,? Montaner said. For



Montaner maintains that deep-seeded discrimination and stigma has resulted
in decreasing interest in the disease.



?We still embrace equal opportunity and same-sex marriage but, to be frank,
it?s window dressing. Stigma and discrimination still exist in our
environment.?



For those working in the field, it?s inconceivable that somehow the world
can move on to something else, he said. ?We?re walking away from what is the
beginning of a successful enterprise.?



The latest UNAIDS report shows some success worldwide as AIDS numbers begin
to change course. According to the report, new HIV infections have fallen by
nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years, AIDS-related deaths are down by
nearly 20 per cent in the last five years, and the total number of people
living with HIV is stabilizing.



More specifically, in 2009 there were 2.6 new infections, one-fifth less
than in 1999. AIDS-related deaths are down to 1.8 million a year from a high
of 2.1 million in 2004.



The number of people living with HIV has gone up from 26.2 million in 1999
to 33.3 million in 2009. The increase is due mostly to a reduction in the
number of people dying from the disease as well as the rise in infections.



Even the distribution of life-saving drugs is increasing, with 5.2 million
people out of 15 million who need the drugs getting them.



But Montaner said this doesn?t spell the end of the disease abroad or at
home, pointing to an epidemic among Canada?s First Nations, and among young
men who have sex with men in B.C. and in Saskatchewan, where according to
the latest statistics, the rate of positive HIV tests was almost three times
higher than the national average.



?What I think is going on (is) people can only see to the end of their noses
and can?t see the importance of dealing with the HIV epidemic in a proactive
way so our children won?t be saddled with the AIDS mortgage because we
didn?t feel like addressing it (any more.)?



*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Eminent world personalities call for Prevention Revolution

UNAIDS

01/12/2010



GENEVA, 1 December 2010?On the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010, the UNAIDS
High Level Commission on HIV Prevention has released a Declaration calling
on world leaders to accelerate the decline in new HIV infections and spark a
prevention revolution.



The Declaration was released by the co-chairs of the HIV prevention
Commission, Professor Fran?oise Barr?-Sinoussi and Archbishop Desmond Tutu,
on behalf of the 19 members of the Commission.

?It is more important than ever before to work on HIV prevention because
scientists have developed an array of effective tools which if implemented
could reverse the AIDS epidemic,? said Professor Barr?-Sinoussi. ?It is
unacceptable that many countries have not made these life-saving HIV
prevention tools widely available.?



A new UNAIDS report has shown that 56 countries have either stabilized or
achieved significant declines in rates of new HIV infections. However, the
High Level Commission finds that ebbing financial investments, lack of
political commitment and ineffective prevention priorities are challenging
this progress.



?HIV prevention activism is indispensible to overcome the epidemic,? said
Archbishop Tutu. ?Communities must receive the support and encouragement
they need to mobilize against the epidemic with courage and fearless
commitment.?



The UNAIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention was established in July
2010 and is composed of political, business, civil society and philanthropic
leaders. The members have been tasked with building conviction among their
peers that success in HIV prevention is possible with their support. The
launch of the Declaration begins their campaign of global engagement.



The Declaration calls for a prevention revolution and features four key
elements: rapid scale-up of successful prevention tactics; routinely
measuring new HIV infections; assessing the commitment of political,
business and non-governmental leaders to HIV prevention based on data; and
protecting human rights to overcome inequities and reduce the threat posed
by HIV to specific populations.



?I welcome this declaration made by the High Level Commissioners on HIV
prevention,? said UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib?. ?With their
support we can move towards a world with zero new HIV infections.?



Members of the commission will participate in a series of World AIDS Day
activities on 1 December to reinforce the HIV prevention message. Three
members will join the UNAIDS Executive Director in Brazil to take part in
World AIDS Day activities in Brasilia alongside Brazilian President Luiz
In?cio Lula da Silva.



Find out more about the UNAIDS High Level Commission on HIV Prevention
here<http://www.hivpreventioncommission.net/>
.

Download print version of press release
here<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101201_PR_Prevention_Commission_en.pdf>
.

*Commission Declaration:
*English<http://www.hivpreventioncommission.com/index.php?q=node/27>
? French <http://www.hivpreventioncommission.com/index.php?q=node/28> ?
Spanish <http://www.hivpreventioncommission.com/index.php?q=node/29> ?
Russian <http://www.hivpreventioncommission.com/index.php?q=node/30>



*2*

Netherlands serves as example of leadership in AIDS response
UNAIDS

01/12/2010



Amsterdam/Geneva, 1 December 2010?On this year?s World AIDS Day, a
delegation from the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board is visiting the
Netherlands to learn from its experience in the response to HIV.



The visit comes just one week after UNAIDS launched the 2010 Report on the
global AIDS epidemic which revealed a shift in course of the epidemic
resulting from investments made in the response, with new HIV infections
down by 20% since 1999, deaths down by 20% since 2004 and numbers of people
living with HIV stabilizing.



?Good progress is being made and we are seeing strong return on investments.
This is due in part to our combined efforts in HIV prevention and
treatment,? said Jan Beagle, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director, Management
and External Relations. ?But in these difficult economic times the gains
made today could easily slip away. UNAIDS urges all countries, including the
Netherlands, to continue supporting the AIDS response both at home and
abroad.?

The Netherlands, which currently chairs UNAIDS? Board, is hosting the visit.
As well as being a long-established leader in the response to HIV, the
Netherlands is a well-respected global champion of human rights. In
particular the Netherlands has been forthright in highlighting the
difficulties faced by marginalized populations, including those at higher
risk of exposure to HIV such as sex workers, people who inject drugs and men
who have sex with men. It has also been instrumental in bringing attention
to the particular vulnerabilities women face in the AIDS epidemic and
continues to advocate for closer linkages between HIV and sexual and
reproductive health policies, systems and services.



In addition to its work internationally, the Netherland?s response to HIV
domestically is a model for a successful approach to the epidemic which will
be the subject of discussions and field visits with the UNAIDS Board
delegation. During the three-day visit, the delegation will meet
representatives from the Ministries of Health and Foreign Affairs, hold
discussions with non-governmental organizations, and visit community
programmes supporting sex workers and a facility providing harm reduction
services for people who inject drugs.



The 27th Meeting of UNAIDS? Programme Coordinating Board will be held in
Geneva, Switzerland on 6 ? 8 December, 2010.



Download print version of press release
here<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/20101201_PR_NL.pdf>
.



*3*

WHO: Affordable TB prevention a must for people living with HIV *
*UNAIDS

01/12/2010



Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death among people with HIV and, in
order to mitigate this threat, low-cost preventive therapy is essential. In
new guidelines released today, the World Health Organization (WHO) sets out
how such therapy can be accessed safely and effectively.



According to WHO, the anti-TB drug isoniazid has a dramatic positive impact
and the guidelines, aimed at resource-constrained settings, promote the use
of Isoniazid Preventive Therapy (IPT) as a simple and cost-effective method
that stops TB bacteria becoming active. A quarter of the nearly two million
AIDS-related deaths each year is associated with TB and in some communities
up to 80% of people who test positive for tuberculosis are also living with
HIV.



WHO is committed to increasing the use of IPT. Coverage is currently
extremely low with only 0.2% of all people with HIV having had access to
this therapy last year. Additionally, around the globe just one in 20
HIV-positive people has ever been screened for TB.

?World AIDS Day reminds us that business as usual is unacceptable and HIV
programmes need to significantly expand their efforts to address TB,? said
Dr Gottfried Hirnschall, Director of WHO?s HIV Department. ?We need to fully
implement the WHO Three I?s for HIV/TB strategy in collaboration with all
partners?.



The Three I?s are: Isoniazid Preventive Therapy, Intensified TB screening
and Infection control for TB. According to WHO, these measures should be
delivered as part of comprehensive HIV services.



?In many countries HIV is a major driver of the TB epidemic. TB is
preventable and curable and the new guidelines show how to break the chain
that links TB and HIV leading to death,? said Dr Mario Raviglione, Director
of WHO?s Stop TB Department. ?All countries and communities need to
implement the new guidelines and WHO can provide the necessary support to
ensure that this can happen.?



To encourage access to IPT for the millions in need, the WHO guidelines,
which are based on recent scientific evidence used to update 1998 policy,
address some of the misconceptions  seen to be partly responsible for the
IPT?s low coverage. There is no scientific evidence, for example, to support
concerns that the treatment causes drug resistance to isoniazid. Also, IPT
can be started following simple clinical screening without the need for
costly mandatory tests as had been feared.



There are several key recommendations in the new WHO guidelines:

? All children and adults living with HIV, including those on antiretroviral
treatment and pregnant women, should receive IPT.

? IPT should be provided for 6 to 36 months, or as a life-long treatment in
settings with high HIV and TB prevalence.

? People living with HIV who may have TB symptoms should be further screened
for active TB or other conditions to enable them to access appropriate
treatment.

Preventing people living with HIV from dying of tuberculosis is one of
UNAIDS? priority areas.



*4*

UNAIDS delegation in Brazil builds awareness around HIV prevention
UNAIDS

30/11/2010



UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib? and a delegation of
internationally-known leaders and personalities?including H.E. Festus Mogae,
the former President of Botswana, and Nobel Prize Laureate Dr Mohammed
ElBaradei?are visiting Brazil to mobilize support and dialogue around HIV
prevention globally.



Approximately one third of all HIV-positive people in Central and South
America live in Brazil. Although the HIV epidemic in Brazil is relatively
stable, there were as many as

70 000 new HIV infections in 2009.

A dialogue with civil society



?With current new HIV infection rates outpacing progress in treatment
programmes, a prevention revolution is more important now than ever to make
the AIDS response sustainable,? said Mr Sidib?, in a discussion with
Brazilian civil society organizations on Monday in Rio de Janeiro.



According to Ms Gabriele Leite, founder of the non-governmental organization
Davida, an association of sex workers, recent studies in Rio de Janeiro show
that condom use among sex workers and their clients is high, at 92%.
?Surveys have shown that HIV prevalence among sex workers in the country is
falling,? she added.



Richard Parker, President of the Brazilian AIDS association ABIA, said that
women and young people are increasingly impacted by HIV. Poor and
marginalized people, as well as those living in rural areas of the country,
are also especially vulnerable, he said.



?If there is a single challenge in the national AIDS response, it is the
challenge of sustainability,? said Mr Parker, echoing comments from other
participants in the discussion. ?With a strong economy, Brazil is no longer
a funding priority among major international development agencies,? he said.



Protecting children affected by AIDS

While in Rio de Janeiro, the UNAIDS delegation also visited Viva Cazuza
Society, a non-profit organization that cares for AIDS orphans and children
living with HIV. Children at the centre are provided with round-the-clock
medical care and benefit from a range of educational and social services.
There are currently 20 HIV-positive children living at the centre.



Viva Cazuza was established in 1990 by Lucinha and Jo?o Ara?jo in memory of
their son ?Cazuza,? a Brazilian singer who died of AIDS-related causes.  ?AIDS
is contagious?in quotes and not,? said Lucinha Araujo, while greeting the
UNAIDS delegation. ?After the death of my son, I couldn?t bury my head in
the sand and watch other children die.?



Viva Cazuza works within schools in Rio de Janeiro where the children study
to reduce prejudice and discrimination. Members of the organization also
offer free lectures in the community focused on HIV prevention.







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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 06:37:41 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 13:37:41 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: general_devel Digest, Vol 77, Issue 1
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1291291203.3377.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
References: <mailman.1.1291291203.3377.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=D6x8EJdTubn+4xu5egigv6CxanJz5RnpUKXz=@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <general_devel-request at ngocentre.org.vn>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Subject: general_devel Digest, Vol 77, Issue 1
To: general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn


Send general_devel mailing list submissions to
       general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn

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Today's Topics:

  1. Consultation: The European Union Delegation to    Vietnam is now
     working on the next Programme for Non State       Actors and Local
     Authorities and looking for contributions (DELEGATION VIETNAM SPF)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 17:25:23 +0700
From: "DELEGATION VIETNAM SPF" <Delegation-Vietnam-SPF at ec.europa.eu>
Subject: [general_devel] Consultation: The European Union Delegation
       to      Vietnam is now working on the next Programme for Non State
   Actors
       and Local Authorities and looking for contributions
To: <general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID:
       <
55C19E132E85B8439EA7054B4F6D5A08104DF6 at delvnmhan-ex002.DELVNMHAN.delegations.cec.eu.int
>

Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"


Dear members of the mailing list,

The European Union Delegation to Vietnam is working on the next strategy for
the Country Programme for "Non State Actors and Local Authorities in
Development".

We would like to address this message especially to the Vietnamese NGOs.

The European Union will continue to support the Vietnamese civil society
organisations trough the call for proposals. During the last 3 years the
main objective of the call for proposals was the poverty reduction in the
contest of sustainable development. The programme aimed at strengthening the
capacity of civil society organisations and local authorities as a pre
condition for a more equitable, open and democratic society through support
to their "own initiatives".

The programme financed several projects implemented by international
(European) NGOs, in partnership with some Vietnamese NGOs.
Unfortunately no projects were financed directly to a Vietnamese NGOs.

At the moment we would like to know what kind of support the Vietnamese
NGOs, would like to receive from the European Union in order to be able to
answer to our future calls and which other subject/ action should be covered
by the next programme, other then the overall objective of poverty
reduction.

For other subjects/actions we are thinking on:

Policy/Advocacy
The environment for CSOs
Capacity building for V NGOs
Networking for V NGOs.


We also would like to know what we should improve from our last programme.

All comments suggestions are highly appreciated and we wish to receive them
before the end of the week.

The EU NSA LA team thanks all of you for your kind support.

Best regard,

The EU NSA LA team








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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 09:54:33 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 16:54:33 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Job opportunity at MdM- SPO O&P
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTimzLwgX0g16mXkvLyLg-jLsXvd0tM8UBQpxyGMt@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTimzLwgX0g16mXkvLyLg-jLsXvd0tM8UBQpxyGMt@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=HB6OhH3Aaimq2b8iUZvoV=AFNQDmouSHHEbqo@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Thao Nguyen Thi Minh - Project Assistant <
thaontm at medecinsdumonde.org.vn>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 2:58 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Job opportunity at MdM- SPO O&P
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


Dear colleagues,
Please help circulate this information/ email anyone who may be interested
in.
Thank you,
------------
M?decins du Monde France (MDMF) is a French humanitarian organization.
Operating in Vietnam since 1989, MDMF provides a comprehensive range of
services including sexually transmitted infection diagnosis and treatment,
HIV prevention, HIV counseling and testing, care and treatment including
ART, and palliative care in both Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City MDMF is looking
for a qualified Vietnamese national applicant to join our dynamic team in
Hanoi in the role of Hanoi Project Officer-Outreach and Prevention.

All interested applicants should send an *application letter mentioning 3
contacts for reference and salary expectations together with a CV in English
* to the following address with the subject title *"Hanoi Project Officer ?
Outreach and Prevention" *respectively by* 10th December**, 2010.*

Medecins du Monde France

5th floor, No.58, Lane 221 Ton Duc Thang Street, Hanoi

Tel: (84.4) 3719.2522

Fax: (84.4)3719.2529

Email: recruitment.hn at medecinsdumonde.org.vn

The detailed Job Description is available upon request. Only short-listed
candidates will be contacted for interviews.
  Hanoi Project Officer-Outreach & Prevention *Overall Role*

The main duty of the Hanoi Project Officer-Outreach and Prevention is to
ensure the good implementation of the prevention aspects of the Projects in
Tay Ho, Soc Son and surrounding districts of Hanoi. The Hanoi Project
Officer-Outreach and Prevention works under the direct management of the
Hanoi Site Coordinator, and the technical supervision of the Country Social
Coordinator.
*Key areas of Responsibilities*

   - Planning: Participation in monthly, quarterly, bi-annual/annual
   activity and budget planning with local partners. Participation in planning
   and developing of new activities and proposal with relevant staffs.
   - Implementation: Capacity building to local partners when needed.
   Ensuring of implementation of prevention activities. Attending related
   meetings to the component. Ensuring smooth collaboration and synergy with
   other organizations working in the similar field.
   - Reporting: Preparation monthly activity reports. Monitoring the
   activities and its results. Analyzing of collected data and provision of
   initiatives and recommendation as needed. Support partners in implementing
   reporting and monitoring system.

 *Required education and background*

?         University degree in public health or related fields or other
evidence of appropriate experience, skills and abilities;

?         At least 3 years of relevant, proven working experience in
HIV/AIDS prevention;

   - Previous significant experience in a prevention program implementation,
   monitoring and evaluation, building partnerships with civil society
   organizations;

?         Strong inter-personal skills, diplomatic and sensitive;

?         Strong team skills focusing on participation and
consensus-building;

?         Strong abilities in report writing and data handling;

?         Ability to work flexibly in a dynamic environment;

?         Perfect command in computer hardware (Word, Excel, Power Point,
Epi Info, Outlook);

?         Experience of working with non-governmental organizations;

?         Fluent in English and Vietnamese.



*M?decins du Monde offers competitive salaries and a generous benefit
package.*

------------
Nguyen Thi Minh Thao
Project Assistant
Medecins du Monde France
5th floor, No.58/221 Ton Duc Thang, Dong Da, Hanoi
Tel: (84.4) 3 719 2522 ext.19
Mobil: 0915 98 2210


Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 09:55:14 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 16:55:14 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Fw: OI Country Director,
 Indonesia - Job reference INT4248.
In-Reply-To: <OF4F0B0C17.443CADAC-ON472577EE.000EB69E-472577EE.000F103D@oxfam.org.uk>
References: <OF4F0B0C17.443CADAC-ON472577EE.000EB69E-472577EE.000F103D@oxfam.org.uk>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinYxQruJH3pTts2BiBhDW8Vzj-Ks=wPJXtGduX3@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Truong Thi Giang Huong <TTGHuong at oxfam.org.uk>
Date: Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 9:44 AM
Subject: [opportunities] Fw: OI Country Director, Indonesia - Job reference
INT4248.
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
Cc: administrator at ngocentre.org.vn



Hi Ha,

Please help to upload into NGO Centre website as soon as possible.

Many thanks for your kind help.

Regards,
Giang Huong


*Country Director, Indonesia*

*Oxfam International, East Asia Region. *Job reference INT 4248

*Who are we?*

Oxfam is an international confederation of 14 organizations working together
in 99 countries and with partners and allies around the world to find
lasting solutions to poverty and injustice.  We work directly with
communities and with local partners  to influence positive change, enabling
poor people to improve their lives and have a greater voice in decisions
that affect them.

Oxfam is seeking a Country Director to lead on behalf of a confederation of
Oxfam affiliates working in Indonesia. The Country Director will play a key
role in bringing together the programs and people of Oxfam affiliates under
a Single Management Structure, and we are seeking a dynamic leader to
provide strategic direction and inspirational leadership to maximise the
positive impact of our work in Indonesia*.*

*The Role*:
Our strategy for Indonesia models an ambitious, nuanced and complex model
for change.  In this role you will be operating as the strategic leader of a
large-scale country programme, which is delivering tangible results within a
highly sophisticated political environment. Acting as a strong and committed
leader, you will shape and support the team in devising and implementing the
next generation of programming in Indonesia - building upon our operational
field based work, and influencing positive change through key alliances and
partnerships.

As Country Director (CD) you will ensure that strong links exists between
our humanitarian, advocacy and longer-term development work, using high
quality research based analysis to embed Oxfam as an influential agency
within the Indonesia development sector.  You will be able to demonstrate
the highest level of representational and influencing skills, engaging the
organisation constructively with a diverse range of stakeholders including
government officials, donors, UN agencies, private sector and other NGO
staff.

The Country Director post is one of the most critical we have in the region
given Indonesia's global profile, its role within the G20 and its high level
of exposure to natural disasters.  We are seeking an exceptional individual
who is able to operate at the highest levels in areas of organisational
representation, political analysis, partnership networking, team leadership
and external communications.

The current programme employs approx 100 staff operating from three main
offices (Jakarta, Makassar and Jayapura) and has around 200 active partners
with an annual spend of approx 6 million USD.

*The requirements: *

   -         Experience of working in highly complex political environments.
   -         Proven range of experience of programme development &
   management in both humanitarian and development. Experience of working in
   Indonesia or another East Asian culture is an                 advantage.
   -         Proven ability to link humanitarian response to longer-term
   development especially in terms of gender equity, livelihoods and conflict
   beyond the initial relief needs.
   -         Proven track record in ensuring gender is mainstreamed and that
   all programmes contribute to increased gender equality and women?s
   empowerment
   -         Experience of change management in a fluid internal and
   external environment
   -         Experience in developing and implementing advocacy strategies
   in highly sensitive political environments.
   -         Experience of obtaining and managing large scale funding for
   programmes
   -         Experience of working in insecure environments and of
   implementing security policies.
   -         Fluency in spoken and written English. Indonesian language
   skills are an advantage.
   -         Proven experience of managing large budgets, managing staffs
   and funding.
   -         Knowledge and demonstrated experience in promoting diversity,
   including gender equity; HIV/AIDS issues; and an active commitment to
   promoting the interests of marginalized people in all         aspects of the
   organisation?s work. Must demonstrate ability to adapt to different
   cultures.
   -         Demonstrated ability to quickly acquire a profound
   understanding of country and programme area in terms of its political,
   economic and social trends.
   -         Demonstrated ability to build mature and effective working
   relationships with key stakeholders including national Government, the UN,
   other NGO?s and the private sector.
   -         Ability and willingness to travel within the country and
   internationally as required.


*How to apply?*

Oxfam is committed to providing you with a competitive, fair and
comprehensive pay and benefits package that is justifiable to our donors.

If you believe you are the candidate we are looking for, please apply online
at http://www.i-grasp.com/fe/tpl_oxfam.asp?newms=jj&id=34113* *

*The closing date for applications is 2nd January 2010.*

Interviews are scheduled for Friday 7th & Monday 10th January 2011.  Only
short listed candidates will be contacted.




 Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering

Oxfam GB is a member of Oxfam International and a company limited by
guarantee registered in England No. 612172.
Registered office: Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY.
A registered charity in England and Wales (no 202918) and Scotland (SC
039042)

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 09:59:10 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 16:59:10 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] Promiscuous youth sex on the rise
 [from the DAN conference - cross posted]
In-Reply-To: <959FB0CD-2AFB-45FC-9DB9-C9A25CB989DA@revisionasia.com>
References: <959FB0CD-2AFB-45FC-9DB9-C9A25CB989DA@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=D717wOrh6DOrz2Jsf2nswZTHBJzX015sG71St@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 9:51 AM
Subject: [msm-asia] Promiscuous youth sex on the rise [from the DAN
conference - cross posted]
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>, AP Rainbow <
ap-rainbow at yahoogroups.com>, APTransNet <APTransNet at googlegroups.com>,
msm-pacific at googlegroups.com


Promiscuous youth sex on the rise
http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Singapore/Story/A1Story20101203-250518.html

Fri, Dec 03, 2010
my paper
 By Joy Fang

YOUNGER people are indulging in same-sex encounters, with about three in
four of those aged 16 and under not practising safe sex during their first
sexual experience, a recent survey found.

The survey found that an alarming 74 per cent of respondents within that age
group did not use a condom, as compared with 36 per cent of those aged
between 25 and 30 years old, and 44 per cent for those aged between 21 and
24 years old.

These results were revealed at the inaugural Regional Consultation for
Developed Asia on HIV in men-who-have-sex-with-men, or MSM, and transgender
people.

The two-day event follows World Aids Day on Wednesday.

The survey also showed an increase in the number of people who have never
gone for a human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) test - to 41 per cent from 30
per cent last year.

The number of those who have had an HIV test in the past six months has also
dipped, from 33 per cent to 26 per cent.

The survey polled more than 13,882 people from 11 countries in Asia,
including China and Vietnam.

About 2,000 Singaporeans were surveyed.

Most respondents were aged between 18 and 50, with 80 per cent of the group
identifying themselves as homosexual, while another 17.5 per cent comprises
bisexuals.

The survey was conducted online over the past two months by gay-lifestyle
portal Fridae.com. Its founder, Dr Stuart Koe, expressed concern over the
findings.

He said: "This needs to be addressed in our schools' education programmes.
We need to target the young early."

This comes in the wake of figures released by the Ministry of Health (MOH),
which showed a drop of 7 per cent in the number of people having tests done.

The MOH announced on Monday that 373 more Singaporeans were diagnosed with
HIV between January and October this year.

There are currently 4,777 Singaporeans with HIV here.

Mr Steven Lee, 42, who is gay and HIV-positive, told my paper that he was
devastated when he was diagnosed a decade ago, after being infected by his
long-term partner.

His partner, who was not aware that he had the virus and had not gone for a
test, died two years later.

He said: "I think testing for HIV is so important.

People need to know their status so they can plan for their future and avoid
hurting the people they love."
# # #

--
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 09:59:39 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 16:59:39 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Recruitment of Vocational and
 Livelihood Training Officer - Rainbow Village Project
In-Reply-To: <-6824512161311163476@unknownmsgid>
References: <-6824512161311163476@unknownmsgid>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik1=Bwvigibgcmvht0CRvJH_KaK_yNEShj3mgre@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phan Thi Cuc <cuc.phan at habitatvietnam.org>
Date: Fri, Dec 3, 2010 at 2:23 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Recruitment of Vocational and Livelihood Training
Officer - Rainbow Village Project
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn






Habitat for Humanity is an international housing organization which seeks to
eliminate poverty housing and assure every family has a simple, decent,
affordable house in which to live. Although Habitat for Humanity is
committed to the provision of permanent housing, its housing programs,
construction methodologies and financing methods are flexibly designed to
take advantage of any shelter or housing need (whether created by natural
disaster, manmade conflict or debilitating poverty) to provide responsive
transitional and permanent shelters for those in need.

Habitat for Humanity International has been working in Vietnam since 2001.
HFH in Vietnam maintains housing water and sanitation, programs in areas
including Kien Giang, Tien Giang, Nha Be and Dong Nai. They specialize in
implementing low cost housing, water and sanitation solutions for the very
poor. The Rainbow Village project has as a major component the construction
of 90 houses for the families who live and work on the garbage dump in Rach
Gia city, Kien Giang province. The houses with roads and all services are
being constructed by HFHV using contractors, volunteers and vocational
trainees. Training will be provided for livelihoods that are appropriate to
the region and culture, which may include: construction, motor bike repairs,
sewing and tailoring, handicraft production, hairdressing and beauty, small
livestock breeding, computer work and cooking to enable beneficiaries to
earn sustainable and reliable incomes. The home owner will be required to
contribute ?sweat equity? and will need to have adequate regular income to
qualify for a home loan. The loan will be for the total price of the house
and repayment terms will be set at an affordable level with respect to their
incomes. In addition a six month initial period with no repayments will be
allowed to assist with relocation expenses. Upon finalization of the loan
the Land Use Certificate will be transferred to the family who will then
have title to their house. Remaining money in the loan fund after payment
for the land to Union of Friendship Organization of Kien Giang province will
be used for further housing loans.

* *

*Overall responsibility of a Vocational and Livelihood Training Officer:  *To
work in partnership with local vocational training schools, enterprises,
businesses, partners and other HFHV staff to enable project home partners to
improve their socio-economic conditions through developing, delivering and
monitoring relevant vocational and livelihood trainings. The Vocational and
Livelihood Training Officer will play a key role in advising relevant
training programs as well as identifying new job opportunities for the
project home partners.

96/11 Vo Thi Sau St.

Tan Dinh Ward

District 1, HCMC

Vietnam

          Tel. +84 08 38202178

          Fax +84 08 38206133

www.habitatvietnam.org


 *Key areas of responsibilities*

?           Integrate of Habitat for Humanity's Vision, Mission, Goals and
Values in program delivery.

?           Conduct market survey on job, relevant vocational and livelihood
opportunities;

?           In partnership with relevant partners, develop, deliver, monitor
and evaluate relevant vocational and livelihood training program for project
home partners;

?           Work in partnership with Loan Officer to develop, deliver,
monitor and evaluate livelihood loan programs;

?           Ensure the program/project managers produce the required reports
with accuracy and timeliness;

?           Provide assistance to project teams and manager in preparing
information for monitoring and evaluation, particularly in related to
vocational and livelihood trainings;

?           Coordinate with other HFHV staff in community organizing
activities, including but not limited to meetings, community consultation
and hosting domestic and International volunteer teams. Provide oversight
during volunteer builds with volunteer coordinating team to ensure safety
and a positive experience for volunteers and community partners.

?           Develop and maintain good relations with local government
partners and community stakeholders;

?           Develop relationship and work with other international NGOs,
Local NGOs and UN agencies who work in the same targeted program areas to
synergize program in addressing different needs of communities.

?           Other relevant tasks as required.

*Experience Required:*

?           At least 3 years experience working in vocational and/or
livelihood training, education, human resources and/or program management.

?           Bachelor's degree in a related field of study.

?           Good skills in English speaking and writing will be an
advantage.

?           Good Khmer speaking will be an advantage.

?           Experience working in an international organization in the
region, preferably in an NGO

?           Computer literacy; able to use Microsoft Office Suite.

?           Be able to work under pressure.

*Benefits and Performance Appraisals*

?           Benefits will be provided as guided by Terms of References
and/or contractual agreement and as required by standard labor policies and
practices of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam as related to INGO operations
in Vietnam and guided by best practices from HFHI policy and guidelines.

?           Annual or project specific job plans will be developed with
supervisor and management team will objectively guide and serve as
assessment tool for regular (3-6 months) performance assessments and formal
annual or end of contract performance appraisals.

*How to apply*

We invite the interested candidates to send their full CV with photo to
below contact by December 20, 2010:



Habitat for Humanity Vietnam - Email: application at habitatvietnam.org





Thanks & best regards,

Phan Thi Cuc

HR Executive

*?A World Where Everyone Has A Decent Place To Live? ***



[image: logo for email.jpg]

*Habitat for Humanity Vietnam***

96/11 Vo Thi Sau, Tan Dinh Ward

District One, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Phone: +84 (0) 8 38202178 Ext - 106

Fax: +84 (0) 8 38206133

Cell: +84 (0) 908840189

Skype: cucphan82

Visit us at www.habitatvietnam.org

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Fri Dec  3 06:37:59 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Fri, 3 Dec 2010 13:37:59 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.12.02ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D968F3@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
References: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D968F3@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=hfeBW581nX61Ts_nXY0YrRUL=ygwaxCurNsLP@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 7:38 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.12.02ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. Le Monde - L'Onusida r?compense Lula pour sa lutte contre le sida

2. Xinhua News, China - UN chief calls for strengthened world efforts in
global AIDS fight
3. Terra, Brazil - ONU homenageia Lula com pr?mio por luta contra a aids

4. The Observer, Uganda - Aids Day Special: Stigma, discrimination defying
HIV response

5. France24 - Aids epidemic aggravated by 'lack of political commitment'

6. Central Asia Online - Afghans receive free AIDS treatment in Pakistan



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. New Vision, Uganda - Shortage of HIV drugs may cause new epidemic

2. Capital News FM, Kenya - Gays assured of access to HIV services

3. Vanguard, Nigeria - World AIDS Day (Editorial)

4. Angola Press - WHO/Africa director highlights needs to boost human rights


5. Gabonews - Pr?s de 40 pour cent de la population gabonaise ignorent leur
statut s?rologique



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. China Daily - Chinese Premier Wen says 'we care' to AIDS sufferers

2. ABS-CBN News, Philippines - DOH warns: HIV spreading faster than ever

3. Hindustan Times, India - Hundreds in northeast pledge fight against HIV



*EUROPE***

1. The Independent, UK - Prevention rather than cure is the new focus in
Africa as donors look to cut aid

2. The Independent, UK - Licensing deal threatens cheap pharmaceuticals

3. The Independent, UK - Big pharma and the business of HIV/AIDS

4. AFP - South Africa's anti-AIDS drugs reach a million people

5. Le Monde - Une g?n?ration lib?r?e du VIH et du sida ?

6. AFP - Sida: des raisons d'esp?rer mais des appels ? ne pas baisser la
garde



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Gleaner - Portland men brave AIDS tests

2. Trinidad Express - Living with HIV

3. Nuevo Diario, Nicaraguay - Cifras de infectados con VIH multiplicadas en
?ltimos tres a?os

4. La Prensa, Honduras - Hondure?os encienden una luz contra el Sida

5. Milenio, Mexico - Paciente de VIH cuesta a Salud 300 mil pesos



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. USA Today - Obama speaks on World AIDS Day

2. New York Times - Tests for H.I.V. Reach a Record

3. Washington Post - Happy World AIDS Day

4. New York Times - Colleges Are Producing New Style of AIDS Activist

5. IPS Terra Viva - Threat of a Perfect Storm - AIDS and a Fresh Food Crisis


6. IPS Terra Viva - Cuba's "Sexual Orientation" Vote in UN Panel Kicks Up
Controversy

7. Wall Street Journal - Report Bolsters China Action on HIV/AIDS

8. Associated Press - Catholic AIDS workers: Pope echoing us on condoms





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



*UNAIDS*



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



L'Onusida r?compense Lula pour sa lutte contre le sida
Le Monde

01/12/2010



LEMONDE.FR avec AFP



L'Onusida a remis mercredi 1er d?cembre un prix au pr?sident br?silien Luiz
Inacio Lula da Silva pour l'action de son gouvernement contre le sida, lors
de la journ?e mondiale de lutte contre la maladie.



Lula "est un leader dont l'action relative au sida a chang? des vies dans
tout le monde. C'est un partenaire des nations en d?veloppement, quelqu'un
qui a fait tomber des barri?res et a pris une position ferme contre la
discrimination", a d?clar? Michel Sidib?, le directeur ex?cutif de l'agence
onusienne.



AIDE ? DEUX CENT MILLE MALADES

Lula a ?t? r?compens? pour la mise en place d'un plan d'aide m?dicale
gratuite et universelle pour les malades du sida dans le r?seau de sant?
publique br?silien. Ce syst?me b?n?ficie ? deux cent mille victimes de la
maladie dans ce pays de cent quatre-vingt-dix millions d'habitants.



En 2007, le g?ant sud-am?ricain, pionnier depuis vingt ans en mati?re de
lutte contre le sida, a par ailleurs d?cid? pour la premi?re fois de passer
outre les droits d'un laboratoire pharmaceutique sur le brevet d'un
m?dicament antisida. Le pays a ?galement fait construire une usine de
production d'antir?troviraux au Mozambique.



*2** *

UN chief calls for strengthened world efforts in global AIDS fight
Xinhua News, China

02/12/2010



UNITED NATIONS, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on
Wednesday called for strengthened world efforts in fighting HIV/AIDS,
including ensuring universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and
support, after significant progress has been made over the past three
decades.



"Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable,"
the secretary-general said in his message to mark World AIDS Day, observed
annually on Dec. 1.



"Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the
'three zeros' -- zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
AIDS-related deaths. On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together
to realize this vision for all of the world's people," he said.



Despite the untold suffering and death that AIDS had visited upon mankind,
the global community had united with passion to take action and save lives,
Ban said.



"Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV. Millions of people have gained
access to HIV treatment. More women are now able to prevent their babies
from becoming infected with HIV," the secretary-general said. "Travel
restrictions for people living with HIV are being lifted by many countries,
as stigma gives way -- still too slowly -- to compassion and recognition of
human rights. "



He called for stronger commitment to efforts that enabled the world to reach
the first part of Millennium Development Goal 6 -- halting and beginning to
reverse the spread of HIV. "We must continue to chart a new and bold path
ahead," Ban said.



World AIDS Day is celebrated on Dec. 1 each year around the world. It has
become one of the most recognized international health days and a key
opportunity to raise awareness, commemorate those who have passed on, and
celebrate victories such as increased access to treatment and prevention
services.



Also on Wednesday, other top United Nations officials stressed the
importance of preventing new infections and deaths.



Michel Sidibe, the executive director of the Joint UN Program on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), noted that the number of new HIV infections and deaths have been
reduced by nearly 20 percent, but lamented that some 30 million people had
lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses over the past three decades,
while an estimated 10 million people are currently awaiting treatment.



"Our hard-won gains are fragile -- so our commitment to the AIDS response
must remain strong," Sidibe said in his message.



"With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing
the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination
of mother-to-child transmission by 2015," he added, stressing that an
"AIDS-free generation is possible in our lifetime."



UNAIDS took the lead on World AIDS Day campaigning from its creation until
2004. From 2004 onwards the World AIDS Campaign's Global Steering Committee
began selecting a theme for World AIDS Day in consultation with civil
society, organizations and government agencies involved in the AIDS
response.



The latest UNAIDS report released last week shows that an estimated 2.6
million people became newly infected with HIV, nearly 20 percent fewer than
the 3.1 million people infected in 1999. In 2009, 1.8 million people died
from AIDS-related illnesses, nearly one-fifth lower than the 2.1 million
people who died in 2004.



According to the report, from 2001 to 2009, the rate of new HIV infections
stabilized or decreased by more than 25 percent in at least 56 countries
around the world, including 34 countries in sub- Saharan Africa.



Of the five countries with the largest epidemics in the region, four
countries -- Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe -- have reduced
rates of new HIV infections by more than 25 percent, while Nigeria's
epidemic has stabilized.



Margaret Chan, the director-general of the UN World Health Organization
(WHO), called in her message for the protection of the human rights of those
living with HIV/AIDS and urged all sectors to combat discrimination against
those infected.



"Working with people living with HIV is critical for an effective HIV
response and Member States need to be mindful of the commitments made in the
2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS to promote better legal and social
environments for people to access HIV testing, prevention and treatment,"
Chan said.



She stressed that those affected by the disease are entitled to social
services, including education, housing, social security and even asylum.



"Ensuring the rights of people living with HIV is good public health
practice, by improving the health and well-being of those affected and by
making prevention efforts more effective," she said.



"A wide range of countries have enacted legislation to prevent
discrimination against people living with HIV. However, in many cases, there
is poor enforcements of such laws and stigmatization of people living with
HIV and most-at-risk populations persist," she added.



*4*

ONU homenageia Lula com pr?mio por luta contra a aids
Terra, Brazil

01/12/2010



*Story widely covered by Brazil media channels*



O presidente Luiz In?cio Lula da Silva recebeu nesta quarta-feira um pr?mio
da Organiza??o das Na??es Unidas (ONU) pelo papel de seu governo no combate
a aids. Para Lula, a doen?a est? "estabilizada" no Brasil, embora afete
cerca de 630 mil pessoas. A cerim?nia faz parte da comemora??o do dia
internacional da luta contra a doen?a.



Ao receber o pr?mio do Programa Conjunto das Na??es Unidas sobre HIV/aids
(Unaids) para a Lideran?a, Lula fez refer?ncia ? ?frica, o continente que
apresenta o maior n?mero de casos da doen?a e pediu uma "especial aten??o".



"O combate ? aids, ? fome e ? mis?ria s?o passos necess?rios e fundamentais
para o surgimento de uma nova ?frica, mais justa e igualit?ria", disse o
presidente. Lula citou os programas existentes no Brasil contra a doen?a, e
criticou os "modelos de propriedade intelectual" que preservam as patentes
dos rem?dios e criam "obst?culos que impedem muitos pa?ses pobres de
oferecer os tratamentos".



O governante tamb?m fez um apelo para o fim do preconceito e manifestou
"solidariedade ?s 33 milh?es de pessoas no mundo que vivem com HIV". O
Minist?rio da Sa?de aproveitou a cerim?nia para anunciar uma nova campanha
de preven??o, dirigida a jovens de 15 a 24 anos.



Os dados apresentados apontam que, entre 2008 e 2009, o n?mero de casos
novos registrados no Brasil passou de 37.465 para 38.538, com um total de
cerca de 630 mil contaminados, uma taxa de incid?ncia de 20,1 para cada 100
mil habitantes.



Lula recebeu uma medalha - elaborada pelo artista brit?nico David Poston em
madeira e diversos metais - do diretor-executivo da Unaids, Michel Sidib?,
que qualificou o presidente como "uma inspira??o na luta contra a aids".



Sidib? avaliou o "compromisso" do Brasil nesse combate, assim como sua
decis?o de "enfrentar grandes laborat?rios na luta pelo direito de fabricar
rem?dios", quebrando as patentes de empresas multinacionais. Al?m disso, o
diretor-executivo tamb?m citou como exemplo uma f?brica de medicamentos
retrovirais que ser? instalada em Mo?ambique com apoio brasileiro e servir?
para melhorar o atendimento ? doen?a em toda ?frica.



"Esses tipos de a??es constituem uma lideran?a transformadora", afirmou
Sidib?, que disse que atualmente 50 pa?ses mant?m campanhas de distribui??o
gratuita de preservativos inspirados em um modelo de preven??o que o Brasil
aplica h? mais de 10 anos.



Neste ano, o Brasil foi o primeiro pa?s das Am?ricas a ser escolhido para
sediar as celebra??es do Dia Mundial de Luta contra a aids. Ao agradecer a
escolha, Lula afirmou que o ?xito do Pa?s se deve "a atua??o incans?vel dos
profissionais e gestores da sa?de e ? milit?ncia dos in?meros grupos da
sociedade civil que defendem os direitos dos portadores de HIV".



*5*

Aids Day Special: Stigma, discrimination defying HIV response
The Observer, Uganda

29/11/2010



In spite of relative progress against the pandemic, stigma and
discrimination continue to be a major factor affecting the HIV/AIDS
response.



To them, UNAIDS new country coordinator, Musa Bungudu, says there is need to
integrate HIV and AIDS services within primary healthcare. He spoke to
Evelyn Matsamura Kiapi.



As UNAIDS country coordinator, what are your views on the trends of the
HIV/AIDS response in Uganda?

Since the late 1980s, the leadership has done an excellent job particularly
the President and his wife Janet.



Ministers, religious leaders, the media and traditional and community
leaders, UN agencies and donors have also collectively engaged excellent
team effort that has galvanised everyone to talk about one disease:
HIV/AIDS.



There was excellent, vibrant leadership demonstrated by the President at the
time. While other countries hid the HIV, with misdirection in some countries
like South Africa, Uganda openly came out.



There was openness about the disease and the ongoing constructive and
consistent messages succeeded effectively to bring down the [prevalence]
from 18% to 6.4% today. There was genuine commitment from everybody.



HIV prevalence is rising again, statistics show. What?s changing?

I think what is happening is that everybody has noted success and the
disease is under control and will continue to be.



There was some kind of relaxation in terms of support and that relaxation
and complacency are caused by several factors; treatment is available and
affordable, and one can live over 20 years with it, then why should others
care?

Secondly, because those with the disease do not feel it anymore, they relax
about it. Initially, there was fear of death. But now that fear is gone due
to availability of life-prolonging drugs.



Then there are too many actors, experts and too many plans, too many
reports, too many alarmists and probably too much time is now being invested
into paperwork and studies. I am not saying they are not important. But
there is so much attention and yet response is not going down as it used to
be.



The number of people who needed treatment at the time is not the same number
we have now. Now more than half of those who need treatment don?t get it.



And unfortunately, even with all the funding available, there is still
shortage of treatment in the country. And if we go by the current WHO
standard, then there will be 750,000 people needing treatment.



So is it a money problem?

I think sometimes it?s not all about money. Money is not the answer to
everything. Do you need money for the Imam to speak in the mosque on Friday?



Why do you need money for the church leaders to talk about HIV? In fact,
mobile phones are available. You can send simple text messages. But it seems
that a lot have diverted from the key issues.



Are we sending the correct HIV prevention messages?

You may also see billboards giving different messages like those focusing
only on the youth (abstinence only).



There are also messages of male circumcision, saying that there are 60%
chances that one can not get the disease if he is circumcised. But what
about the 40% chance? Simply because I am circumcised does not guarantee
that I am safe from infection. There are circumcised men who still contract
the disease.



That is why the whole HIV response must come as a package. It?s not only
abstinence, or only being faithful, or just using a condom.



What strategies do you propose to bring down the prevalence again?

We need to use the evidence we have that is fuelling the infections. For
example, whether we like it or not, almost 80% of those who got infected
have some link with sexual relationships.



You may be very religious, but we should not avoid the fact that the
majority get the disease through sex. And these people include married
people, divorced ones and those who have never been married. They include
the young and old.



This issue of multiple partners is disastrous. You know that you are not
going to stick to your wife and go with another woman and don?t use
protection? I think that is displacement of reality. Then there is the
discordance and disclosure issue. People are HIV positive, they are aware
and they do not disclose it.



How does lack of disclosure defy prevention methods?

I read an article in a newspaper about a woman who tested HIV positive and
her husband beat her up. So tomorrow, will another woman disclose her status
if she tested positive? I think there should be acceptance of reality.



This is one area in which we have to invest time, not use fear by
imprisoning somebody because he/she did not disclose his/her HIV status.



If it?s absolutely intentional, you know that you are HIV positive and know
the other party is HIV negative and you go ahead and have sex with that
person, then that is a different story. Otherwise, I think with good
counselling, some of these challenges can be overcome.



Trends show that more infections are occurring among the married. How can
this be turned around?



We really have to target married people because 37.7% of the infections are
from married men. So in the marriage, is it the woman or the man who
infects?



The bottom line is that there are married people who are faithful to their
wives and women who are unfaithful to their husbands. And because of these
realities, there has to be something done.



This is one of the results of focusing on the young and sex workers. I am
not saying we should not focus on sex workers, youth and alcohol abuses. But
there has to be serious attention given to married people [too].



How does stigma and discrimination affect HIV response?

I really suggest integration of HIV services within the component of primary
healthcare. We just have to do that. You cannot go to a health centre and
they direct you to a building called ?HIV?.



That eventually creates stigma and discrimination because you have already
been separated. I think we need to integrate HIV in the component of other
social services.



Now the situation is getting worse, without enough health workers, treatment
and increasing population in the country amidst shortages of funds. There
are a lot of challenges. There is also a capacity gap as health workers are
migrating to greener pastures.



How does corruption affect the HIV response?

There is no part of the world where corruption has any benefit. So Uganda is
not an exception. I have seen a lot of effort from both government and
international community pushing for anti corruption related efforts. I think
that is positive and a way forward. How sustainable it is, I don?t know.



Many HIV positive children face stigma and discrimination, sometimes being
forced to quit school. Are there any deliberate strategies to help children
living with HIV complete school?



There are many young children today who could have been at school but
because of the stigma and discrimination, they are out.



But I do know that institutions such as the Paediatric Association of Uganda
and other agencies do have some kind of efforts geared towards supporting
children orphaned by the diseases.



I think these are some of the challenges we need to look at during the
revitalisation of the programme to see how stigma can be overcome. Despite
all the experience in HIV, stigma is still one of the major challenges
whether in schools, places of work and communities.



So where do we go from here?

We have to work on our Prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT)
centres. Testing is so weak. The VCT (voluntary couselling and testing)
services, treatment and PMTCT services are extremely low because every
pregnancy should have the opportunity to have a baby born safe and without
HIV.



The ultimate goal is to ensure that every baby is born safe. Secondly, every
person should have equal opportunity to have access to VCT services.
Everyone who is HIV positive and recommended to be on treatment should have
the right and access to treatment.



The major challenge for all of us in the next planning season is that we
have to have strategies to ensure that all these services are available.



That is why I am saying if Uganda has a factory that is producing ARVs, then
why can?t all the regional countries invest so that these drugs can be
produced at a lower rate so as to meet the WHO requirements instead of
investing in too many workshops, conferences, proceedings and studies?

evelynkiapi at yahoo.com



*6*

Aids epidemic aggravated by 'lack of political commitment'
France24

01/12/2010



Russia and Ukraine together account for almost 90 percent of new HIV/AIDS
infections in Europe and Central Asia, according a UN report unveiled on
World AIDS day. Denis Broun, UNAIDS director for the region, tells France 24
what is behind the trend.



France 24: What are the main reasons for the high figures in Ukraine and
Russia?

Dr. Denis Broun: First, the recent explosion of AIDS infections in the two
countries is driven by needle injections among a growing number drug users.
Heroine from Afghanistan is readily available. Between 1.5 and 2 million
people are injecting drugs in these two countries. Secondly, prevention
programmes are inadequate or not in place. In Russia needle exchange and
oral programme of methadone substitution is not legal. The combination of
highly available drugs and low level of prevention programmes is fatal for
Russia and the Ukraine.



Now we are seeing a growing trend in sexual transmission as many drug users
have wives and girlfriends. Sexual transmission now accounts for more than
50 percent of new AIDS/HIV cases in Ukraine.



F24: Is there an awareness of the scope of the problem among the public?

D.B.: There is a lot of media interest, especially today. In Russia
newspapers, television stations and radio programmes are doing special
features and shows today. But public debate is not where it needs to be, and
this is due to the lack of government involvement. Government is not doing
enough. We?ve seen how government commitment in places like South Africa and
Ethiopia can turn around the epidemic. This is still missing in Russia and
Ukraine. The governments of these countries are hoping civil society will
fill the gap. Money is not the problem; the problem is a deficit of
government commitment.



F24: What is UNAIDS? short-term strategy for these countries?

D.B.: Political advocacy: we are trying to mobilise the government. This is
the only place in the world where the epidemic is growing. We can intervene
at the municipal level, and do, but it?s only when the president, the prime
minister or the parliament of a country comes forward with the issue that
real change can take shape. We are also helping organisations collect
accurate statistics and data. The fight against AIDS only works if the
epidemic can be properly documented. Accurate data informs and drives
policy. We are also involved in human rights issues. When homosexuality and
drug use is dealt with as criminal acts, this puts high-risk groups in even
greater danger.



For World AIDS day we awarded prizes to the best newspaper articles and
television reporting on AIDS in the Russian press. There were some great
entries, the Russian media has proven to be a strong partner for us, and it
is responsible for keeping the issue alive.



*7*

Afghans receive free AIDS treatment in Pakistan
Central Asia Online

30/11/2010



By Ashfaq Yusufzai



PESHAWAR --HIV- and AIDS-infected Afghans are now travelling to Peshawar
where they can receive free treatment at the antiretroviral centre (ARV),
while also escaping the taboos associated with the disease in Afghanistan.



?Back home the situation is not good. Patients are looked down upon by the
people?, said Jamal Sarwari, a Herat teacher, who brought his HIV-infected
nephew to the centre last week.



Pakistan and Afghanistan in October signed an agreement to allow Afghans to
receive free HIV/AIDS treatment. Sarwari said they received the news about
free treatment for Afghan patients with enthusiasm.



UNAIDS Country Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan Oussama Tawil
facilitated the agreement and said the joint effort against HIV was
inevitable in view of the cross-border mobility and that some 1.7 m Afghans
still reside in Pakistan.



?(There is a) higher HIV prevalence found in certain at-risk populations in
Pakistan and Afghanistan, like injecting drug users (IDU) and sex workers,?
Tawil told Central Asia Online. He said a recent survey in Afghanistan has
found that the number of cases among the at-risk population have been
rising, and could reach epidemic proportions.



Higher prevalence, for example, is found among IDU in urban centres of both
countries and there is a concern over an increasing number of sexual
transmissions.



Pakistan recorded its first HIV case in 1987 and, in collaboration with the
World Health Organisation (WHO), established 13 ARV centres to treat
HIV/AIDS patients in 2005. The number of patients at the ARVs has increased
from 355 in 2005 to 1,010 so far this year.



?The ARV centres have lessened trauma and taboos associated with the disease
before the establishment of the centres. Now, they are coming,? said Dr.
Ihsanullah, who works at one centre. He said patients have realized that
there are special treatment arrangements for them, and are now coming in.



?Earlier, I received no treatment because there was no specialist doctor for
HIV and medicines were also not available. All the people thought that HIV
was a sex-borne disease and all the patients were sinners because they
contracted sex by indulging in extramarital sex?, said Gul Nawaz a truck
driver, who was deported from the United Arab Emirates after testing
positive for the disease.



?The stigma has lessened a great deal. My in-laws are now taking care of
me?, said Jamila Bibi of Swat district. Bibi contracted the disease from her
late husband two years ago.



ARVs are just part of the solution. The HIV/AIDS Control Programme is
planning a prevention campaign in conjunction with World AIDS Day (December
1).



"We have planned to hold seminars and workshops for the religious leaders in
the province. The majority of the people are followers of the religious
leaders and their contribution toward lessening AIDS-related trauma? could
help combat the disease, Dr. Sher Muhammad Khan, manager of the HIV/Aids
Control Programme, told Central Asia Online.



A function has also been organised at the Frontier Women University on
December 1 to involve students.



"We want to involve female students in the campaign so they could know about
the causes of the disease and spread word about it in their homes and
neighbourhoods,? Sher said.



The WHO says Pakistan has recorded 6,000 HIV/AIDS patients but the number
could be 140,000 if more people were tested. It says Afghanistan has
recorded 556 cases of HIV/AIDS but that more than 100,000 people could test
positive if screening was done across the country.



Abdul Hakim, who represented Afghanistan in the UNAIDS agreement, said the
epidemiological links between these two countries has become evident in
recent years as more Afghans with HIV are residing in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.



?By virtue of our agreement, the HIV/AIDS patients from Afghanistan have
started visiting the ARV centre in Peshawar. Currently, 68 Afghan patients,
including 47 males, 17 females and 4 children are receiving treatment,? he
told Central Asia Online.



Pakistani doctors will also visit Afghanistan to train the doctors and
health professionals there and to get the ARV centre functioning.



The agreement establishes a program of HIV prevention, treatment, care and
support between Pakistan and Afghanistan and sets up regular communication
between the countries.



?We want both the countries to adopt effective approaches and methods of
implementing programs in HIV including ART, Prevention of Parent-to-Child
Transmission, outreach for at-risk populations, community empowerment for
HIV patients and involvement of religious leaders to cope with the pandemic
which kills 3million worldwide annually,? Tawil said.



Afghanistan faces a high risk of an HIV epidemic. Despite the low HIV
prevalence in the country, Afghanistan is at high-risk for the spread of HIV
infection for several reasons: almost 3 decades of protracted armed
conflicts, huge numbers of people displaced internally and externally; a
poor economy, open borders, poppy cultivation and intravenous drug use, and
a lack of blood safety and injection practices.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



Shortage of HIV drugs may cause new epidemic
New Vision, Uganda

01/12/2010



By Elvis Basudde



Uganda is one of the few countries recorded to have brought the HIV/AIDS
epidemic under control. From a prevalence rate of 18% among adults in 1992,
today, it ranges between 6.3 and 6.7%.



The achievement made by Uganda in responding to the epidemic has been
acknowledged by the international community, which continues to provide
financial, technical and material support to the country.



As early as 1995, the first regimen of ARVs were already used in the
country. These were first used on research basis and later made available to
patients who could meet the costs.



With the launching of the three by five initiative spearheaded by the World
Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations programme on AIDS (UNAIDS)
in 2003, Uganda started rolling out treatment programmes. The roll-out was
made possible by funding from the US Government through the President?s
Emergency Plan for AIDS, (PEPFER) and the Global Fund for AIDS, TB and
Malaria (GFATM.)



It is estimated that 150,000 individuals are currently on ARV treatment in
the country. However, this is only a fraction of the estimated 360,000
people in need of the drugs. On the other hand, it is believed that new
infections are re-emerging.



According to the Modes of Transmission Report, released in July this year,
it is estimated that 91, 546 adults contracted HIV last year alone. This
brings the number of people believed to be living with HIV/AIDS in Uganda to
13.1 million.



The new infections are putting additional pressure on available resources
for treating those that are already living with HIV and yet once started on
treatment; one has to remain on it for the rest of his or her life.



Amidst the hope of getting treatment, many people have been mobilised to
access testing services. Since the initiation of ARV treatment programmes in
public health facilities in 2004, the number of people seeking testing
services has increased from 200,000 to 1.5 million in 2007.



However, there are now indications that many of those, who test positive and
are in need of ARVs cannot be enrolled for care by the mainstream care
givers since they run out of resources to absorb new patients.



Dr. Stephen Watiti, the chairperson of the National Forum of People Living
with HIV/AIDS (NAFOPHANU), regrets that this development is jeopardising the
universal access goals for Uganda and threatening to make new infections
even higher.



*2*

Gays assured of access to HIV services
Capital News FM, Kenya

01/12/2010





NAIROBI, Kenya, Dec 1 - The government has assured gays and lesbians that
they will continue to receive HIV/AIDS services without discrimination.



Special Programmes Minister Esther Murugi said on Wednesday that every
Kenyan is entitled to receive care, treatment and support for HIV/AIDS
irrespective of their sexual orientation.



Experts had expressed fears that recent remarks by Prime Minister Raila
Odinga that homosexuals should be arrested would impact negatively on the
fight against the disease.



"We need to address their issues, we need to talk; we need to know them. Our
cultures have changed for the worst - men are having sex with men and they
are infecting women and other men, we need to address that issue. If we are
open, if we are candid and if we don't hide our heads like the ostrich, we
shall overcome," she said.



The Minister was speaking during celebrations to mark World Aids Day whose
theme is 'Universal Access and Human Rights.



She also encouraged Kenyans to know their HIV status to curb the spread of
the virus.



"At least 4.5 million Kenyans have received voluntary HIV counselling and
testing and are aware of their status. The population of Kenya is 38
million, where are the other 34 million and why don't they know their
status? She posed.



"It is time that everybody knew their status."



The Minister said that the response to the pandemic had been ongoing for too
long and it was time to put in place aggressive measures to eliminate the
virus.



"We have an enemy and when we have an enemy we have to go to war. One of the
reasons we are not winning this war is because we don't want to face the
truth, we don't want to say who our enemy is and what we can do to win the
war," she said.



Global Coordinator of the US President's Emergency Fund for Aids Relief,
PEPFAR Ambassador Eric Goosby said in a teleconference that homosexuals
should be allowed to access prevention interventions and treatment of HIV
without fear.



"The strategies that have been most effective are those that include
embracing the gay and lesbian community, creating a safe space where they
can get tested for HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases without fear
of incarceration," he said.



Policy and Research Director at Liverpool VCT, Dr Wanjiru Mukoma told
Capital News that the PM's remarks would affect the uptake of services by
the gay and lesbian community which would negatively impact on the response
to HIV/AIDS.



"It is inevitable that some of them will be afraid to come and seek services
in light of those remarks because they are afraid of the repercussions. As
service providers, the most we can do is to reassure the MSM (men who have
sex with men) that if they come for services we shall not discriminate them
based on their sexual orientation or preference," she said.



Statistics indicate that homosexuals contribute to 15 percent of all new HIV
infections in Kenya.



Meanwhile, the government has been called upon to target people above the
age of 50 in its HIV/AIDS awareness campaigns.



HelpAge International HIV and AIDS Portfolio Manager Wamuyu Manyara said the
focus on prevention has been more on the younger people which had left the
older generation with little information.



"A lot of times they (older people) are under the impression that either
they are not at risk of HIV infection and therefore do not feel the need to
go for a test and yet they are having sexual relationships and at the same
time they are sometimes having multiple partners," Ms Manyara told Capital
News.



She said that there was need to also train counsellors on the language and
approach they should use when dealing with older people.



"The health facility personnel need to be sensitive towards older people and
understand that there may also be other conditions that they are suffering
from and provide more holistic services so that you are looking at them as a
whole person and HIV is one of the conditions that they could be having,"
she explained.



Regular data collection by government agencies on HIV/AIDS gives statistics
of people between the ages 15-49 years.



*3*

World AIDS Day (Editorial)
Vanguard, Nigeria

22/12/2010



THE World AIDS Day rolled by yesterday. The World Health Organisation, WHO,
has set aside December 1 yearly, to train global attention on the dreaded
disease called Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome, AIDS and Human Immuno
Deficiency Virus, HIV.



Successes in containing HIV/AIDS vary from one community to the other. Some
countries have made some progress, yet all these have to be evaluated with
guided optimism. Fears abound that a celebration of these successes could
result in people not taking anti-AIDS campaigns serious.



The poorest countries, the most misgoverned continent, bayoneted by other
diseases, remains the most challenged about HIV/AIDS. Of course, we are
talking about Africa , where corruption and poor governance affect
everything.



HIV/AIDS is a big problem because of ignorance, unsafe sex practices and
traditions. In some places, traditions prohibit open discussion of sex.
People can acquire knowledge about protecting themselves.



Poverty is another major challenge in combating HIV/AIDS.  Drugs are very
expensive and where government interventions are made, they are still
inadequate. Bureaucracy and corruption also make the drug unavailable to
those who need them.



The Federal Government, for instance, provides free screening services, and
in many instances free treatment at its medical facilities, but these are in
the urban areas and even not enough for the residents of those cities.



The rural poor cannot afford the treatment, lack access to medication and
cannot afford costs of travelling to the city for treatment. Many of them
resort to traditional treatment where they may learn about the care they
have to take to avoid opportunistic infections, which would be enough to
kill. Related to these are special diets that their status demands.



Some HIV/AIDS patients could die from malaria, or tuberculosis. Our
environment is fertile with other infections that can harm them. However,
there is a bigger killer ? stigmatisation. Many sufferers would not want to
be identified with the disease. They would not confide in anyone, nor be
seen around medical facilities associated with HIV/AIDS.



We have a joint responsibility to give them a space. Theirs is a disease
that could infect anyone. Part of the reasons for the stigmatisation is that
infection with HIV/AIDS is still seen as a moral judgment on the carrier.



The truth is that HIV/AIDS could be contracted from other means like blood
transfusion, sharing unsterilised sharp objects.



Statistics on the spread of HIV/AIDS remain scary. Over 75 million people
might be infected by this year while 100 million lives may be lost to AIDS
by 2020. Hopes remain high that a cure could be found or a better way of
people protecting themselves from infection.



Africa has high prevalence of this disease which suggests that countries
within the continent must work extra hard to minimise its spread. A poor
continent is losing its people to HIV/AIDS. For some countries, it is
slightly worse as a high number of younger people is also infected, meaning
that segments of the population could be wiped out, if immediate measures
are not taken.



Too much emphasis is being laid on money instead of effective campaigns to
counter the spread of HIV/AIDS. The number of NGOs on HIV/AIDS appears more
to be an indication of the opportunities it provides for NGOs than a measure
of the seriousness attached to tackling the threat.



Critics of the multi-billion dollar global budget for combating HIV/AIDS
note that other diseases like malaria, tuberculosis, diarrhea, and pneumonia
may pose more threats than HIV/AIDS, especially to children, but they do not
get the type of attention HIV/AIDS gets.



Donor countries and individuals are showing concern for Africans through
provision of free treatment and preventive measures. Nigeria has received
millions of dollars from these donors, Bill Gates, the billionaire Microsoft
owner, who donated to a fund to combat HIV/AIDS during his 2006 visit to
Nigeria. How were these resources been used?



The National Action Committee on AIDS, NACA, says it requires N6 billion to
combat HIV/AIDS. The money will be used to double the number of those
receiving treatment to 900,000 and reverse the trend in infection by 2015,
through the creation of more access to treatment.



NACA need to work harder through education and provision of more treatment
centres. States and local government councils should establish similar
centres to bring the treatment nearer rural people.



With HIV/AIDS, the battle is still ahead and cannot be won if it is fought
only on every December 1.



*5*

WHO/Africa director highlights needs to boost human rights *
*Angola Press

01/12/2010



Luanda ? The regional director of the World Health Organisation (WHO), Lu?s
Gomes Sambo, highlighted the necessity of reinforcing human rights on
answering to HIV/AIDS epidemic and guaranteeing universal access to
prevention, care and treatment of the disease.



In a message on the occasion of the World Aids Day, being celebrated this
Wednesday under the slogan ?Universal Access and Human Rights?, the Angolan
doctor said that human rights are fundamentals for all and whatever answers
to HIV/AIDS. The promotion and protection of these rights is necessary to
capacitate people and communities giving answers to epidemic.



According to the official, the World Aids Day offers an opportunity to
guarantee human rights protection for HIV/Aids positive.



?There is progress on the fighting against HIV/Aids. The number of new
infections by HIV is reducing progressively or establishing in the
countries?, he said.



?Let us dedicate in eliminating stigma and discrimination against people
living with HIV/Aids. Let us join forces to make Universal Access for Cares
a reality all over the world?, he said.



*6*

Pr?s de 40 pour cent de la population gabonaise ignorent leur statut
s?rologique
Gabonews

01/12/2010



Rodrigue Asseyi



A la veille de la Journ?e mondiale consacr?e au sida comm?mor? ce mercredi
1er d?cembre, le Minist?re gabonais charg? de la Sant? a r?v?l?, qu'au moins
? 40% de la population ne connaissaient pas leur statut s?rologique ? tout
en d?plorant un ? rel?chement dans le port du pr?servatif ?.



Dans son message ? l'occasion de cette journ?e plac?e cette ann?e sous le
th?me "Arr?ter le SIDA, tenir la promesse", le Minist?re a tenu ? rappeler
que ? l'infection ?tait une r?alit? au Gabon ? o? 63.000 personnes vivent
actuellement avec la maladie, augment?e d'un taux de pr?valence annuelle
nationale de 5,9% au sein d'une population de 1,5 million d'habitants.



Dans ce contexte, le Gouvernement s'est engag? ? combattre le VIH-Sida pour
atteindre les Objectifs pour le d?veloppement du Mill?naire (ODM) d'ici 2015
? travers notamment une approche participative et multisectorielle. Elle
implique la mobilisation aussi bien des pouvoirs publics que du secteur
priv?, de la soci?t? civile et des partenaires au d?veloppement.



D?j?, le d?partement de la Sant? dispose d'un plan strat?gique 2010-2012 qui
pr?voit notamment la prise en charge des personnes vivant avec la maladie ;
le d?veloppement d'une v?ritable strat?gie marketing aupr?s de la population
particuli?rement jeune.



Sur le plan pratique, il existe un programme d'achat de m?dicaments
antir?troviraux dot? de pr?s d'un milliard de Francs CFA.



D?PISTAGE GRATUIT

Plusieurs manifestations sont pr?vues le 1er d?cembre dont l'une en pr?sence
de la Premi?re dame du Gabon, Sylvia Bongo Ondimba, le d?pistage gratuit au
centre-ville de la capitale et un concert ouvert au public dans les jardins
du Centre Culturel Fran?ais(CCF) de Libreville avec la participation de plus
d'une vingtaine d'artistes locaux qui oeuvrent, ? leur mani?re, ? la lutte
contre la pand?mie.



Selon le Rapport ONUSIDA sur l'?pid?mie mondiale de sida 2010, rendu public
le 23 novembre dernier, on estime ? 2,6 millions le nombre de personnes
nouvellement infect?es par le VIH, soit une baisse de 20% par rapport au
chiffre de 1999.



En 2009, 1,8 million de personnes sont d?c?d?es de maladies li?es au sida,
chiffre inf?rieur de pr?s de 20% ? celui de 2004.



En 2009, on estimait ? 33,3 millions le nombre de personnes vivant avec le
VIH, chiffre l?g?rement sup?rieur ? celui de 2008 (32,8 millions). Cela est
essentiellement li? au fait que les gens vivent plus longtemps gr?ce ?
l'?largissement de l'acc?s au traitement antir?troviral.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Chinese Premier Wen says 'we care' to AIDS sufferers*
*China Daily

02/12/2010



BEIJING - Between 500,000 and 900,000 children under 15 years of age on the
Chinese mainland have been affected by HIV/AIDS, expert estimations have
revealed.



They mainly include children who are infected with HIV themselves, those who
have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and those living with parents who are
suffering from the disease.



Although government policies such as free medication have provided support
to nearly 90 percent of these children, "those missing out are still living
in great difficulties and support for child sufferers should be improved",
said Yin Yin Nwe, United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) representative for
China.



In response, the government will improve the provision of medication for
child sufferers, an official surnamed Jiao with the Chinese Center for
Disease Control and Prevention told China Daily on Wednesday, World AIDS
Day.



To date, China has reported more than 6,000 HIV/AIDS sufferers aged below
15, and about 3,000 of them are already full-blown AIDS patients who need
antiviral medications, statistics from the Ministry of Health revealed.



Nearly 1,600 of these patients are on antiretroviral therapy designed
especially for children, Jiao said.



According to experts, the country can only produce antiretroviral drugs for
adults and relies entirely on international donations of AIDS drugs for
children.



To secure sustainable drug supplies for these patients, the government plans
to select competent domestic drug companies to begin producing the medicine,
or it will buy it from abroad, Jiao said.



"Of course, the government would pay for that," he added.



Yin Yin Nwe said that "follow-up services by medical professionals should be
in place to make sure that children take the medicine properly".



According to Jiao, more effort should be made to detect children living with
HIV/AIDS whose illnesses are not yet known to authorities.



In China, most child sufferers contract the virus from their infected
mothers, so "it's equally important to carry out interventions targeting
that", he said.



This year the central government has invested nearly 800 million yuan (S$157
million) mainly to expand HIV intervention programs targeting
mother-to-child transmission, official statistics have revealed.



Pregnant women receive free screenings for HIV and syphilis and free medical
intervention, if needed, to avert mother-to-child transmission. By June,
about 5.7 million would-be-mothers had had screenings.



Scientific studies have shown that a combination of timely and appropriate
HIV screenings, medical intervention and the administration of proper
antiretroviral drugs can prevent pregnant women from passing the virus to
their babies.



UNICEF said that worldwide it hoped to eliminate mother-to-child
transmission of the AIDS virus during childbirth by 2015.



Currently, HIV/AIDS infections by mother-to-child transmissions have almost
been eliminated in most developed countries such as the United States and
European nations.



However, it is still seriously affecting many less-developed countries. In
sub-Saharan Africa about 1,000 babies are born with the HIV virus from
infected mothers every day, according to UNICEF's annual report on children
and AIDS.



"That is outrageous as we have the knowledge and the tools to prevent such
infection," said Anthony Lake, executive director of UNICEF.



Without medication, many of these babies will die by the time they are 2
years old, said the report.



It also found that in 2009, about 53 percent of HIV-positive pregnant women
in low- and middle-income countries received the antiretroviral therapies
used to prevent the virus being passed to newborns, an increase from 15
percent in 2005.

-China Daily/Asia News Network



*2*

DOH warns: HIV spreading faster than ever
ABS-CBN News, Philippiines

02/12/2010



MANILA, Philippines - The Philippines is witnessing the fastest spread of
the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in its history.



Data from the National Epidemiology Center of the Department of Health
showed that only one Filipino tested positive for HIV every 3 days in the
year 2000.



Incidences started to spike in 2007, when 1 case of HIV tested positive
daily. In 2009, 2 new HIV positive cases were reported in a day. As of May
2010, four people tested positive everyday. But it did not even reach the
end of the year before the Philippines started recording 5 new HIV cases
everyday.



DOH data also shows that all 17 regions of the country have reported
incidents of HIV. And as of May this year, 72 of the 80 provinces had at
least one HIV positive case. But the top three areas logging the highest
incidences of HIV are Metro Manila, Metro Cebu, and Metro Davao, all highly
urbanized and densely populated areas.



In Metro Manila, 1 in every 60 MSMs, or males having sex with other males,
are HIV positive. In Davao, 1 in every 30 MSMs are HIV positive. But more
alarming are the statistics of Cebu, where 1 in every 3 people who inject
drugs using shared or used needles are actually HIV positive.



Dr. Diana Mendoza of the Manila Health Department explains that the spike is
due to the characteristic of a highly-urbanized city. "Because they're
highly urbanized, they have more entertainment centers, there is greater
access to the internet, and there is a greater prevalence of sex trade."



Mendoza reiterates that with such a quick spread of the disease, more people
stand to put themselves at risk. She cautions people to avoid unprotected
sex, especially with multiple partners. And she invites others to join in a
discussion on HIV and AIDS that was once taboo, but is now necessary to save
the lives of thousands of Filipinos. Report by Chiara Zambrano, ABS-CBN News



*3*

Hundreds in northeast pledge fight against HIV
Hindustan Times, India

01/12/2010



Guwahati ? Hundreds in India's northeast, whose large number of drug users
have sparked fears of a worsening AIDS epidemic, pledged on Wednesday to
step up the fight against HIV by spreading awareness about it. School
children, health workers, people living with HIV/AIDS and rehabilitated drug
addicts marched through key streets in the states of Arunachal Pradesh,
Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura to mark the World
AIDS Day.



"The slogan this year is 'Universal Access and Human Rights', highlighting
the need for easy availability of medicines for people living with the
virus. We are committed to catering to the basic needs and ensuring access
to drugs," said Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma.



"Global leaders have pledged to work towards universal access to HIV and
AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as fundamental human
rights and we in Assam are committed to carrying out the theme of the World
AIDS Day in letter and spirit," Sarma told IANS.



Some 2.5 million Indians are HIV positive. Northeast accounts about 45,000
such people.



"We have to take urgent steps to ensure that anti-retroviral drugs are made
available more easily," said Jahnabi Goswami, president of the Indian
Network of Positive People.



Goswami is one of the few women in India fighting to raise awareness about
the disease and one of an even smaller number to have publicly declared that
she is HIV-positive.



Assam has about 4,000 registered HIV positive people.



India's northeast borders the heroin-producing Golden Triangle of Laos,
Myanmar and Thailand and has high rates of intravenous drug use - a key
cause of HIV infection here.



Health workers also emphasised the need to educate sex workers following
surveys that suggest most prostitutes in the region were engaging in
unprotected sex.



Despite the efforts of NGOs and pressure groups, government agencies in the
region have so far not managed to curb either drug addiction or
prostitution.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



Prevention rather than cure is the new focus in Africa as donors look to cut
aid
The Independent, UK

01/12/2010



By David Usborne in New York



As donor nations prepare to cut levels of overseas assistance, medical
agencies and private charities may soon start to lose the race with HIV/Aids
in sub-Saharan Africa unless new strategies for prevention and treatment are
developed quickly, experts warned on the eve of World Aids Day.



The progress that has been made in tackling Aids in Africa is at risk, shows
a bleak report by the US Institute of Medicine. It advocates a greater focus
on prevention. Otherwise, the numbers of HIV-positive Africans will continue
to explode, reaching 70 million by 2050 if the present trend continues;there
are 22.5 million infected today. The report also warns that the HIV-positive
population in Africa could rise to 30 million by 2020.



Dr Thomas Quinn, of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, and one of the
report's authors, says: "The number of people that are infected with
HIV/Aids in sub-Saharan Africa is projected to far outstrip the available
resources for treatment by 2020. Because treatment will reach only a
fraction of those who need it... preventing new infections should be the
central tenet of any long term response to HIV/Aids in Africa."



Bono, the U2 front-man whose own contributions to fighting Aids in Africa
are well-known, also sounded the alarm while kicking off World Aids Day at
the Sydney Opera House last night. The economic recession was undercutting
the work of recent years, he said. "Times are hard in the Western world. In
recessionary times, people have to tell their politicians this is important
to them. Some people think the pandemic is on its way out and it's job done.
It is really not so."



The huge growth in levels of spending for overseas medical aid before the
recession is spelt out in another report released by the University of
Washington. Contributions from developed nations to healthcare programmes in
developing countries quadrupled between 1990 and 2010, the report says, in
large part because of the growing awareness of the Aids crisis. But that
progress is now in jeopardy.



Writing in The Independent today, former President Bill Clinton says it is
time to do more with less in Africa if the "dramatic progress" of the past
10 years, fuelled in part by dramatic increases in spending by the US
government, is not to be reversed. "We risk losing our momentum unless we
find new ways to fill the gaps left by reductions in government spending,"
he adds. Mr Clinton proposes finding "user-friendly" ways of raising funds
through large numbers of small contributions. He cites the levy on airline
tickets in France.



Doing more with less, he says, should include ending the duplication of
efforts, making the delivery of medicines more efficient and stepping up the
distribution of very low-cost medicines to prevent those diseases
HIV-positive patients are most prone to develop, such as pneumonia and TB.
The seriousness of the challenge is underlined in a report from the charity
group, Doctors without Borders, which predicts that its efforts to combat
Aids in Africa are being hit hard. "The price of newer medicines we need are
increasing rapidly, and donors have decided to retire," says Gilles van
Custern, the medical co-ordinator with the group. Its own research suggests
that getting the proper anti-retroviral drugs to Aids patients reduces
deaths by 68 per cent. Just to keep up, the world needs $20bn in private
donations in the next three years, he says. So far, $11bn has been raised.



David Serwadda, of Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, who is a co-chair
of the committee that wrote the Institutes of Medicine report, says that
building and sustaining the capacity to deal with education, prevention and
treatment remains one of the biggest challenges in Africa, including in his
own country.



"Already in Uganda and a few other nations, we don't have enough health care
workers or (HIV drugs) to meet demands, and health centres are increasingly
turning away patients who need these drugs to survive," he says. "If we
don't act to prevent new infections, we will witness an exponential increase
in deaths and orphaned children in sub-Saharan Africa in just a couple of
decades."



And now the good news... Improving sanitation key to keeping children in
school



Thirteen-year-old Auma is a student at Mcedo Beijing School, in Nairobi,
Kenya. Last year, she got her period for the first time.



To most Western girls, that rite of passage quickly becomes a normal part of
life. But for Auma, growing up was far more complicated. Her family could
not afford to buy disposable sanitary pads, which meant that during her
periods she had to use pieces of tattered clothes, mattress, and socks.
That, in turn, made school attendance far more complicated.



"I was embarrassed because the other kids teased me when this happened," she
says. "I used to feel so bad when I missed lessons and catching up was
difficult. My self esteem really went down."



With the schooling of girls a key factor in encouraging development, Auma's
problem does not just matter for her personally. But now there is a simple
solution: reusable sanitary towels. Through a friend, she found out about a
company called Huru, which provided a kit consisting of a set of reusable
pads, soap, and information about safe sex and HIV/Aids.



Auma does not miss school any more ? and she understands how to protect
herself. That is hugely important, because 1,000 new HIV infections a day
come in sub-Saharan Africa to children under the age of 15.



"Girls who can stay in school are less vulnerable to HIV/Aids," Eric Goosby,
the US Global Aids co-ordinator, says. "Removing a simple obstacle like
available sanitary towels makes a huge impact on the risk of girls missing
school each month or dropping out altogether."



With 10,000 of the kits distributed so far and more to come, the risks of
girls like Auma going down that path are getting lower every day.



*2*

Licensing deal threatens cheap pharmaceuticals
The Independent, UK

01/12/2010



By Daniel Howden in Bwindi, Uganda



Stella's life is in the balance. She was born, four years ago, HIV-positive.
Her mother, Rebecca Mbabazi, 23, only discovered ? like so many mothers in
Uganda ? that she had the virus when she was already pregnant.



Mother and daughter live in the verdant hills on the edge of Bwindi
Impenetrable Forest in the remote west of the country. It is famed for
mountain gorillas but during the 1990s became infamous for lethally high
rates of HIV/Aids infections.



Like most little girls, Stella doesn't much like pills ? she pulls a comic
face when they are mentioned ? but she takes them anyway, twice a day. They
save her life. But for how long? If the European Union has its way, the
supply of cheap drugs on which Stella depends could be cut off.



A collection of plastic bottles on the sideboard in the gloomy back room of
her grandmother's house contains her life-savers. They are antiretroviral
drugs (ARVs) that suppress the HIV virus and boost her immune system,
slowing the onset of full-blown Aids. The brand on the pill bottles is not a
household name. "Aurobindo" is one of the unheralded, generic drug producers
in Hyderabad ? an Indian city at the centre of a pharmaceuticals revolution
that has saved millions of lives in places such as Bwindi and across Africa.
In the past decade, companies such as this, mass-producing generic copies of
Western drugs, have turned India into the "pharmacy of the developing world"
and helped to bring affordable, high-quality medicines to many of the areas
of greatest need.



More than 80 per cent of ARVs bought by donors for use in Africa come from
India. Since 2003, the average cost of treating an HIV patient has fallen
from nearly $500 a year to $70, says the International Aids Society. Since
2001, Indian generics have provided antiretroviral treatment for 4 million
HIV-positive people in the developing world. They are the reason Stella is
alive, and that she still has a mother and brother. But this remarkable
progress is under threat.



Half a world away, the EU is preparing for trade talks with India in
Brussels next week. Among the reams of small print are several clauses that
seek to protect the intellectual property rights and commercial interests of
European pharmaceuticals giants. If the deal is agreed, it would create a
new patent-like barrier which threatens the flow of cheap, life-saving
medicines to children like Stella.



The clause causing most concern is "data exclusivity", which would
effectively block Indian producers from registering copies of foreign drugs,
including those not protected by the existing patents system. This would
mean delays of up to 10 years in delivery of generic versions of new,
improved medicines and up to 15 years in the case of paediatric versions of
the same drugs.



M?decins Sans Fronti?res (MSF), which treats hundreds of thousands of
patients in the developing world, is campaigning against the changes and
demanding talks with the EU. "It is a case where profits are coming before
lives," said Dr Unni Karunakara, the MSF president. "We are talking about
real lives. They may be hidden away in remote areas but they are real. There
are millions of lives depending on these cheap drugs, so we're saying hands
off our medicines."



He warns that "data exclusivity", and clauses that could see safe generics
seized and destroyed as counterfeits at EU ports, will "criminalise" vital
medicines and drive up costs for Indian manufacturers. Those costs would
then drastically hit the ability of doctors in poor countries to offer free
treatment.



EU officials insist the changes will not affect India's ability to export
affordable drugs. "My position, and that of the EU, is very clear," Karel De
Gucht, EU Trade Commissioner, said. "We are negotiating a free trade
agreement between the EU and India. Any agreement will have no impact on the
right or the capacity of India to produce generic medicines." But MSF is
sceptical about those promises.



The implications of these talks will travel the thousands of miles to
Uganda's capital, Kampala, and the 12-hour drive over rutted roads to where
Stella and her family live. It was in places like Bwindi that rumours of a
terrifying new disease, known locally as "slim", started to be heard in the
late 1980s. Its victims wasted away, often dying behind closed doors,
imprisoned by stigma. At its height, a quarter of Ugandans were infected.



Dr Richard Kazibwe, who runs the Aids programme at Bwindi Hospital, grew up
in what he calls the "HIV generation". "When I was a kid I lost close
relatives to HIV," he says. "People were dying like nobody's business and
dying in a horrible way ? slim to the bone."



The doctor, 28, says free ARVs made possible by cheaper drugs, and a US-led
surge in donor funding, brought about a "transformation". "People's attitude
to HIV is changing. They know that if you come and get tested you can get
treated, but this is recent. When you had HIV in the 1990s,people would just
forget about you."



Across Uganda, the roll-out of life-saving drugs has helped to bring
infection rates down to below 7 per cent. Serious challenges remain and,
after five years of historically high spending by the US and other donors,
HIV funding has flatlined this year. The global financial crisis is hitting
budgets and that already means intermittent supplies of ARVs at Bwindi.



Yet there is another big problem. Even if existing drugs keep coming at the
same price, Dr Kazibwe explains, they will not solve the crisis. Growing
numbers of patients on long-term courses of ARVs are developing resistance
to the drugs. In the West, the failure of "first line" regimens is solved by
switching to second or third line alternatives. A stream of new treatments
helps HIV victims in the rich world to stay ahead of the mutating virus.



Dr Kazibwe points to a battered chart on the wall showing the dozen or so
drugs that make up his dwindling arsenal. He draws a line through about a
half dozen to show those which are no longer available or no longer work.
"New mutations of the HIV virus are coming and if generic producers are
blocked the whole battle against Aids will be lost," he warns.



Hope Tukahirwa, a voluntary Aids worker, is living proof of the ARV miracle.
She is 47 and HIV positive. It is 11 years since her husband died of Aids
and seven since the disease killed her son, Brian. It was only after her
little boy died that she got tested. "Before, I was afraid to take the test
as I thought that would mean I would die faster," she says. "I thought that
if people knew they would ignore me or hate my kids."



Her three surviving children were nearly orphaned. She became seriously ill
four years ago, just as treatment was becoming more widely available. "It
changed from bad to good," she says. "I don't get sick very often any more.
The only stress I have is finding money for school fees."



With income from a small farm, Hope managed to put her twin daughters, now
20, through school and into university. She admits "it is not easy" but says
her children are her hope. She worries that the ARV drugs will stop coming.
"In the old days, people were dying like rats. The drugs were too expensive
and if it happened again we would be back in the old days."



Muhumuza Gervis, a teacher, was a skeleton on the edge of death when he
began taking ARVs. He and his wife, who is also HIV positive, support six
children. He remembers first hearing about miracle drugs that were keeping
rich Ugandans alive in Kampala. But there was no way even at a "fair price"
that a teacher could afford them.



"If the ARVs are not free there will be no way of surviving," he says. After
four years, Muhumuza's drugs are no longer working. He is one of a growing
number of drug-resistant patients at Bwindi. Any delays in the flow of cheap
new drugs will be a death sentence for him and many thousands like him.



*3*

Big pharma and the business of HIV/AIDS
The Independent, UK

01/12/2010



By Nikhil Kumar



The cost of treating HIV with antiretrovirals has plummeted during the past
decade. Prices for the six most common initial treatments ? or first-line
drugs ? in low and middle-income countries fell by between one per cent and
36 per cent from 2008 to 2009 alone, according to the World Health
Organisation.



The declines are down to a variety of factors, including the production of
generics or cheap copies of expensive drugs, and favourable pricing policies
by pharmaceutical firms. But if you look beyond the headline figures for
first-line treatments in poorer countries, it becomes clear that HIV remains
big business for big pharma. HIV antiretroviral sales across the seven major
markets of the US, Japan, France, Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK totalled
$11.8bn (?7.6bn) last year, according to figures from the research firm
Datamonitor.



That represents compounded annual growth of 10 per cent between 2005 and
2009. The US was the biggest market, booking $7.7bn in antiretroviral sales
last year. France was the largest of the European markets, with sales of
$1.1bn, while Japan was the smallest overall. In terms of patients, the
number of people living with HIV across the seven major markets went from
1.4 million in 2001 to 1.8 million in 2009, with further increases expected
in the coming decade. The US is forecast to hold on to first place, with
Datamonitor expecting it to account for 60 per cent of sales across the
seven markets in 2019. Japan is forecast to remain the smallest.



The recent surge in growth was driven by the continued uptake of the Truvada
drug, which is produced by California-based Gilead Sciences, and by Atripla,
a combination of Truvada and Bristol-Myers Squibb's Sustiva treatment in a
single pill. In 2009, Gilead notched up $2.5bn in Truvada sales; Atripla was
just behind with $2.4bn in sales. In the US, Truvada boasts a market of
share of 32 per cent of all prescriptions in its class of drugs. Atripla's
share stands at 28 per cent.



More recently, the companies reported a rise in profits for the third
quarter as sales of its core HIV drugs surpassed expectations. Sales of
Truvada were up by 8 per cent to $668.7m, while Atripla sales soared by more
than 20 per cent to $742.7m.



In the UK, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) and the US group Pfizer joined forces in
November last year to put their HIV business into a joint venture called
ViiV Healthcare. With a portfolio of 10 available medicines, ViiV, which is
85 per cent-owned by GSK and 15 per cent by Pfizer, commands a 19 per cent
share of the worldwide HIV drugs market. Its full-year figures will be
published in February, but GSK's last annual report showed that sales of HIV
medicines totalled ?1.6bn last year.



Back in the US, Bristol Myers-Squibb's most recent results showed a 9 per
cent rise in third-quarter sales for its Sustiva drug. The figures for rival
group Merck are also impressive. Its lead HIV drug, Isentress, recorded
worldwide sales of $278m in third quarter of 2010, an increase of 41 per
cent on 2009.



Stephen Lewis, the former United Nations special envoy for HIV/Aids in
Africa and current co-director of Aids-Free World, an international advocacy
organisation, says the strength of the HIV drug firms shows that while
treatment prices for low-income countries have gone down, companies have
sought to offset the declines by continuing to market drugs at high prices
in richer markets ? a part of the HIV/Aids story that is often overlooked.



Moreover, he said, prices in low-income countries came down primarily
because of the growth of "generics producers in places like India, not
because of some sudden humanitarian spasm" on the part of the pharmaceutical
companies.



Geoff Porges, an analyst at Sanford C Bernstein, is more charitable in his
assessment, saying that the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry had
"done a very poor job" in communicating the advances made in the treating
life-threatening illnesses such as HIV.



"We've turned it [HIV/Aids] from an inevitable, terrifying death sentence to
a chronic illness that can be managed in the context of a life expectancy
that is pretty close to normal," he said.



Mr Porges said the advances were down to some risky investments by the drug
companies, which have gone on to prove "very successful and very profitable
and they have been rewarded handsomely". In the medium term, the industry as
a whole is set to see further growth in HIV drugs. Datamonitor expects sales
across the seven major markets to expand at a compounded annual rate of 5.7
per cent in the three years to 2013. But the picture will change soon after
as major patents run out. The Sustiva patent, for example, expires in 2013.



Taken together with a relatively empty pipeline of drugs, these pressures
are expected to slow the growth in HIV antiretroviral sales from 2013
onwards.



In time, Datamonitor forecasts a decline in sales after 2015, with the
compounded annual growth rate relaxing to -1.7 per cent between then and
2019. "Companies in the HIV market are running up against the same
challenges as the industry is facing in every other category," Mr Porges
said.



Given the limited options for long-term growth, activists have been
highlighting the ongoing EU-India free-trade negotiations. India is a major
producer of affordable generic drugs, with 80 per cent of all donor-funded
Aids medicines coming from Indian generic producers.



But the EU has been accused of pushing for the application of measures such
as "data exclusivity", which could hamper the generics industry. Currently,
generics producers have to show only that their copies are equivalent to the
original drugs.



Regulators in turn rely upon the safety data generated by the original
manufacturer. Data exclusivity, however, would allow the original
manufacturer to stop the generics producer from referring to its data for up
to 10 years.



M?decins Sans Fronti?res says the provision would lead to the creation of a
"new patent-like" monopoly, favouring drug companies, but hampering the
supply of cheap drugs.



And now the good news... Why lip service might be the key to raising more
money



The M?A?C Aids Fund (MAF), supports HIV-affected individuals all around the
world.

MAF is committed to addressing the link between poverty and HIV/Aids by
supporting a diverse range of organisations that provide services to people
living with HIV/Aids.



To date, MAF has raised more than $190m (?122m) through the sale of M?A?C's
Viva Glam lipstick and lipgloss, donating 100 per cent of the sale proceeds
from each product to the battle against HIV/Aids. A single lipstick sale
pays, for example, for two hours of childcare for a woman attending a
doctor's appointment, 233 condoms, or two emergency boxes full of
non-perishable food.



MAF's work spans both developed and developing nations, with a particular
focus on combating homophobia. This year alone MAF has given more than
$250,000 in grants to South African youth projects, and also funded advocacy
work in the Caribbean.



*4*

South Africa's anti-AIDS drugs reach a million people
AFP

01/12/2010



By Tabelo Timse



DRIEFONTEIN, South Africa ? A million people are now receiving anti-AIDS
drugs in South Africa, a country with the world's heaviest HIV infections,
Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe said on Wednesday.



"More than 200 000 new patients have been initiated on ARV's since April
this year, bringing a total number to one million," Motlanthe told a public
gathering to mark World AIDS Day in the eastern province of Mpumalanga.



Motlanthe said more public health institutions were now providing treatment,
with more nurses trained to administer ARV (anti-retroviral) drugs.



"It is important to emphasize that even as we continue to make headway with
our treatment programme, prevention remains the mainstay of our response to
the dual epidemic of HIV and TB," he said.



South Africa has 5.6 million people who are HIV-positive out of a 50-million
population, according to UN estimates. The country, after long failing to
tackle the problem amid scepticism about its cause, also has the largest ARV
programme in the world.



Motlanthe and Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi started the day by visiting
impoverished rural households affected by AIDS.



"What we are observing here is the devastation of HIV/AIDS. All four houses
we visited here were headed by grandmothers who are looking after orphans,"
said Motsoaledi.



"What is left for us is to see how we pick up the pieces," he added.



According to the government annual report, South African has 1.95 million
AIDS orphans, while an estimated 314,000 people died of the disease in 2009.



The impact of HIV in the country is compounded by poverty, as many people
battle to feed themselves and adhere to the drug regimen. Others live far
from institutions offering medical help.



Dozens of public gatherings to mark the day were held around the country by
labour unions, church groups and civil society, signifying an increased
effort to fight the scourge.



In South Africa's oldest township Langa, northeast of Cape Town, a roadside
testing station was set up outside a health clinic and a loud hailer urged
passers-by to get tested.



"I want to see what is happening inside my body," said a 56-year-old woman,
being tested for the first time.



After coming out she announced "I am clean. I am happy".



President Jacob Zuma's administration has been praised for implementing new
approaches to fighting HIV after years of denialism by former president
Thabo Mbeki and his health minister.



Mbeki's government questioned the link between HIV and AIDS and the health
minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang promoted garlic and beetroot instead of
medication.



The current government has set up a drive to test 15 million people by the
end of June 2011 and provide anti-AIDS drugs to 80 percent of those who need
treatment.



Motsoaledi said last month the test campaign had lagged because of the
football World Cup hosted by South Africa and a three-week public sector
strike which crippled services at state hospitals.



He said more than 4.6 million people had tested, of whom 800,000 were HIV
positive.



"What is important is that they have the knowledge to stop infecting their
partners by sticking to one partner and always using a condom, adopting
positive living and have access to treatment early," said Motsoaledi.



Earlier this year, Zuma underwent an HIV test and publicly announced his
negative result.

Copyright ? 2010 AFP. All rights reserved



*5*

Une g?n?ration lib?r?e du VIH et du sida ?
Le Monde

01/12/2010



Une g?n?ration qui na?trait libre du VIH et du sida, c'est possible ? et
c'est en Afrique que tout pourrait se jouer. Aujourd'hui, le VIH et le sida
p?diatriques sont en passe d'appartenir au pass? presque partout dans le
monde. Partout, sauf en Afrique ? et dans quelques autres r?gions qui n'ont
pu b?n?ficier d'une d?cennie de progr?s r?alis?s dans l'utilisation de
m?dicaments antir?troviraux pour emp?cher la transmission du VIH de la m?re
? l'enfant.



Aujourd'hui, neuf femmes enceintes s?ropositives sur dix vivent en Afrique ;
idem pour neuf enfants s?ropositifs sur dix. Un millier de b?b?s naissent
chaque jour sur le continent africain avec le VIH. La majorit? d'entre eux
ne recevront aucun traitement. Faute de soins, 50 % d'entre eux mourront
avant leur deuxi?me anniversaire.



La mort tragique de ces enfants devrait nous scandaliser tous, d'autant plus
que ces d?c?s pourraient ?tre ?vit?s. Nous avons les moyens de pr?venir la
transmission du VIH de la m?re ? l'enfant partout dans le monde et le moment
est venu de nous en servir pour sauver des centaines de milliers de vies en
Afrique. Le moment est venu de reconna?tre que puisque nous pouvons
quasiment ?liminer le VIH et le sida p?diatriques, nous devons le faire.



Ce n'est pas une question de connaissances : au cours des dix derni?res
ann?es, nous avons appris beaucoup sur le m?canisme de la pr?vention de la
transmission materno-f?tale, le fait d'emp?cher le virus de passer de la
m?re ? l'enfant. C'est maintenant une question de priorit?s et de volont?
politique.



D'abord et avant tout, il faut que les gouvernements africains s'engagent
syst?matiquement ? inclure dans leurs budgets de sant? publique des fonds
consacr?s ? la pr?vention de la transmission du virus de la m?re ? l'enfant.
Seuls cinq des 53 pays africains ont tenu les promesses faites lors de la
D?claration d'Abuja, par laquelle ils s'engageaient ? allouer au moins 15 %
de leur budget annuel aux soins de sant?. Et ils sont tr?s peu nombreux ?
consacrer des fonds au VIH et au sida p?diatriques.



Certains pays cependant prennent des mesures. Le Kenya, par exemple, s'est
fix? un objectif ambitieux : faire passer les infections p?diatriques au VIH
de 27 % ? 8 % d'ici ? 2013. L'an dernier, le gouvernement kenyan a affect?
11,25 millions de dollars ? l'achat d'antir?troviraux pour les femmes
enceintes. Le pays s'?vertue aussi ? combler des lacunes graves dans le
programme de pr?vention de la transmission du virus de la m?re ? l'enfant
avec, entre autres, de nouvelles initiatives destin?es aux communaut?s les
plus ?prouv?es et souvent les plus difficiles ? atteindre.



Nous sommes encourag?s par ce type d'initiatives ambitieuses prises par le
Kenya et d'autres pays comme l'Afrique du Sud et le Nig?ria, qui proc?dent ?
des modifications historiques de leurs politiques en mati?re de VIH/sida.
Nous esp?rons que d'autres gouvernements africains les suivront rapidement
sur cette voie.



Une g?n?ration lib?r?e du VIH et du sida, c'est ?galement un imp?ratif
mondial, qui exige un engagement renouvel? de la part des bailleurs de
fonds, des institutions internationales, de la soci?t? civile et du secteur
priv?.



Nous devons tous nous focaliser davantage sur une transposition ? plus
grande ?chelle des solutions efficaces ? et accro?tre les investissements
dans ce domaine ? afin que les centres de sant? disposent de suffisamment de
personnel et de mat?riel et qu'un plus grand nombre de femmes et de
nouveau-n?s b?n?ficient d'un d?pistage pr?coce et d'un traitement
antir?troviral suffisamment t?t pour emp?cher la transmission du virus.



FIXER LES PRIORIT?S

Des fonds suppl?mentaires sont aussi n?cessaires pour ?largir l'acc?s aux
soins, aux traitements et ? une prise en charge de qualit? pour les femmes
et les enfants s?ropositifs. Et il ne fait aucun doute que nous devons
investir dans des moyens innovants pour atteindre les femmes et les familles
les plus pauvres et les plus vuln?rables.



Le mois dernier, le Kenya a ?t? le premier pays ? commencer la distribution
des "Packs maman-b?b?", des kits ? emporter ? domicile contenant tous les
m?dicaments n?cessaires pour prot?ger la sant? d'une m?re et de son
nourrisson ? m?me si elle vit dans un endroit recul?, loin de tout
dispensaire. Cette initiative prometteuse a ?t? mise au point par l'Unicef,
l'OMS, Unitaid et d'autres partenaires. Bient?t, le Cameroun, le Lesotho et
la Zambie commenceront, eux aussi, ? distribuer les "Packs maman-b?b?" pour
acc?l?rer la pr?vention de la transmission m?re-enfant chez eux.



La cl? du succ?s r?side ? l'?vidence dans le partenariat, ? tous les
niveaux. La campagne pour l'?limination du VIH/sida p?diatrique, un
partenariat de la soci?t? civile africaine, veut mobiliser les actions
contre ce fl?au, dans six nations africaines pour commencer.



Le Fonds mondial de lutte contre le VIH/sida, la tuberculose et le
paludisme, un partenariat public-priv?, met ? disposition des sommes
consid?rables pour ?largir la pr?vention et le traitement du VIH en Afrique.
Le mois dernier, les promesses de dons au Fonds ont atteint 11,7 milliards
de dollars. Les Etats-Unis ont augment? de 38 % leur promesse de
contribution et il est encore temps pour plusieurs nations du G20 de
s'engager. Mais les niveaux de financement actuels suffisent ? peine ?
maintenir les initiatives en cours.



Or, le continent africain ne peut se permettre d'attendre. Faute de
financements suffisants, moins de la moiti? des femmes enceintes
s?ropositives en Afrique subsaharienne recevront les antir?troviraux qui
pourraient prolonger leur vie. Sans ces m?dicaments, pr?s de 40 % des b?b?s
qu'elles mettront au monde seront infect?s par le VIH. Avec les m?dicaments,
ce taux chute ? 5 %.



Les chiffres parlent d'eux-m?mes. A nous de faire un choix, ? nous de fixer
les priorit?s. C'est une question de vie ou de mort. En cette Journ?e
mondiale de la lutte contre le sida, nous devons tous r?affirmer notre
engagement ? sauver des vies ? en prenant des mesures audacieuses d?s
aujourd'hui pour lib?rer l'humanit? du sida, en Afrique et partout ailleurs.



*Desmond Tutu est aussi pr?sident honoraire de la Global AIDS Alliance*

*Desmond Tutu, archev?que ?m?rite du Cap, et Anthony Lake, directeur g?n?ral
de l'Unicef (Fonds des Nations unies pour l'enfance)*



*6*

Sida: des raisons d'esp?rer mais des appels ? ne pas baisser la garde
AFP

01/12/2010



PARIS ? Si les nouvelles infections par le virus du sida dans le monde ont
baiss? d'un cinqui?me en dix ans, responsables politiques et sanitaires ont
mis en garde mercredi, journ?e mondiale de lutte contre la maladie, contre
une vigilance en baisse.



Des repr?sentants des grandes organisations, r?unis ? l'H?tel Marigny ?
Paris ? l'initiative de Carla Bruni-Sarkozy, ont aussi insist? sur les
"espoirs", en particulier dans la lutte contre la transmission du virus de
la m?re ? l'enfant intra-utero, un "sujet majeur". Ils ont pr?sent? ? cette
occasion un "pack" th?rapeutique qui sera distribu? aux femmes enceintes
dans quatre pays d'Afrique ? partir de juillet.



Selon l'Unicef, en effet, chaque jour dans le monde "1.000 nourrissons
contractent le VIH, in utero, au cours de l'accouchement ou pendant
l'allaitement et au moins la moiti? de ces b?b?s meurent avant l'?ge de deux
ans".



"Contrairement ? ce qu'on entend dire, l'?pid?mie de sida se poursuit. Il y
a 7.000 nouvelles contaminations par an (en France), et laisser ? penser ?
nos compatriotes, et notamment aux plus jeunes, que c'est termin? c'est un
comportement irresponsable", a mis en garde Nicolas Sarkozy, lors d'une
table ronde sur la m?decine ? Orbec (Calvados).



"Le sentiment g?n?ral que le Sida se soigne a eu pour cons?quence une forme
de banalisation de la maladie, entra?nant un rel?chement des comportements",
a estim? l'ancien Premier ministre, Dominique de Villepin, pr?sident du
parti "R?publique solidaire", qui a appel? ? "renforcer notre vigilance".



"Il ne d?pend que de nous qu'un jour il y ait z?ro enfant infect?", a lanc?
la premi?re Dame de France.



L'association Act-Up Paris avait d?clin? l'invitation de Carla
Bruni-Sarkozy, estimant que cette responsabilit? relevait du gouvernement et
a d?nonc? notamment "la pr?carisation des s?ropos en France", le "d?sastre
sanitaire des prisons" et les "menaces sur les sans-papiers malades", des
"promesses financi?res non tenues pour assurer l'acc?s universel aux
traitements".



Dans un message vid?o diffus? mercredi sur le site de sa fondation, l'ancien
pr?sident Jacques Chirac a estim? "urgent d'adopter des initiatives de
pr?vention efficaces et non discriminatoires" contre le Sida.



"Si l'acc?s au traitement demeure une priorit?, il nous faut mener
maintenant, avec Michel Sidib?, directeur ex?cutif d'Onusida, une v?ritable
r?volution en mati?re de pr?vention", a d?clar? l'ancien chef de l'Etat,
dont la fondation a notamment pour but de "lutter contre les m?dicaments
falsifi?s".



Marie-George Buffet, d?put?e et ex-num?ro un du PCF a estim? de son c?t?
qu'il "faut franchir une nouvelle ?tape contre le Sida et demand? "au
gouvernement des moyens suppl?mentaires pour marquer des points d?cisifs
contre la maladie": "doublement de la participation de la France au Fonds
mondial", "moyens n?cessaires au d?pistage syst?matique", "d?veloppement de
la pr?vention dans les enceintes p?nitentiaires".



Le Parti de gauche a d?nonc? dans ce contexte "la loi Bachelot, sa carte
sanitaire et sa tarification ? l?acte qui fait passer la rentabilit?
financi?re avant le droit ? la sant?" dans l'acc?s aux soins. "Les personnes
vivant avec le VIH sont au premier rang des victimes de cette contre-r?forme
du syst?me de sant? mise en oeuvre par l?UMP".



Martine Aubry, premi?re secr?taire du PS et maire de Lille, a salu? de son
c?t? les propos de Beno?t XVI admettant l'utilisation du pr?servatif pour
r?duire les risques de contamination, y voyant un "petit pas" mais un
"symbole fort".

Copyright ? 2010 AFP. Tous droits r?serv?s



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Portland men brave AIDS tests *
*Jamaica Gleaner

02/12/2010



Gareth Davis, Gleaner Writer



PORT ANTONIO, Portland: AN UNPRECEDENTED number of men, wanting to know
their HIV/AIDS status, turned out at the Port Antonio square in Portland
yesterday to get tested as part of World AIDS Day activities in the parish.



Julian Crooks, behaviour change communications officer for the parish, said
the large turnout of men was commendable.



"It is very unusual to see so many males coming forward," Crooks said. "The
signs are very encouraging, and I view this as an indication that persons,
especially males, are very concerned about their health status, and are
determined to stay free from HIV/AIDS."



She added: "We have never seen this happening before, and I must commend
those young men who have boldly come forward."



Up to 1:45 p.m yesterday, more than 63 men got tested for HIV/AIDS.



"Normally, it is very difficult to reach the males. They are risk takers,
and so most of the time they prefer not to know if they are infected," said
Crooks.



"Instead, they prefer to use the status of their female partners to
determine theirs, and this is a high risk. If they are not aware that they
are infected, they could not only pass on the virus to other persons, but
that infection could turn into AIDS, which is more difficult to treat."



Free to all

Nigel Webber, a taxi operator who got tested yesterday, said he wanted to
know his status and was making use of the opportunity which was free to all
who participated. World AIDS Day was held under the theme, 'It's Your Right:
Claim it'.



Said Webber: "I am now living with my wife and two children. I have been
married for more than eight months now, but I just needed to know whether or
not I am clean, as I could have been infected during previous relationships.
It is not anything to be scared about, and I just did what I had to do."



Crooks said everyone should take the necessary steps to know their HIV
status, in order to ensure good health, longer life, and better family
relations.



Approximately 300 people in Portland are knowingly living with HIV, while
150 are believed to be living with the disease but are unaware of their
status.



*2*

Living with HIV *
*Trinidad Express

01/12/2010



By Kimberly Castillo



Jason Browne (not his real name) never knew his parents and he does not know
how old he was when his mother left him at a hospital. It was there doctors
and nurses found out that the abandoned boy was HIV positive. They were
doubtful he would survive.



But year after year, Browne, who has overcome more obstacles than many his
age, continued to defy the odds, and is now a fit 22-year-old who dreams of
becoming an author and a counsellor.

Browne, who got the virus from his HIV positive mother, takes on the role of
an older brother to others who have suffered the same fate. He also uses
every opportunity to educate people about HIV/AIDS, the prevention of mother
to child transmission and the importance of getting tested.



Reports indicate that Trinidad and Tobago has had a slight increase in HIV
prevalence, from 1.2 percent at the end of 2006 to 1.5 percent in 2009.
According to the National AIDS Coordinating Committee, the number of people
infected with HIV/AIDS in T&T is 20,255, and currently only 6,600 are
accessing treatment.

"The National AIDS Coordinating Committee, the United Nations and other NGOs
have been trying to create awareness,? says Browne, ?but we must try to be
responsible enough as individuals.

?In this 21st Century there are many diseases. Just the other day, we had
swine flu, and many people were walking around with hand sanitisers and even
face masks - people wanted to protect themselves at all costs. Why don't
persons adopt the same attitude when it comes to HIV/AIDS by protecting
themselves by all means necessary?"

World AIDS Day rolls around every year, on December 1. But Browne's resolve
to break down the prejudices surrounding people living with HIV/AIDS is
year-round, growing stronger each day.

Many of these prejudices Browne has experienced personally. As a young
pupil, he was asked to leave the school he was attending when his HIV status
became known.

"I don't feel any animosity towards them. Had I been in their (position)
with little or no knowledge about HIV, I would have been afraid and even
taken precautionary measures. As long as people don't understand something,
they will always be afraid of it.?



It is because of existing prejudices that Browne asked that his real name
not be used in this article.

Browne admits that as a child orphaned by HIV/AIDS, it took him a long time
to come to terms with the fact that he had a life threatening disease. He
often struggled with feelings of resentment towards his parents.

"But then I told myself: ?God doesn't give you more than you can bear,
forgive your parents.? And it's a good thing my parents left me in a
hospital because at the hospital I was taken care of by doctors and nurses.

?My mom,? Browne explains, ?was a vagrant and a prostitute, but I don't
forget the fact that she was my mom. She birthed me and if she was alive
today, I would still love her. I have a spiritual outlook on life and there
is virtue in forgiving.?



Desperate for a sense of belonging, at age 18 Browne set out to find his
family. Balancing his search with school work, it took him a year before he
finally made contact with his maternal grandmother. Browne was apprehensive
at first, but the reunion was worthwhile. He found out he had a sister, who
is ten years his senior.

When HIV/AIDS was first discovered in the early 1980s, the widespread belief
was that a positive diagnosis amounted to a death knell. But today, public
perception is changing, says Browne. With a combination of personal care and
antiretroviral treatment, persons with HIV/AIDS can live longer lives.
Antiretroviral drugs have also been proven to be highly effective in
preventing mother to child transmission of HIV/AIDS.

Browne himself adheres to a strict regimen of antiretroviral drugs and
understands that he must pay special attention to his body and his health.



But despite the advancement of HIV/AIDS research and the abundance of
educational material, those with HIV/AIDS still contend with fear and
prejudice. As long as discrimination against people with HIV/AIDS exists,
Browne knows that he must continue educating people about the disease.

"I want people who are HIV positive to know that there is life after a
positive diagnosis. I want people to treat me equally, compassionately and
with love and respect, and I also want people to protect themselves and to
be conscious of what they do on a daily basis,? Browne ends, ?because it can
determine the rest of your life."



*3*

Cifras de infectados con VIH multiplicadas en ?ltimos tres a?os
Nuevo Diario, Nicaragua

29/11/2010



Jasmina Escobar Sandino y EFE



A medida que pasa el tiempo, en Nicaragua se incrementa el n?mero de
infecciones a causa del Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana, VIH. La tasa de
incidencia se ha multiplicado por 18 en 22 a?os, s?lo en el primer trimestre
de este a?o se contabilizaron 5,124 casos positivos, de los cuales, un 78%
corresponde a una poblaci?n de entre 15 y 39 a?os.



Seg?n los datos estad?sticos de Farmamundi, una instituci?n que ejecuta
proyectos de cooperaci?n en el pa?s, en los ?ltimos tres a?os la cifra de
contagios se ha duplicado, por lo que lamenta la falta de acceso y el costo
elevado de los medicamentos para los portadores de este virus.



Minsa afirma que han mejorado asistencia

No obstante, el secretario general del Ministerio de Salud, Minsa, doctor
Enrique Beteta, asegur? que se ha mejorado la parte asistencial en las
unidades sanitarias p?blicas y que se han destinado 30 de ellas, para
proporcionarles la terapia antirretroviral a 1,254 personas, de las 4,212
que viven con VIH en el pa?s.



Beteta tambi?n manifest? que la poblaci?n puede realizarse la prueba del VIH
en cualquiera de los 153 municipios del pa?s.



Por su parte, Douglas Quintero, colaborador de Farmamundi en Nicaragua,
se?al? que el escaso n?mero de pruebas para la detecci?n del VIH que se
realiza en este pa?s representa ?un alto riesgo de epidemia silenciada?.



?Es un riesgo especialmente cuando se combina con una falsa sensaci?n de
seguridad (al inicio de la pandemia, Nicaragua registr? las tasas m?s bajas
de VIH en la regi?n), un alto nivel de violencia sexual y un alto nivel de
pobreza, que se refleja en el ?ndice de desarrollo humano que nos ubica en
el antepen?ltimo lugar en Latinoam?rica?, agreg?.



Farmamundi est? presente en Nicaragua desde hace m?s de 15 a?os, en los que
ha centrado su trabajo en favorecer el acceso y uso racional del medicamento
y asegurar la calidad del mismo y la atenci?n primaria en salud, enfatizando
la salud sexual y reproductiva.



El Minsa reporta que el primer caso de VIH en el pa?s se descubri? en 1987,
desde esa ocasi?n hasta la fecha han fallecido alrededor 861 personas.



Este pr?ximo primero de diciembre, D?a Internacional de Lucha contra el
Sida, las diferentes organizaciones que trabajan en la prevenci?n de esta
enfermedad realizar?n una marcha con el fin de concienciar a la ciudadan?a
en general y evitar la transmisi?n de este mal



*4*

Hondure?os encienden una luz contra el Sida
La Prensa, Honduras

01/12/2010



Los participantes del conversatorio de la Fundaci?n Llaves sobre el Vih-Sida
en San Pedro Sula. Destacan entre ellos el superintendente de Acci?n Social
de la Municipalidad de San Pedro Sula, Rainieri Laitano, los cantantes
Claudia Gonz?lez y Polache, Rosa y Keren Dunaway, la esposa del alcalde,
Yvett Aramedia de Z?niga y el representante de Onusida para Honduras y
Nicaragua, el doctor Alberto Stella.



Los 14 a?os con que Miriam I. L?pez lleva viviendo con Vih-Sida han
significado un logro y un desaf?o para s? misma y su familia. Esta madre
hondure?a residente en un populoso sector de San Pedro Sula hace frente a la
enfermedad saliendo a luz p?blica con la esperanza que alg?n d?a podr? ver a
sus hijos convertirse en hombres de bien.



Cuando recibi? el diagnostico de su enfermedad pens? que morir?a, pero
cuando entendi? lo que era vivir con Vih su destino cambi?. "El Sida me dio
una fuerza interior y ganas de seguir viviendo", expresa.



Esta pandemia s?lo en la Capital Industrial de Honduras mantiene infectados
a unas 7 mil 500 personas mientras que en el resto del pa?s hay m?s de 25
mil casos, seg?n registros oficiales de la Secretar?a de Salud. Tambi?n
existe un subregistro de enfermos que sobrepasa las 65 mil.



Anoche la Fundaci?n Llanto Valor y Esfuerzo, LLaves, en apoyo con la ONUSIDA
y la Municipalidad de San Pedro Sula, mantuvieron un conversatiro con los
medios de comunicaci?n para detallar los detalles de la epidemia en el pa?s
as? como reafirmar el compromiso de la comunidad.



En representaci?n de la alcald?a sampedrana, lleg? la esposa del edil, Yvett
Aramend?a de Z?niga, quien se comprometi? a fortalecer el programa Comvida
en base a la prevenci?n para que as? San Pedro Sula siga reduciendo nuevo
n?mero de casos. Tambi?n una de las fundadoras de Llaves y su directora Rosa
Dunaway sostuvo en en los 15 a?os que lleva la ciudad conmemorando el D?a
Mundial de la Lucha contra el Sida en Honduras hay avances significativos,
pero todav?a no son los suficientes para seguir gan?ndole la batalla a esta
enfermedad que sigue siendo un tab? para muchos hondure?os hablar de ella.



En el evento se encendieron velas en honor a las v?ctimas y se hizo un
compromiso de seguir realizado acciones para que las personas con Sida en
Honduras sean menores adem?s de apoyar y dar seguimiento a los enfermos que
a cada semana reciben tratamiento antiretroviral de forma gratuita en los
hospitales p?blicos.



La felicidad de Mirna la comparte con sus hijos adolescentes y transmite su
experiencia con los j?venes, mujeres y hombres que as? como ella celebran el
hecho de estar vivos. "El estigma y la discriminaci?n nos mata", manifiesta
esta sobreviviente que ha visto morir a muchos por la falta de conocimientos
sobre la enfermedad y los derechos humanos.



La legislaci?n hondure?a aprob? la ley especial del Vih-Sida en el a?o 1999
bajo la administraci?n del expresidente Carlos Flores y su reglamento en
donde garantiza una serie de derechos sobre los que sobresalen el no a la
discriminaci?n por ning?n motivo, la confiabilidad sobre el estado de salud,
el acceso a los medicamentos y educaci?n entre otros.



En Honduras est? prohibido exigirle a una persona someterse a una prueba
para detectar el Vih, pero si este examen es obligatorio realizarselo a una
embarazada o una pareja que est? a punto de casarse.



"Sab?a que no todo el tiempo iba estar oculta porque llegar?a el d?a en que
tendr?a el valor de compartir mi situaci?n", confiesa. En su comunidad la
mayor parte de sus vecinos conocen su estado de salud y orgullosamente
manifiestan que todav?a no la "han discriminado".

Una de las fuerzas que a la hecho sobrellevar su enfermedad es pertenecer a
grupos de autoapoyo en donde comparte su experiencia y las vivencias de
otros. Estos grupos se encuentran en las principales ciudades de Honduras
con el fin de luchar contra el estigma y la discriminaci?n



*5*

Paciente de VIH cuesta a Salud 300 mil pesos
Milenio, Mexico

02/12/2010



Torre?n .- A pesar de que una persona contagiada por el virus del SIDA tiene
una esperanza de vida cada vez m?s prolongada, los tratamientos siguen
siendo costosos y muchas veces inaccesiblespara muchas personas.



En la regi?n, la Secretar?a de Salud proporciona el tratamiento gratuito a
pacientes con SIDA, as? como pruebas de detecci?n de la enfermedad, incluso
la confirmatoria que tiene un valor aproximado de tres mil pesos:



?Cada paciente con SIDA tratado en la Jurisdicci?n Sanitaria No. 6, cuesta
alrededor de 300 mil pesos al a?o?, puntualiz? Jos? Aguirre, jefe de la
Jurisdicci?n Sanitaria n?mero seis.



Las autoridades del Instituto del Seguro Social informan que luego de haber
adquirido el s?ndrome, los pacientes pueden vivir hasta 20 ? 30 a?os,
dependiendo de la corresponsabilidad que tengan hacia el cuidado de su
salud.



En el caso de Coahuila, el IMSS dispone de 18 retrovirales que se utilizan
para la conformaci?n de los denominados c?cteles que se prescriben a los
enfermos.



Con motivo del D?a Mundial del VIH/SIDA, la delegaci?n del IMSS en Coahuila
se?al? que el Virus de Inmunodeficiencia Humana-S?ndrome de
Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida es una enfermedad en la que actualmente, y
gracias a la aplicaci?n de tratamientos m?dicos novedosos, el paciente tiene
una mayor expectativa y una mejor calidad de vida; sin embargo, el costo es
oneroso.



Jos? Luis D?vila Flores, delegado, manifest? que anteriormente un pacientes
con SIDA fallec?a en un per?odo de cinco a?os, luego de haber adquirido el
s?ndrome, ahora pueden vivir hasta 20 ? 30 a?os.



Durante los ?ltimos siete a?os, de 2004 a septiembre de 2010, ?nicamente
entre los afiliados al IMSS en Coahuila han muerto 210 personas a causa del
s?ndrome; 35 mujeres y 175 hombres.



Actualmente el IMSS tiene un registro de 393 pacientes que padecen VIH ?
SIDA.



Solamente en 2009 se registraron 36 fallecimientos por esta enfermedad y
hasta septiembre de 2010 la cifra es de otros 26.



En Coahuila, la incidencia de personas infectadas con SIDA, acumulada a
junio de 2010 es de 62.9 casos por cada 100 mil habitantes.



Lo anterior de acuerdo al Centro Nacional para la Prevenci?n y el Control
del VIH/SIDA.

Durante 2008 la mayor tasa de incidencia de SIDA en hombres 3.23 se presenta
en el grupo de edad de 25 a 44 a?os y en este mismo a?o seg?n Estad?sticas
Vitales, la tasa de mortalidad por SIDA en el estado fue de 2.8 por cada 100
mil habitantes.

El mayor porcentaje de defunciones por SIDA durante 2008 se encuentra en la
poblaci?n de 30 a?os y m?s, con 85.1 por ciento.



La Organizaci?n Mundial de la Salud reporta que durante 2010 se infectaron
con el VIH, 2.7 millones de personas en el mundo; que viven con el virus
33.4 millones de personas y que dos millones murieron por enfermedades
relacionadas.



Los estados con mayores incidencias durante este a?o fueron: Distrito
Federal (259.8); Baja California (200.7); Guerrero (187.4); Morelos (185.2)
y Nayarit (180).

En el lado opuesto se encuentran los estados de Zacatecas (53.2); Guanajuato
(61.2); Coahuila (62.9); Hidalgo (65.3) y Quer?taro (65.4).



De 2000 a 2008 la tasa de mortalidad por SIDA en Coahuila ha presentado
variaci?n.





*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



Obama speaks on World AIDS Day *
*USA Today

01/12/2010



President Obama made a videotaped statement on World AIDS Day today.

http://content.usatoday.com/communities/theoval/post/2010/12/obama-speaks-on-world-aids-day/1



The president also signed a proclamation that read in part:



On this World AIDS Day, as we approach the thirtieth year of the HIV/AIDS
pandemic, we reflect on the many Americans and others around the globe lost
to this devastating disease, and pledge our support to the 33 million people
worldwide who live with HIV/AIDS.



We also recommit to building on the great strides made in fighting HIV, to
preventing the spread of the disease, to continuing our efforts to combat
stigma and discrimination, and to finding a cure. Today, we are experiencing
a domestic HIV epidemic that demands our attention and leadership.



My Administration has invigorated our response to HIV by releasing the first
comprehensive National HIV/AIDS Strategy for the United States. Its' vision
is an America in which new HIV infections are rare, and when they do occur,
all persons -- regardless of age, gender, race or ethnicity, sexual
orientation, gender identity, or socio-economic circumstance -- will have
unfettered access to high-quality, life-extending care.

(Posted by David Jackson)



*2*

Tests for H.I.V. Reach a Record
New York Times

02/12/2010



The number of American adults tested for H.I.V., the virus that causes AIDS,
reached a record high in 2009, the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention said Tuesday.



Nonetheless, about 55 percent of all adults ? and about 28 percent of all
people who are at higher risk for getting infected ? have still never been
tested.



Starting in 2006, the disease centers began urging doctors to order H.I.V.
tests as part of routine blood work for all patients. Success has been
modest; the percentage of all adults who have ever had a test rose only to
45 percent after years of holding steady at 40 percent.



Almost one-third of people who learn they are infected find out only when
they fall seriously ill, the disease centers said, meaning they have
presumably infected others during that time and have also missed the
opportunity to get treatment

*3*

Happy World AIDS Day
Washington Post

01/12/2010



By Jonathan Capehart



Another World AIDS Day, another day to remember those we've lost and to be
thankful for the survival of those we love who live with the disease that
has no cure. But the headline on this post is not sarcastic. This day is
more hopeful than previous commemorations.



"We are breaking the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic with bold actions and
smart choices," declares Michel Sidib?, Executive Director of UNAIDS, on the
organization's website. And no wonder. According to the annual report on the
global epidemic by UNAIDS, "New HIV infections have reduced by nearly 20% in
the past 10 years." Surely, part of that success belongs to the leadership
of the United States, which former president George W. Bush exerted with the
creation of PEPFAR. Also lifting hopes are the results of a three-year
global study (including participants in the United States) that showed an
existing AIDS therapy called Truvada reduced the chances of HIV infection
among gay and bisexual men by 44 percent when used in conjunction with
condoms. That rate increased to 73 percent among men who adhere more
faithfully to the daily dose of the baby blue pill.



But the epidemic in this country continues with devastating impact. In the
District of Columbia, where more than three percent of the population is
living with the disease, HIV/AIDS is an epidemiological inferno. That
African American men here and across the country are bearing the brunt of it
is an American tragedy. While issues of stigma are at play in this
community, HIV/AIDS is an equal-opportunity killer. To think that only other
people get the disease could be a deadly error.



The Obama administration released a long-awaited national battle plan
against HIV/AIDS in July. It borrows from some of the innovative practices
already underway at the local level. This is good because failure is not an
option.



*4*

Colleges Are Producing New Style of AIDS Activist
New York Times

01/12/2010



By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG



NEW HAVEN ? David Carel was never a rabble-rouser. But amid the clutter of
his dorm room at Yale University, Mr. Carel, baby-faced and
slight-shouldered at 19, keeps evidence of his new life as an AIDS activist:
posters, banners and the flier demanding ?$50 bn for Global AIDS? that he
concealed in his fleece jacket one Saturday in late October when, heart
pounding, he sneaked past security into a Democratic campaign rally in
Bridgeport.



There, Mr. Carel did something he ?never would have imagined?: he heckled
the president of the United States.



Cameron Nutt, a medical anthropology student at Dartmouth, says he backs
President Obama ?100 percent.? But, incensed over the president?s ?failure
to remain true? to a campaign promise to spend $50 billion over five years
fighting the AIDS epidemic overseas, Mr. Nutt disrupted Mr. Obama this fall
at a Boston rally. His co-protesters included Luke Messac, a University of
Pennsylvania medical student and a field organizer for Mr. Obama?s
presidential campaign, and Krishna Prabhu, a Harvard University senior who
caucused for Mr. Obama in Iowa in 2008 ? and rescheduled his final exam in
global health to attend the president?s inauguration.



?The promise has not been fulfilled,? Mr. Prabhu said, sounding more
disappointed than angry.



Roughly a quarter-century after gay men rose up to demand better access to
H.I.V. medicines, a new breed of AIDS advocate is growing up on college
campuses. Unlike the first generation of patient-activists, this latest crop
is composed of budding public health scholars. They are mostly heterosexual.
Rare is the one who has lost friends or family members to the disease.
Rather, studying under some of the world?s most prominent health
intellectuals, they have witnessed the epidemic?s toll during summers or
semesters abroad, in AIDS-ravaged nations like Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda.



College activism, and AIDS activism in particular, is nothing new. On
Wednesday, World AIDS Day, students across the nation will participate in
speeches, fund-raisers and the like. But a loose-knit band of about two
dozen Ivy Leaguers, mostly from Harvard and Yale, is using more
confrontational tactics, as well as some high-powered connections, to wangle
encounters with top White House officials in a determined, and seemingly
successful, effort to get under Mr. Obama?s skin.



Their protests ? which have drawn a sharp rebuke from the president (not to
mention some disapproving parents) ? come as many in the AIDS advocacy
community are wondering aloud whether Mr. Obama is as devoted to their cause
as his immediate predecessor, George W. Bush. In 2003, Mr. Bush began vastly
increasing spending on lifesaving antiretroviral medicines for AIDS patients
in impoverished nations; the number receiving the drugs has shot up from
50,000 to more than five million today. Yet the World Health Organization
says as many as 10 million lack needed therapy.



While spending on global AIDS has gone up on Mr. Obama?s watch, and the
United States remains the world?s largest contributor to such programs,
independent analysts say that the rate of increase has slowed significantly
and that it will be difficult for the president to keep his $50 billion
pledge ? or even meet a lesser goal, set in 2008 by Congress, of $48 billion
for AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2013. The task may grow even harder
under a new Congress, with the incoming House Republican majority intent on
cutting spending and Tea Party-backed Republicans in both chambers
expressing skepticism about all types of foreign aid.



Still, armed with data from Health Gap, an AIDS advocacy group, the students
are determined to hold Mr. Obama to his word. When Ezekiel Emanuel, a
bioethicist and health adviser to the president (and brother of the former
White House chief of staff, Rahm Emanuel) spoke at Yale two weeks ago, he
wound up sparring with Mr. Carel at a fruit-and-cereal breakfast at the
campus Hillel House, a meal arranged by a fellow Yale student, Dr. Emanuel?s
daughter. Later that day, Mr. Carel led a demonstration outside Dr.
Emanuel?s talk, which ended with students chanting at the adviser as they
followed him down the street.



When Eric Goosby, Mr. Obama?s global AIDS coordinator, traveled to Boston in
November for a panel discussion with Senator John Kerry, Democrat of
Massachusetts, he was collared at a cocktail party by Mr. Prabhu, the
Harvard senior. Also on the panel was Mr. Prabhu?s professor, Dr. Paul E.
Farmer, founder of the global nonprofit Partners in Health.



?These students are my retirement plan,? Dr. Farmer said in a telephone
interview from Haiti, where he is treating cholera patients. ?A lot of them
are doing much more than going to protests; they?re writing papers and
articles, they?re doing graduate studies.?



Mr. Messac, the University of Pennsylvania medical student, explored the
origins of Mr. Bush?s AIDS program in a 120-page paper, ?Lazarus at
America?s Doorstep,? for his Harvard undergraduate thesis. Mr. Carel, who
spent last summer working at a hospital in the rural South African village
of Tugela Ferry, now studies Zulu and persuaded a visiting professor from
South Africa to let him take her upper-level course on ?the political
economy of AIDS.? (He had to skip Zulu class for the Emanuel protest; he
said his professor understood.)



The students have also befriended a longtime veteran of the AIDS wars, Gregg
Gonsalves, who at 47 is completing his undergraduate degree in evolutionary
biology on a full scholarship at Yale. Mr. Gonsalves often lectures
public-health classes on what he calls ?ancient history? ? the work of
groups like Act Up in the 1990s.



?Theirs is not a first-person commitment, in the sense that none of them is
living with H.I.V.,? Mr. Gonsalves said of the new AIDS protesters. ?It?s
all based out of a sense of solidarity and social justice. I used to wonder
where the next generation would come from. They?re here.?



Inside the White House, Dr. Emanuel, for one, is not impressed. He says the
students are serving up tired arguments about dollar amounts that ignore the
Obama administration?s emphasis on spending money more efficiently and
offering services, like circumcision, that can reduce the spread of H.I.V.
While Mr. Bush emphasized AIDS and malaria, Mr. Obama is promoting a
six-year, $63 billion ?global health initiative? that seeks to address a
range of diseases, with emphasis on women and children.



?To be honest, and this is no put-down to the sincerity of the students, I
didn?t hear a new argument that I haven?t heard for months,? Dr. Emanuel
said in an interview after his breakfast with Mr. Carel. ?I?ve not seen a
blog post on the number of people we have circumcised, or the number of
mothers we treat in maternal-child health. Those are real performance
measures.?



Dr. Emanuel would not discuss any conversations with the president about the
students, but Mr. Obama?s reaction when he was disrupted in October at the
rally in Bridgeport made clear he was irked. ?You?ve been appearing at every
rally we?ve been doing,? the president complained, telling them it was not
?a useful strategy.?



The students were pleased that he addressed them directly, but their
heckling prompted even some fellow AIDS activists to take issue with their
tactics. Regan Hofmann, editor in chief of Poz, a magazine for people living
with or affected by H.I.V., questioned the wisdom of disrupting the
president on the eve of a critical election for Democrats.



Mr. Carel says he and his fellow protesters thought long and hard about
that. It was his first demonstration; his parents told him they wished he
would be ?more respectful.? His friends were shocked. Still, he says it was
worth it.



?There are very few ways we could have any access to him,? he explained.
?This was a way to get Obama?s ear.?



*5*

Threat of a Perfect Storm - AIDS and a Fresh Food Crisis
IPS Terra Viva

02/12/2010



CAPE TOWN, Dec 1 (IPS) - In November, the Food and Agriculture Organisation
was just one of many voices warning that food prices have risen to levels
last seen at the start of the 2007-2008 crisis. A majority of the countries
most exposed to a repeat of that problem are in Africa, where vulnerability
to food security is exacerbated by AIDS.



"We are in a situation where generally food prices have gone down... but as
the global recovery comes into place, we could as well see prices rise
again," said Scott Drimie, a research fellow with IFPRI, the International
Food Policy Research Institute. According to the World Food Program, 22 of
the 30 high risk countries in need of external food assistance are in
sub-Saharan Africa, many of which struggling with serious AIDS epidemics.



"When food prices are putting nutritious food out of reach of people living
with HIV and AIDS, it becomes an immediate crisis," added Drimie. The AIDS
pandemic confronts individuals, households and communities with multiple
social, economic, environmental and health stresses that threaten their
livelihoods. For ten years, IFPRI's Regional Network on AIDS, Livelihoods
and Food Security (RENEWAL) has been studying the vulnerability of people
living with HIV and AIDS in East and Southern Africa.



Sam Bota, RENEWAL coordinator in Malawi, says the first impact of AIDS is a
direct loss of labour. "A national census report (in Malawi) clearly shows
that a high percentage of farmers spend a lot of time nursing sick
relatives. And after the death, they lose a lot of time - sometimes as long
as 20 days for the funeral - all that is a loss of productive time."



*6*

Cuba's "Sexual Orientation" Vote in UN Panel Kicks Up Controversy *
*IPS Terra Viva

02/12/2010



Dalia Acosta



HAVANA, Dec 1 (IPS) - An unusually strong controversy has broken out in Cuba
over a vote by the delegation from this Caribbean nation in favour of an
amendment that left out the specific mention of sexual orientation in a
United Nations General Assembly resolution on extrajudicial, arbitrary or
summary executions.



In a country where people generally agree with or simply do not question the
stances taken by the government in international forums, representatives of
different sectors of civil society, as well as the governmental National
Centre for Sex Education (CENESEX), have expressed concern over the position
taken by the Cuban delegation.



"Failure to specifically mention discrimination on the grounds of sexual
orientation gives the green light for many states and governments to
continue to treat homosexuality as a crime," Alberto Roque, president of the
sexual diversity unit of the Cuban Multidisciplinary Society for the Study
of Sexuality (SOCUMES), told IPS.



Cuba is the only country in Latin America that backed the amendment
introduced by Morocco and Mali on behalf of African and Islamic nations that
called for replacing the words "sexual orientation" with "discriminatory
reasons on any basis."



Cuba thus joined "countries that do not condemn killings and other
discriminatory treatment on the basis of sexual orientation, such as 76
countries that criminalise homosexuality, including five where it is
punishable by the death penalty," added Roque, a medical doctor who works
with CENESEX.



The vote cast by Cuba in the Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Affairs
Committee, better known as the "Third Committee", of the U.N. General
Assembly, which met in November, ran counter to the Cuban government's
support of the U.N. declaration on sexual orientation and gender identity,
presented to the General Assembly in December 2008 but not yet approved.



Roque said the fact that Cuba was the only Latin American nation which,
after supporting the declaration of 2008, now voted in favour of excluding
sexual orientation, makes this country "a politically unfavourable scenario"
and contradicts the spirit of the National Sex Education Programme.



A joint statement issued Nov. 24 by CENESEX and SOCUMES pointed out that
Cuba's laws do not provide for penalties based on sexual orientation or
gender identity and reiterated an interest in offering "a reference
framework" to political decision-makers, in order to continue recognising
sexual rights as human rights.



The statement was also signed by journalist Francisco Rodr?guez Cruz, the
creator of the "Paquito el de Cuba" blog and a prominent gay activist, who
also published an open letter Monday addressed to Cuban Foreign Minister
Bruno Rodr?guez Parrilla, under the title "let's not make a mistake again".



The letter sent to the Foreign Ministry expresses the "total and vigorous
disagreement" on the part of "a Cuban citizen, Communist militant and member
of the island's LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community)."



Rodr?guez Cruz warned that "incoherent stances" like the vote in the U.N.
could be counterproductive when it comes to overcoming "outdated mental
states" that justified homophobic actions after the triumph of the 1959
revolution, and could hinder the promotion of respect for the freedom of
sexual orientation and gender identity as a human right.



Cuba's vote shows that, despite CENESEX's unflagging efforts over the last
few years, the rights of sexual minorities are still not "a political
priority," Rodr?guez Cruz, a journalist with Trabajadores, the weekly
publication of the government-aligned Cuban Confederation of Workers (CTC),
commented to IPS.



The reporter said "it also stands out sharply that with its vote, Cuba
diverged from the position of strategic allies in the Bolivarian Alliance
for the Peoples of Our Americas (ALBA), like Venezuela and Ecuador."



Besides these two countries, the Latin American nations that voted against
deleting the explicit mention of sexual orientation were Argentina, Brazil,
Chile, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico,
Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Uruguay. Bolivia and Nicaragua were among the 26
countries absent when the vote was held.



"I hope that in the future, positions will be adopted on human rights like
the ones we have taken on women's and children's rights and so many others,
even if our vote is not in line with our sister nations from Africa, the
Middle East and Asia," Roque said, adding that he was not aware of why the
Cuban delegation voted for the amendment.



The amendment was passed on Nov. 16 by a vote of 79 to 70 with 17
abstentions. It was then approved by the Human Rights Committee, and is set
to be formally adopted by the U.N. General Assembly this month.



While the removal of the mention of sexual orientation from the resolution
on extrajudicial killings has been loudly protested on web sites, blogs,
social networking sites and email distribution lists, the
government-controlled Cuban media have remained silent on the subject, and
the Foreign Ministry has not taken a public stance.



Feminist blogger Yasm?n Portales wrote that the vote in the Third Committee
"reveals the same resistance met, in society as well as in the government,"
by a series of legal proposals in favour of the rights of the LGBT community




"Votes like the one Cuba cast on this occasion express the implicit
consideration that sexual, reproductive and sexual diversity rights, which
to me form part of a single anti- patriarchal package, are negotiable and
dispensable in the name of political alliances," the author of the blog "En
2310 y 8225" told IPS.



*7*

Report Bolsters China Action on HIV/AIDS *
*Wall Street Journal

02/12/2010



In China, World AIDS Day is typically greeted with a mixture of optimistic
pronouncements and vague calls to action. In any other year, a report like
the one announced yesterday by the Chinese Center for Disease Control and
Prevention on the need for China to tackle HIV/AIDS-related job
discrimination in China would be filed under the latter category



The difference this year? The report arrives just as a Chinese court has
breathed new life into a potentially precedent-setting AIDS discrimination
lawsuit.



Earlier this month, a 22-year-old aspiring teacher known only by his
nickname, Xiao Wu, lost a high-profile discrimination lawsuit against the
local education bureau that had rejected his job application after
discovering he was HIV-positive. The decision was seen as a blow to the
efforts of HIV/AIDS campaigners in China, and was roundly criticized by
human rights activists outside the country. Now, however, it appears the
case will go on.



In an interview with China Real Time yesterday, Li Fangping, Xiao Wu?s
lawyer, revealed that an appeal last week has been accepted.



While it?s not clear what impact, if any, the CCDC?s report will have on the
case, it directly addresses Xiao Wu?s central complaint: mandatory HIV
testing for job-seekers.



Xiao Wu had been on the verge of being hired as a teacher in the Anhui
Province city of Anqing when he was subjected to a mandatory medical exam,
including an HIV test, Mr. Li said. After discovering Xiao Wu was HIV
positive, according to Mr. Li, the Anqing school board dropped him from
consideration.



According to a summary from Xinhua (the full report has yet to be released),
the CCDC collected multiple examples of institutionalized discrimination
against people living with HIV/AIDS in places ranging from government
offices to bars and beauty parlor, ultimately concluding that mandatory HIV
testing of workers in the country should stop.



The Chinese government has taken steps to improve treatment and prevention
of HIV/AIDS patients in recent years, including offering free antiretroviral
drugs for those who are HIV positive, but the stigma of HIV/AIDS remains a
deeply entrenched problem. In its own study in 2009 (pdf), UNAIDS found that
more than one-third of HIV-positive Chinese individuals surveyed felt they
had been refused a job, denied a promotion or had their job duties changed
as a result of their HIV status. More than half reported that their boss?s
reaction was ?discriminatory? or ?very discriminatory? upon finding out
about the individual?s HIV status.



If the appeal court rules against Xiao Wu, HIV-positive individuals in China
run the risk of seeing more employment discrimination in the future, Mr. Li
said, but the case also ?proves that people are conscious of their rights
and know how to use legal weapons to protect them.?



?A few years ago they (HIV-positive individuals) might think they didn?t
have a right to a job,? Mr. Li said. ?Now they think they have a right. This
is a change in China.?

*?Shirley S. Wang, with contributions from Gao Sen*



*8*

Catholic AIDS workers: Pope echoing us on condoms
Associated Press

01/12/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



By MICHELLE FAUL



JOHANNESBURG -- The three large blue and white boxes of condoms appeared to
be the elephant in the room at the Catholic AIDS clinic, a trailer beside
the church in a dusty red-soil settlement in the world's most AIDS-riddled
nation.



But parish priest Rev. Didier Lemaire showed no embarrassment when asked
about the stash of 600 condoms, set conveniently on an examination couch so
one could grab a few on the way out the door. Lemaire said Pope Benedict
XVI's groundbreaking statement about the selective use of condoms only
cements what Catholic AIDS workers have said for years.



"What the pope is saying, many priests have been saying for a long time,"
said Lemaire. He said eschewing condoms when people have AIDS goes against
the commandment "Thou shalt not kill."



Pope Benedict's comments have far-reaching implications for Africa, the
continent with the highest numbers of AIDS victims - and the fastest-growing
number of Catholic converts. But it is more important because the Catholic
Church is the biggest private provider of AIDS care in the world, providing
antiretroviral treatment, home-care visits and counseling to one in four of
the world's 33.3 million AIDS patients, according to the Catholic charity
Caritas International. In 2008, members of the Catholic HIV and AIDS network
spent 180 million euros (about $235 million) on assistance, it said.



For many Catholics in the front lines watching people die of AIDS,
Benedict's pronouncement confers a belated blessing on what they are already
doing. They hope Benedict's comments are just a precursor to opening up
further conversation.



"The people in the trenches have been allowing people to use condoms for 10
years now," said Sister Elaine Pearton at Lemaire's Inkanyezi parish. She
said Catholic AIDS workers did not want to lay down the moral law for
patients who might not be Catholic, and that they were acting on church
teaching that "your conscience is the highest authority."



Pearton is among the Catholic religious and lay workers who were in the
vanguard confronting AIDS in South Africa, where 5.7 million of about 50
million people are infected. Pearton said she advised condoms for couples,
Catholic and otherwise, where one partner was infected with AIDS.



"We don't hand them out (indiscriminately) for people to make balloons out
of," she said, laughing. "But if someone needs them to protect themselves
from a deadly hazard, we just give them a box."



Benedict was quoted in a book as saying that condom use by people such as
male prostitutes showed they were moving toward a more responsible sexuality
by aiming to protect their partners from a deadly infection. Vatican
spokesman Rev. Federico Lombardi elaborated last week after speaking to the
pope that the same logic could be applied to women prostitutes.



Basically, the pope acknowledged that the church's long-held stance against
birth control does not justify putting lives at risk. His statement startled
many Catholics and angered others. Some conservative Catholic theologians
have said bluntly that they disagree with the pope, and that condoms still
represent an immoral use of artificial birth control.



Among those punished by the church for their views on condom use is a German
priest, the Rev. Stefan Hippler, whose "Hope" project in Cape Town hands out
condoms to the HIV-positive. When Hippler last year started to care for
HIV-positive priests and nuns, his diocese in Germany recalled him.



Hippler is prohibited from preaching but continues his AIDS work, now funded
by the South African diocese and not the German Bishops' Conference.



The Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference in a statement Wednesday
reiterated its 2001 declaration, then rather revolutionary even though it
omitted the dreaded "condom" word. The bishops said, "When one spouse is
infected with HIV/AIDS they must listen to their consciences. They are the
only ones who can choose the appropriate means, in order to defend
themselves against the infection."



Still, Catholic AIDS workers insisted that only abstinence and fidelity can
provide a long-term solution to ending the AIDS pandemic. They said condoms
should not be distributed indiscriminately, for fear they might promote
promiscuity and worsen the crisis. The largest Catholic donor in the world,
the U.S.-based Catholic Relief Services, has reiterated that it will not be
distributing condoms.



Sister Shelagh Mary Waspe, a nun and professional nurse, described why she
gave condoms years ago to a shack-dweller: "She was riddled with AIDS,
continually being raped at night in a little shack where she lived on her
own. Those kind of situations, you just do it quietly, don't make a big
issue." The woman died two months later.



For Waspe, condoms often are "a matter of self-defense" in a society like
South Africa's, where rape is common and sex is demanded in return for all
kinds of favors.



"Lots of people are adamant about not even looking at condoms, not talking
about condoms, not giving out a condom, but I think on the QT (quiet), lots
of other people have been doing it," Waspe said.



Among those who consider their lives were saved by Catholic nuns, count
Elizabeth and Kobesi Mofokeng, an unemployed couple in their 40s who
discovered they were sick with AIDS in 2004. They were tested and treated at
the Inkanyezi clinic on the outskirts of Johannesburg.



The Mofokengs, Christian but not Catholic, got antiretroviral treatment a
year before the government was handing it out, in a country where half those
in need of the lifesaving drugs remain on a waiting list.



"This clinic and its caring workers have changed our lifestyle and saved our
lives," said Elizabeth Mofokeng. "We've changed our diet, we're rigorous
about taking our ARVs (anti-retrovirals) and, every time we have sex, we use
condoms."

---

Associated Press writer Victor Simpson contributed to this report from Rome.






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From NguyenL at unaids.org  Sun Dec  5 14:06:33 2010
From: NguyenL at unaids.org (Nguyen, My linh)
Date: Sun, 5 Dec 2010 15:06:33 +0100
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Call for Submissions for ASIA-PACIFIC Regional
	Dialogue/ Gui tham luan toi Doi thoai khu vuc chau A-Thai Binh Duong
Message-ID: <CC2E08D8F1B2834B98E99B1B98C708D005D10C02@GE-MAILAP-01.global.unaids.org>

Dear colleagues,
 
The Global Commission on HIV and the Law is calling for Submissions for Asia-Pacific Regional Dialogue to be held on 24-25 February 2011 in Bangkok, Thailand. The deadline for submission is 20th December, 2010. 
 
Please see the attached document for more information.
 
Regards,
My Linh
 
======================================
 
K?nh g?i c?c anh ch? d?ng nghi?p v? c?c b?n,
 
?y ban to?n c?u v? HIV v? lu?t k?u g?i g?i b?i tham lu?n d? H?i ngh? d?i tho?i khu v?c ch?u ? - Th?i b?nh Duong s? du?c t? ch?c t? ng?y 24-25 th?ng 2 t?i Bangkok, Th?i Lan. Th?i h?n cu?i c?ng d? g?i b?i l? ng?y 20 th?ng 12 nam 2010.
 
Xin vui l?ng xem t?i li?u g?i k?m d? bi?t th?m th?ng tin.
 
K?nh thu,
M? Linh
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 02:03:02 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 09:03:02 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] HIV Prevention: towards the
	medicalisation of sex?
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Sat, Nov 27, 2010 at 5:31 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] HIV Prevention: towards the medicalisation of sex?
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


HIV Prevention: towards the medicalisation of sex?
http://www.opendemocracy.net/roger-tatoud/hiv-prevention-towards-medicalisation-of-sex

Roger Tatoud, 25 November 2010

2010 will be a year to remember for the field of HIV prevention. Two
clinical studies are raising the hope that the HIV epidemic can be tamed.
But only if we get it right.

About the author
Roger Tatoud, Ph.D. works in the field of HIV prevention in London and is a
volunteer for a number of HIV-related organisations.
2010 will be a year to remember for the field of HIV prevention. After
decades of interventions with limited results (with the exception of
circumcision and the prevention of mother to child HIV transmission), two
clinical studies are raising the hope that the HIV epidemic can be tamed.

In July, the CAPRISA team (based in South Africa) reported that a vaginal
gel containing the anti HIV drug tenofovir could reduce the risk of HIV
infection by 39%. This was the first proof of concept that a microbicide
could potentially reduce the risk of HIV infection whilst offering women an
HIV prevention tool that they could control.

In November of the same year, the iPrEx study conducted on a population at
high-risk of infection showed that taking the anti HIV Drug Truvada reduced
the risk of contracting the virus by an average of 44 percent.

Both studies are hailed as a milestone and landmark in the history of HIV
prevention and expectations are high that HIV prevention will finally mean
more than the ABC of ?Abstinence, condom and faithfulness?. But despite the
hope, neither approach will immediately translate into marketable products
as there are a number of questions that needs answering before microbicide
and PrEP are available to the public.

Can a pill a day prevent HIV?

The iPrEx study was a large clinical trial, sponsored by the US-National
Institutes of Health (NIH) with co-funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates
Foundation and drugs donated by Gilead Sciences. Its purpose was to test if
taking two anti-HIV drugs on a daily basis could help prevent HIV infection
amongst HIV negative people at high risk. The approach called Pre-Exposure
Prophylaxis (PrEP) is based on the concept that drugs are taken to prevent
infection rather than treat it. This is similar to taking anti-malarial
tablets when travelling in areas where the disease is endemic. The study was
conducted in the USA, South Africa, Ecuador, Peru, Brazil and Thailand and
involved 2,499 sexually active Men who have Sex with Men (MSM). The drug
tested, Truvada (a cocktail of two drugs), is commonly used to treat people
infected with HIV.

The study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed 44% less
HIV infections in the group that was given the drug compared to the group
that received a placebo. These results represent a significant development
in the field of HIV prevention. However, they cannot easily be translated to
other groups ?at risk? or to the general population without further studies.

Whilst the PrEP approach raises hope for the prevention of HIV infection, it
also presents a number of challenges for scientist, advocates, and crucially
for public health systems. Many of these challenges, such as adherence
(people taking their pill as prescribed), side effects, potential resistance
(existing drugs becoming ineffective against the HIV), and cost
effectiveness are best left for discussion by scientists and clinicians as
they will require many more clinical studies.

In the meantime, the PrEP approach raises more pressing ethical and social
concerns for public health.

PrEP can only be used by people who know they are not infected with HIV.
Hence, those who want to access PrEP need to take an HIV test, not once, but
at regular intervals. How often is not known yet, but every 3 or 6 months
seems reasonable. Getting people to test once is not always easy for a
number of reasons. Getting people to test regularly will be even more
difficult (and costly), but not impossible if testing becomes part of
routine health checks (a controversial issue in itself).

However, regular testing will lead to the identification of existing
infections that in turn will require immediate treatment (in the US and the
UK about half of those testing positive for HIV need to start treatment at
the time of the diagnosis). As PrEP is rolled out, more people in need of
ARV will be identified, and inevitably there will be a competition for
resources between the sick and the healthy.

Providing ARV treatment to those who need it is already putting a huge
strain on the health system of many countries in both the developing and
developed world. Considering that only a third of those in need of treatment
are currently receiving it under the new WHO guideline, prioritizing a
potential PrEP roll out would be an inevitable necessity.

Prioritising PrEP?

Could PrEP potentially be a useful option in some circumstances for some
people, particularly for those populations called most at risk populations
(MARPs)?

MARP is a broad acronym including Men who have Sex with Men (MSM), Sex
workers (males and female, commercial or not), injecting drug Users (IDUs),
and any population that has more risks of being infected by HIV than the
general population. However, the concept of population ?at risk? or
?vulnerable? is a controversial and contested one. Not all MSM are
?at-risk?, a large number of them actually use condoms regularly and
consistently. Studies have even shown that gay men were often infected by
their partner with whom they were in a stable relationship. Likewise, condom
use amongst commercial sex workers can be high (for example it is over 90%
in brothel-based sex workers in Cambodia), with many patrons using condoms
with a sex worker but not with their regular sex partner. Hence it is not
?Populations? that need to be identified and reached, but individuals within
these populations and this will be a serious problem if PrEP is prioritized.

Besides, the general population cannot be ignored, particularly in Sub
Saharan Africa, home of 68% of all people living with HIV. The UNAIDS 2010
AIDS epidemic update observed that data from urban Zambia ?suggest that 60%
of the people newly infected through heterosexual transmission are infected
within marriage or cohabitation , compared with more than half in Swaziland,
35%?62% in Lesotho and an estimated 44% in Kenya?. . A similar proportion of
new infections occur among steady, long-term heterosexual partners all over
sub-Saharan Africa suggesting that heterosexual and in particular young
girls aged 19-24 could be the primary target for PrEP if it has to be
prioritised to the most at risk.

In the current context where for every 2 people put on treatment, 5 become
infected, suggesting putting millions of healthy people on treatment, some
of them potentially at an early age, when so many who are in need of it
can?t access it, is surely asking for trouble.

Taking a pill a day to avoid taking a pill a day?

Should PrEP be proposed to at-risk individuals as an HIV prevention option
alongside other non medical approaches? There are still a number of clinical
studies to conduct before PrEP is made available to the public. But in some
cases PrEP could be detrimental to its intended recipients. For sex workers,
the introduction of PrEP could mean replacing a highly effective HIV
prevention method (condom) by a less effective one. PrEP is also expensive
and will not protect against other STIs. It does not have contraceptive
property and could put sex workers back under the control of customers who
will be able to enforce sex without condom. For IDU, it would be replacing a
non-medical approach that we know works: needles-exchange programmes. And
when the acceptability of treatment for those sick with HIV is an issue,
will healthy individuals even if at risk be willing to take a pill
regularly?

Remarkably, most of those who are at higher risk of being infected with HIV
are also those that governments are less prepared or likely to invest
resources in. Health care for junkies, prostitutes and gay men rarely score
high on the political agenda, and electoral pledges centred on the health of
these groups wouldn?t attract many of the electorate.

It would be dangerous to ignore or disregard the impact PrEP could have on a
national health system with the risk of introducing two tier/two waiting
rooms health care. There will be those who can afford PrEP whilst others
will still be on waiting list to receive anti-HIV medication (many already
are, even in a developed country). The emergence of a black market in
anti-retroviral drugs (ARV) and the spectre of counterfeits flooding it,
should not be disregarded, particularly in the developing world where the
most vulnerable could easily fell prey to ?ARV drug dealers?.

To date, having failed to achieve the sustained change in behaviour required
to reduce the number of new HIV infections at the population level, making
little progress in getting rid of discriminative laws that stigmatise and
cast out those most vulnerable (76 countries have state-sponsored homophobic
laws), and facing the challenge of achieving universal access to HIV
treatment by 2015 (MDG 6) should we now embark on this controversial
approach to HIV Prevention?

The iPrEx Team deserves praise for the quality of their work and should be
commended for providing the first proof that daily oral use of an anti-HIV
drug can reduce the risk of HIV infection This is an important breakthrough
for HIV prevention. It has been a long road pockmarked with ambushes and
difficulties. But now, Pandora?s Box is open at a time when his holiness
Benedict XVI is opening even ever so slightly the  door to condom use, at a
time when the World Health Report 2010 confirms that one billion people
cannot afford healthcare and at a time when the latest UNAIDS AIDS 2010
epidemic update shows that the rate of new HIV infection is stabilising at
around 2.6 million new infections a year.

No matter how one looks at it, the iPrEx study has opened the door to the
medicalisation of sex, and in the current state of research and prevention,
that amounts to taking a pill a day to avoid having to take a pill a day.
# # #


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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 01:56:34 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 08:56:34 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.26ex)
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 7:14 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.26ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. The Economist, UK -* *HIV's slow retreat

2. Montreal Gazette - Good news on AIDS

3. FBC, Fiji - New cases of HIV on the decrease

4. Cameroon Tribune - Parliamentarians Reflect on Anti-HIV/AIDS Legislation

5. Voice of America News - New HIV, TB Guidelines Designed to Protect Health
Workers

6. Phnom Penh Post - Keeping an epidemic at bay



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. BuaNews, SA - Cabinet Takes Tough Stand On HIV, Aids

2. Times LIVE, SA - TV spurs HIV tests

3. The Observer, Uganda - Door-to-Door Testing Curbs Stigma



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. Times of India - HIV+ numbers in city see negative growth

2. Phnom Penh Post - Shot in the arm for health funding

3. OneIndia News - India lifts HIV related questions in visa forms



*EUROPE***

1. The Guardian, UK - A quarter of British people with HIV do not know it

2. The Lancet, UK - Is antiretroviral therapy modifying the HIV epidemic? ?
Authors' reply

3. IPS Terra Viva-Europe - LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to
HIV Risk

4. The Lancet Infectious Diseasies, UK - HIV treatments directory

5. The Economist, UK - No kidding

6. The Portugal News - Number with HIV/AIDS in Portugal reaches 42,000



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Prensa Latina, Cuba - Conciencian a guatemaltecos sobre prevenci?n contra
VIH/sida

2. ABC Digital, Paraguay - Tres millones de consumidores de droga inyectable
en el mundo tienen Sida

3. Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil - USP recebe R$ 4,8 milh?es para desenvolver
droga contra a Aids



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. Voice of America News - AIDS: Delaying Treatment Has Health and Financial
Costs

2. Associated Press - Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations

3. Associated Press - Myanmar allows HIV shelter to continue operating



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Next steps with 1% tenofovir microbicide gel

2. UNAIDS - The Secretary-General Message for World AIDS Day, 1 December
2010

3. UNAIDS - Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related
deaths





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



*UNAIDS*



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



HIV's slow retreat
The Economist, UK

25/11/2010



THE timing of the pope?s much-discussed change of position on the use of
condoms to prevent the spread of HIV (he will now allow prostitutes to use
them without fear of hellfire) was surely no coincidence. He made it on
November 21st?ten days before World AIDS Day and two before UNAIDS, the
United Nations body charged with combating the epidemic, released its latest
report on the state of the battle.



That report carries good news. Though some 33m people are infected, the rate
of new infections is falling?down from 3.1m a year a decade ago to 2.6m in
2009. Moreover, as the map shows, the figure is falling fastest in many of
the most heavily infected countries, especially those of sub-Saharan Africa
and South and South-East Asia.



The reason is a combination of behavioural change (people are losing their
virginity later, are being less promiscuous and are using condoms more), a
big reduction in mother-to-child transmission at birth and during
breast-feeding, and the roll-out of drug treatment for those already
infected.



Besides prolonging life, anti-HIV drugs make those taking them less likely
to pass the virus on. More than 5m people in poor and middle-income
countries are now on such drugs, though Michel Sidibe, the head of UNAIDS,
says another 10m could benefit. (The remainder of those infected are not yet
ill enough for drugs to do them good.) The problem, as always, is money. Dr
Sidibe reckons the fight needs about $25 billion a year to be fully
effective. At the moment, the sum spent is around $17 billion. Not a bad
fraction of the desideratum, but one that will be hard to sustain in the
face of the world?s economic difficulties.



*4*

Good news on AIDS
Montreal Gazette

26/11/2010



By JANET BAGNALL



Wednesday will be a World AIDS Day like no other. For the first time in its
22-year history, there's good news, and a lot of it: Fewer people around the
world are being infected with the HIV virus and fewer people are dying of
AIDS-related illness. In a dramatic finding made public this week, a new
study found that a single pill of anti-HIV drugs taken daily can reduce the
risk of contracting the virus by more than 70 per cent. And, almost as
stunning, Pope Benedict XVI said this week that the use of condoms can be
morally justified in the battle against AIDS.



Few dared to dream of such progress against the deadly disease in the dark
days of the virus's discovery. When the number of AIDS-related deaths hit
2.1 million in 2004, it was seen as proof that the epidemic was out of
control.



Today, UNAIDS can say that 2.1 million deaths in a single year was the worst
the epidemic would get, although the death rate remains horrifyingly high.
Last year, 1.8 million people with AIDS died. We're now at 7,000 new cases
of HIV infection every day - or 2.6 million cases a year.



As terrible as those figures are, they mean that new HIV infections have
fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last 10 years, and AIDS-related deaths
have dropped by nearly 20 per cent in the past five. For the first time, the
total number of people living with HIV is stabilizing.



But the toll has been huge in the 30 years in which the epidemic has swept
the world. Thirty million people have died. Millions of AIDS orphans
struggle to survive in impoverished countries with few resources to care for
them. And if the epidemic has crested, it is not over. Far from it.



There are places in the world where the trend is going in the opposite
direction. In Eastern Europe, the number of infections and deaths has jumped
sharply. In 2009, there were 1.4 million people - mainly in Russia and
Ukraine -living with HIV, three times as many as in 2000. Eastern Europe's
death toll from AIDS-related causes last year was 76,000, more than four
times as high as in 2001.



Money remains key in the battle against AIDS. Wealthy Western nations had to
be shamed into providing the developing world with the low-cost
anti-retroviral drugs. The rollout of antiretrovirals has worked. AIDS is no
longer a death sentence.



In Africa, where AIDS hit the hardest, programs such as the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria have kept the number of deaths stable,
at 1.4 million in 2008.



With treatment, HIV transmission to babies from infected mothers has dropped
-24 per cent between 2005 and 2009. But if transmission is down, it's not
vanquished: Globally, in 2009, an estimated 370,000 babies were infected
with HIV, but an estimated 400,000 infections were prevented in 2008. And
still standing in the path of success in Africa is women's economic and
social inequality.



Even with 20 million people undergoing treatment, 10 million people are
waiting for treatment, their lives in the balance. For every person who
starts treatment, two new people have become infected.



Prevention has been the holy grail of the HIV/AIDS battle. With the
breakthrough preventive therapy announced this week, that goal seems a
little closer. Doctors warn, however, that this is just one study, however
promising, and not a signal that we're at the end of the epidemic. AIDS
experts worry that condoms and other preventive measures might lose ground
among those most at risk of infection if people begin to believe there is a
magic cure.



The gains made by more effective treatment and its broader distribution
remain fragile, warned the executive director of UNAIDS, Michel Sidibe, in a
press release. UNAIDS is worried by an apparent pull back in international
donations to fight the disease.



The UN agency said that although funding has increased, in 2008 there was a
funding gap of $6.5 billion. This year, the gap is expected to be wider;
already, countries such as Uganda, Zambia and even South Africa have run
short of AIDS drugs, leaving the people whose lives depend on them very
vulnerable.



As good news goes, this year's is more like the light at the end of the
tunnel than the end of the battle.

jbagnall at montrealgazette.com



*5*

New cases of HIV on the decrease*
*Fiji Broadcasting Corporation

26/11/2010



New cases of HIV in the Oceania region have declined from 4700 in 2001 to
4500 in 2009.



HIV cases around the world have fallen by nearly 20 per cent in the last
decade with AIDS related deaths declining by nearly 20 per cent in the last
5 years.



UNAIDS Coordinator for the Pacific- Tim Rwabuhemba says this decline is due
to the prevention methods that have been adopted in the region.



?The interventions that have been in place in terms of prevention are
starting to get a hold and this means that there is a change in behaviour,
for this part of the world, sexual transmissions accounts for a lot of HIV
infections.?



Rwabuhemba says preventing the spread of the virus is the best way to combat
the disease.



*6*

Parliamentarians Reflect on Anti-HIV/AIDS Legislation *
*Camerron Tribune

24/11/2010



Emmanuel Kendemeh



World HIV/AIDS Control Day was commemorated at the National Assembly
Wednesday.



The members of the Network of Parliamentarians for the Fight Against
HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria yesterday, November 24, explored ways
through which Parliament and individual members of parliament can better
contribute in fighting the HIV/AIDS scourge. They exchanged ideas and
acquired knowledge from experts and HIV/AIDS infected people within the
framework of the commemoration of the World HIV/AIDS Control Day. The event
in Parliament came ahead of the 2010 World AIDS Day, to be commemorated on
December 1, under the theme, "Universal Access and Human Rights".



The Vice President of the National Assembly, Hon. Mbah Ndam Joseph chaired
the opening ceremony of the seminar on behalf of the House Speaker, Hon.
Cavaye Yeguie Djibril, in the presence of the Secretary of State at the
Ministry of Public Health, Alim Hayatou. He said World Health Organisation
(WHO) statistics show that the situation of the pandemic in Cameroon was
hardly stabilising but stated that HIV/AIDS was no longer a fatality. Hon.
Mbah Ndam enjoined the parliamentarians to come out with resolutions that
favour AIDS patients.



Hon. Marie-Rose Nguini Effa, President of the Network of Parliamentarians
for the Fight Against HIVAIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria said the seminar was
an occasion for the members of parliament to reflect on whether Cameroon
could have a specific legislation on HIV/AIDS. She said WHO believes that
HIV/AIDS could be eradicated by the year 2060 and for the dream to become a
reality in Cameroon, both parliamentarians, government and civil society
organisations must effectively contribute. The network, she said was created
in 2002 and carries out sensitisation, legislation and negotiations aimed at
tackling HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria. It is for this reason that the
seminar participants examined the legislative and regulatory aspects of
Cameroon's laws to see how feasible a specific law on HIV/AIDS could be
adopted in the country. They equally adopted their sector plan of action for
2011 and 2012.



The UNAIDS Country Coordinator for Cameroon, Dr Mamadou Sakho said the new
world strategy in tackling the AIDS scourge was reinforced policy engagement
by governments, the international community and civil society organisations.
The fight against the HIV/AIDS pandemic, he said was hampered by problems of
access to treatment and prevention, absence of regulatory texts on HIV/AIDS
in West and Central African countries and insufficient resources. He said
the Yaounde meeting was an answer to the challenge of implementing
legislations on AIDS. Mr Sakho stated that the fight against poverty could
greatly be achieved by tackling AIDS that drains the incomes of families.



*7*

New HIV, TB Guidelines Designed to Protect Health Workers  *
*Voice of America News

25/11/2010



Lisa Schlein | Geneva



United Nations agencies say millions of health workers around the world are
at risk of becoming infected with HIV and tuberculosis while treating the
sick. New guidelines developed by the International Labor Organization,
World Health Organization and UNAIDS aim to protect health workers from
these occupational hazards.



There are more than 60 million health workers throughout the world whose job
it is to care for the sick.  They play an important role during epidemics in
delivering services to the public.



Sophia Kisting is Director of the International Labor Organization's Global
Program on HIV/AIDS and the World of Work.  While health workers provide
vital services to others, she says very often their own conditions of work,
occupational safety and health are overlooked.



"We find that health workers are on the frontline in providing prevention
and treatment and care for people living with HIV and TB throughout the
world," says Kisting. "They are at risk of occupational exposure to HIV and
TB and now in the context of MDR and XDR [multi-drug resistant and Extreme
Drug Resistant] TB, it is even a much higher risk.  But, so often, they,
themselves, lack adequate access to protection or to treatment."



The new guidelines are aimed at overcoming these concerns. They are based on
international consultations and an assessment of current practices in 21
country-based studies.



The 14-point guidelines are inter-related and can be effectively implemented
as one package.  They ensure priority access for health workers and their
families to prevention and treatment services for HIV and TB.



Other provisions include strengthening occupational health services for the
entire health workforce, the provision of free HIV and TB treatment for
health workers, policies to prevent discrimination against health workers
with HIV and TB, and adequate compensation for health workers who become
sick on the job.



Technical Officer in WHO's Occupational and Environmental Health Division,
Susan Wilburn, says health workers are exposed to many illnesses, such as
HIV, TB, hepatitis and Avian influenza.



"We know that there are at least 1,000 new infections, work-related
infections with HIV every year globally as a result of health worker
exposures," Wilburn says. "Those are estimates of the burden of disease.  And
among health workers who are infected with hepatitis, 40 percent of those
infections are work-related infections."



Many countries suffer critical shortages of health workers.  The problem is
most acute in Africa.  The United Nations notes Africa has 11 percent of the
global population and 25 percent of the global health burden, with only
three percent of the health workforce.



*8*

Keeping an epidemic at bay * *

Phnom Penh Post
*26*/11/2010



Thomas Miller



THE global AIDS epidemic is now being reversed, according to the 2010 Global
Report of UNAIDS released on Tuesday, though challenges remain.



For the estimated 33.3 million who currently live with HIV, as well as those
at risk of infection in the future, the fight is not yet over. The report
acknowledged stigma, discrimination, a flat-lining of funding for the AIDS
response and lack of access to treatment for an estimated 10 million who
need it as serious obstacles. Nevertheless, ?the world has turned a corner?,
the report said.



Cambodia received a United Nations award this year for success in battling
the epidemic. According to UNAIDS, the adult HIV prevalence declined to 0.5
percent in 2009, down from 1.2 percent in 2001.



But various factors recently reported ? including alarming practices among
at-risk youth and a potential loss of generic medicine from a looming
India-EU trade pact ?indicate the risk of resurgence lingers.



UNAIDS Country Director Tony Lisle spoke with The Post about the against
fight against HIV/AIDS in Cambodia.



What?s the bottom line for Cambodia with regard to this report?

The bottom line is we?re certainly one of the 56 countries that have
stabilised and declined in rates of new HIV infections.



The report strikes an optimistic tone, but there are some serious challenges
ahead. How should we read this in Cambodia?

I think the report basically resonates well with the situation in Cambodia.
As far as UNAIDS is concerned, I think we cannot be complacent, and that is
also the position of the Royal Government, and in particular the National
Aids Authority.



We?re also seeing saturated concentrated epidemics. For injecting drug
users, for example, we have a prevalence rate of 24.4 percent, which is very
worrying. In any key population with over 5 percent prevalence, that?s a
source of concern, because a concentrated epidemic in that population [is
an] opportunity for the epidemic to grow.



If we look at men who have sex with men, the latest data we have is a
prevalence rate of 5.1 percent, and the most recent data on sex workers
shows around 14.7 percent prevalence.



So we continue to have stubborn and concentrated epidemics, and if we don?t
continue to see high rates ? 80 percent plus ? of consistent condom use
amongst these populations, and if we don?t see continuing capacity to have
full coverage for antiretroviral treatment for all those in need, we could
see a new wave of infections, we could see another epidemic.



India and the EU are working on a trade pact that could restrict access to
cheap generic medicines. What will be the impact on Cambodia?

This is a global issue. There are many countries that benefit enormously
from generic drug production in India, not only for opportunistic infections
but also anti-retroviral treatment. There are very specific exemptions under
the TRIPS formula, [the WTO agreement on trade-related aspects of
intellectual property rights], to ensure compulsory licensing, to ensure
that countries will continue to enjoy the import of generics from India. Now
we would hope that the [free trade agreement], if and when it is signed,
will ensure that those exemptions will apply.



There is no doubt that if Cambodia does not have access to cheap
antiretroviral therapy drugs, or to cheap generics for opportunistic
infections, and also allied generics for example for TB treatment, then
we?ll have some extremely significant challenges.

[In Cambodia,] there are 67,000 people living with HIV, 37,000 on treatment
and 10,000 projected to be on treatment. Cambodia has done a remarkable job
in getting over 95 percent of those in need on treatment.



We need to ensure that we continue to enjoy affordable treatment options.



The importance of human rights was stressed in this report. What would be
the impact on the fight against HIV if the Cambodian government closed down
the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights?

I couldn?t comment on the question. The OHCHR works closely with all the
partners ? and we continue to enjoy their contribution to the response to
HIV and their technical expertise.



How about off the record?

I don?t comment off the record.



Is the fight against HIV improving the health system in Cambodia more
generally? How so?

Hugely. I think the fact that the work we?re doing for linked response
prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV is actually strengthening
overall results for maternal and newborn health. It?s actually HIV dollars
that have rekindled and regenerated paediatric health care in Cambodia.



Through paediatric AIDS care, we now have something like 20 operational
district referral hospitals that now have comprehensive pediatric health
care referral facilities.



We?re seeing a lot more women coming for HIV testing and being referred to
other health services.



Is there anything else you would like to add?

When we think about Cambodia emerging from years of genocide and the years
of challenges it has faced in building a stable, secure society, and facing
the most serious epidemic in the region with 2 percent [infected with HIV],
the achievements were and are remarkable. The important thing is to build on
them.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



Cabinet Takes Tough Stand On HIV, Aids
BuaNews, SA

25/11/2010



Pretoria ? Cabinet is encouraging social dialogue on HIV and Aids this
coming World Aids Day to dispel the myths around the condition which touches
millions of South African's lives.



Instead of the usual celebrations around the event this year, Deputy
President Kgalema Motlanthe will be visiting Gert Sibande District
Municipality in Mpumalanga where he will participate in a dialogue to engage
community members and health care workers.

Cabinet members, including MECs, will also participate in social dialogues
around the country on how to reduce new HIV infections.



This was announced by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Thursday at a post
Cabinet briefing.



World Aids Day is observed around the world on 1 December. The theme for
this year is 'We are Responsible', and addresses the collective
responsibility of all South Africans to influence and support partners,
family and community members to voluntary test for HIV and set an example by
leading healthier lifestyles.



"It also addresses the collective responsibility for the world to start
contributing towards a common HIV response," said Motsoaledi.



This year will also see the World Aids Day campaign continuing until next
year June as government aims to reach a target of testing 15 million people
for HIV and Aids by then. The HIV, Counselling and Testing (HCT) campaign
was launched by President Jacob Zuma in April.



The minister said while the HCT campaign had lagged behind due to the 2010
FIFA World Cup and the three-week public service strike, to date, 4.9
million people have reported for counseling in the country's health
facilities of which half a million are from Gauteng.



Motsoaledi said it was difficult to track the exact number of people who
have tested because the campaign was also being rolled out by various other
private health sectors. The correct and updated figures will be released on
World Aids Day.



SA's biggest retail pharmacy chain, Clicks, as well as medical scheme such
as Discovery Health, are among the companies rolling out the campaign.



*2*

TV spurs HIV tests
Times LIVE; SA

25/11/2010



By GABISILE NDEBELE



Sex education shows and ads for Aids-awareness campaigns are helping to
increase the number of viewers who take HIV tests, use condoms and stay
faithful to their partners.

A study of three SABC TV shows and three advertising campaigns, conducted by
five research groups, found the messages were hitting home and the
programmes are estimated to have helped avert more than 700000 South
Africans being infected by the virus.



The study - by Johns Hopkins Health and Education in South Africa, Health
and Development Africa, Soul City, Love Life and the Communication Media
Trust - involved 10000 viewers and non-viewers from rural and urban areas,
and of all races and income groups.



The study, released to The Times this week and conducted between 2006 and
last year, assessed the effect of TV shows Soul City: One Love, Soul
Buddies, Tsha Tsha, and Intersexions.



The advertising for campaigns including Scrutinize, Brothers For Life,
Siyanqoba Beat It! and Khomanani was also studied for their impact.



The study found that:

Those exposed to HIV testing and faithfulness campaign Scrutinize were 5.6%
more likely to use condoms;

55% of those often exposed to Siyanqoba Beat It! used condoms as against 33%
of those who did not. Half of those who frequently saw the campaign and its
TV inserts discussed HIV testing with friends, compared to 29% of people who
did not.

89% of young people who frequently saw material for Aids campaign Khomanani
knew that condoms can prevent HIV versus 77% who did not. And 71% of those
exposed to the campaign had had an HIV test in the preceding year, compared
to 50% of those who were not exposed.

Those who saw Soul City: One Love were 17% more likely to use condoms.

Tsha Tsha series six was associated with a 9% rise in condom use among
viewers and a 6% increase in HIV testing.

32% of those not exposed to Aids campaigns told partners the results of
their HIV tests versus 49% of those who were.

More than 75% of children who watch Soul Buddyz agreed that an HIV-infected
person could look healthy. Nearly 90% of regular child viewers said Aids
could not be caused by witchcraft versus 82% of those who did not.



Richard Delate, programme director of Johns Hopkins Health and Education in
South Africa, said the survey had proved that the programmes and advertising
campaigns had succeeded in improving awareness and understanding of
HIV/Aids.



*3*

Door-to-Door Testing Curbs Stigma *
*The Observer, Uganda

24/11/2010



Moses Mugalu



Fourteen months ago when John Mayiteki tested positive for HIV, the deadly
virus that causes AIDS, his main worry was the kind of treatment and
reaction he would get from his relatives and public.



"The first thing I thought was to commit suicide," Mayiteki, 28, said on
November 10 during the Philly Lutaaya Day celebrations at Nakasongola Boma
grounds.



In the late 1980s, music icon Lutaaya became the first person to publicly
declare his HIV status but more than a decade later, stigma remains one of
the major impediments in the fight against HIV/AIDS.



However, in Nakasongola district, there has been a major breakthrough in the
campaign against stigma on HIV/AIDS patients, thanks to the introduction of
door-to-door testing and counselling services.



Through a community based outreach programme, 14,000 people have, since
September last year, tested for HIV and received counselling. Nickson
Atuhaire, the Integrated Community Based Initiative (ICOBI) supervisor and
counsellor, says the number includes children, women and men.



ICOBI, a non governmental organization, has set a target of at least 20,000
people to be tested and counselled by next September. Field teams consisting
of a lab assistant and a counsellor, visit homes and counsel residents
before encouraging them to test for their sero status.



According to Teddy Namara, a lab assistant and counsellor with ICOBI, many
people accept to test after they have been counselled. The testing procedure
is convenient and people get their results in 10 minutes.



She says even people in fishing communities like Lwampanga, where the
prevalence rate is high, have embraced the services. In each sub county
covered, ICOBI officers form Discordant and Positives' Clubs, encouraging
people to go public about their status, live and think positively.



However, Atuhaire says they face both logistical and human resource
challenges in the sparsely populated district, which has an estimated
150,000 people (mostly cattle keepers, fishermen and a few peasant farmers).



For instance, Atuhaire says they have had to employ more field officers
because homes are spread distances apart, a factor that has resulted in
increment on the transport costs. The other challenge is that those tested
and found positive have to wait longer for a decision on whether they should
be put on Anti Retroviral Treatment (ART).



Dr Daniel Kirunda, the in-charge of Nakasongola Health Centre IV, says the
facility doesn't have a CD4 machine, which analyses the infected person's
body defence system. Samples are taken to Kampala at the Joint Clinical
Research Centre (JCRC), where the process lasts a minimum of three weeks.



In the past one year, the health centre has enrolled 1,500 clients for free
treatment. They receive free drugs and counselling services facilitated by
the Uganda AIDS Commission (UAC), ICOBI and the ministry of health.



Two doctors and two clinical officers (a nurse and a counsellor) have been
employed at the centre to specifically run the ART clinic. To encourage more
people to test for HIV, Kirunda says they have also introduced mandatory
testing for pregnant women and mothers who visit the facility's maternity
wing.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



HIV+ numbers in city see negative growth *
*Times of India

26/11/2010



Malathy Iyer, TNN



MUMBAI: In tune with the global trend, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be
slowing down in Mumbai as well. For decades the city was infamous for being
the HIV capital of India, but figures available with the Mumbai District
AIDS Control Society show that for the third consecutive year the HIV
incidence is falling.



If 5,420  AIDS cases were registered in 2007, there were only 2,942 cases in
2008 and 1,308 cases in 2009. "So far this year, we have registered 966
cases," said MDACS chief Dr S S Kudalkar, adding that the epidemic is
clearly on the wane.



The city has many reasons to cheer on the HIV/AIDS front. Many of the
indicators that are used to assess the epidemic's spread in the general
population show a downward trend. The virus is lower than ever before among
pregnant women, dipping from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in the first 10 months
of 2010. Public health experts say this unsuspecting segment provides the
best indicator of the disease's presence in the general population.



People who queue up voluntarily to donate blood provide another indicator of
HIV's presence in the society: seropositivity has fallen from 1.06% in 2002
to 0.46% in 2009. In the period up to October 2010, only 903 from 2,19,332
donors tested positive for HIV. "This means only 0.41% were positive," said
Kudalkar.



But the statistic that the MDACS director is most pleased about is the
dipping number of deaths among HIV-positive people whose disease progressed
to full-blown AIDS. At the height of the AIDS epidemic, say in 2004, the
death rate stood at 8.67% among the 3,205 AIDS patients identified that
year. This year, the rate has fallen to 3.7%?that is, 36 deaths among 966
patients. "It is obvious that with better availability of ART ( anti-retro
viral therapy), patients are leading healthier and longer lives than
before," said Kudalkar.



The downward trend in Mumbai is not surprising as the recently released
United Nations AIDS organization's figures show. Globally, HIV infection
rates have fallen by nearly 20% in the last 10 years to 2.6 million in 2009
from 3.1 million in 1999. Also, AIDS-related deaths have come down by 20% in
the same period across the world. UNAIDS showed that India has 2.4 million
HIV patients at present. The only factor clouding the happy picture is the
fact that though seven lakh HIV-positive Indians need ART, less than half
have access to it.



In Mumbai, ART access improved only because more centres started
distributing the life-saving drugs in the last few years. In Mumbai, MDACS
statistics show that 24,086 of 52,828 HIV-positive patients registered for
care in the city received ART in the period between 2006 and 2010.



*2*

Shot in the arm for health funding
Phnom Penh Post

24/11/2010



Emilie Boulenger



CAMBODIANS suffering HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria will benefit from a
three-year commitment to UNITAID, the United Nations organisation set up to
purchase drugs to combat the diseases, of US$150 million a year by France,
according to France?s Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.



The multi-year pledge ? the first since UNITAID was founded in 2006 ? was
made possible because of a ?4 (US$5.44) levy on international economy-class
flights from France.



The tax, which has been collected since 2006, has been well accepted by the
public and did not have any impact on tourism, the ministry said. And it
raised 172. ?9 million (US$235.16 million) in 2008 towards aid for people
living in the world?s poorest countries, including Cambodia.



UNITAID funds long-term programmes to promote access to health products
(treatments, diagnostic tests and prevention tools) to combat HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis. African countries are the main beneficiaries of
UNITAID, as 85 percent of funding targets low-income countries. The body
funds programmes in 27 Asian countries.



In four years it has funded antiretroviral treatment for more than 800,000
patients, distributed anti-malarial treatment for more than 18 million
people and anti-tuberculosis treatment to 1.5 million people.



France, which provides 60 percent of UNITAID?s funding, urged ?all potential
donors throughout the world to start implementing this innovative financing
mechanism in order to make further progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS,
malaria and tuberculosis?.



Several other donor countries, such as Korea, Brazil, the United Kingdom and
Norway, have also confirmed their support for UNITAID.



*3*

India lifts HIV related questions in visa forms
OneIndia News

26/11/2010



Bangalore, Nov 26: India's Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has clarified
that there are no travel or residency restrictions for People Living with
HIV (PLHIV) coming to India.



MEA has sent an an official e-mail to all its Embassies and Consulates
asking them to remove the requirement for HIV testing from all the visa
forms. The latest move came after a Parliamentary Question regarding the
issue.



On Apr 15, 2010 Rajya Sabha MP and State Organiser of the Forum of
Parliamentarians on HIV & AIDS (FPA) Dr EM Sudarsana Natchiappan raised the
issue in Parliament.



Welcoming the initiative from MEA, Oscar Fernandes, Rajya Sabha MP and
President, FPA said, "I am pleased that India has clarified its position to
lift HIV related travel restrictions".



Earlier, Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) had earlier withdrawn the
requirement for HIV testing of foreigners, including foreign students. The
latest move from MEA will ensure that HIV related questions will not be
asked on any visa application forms.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



A quarter of British people with HIV do not know it
The Guardian, UK

26/11/2010



Sarah Boseley, health editor



An estimated 86,500 people are living with HIV in the UK, according to
figures released today, but around a quarter of them do not know they are
infected.



"We're very concerned that a large number of people in the UK are unaware of
their HIV status, and that half of all newly diagnosed people are diagnosed
late, meaning they may not benefit from very effective treatments," said Dr
Valerie Delpech, head of HIV surveillance at the Health Protection Agency
which published the figures.



They show that HIV is more prevalent in certain areas of the country ?
particularly in London, Brighton and Manchester. Pilot projects looking at
the acceptability of increased testing in such areas are underway.



"The HPA would like to see increased access to ? testing in areas where
rates of HIV infection are high. Pilot studies have shown that in these
areas testing all adults registering at GPs or accessing certain hospital
services can make an impact," said Delpech.



"The evidence shows that this testing is feasible to undertake and
acceptable to patients. We would like to see this rolled out in areas where
HIV infection is more common to reduce the number of people who are unaware
of their HIV status and increase the chances of early diagnosis, when
treatment is more successful."



People who seek medical help only when they have the symptoms of Aids are
far more likely to die. In 2009, 547 people were diagnosed with Aids and
hardly any of them had been for an HIV test. Of the 516 people with HIV
infection who died last year, 73% had been diagnosed late, when the virus
had already taken a big toll on their immune system.



In 2009, 6,630 people were newly diagnosed with HIV, 4,400 of whom were men
and 2,230 women. This is a decline in new diagnoses, for the fourth year in
a row, but the agency says there is no evidence of a drop in the numbers who
are living in ignorance of their HIV status.



Deborah Jack, chief executive of the National Aids Trust, said the figures
showed the need to increase testing. "Prevention is an immensely
cost-effective activity ? one HIV transmission is up to ?360,000 in direct
costs to the NHS."



The agency warned in July that the number of new HIV infections among
over-50s had more than doubled in seven years.



*2*

Is antiretroviral therapy modifying the HIV epidemic? ? Authors' reply *
*The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



Julio SG Montaner a, P Richard Harrigan a, Thomas Kerr a, Evan Wood a,
Patricia Daly b



We acknowledged in our paper that ours was an ecological study, and as such
the results could not be taken as definitive proof of causality. We also
indicated that the association between increasing coverage of highly active
antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in HIV-infected individuals who met
contemporary treatment guidelines and decreasing yearly new HIV diagnoses
occurred against a background of increased yearly HIV testing, as well as
improved risk ascertainment due to mandatory HIV reporting, and increased
rates of sexually transmitted infections.



Notably, our results were internally reproducible. We recorded decreases in
yearly new HIV diagnoses during two distinct periods of HAART expansion,
which were separated by a stable period of HAART use. The latter two periods
were characterised on a prospective basis and were entirely consistent with
the predictions of our previously published mathematical models.1 Finally,
we were able to relate the reductions in community plasma viral load during
HAART expansion with the decrease in new HIV diagnoses, providing a
plausible biological mechanism to account for the association, as proposed
by others.2

We also acknowledged that the use of yearly new HIV diagnoses represented a
limitation of the study; however, it is also clear that there is no widely
accepted gold standard to estimate HIV incidence, particularly in
population-wide studies. In this regard, the consistency of our results with
our previous report looking at the correlation between community
concentrations of HIV-1 RNA in plasma and HIV incidence in a well
characterised cohort of injection drug users is highly reassuring.3

Andrew Grulich and David Wilson express concerns about our previous report
of declines in unsafe injecting. However, that report was based on a small
study within Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, and the present study reports on
all of the province of British Columbia, where it has been estimated that
the number of sterile needles and syringes distributed remains inadequate.4

Grulich and Wilson call for randomised controlled trials (RCTs) to further
characterise the associations described in our paper. However, the
feasibility of RCTs within the segment of HIV-infected individuals eligible
for treatment could prove ethically difficult if this requires withholding
HAART against current standard of care. RCTs might be more realistic within
the segment of HIV-infected individuals not eligible for therapy, as
proposed by the ?test and treat? strategy, yet the most recent guidelines5
are so inclusive that this segment has become very small in our setting.
Alternative approaches, such as a modified delayed-start or randomised-start
design, might be successfully adapted to existing HAART rollout initiatives.

In the absence of such data, the available evidence strongly points to a
substantial preventive benefit that can be derived from aggressively rolling
out HAART to all those in medical need?the actual focus of our report.



We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.



References

1 Lima VD, Johnston K, Hogg RS, et al. Expanded access to highly active
antiretroviral therapy: a potentially powerful strategy to curb the growth
of the HIV epidemic. J Infect Dis 2008; 198: 59-67. CrossRef | PubMed

2 Das M, Chu PL, Santos G-M, et al. Decreases in community viral load are
accompanied by reductions in new HIV diagnoses in San Francisco. PLoS One
2010; 5: e11068. CrossRef | PubMed

3 Wood E, Kerr T, Marshall B, et al. Longitudinal community plasma HIV-1 RNA
concentrations and incidence of HIV-1 among injecting drug users:
prospective cohort study. BMJ 2009; 338: b1649. CrossRef | PubMed

4 Harvard SS, Hill WD, Buxton JA. Harm reduction product distribution in
British Columbia. Can J Public Health 2008; 99: 446-450. PubMed

5 Thompson M, Aberg J, Cahn P, et al. Antiretroviral treatment of adult HIV
infection?2010 recommendations of the International AIDS Society?USA Panel.
JAMA 2010; 304: 321-333. CrossRef | PubMed



a British Columbia Centre for Excellence in HIV/AIDS, Vancouver, BC V6Z 1Y6,
Canada

b Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada



*3*

LATIN AMERICA: Violence Against Women Linked to HIV Risk
IPS Terra Viva-Europe

26/11/2010



By Marcela Valente



BUENOS AIRES, Nov 24, 2010 (IPS) - "My mother used to beat me. She would
lock me away, and then she started chaining me to the table," says
Elizabeth. Teresa recounts how she was seven months pregnant when her
husband grabbed her by the hair, threw her to the ground and kicked her.



These testimonies from women living with HIV/AIDS were published in a report
released this week in Buenos Aires, revealing the different forms of
violence that most of these women face of the course of their lives.



The study "Two Sides of One Reality: Violence Against Women and HIV/AIDS in
Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay" states that 78 percent of the women
with HIV/AIDS surveyed in the four countries had suffered some type of
abuse.



When the women became infected with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus, which
causes AIDS), many already had a long history of abuse and gender violence
that made them more vulnerable, according to the study.



Seventy percent of the 399 HIV-positive women interviewed in the four
countries said they had endured psychological abuse -- the most widespread
-- manifest in humiliation, insults, mocking and scorn.



Likewise, 55.6 percent suffered physical violence from parents, stepparents,
caretakers and then from boyfriends or husbands, which included punching,
shoving, slapping, beating (with fists or objects), kicking, burning and
choking.



The interviews were conducted in pairs. In Argentina, 10 women from the
Buenos Aires Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS took part in the
project. One of the interviewers, Caty Castillo, told IPS that many of the
women surveyed did not consider the violence they had suffered as something
negative.



"It even happened among us, the interviewers. When we answered the
questionnaire among ourselves first, we realised that many of us had endured
situations of violence and abuse -- and we didn't see it as something bad,"
she admitted.



The women interviewed were identified only by their first names. Such as
Griselda, of Uruguay, who says: "My mother liked to abuse me a lot. I don't
know why. It wasn't slapping or beating. She used to gag me; she shoved
sponges in my mouth."



Around 60 percent of the women interviewed had seen their mothers suffer
aggression from the spouse or boyfriend, and then they themselves faced
similar abuse from their own companions. "He put a knife to my throat, he
cut my wrists, and he beat me out of jealousy," says Florence, also from
Uruguay.



The study, compiled by physician Mabel Bianco and sociologist Andrea Mari?o,
of Argentina, states, "The family, supposed shelter for one's affective
world, does not seem to be the safest environment for many of these women."



The experts are from the Argentine Foundation for Women's Studies and
Research (FEIM), which worked on the interviews with the Brazilian
organisation Gestos, the People's Education in Health Foundation in Chile,
and Women and Health in Uruguay. Mari?o explained to IPS that "the women who
suffered violence over the course of their lives are more vulnerable to HIV
infection because, in general, they lose autonomy, self-esteem and also the
power to negotiate the use of condoms."



For example, a relatively large portion of the interviewed women (36.3
percent) said they had been victims of sexual violence, almost always at the
hands of their husband or boyfriend, and sexual abuse in childhood or
adolescence (32.8 percent).



"There is a 'naturalisation' of violence in the lives of many of these women
from childhood. They don't register that this isn't normal, that it is a
crime," she said.



The report contains several testimonies about sexual violence: "I didn't
want to (have sex) when he was on drugs," says Sandra, a Uruguayan. "He
would be staggering and he would want to do it. He forced me, and beat me,
and I had to do it because he was the father of my children."



Many of the women interviewed also recalled episodes of sexual abuse in
childhood that went beyond touching. "He (father) raped me from when I was
five until I was seven or eight, and it was a very bad experience," says
Iris, from Chile.



Castillo, the interviewer, agreed that most of the women who acknowledged
they had been abused saw it as something "normal" because the perpetrators
were close family members.



Despite the evident link between gender violence and HIV, the study warns
about the "worrisome lack of official data" in the four countries, which it
says prevents the experts from "determining the scope of the problem."



The study also lays out a panorama of the AIDS epidemic's traits across the
Southern Cone region and highlights advances, such as the universalisation
of treatment for HIV/AIDS and laws against domestic violence.



However, "There are no national government programmes that coordinate
strategies for mitigating both pandemics," states the report, except in
Brazil, where such a plan exists but has yet to be implemented.



When they are told they are HIV positive, most women react with surprise
because they did not see themselves as part of a high-risk group because
they were in stable, heterosexual relationships. "I thought this could never
happen to me," says one woman.



According to the report, there is a lack of policy coordination aimed at
stopping gender violence and promoting women's health, a fact that has
repeatedly given rise to institutional violence.



One of the women interviewed in Argentina recalls that when her
gynaecologist found out she was HIV positive, he refused to work with her
anymore. "He said that he didn't see patients with HIV," she said.



Another woman, from Uruguay, who carries a Bible with her, says that when
the physician, a woman, told her the HIV diagnosis, she also said: "You
might read the Bible, but you're no saint."



Such mistreatment by medical professionals led some of the women to abandon
any treatment at all for HIV/AIDS.



Faced with this situation, the researchers lay out 20 recommendations,
including a call for comprehensive public policies that coordinate
prevention and attention for both HIV/AIDS and abuse, from a gender
perspective.



*4*

HIV treatments directory
Lancet Infectious Diseases, UK

December 2010



Volume 10, Issue 12, Page 827



Luigi Buonaguro



HIV Treatments Directory

Differding Virginia

NAM Publications, 2010

?64?95. Also available for free online at
http://www.aidsmap.com/page/1412506/



HIV Treatments Directory is definitely much more than merely a directory. It
is, in my opinion, a comprehensive manual that provides adequate general
background information on HIV infection and AIDS, with a subject-by-subject,
rich, and up-to-date bibliography.

The book is given a logical structure with appropriately titled and well
written chapters that highlight the most relevant information for the whole
spectrum of potential readers. Lay readers will find a great deal of
interesting information on the complexity of HIV/AIDS. Educators will find
much information that can be passed on to their students. Patients can use
this book to answer any questions they have about current and future
treatments. Health-care professionals will have a single and easy-to-consult
book?along with its accompanying digital media?providing the most
comprehensive information about available antiretroviral drugs.

The whole book is available online?for free. Such unrestricted access will
definitely help to increase the level of knowledge and awareness in
communities that have limited access to information because of either
economic or social factors. The possibility of sharing the book via the most
popular social networks or by email will further enable the access of
information about HIV infection, AIDS, and treatments. Several other
guidelines on HIV treatment are available online, but none of these seem to
be as comprehensive, organised, or as well structured as NAM's HIV
Treatments Directory. The information offered by the other guidelines is
scattered between different unconnected web pages, which, in most of the
cases, can be printed only for personal use. Perhaps the unrestricted access
provided by NAM will set a precedent for access to all similar publications
in the future.

In conclusion, NAM's HIV Treatments Directory is an essential manual that
should be advertised to as many people as possible worldwide and should not
be missing from the library of anyone with a professional or personal
interest in HIV/AIDS.



*5*

No kidding
The Economist, UK

25/11/2010



FROM the headlines, it sounded like a sensational climbdown: Pope Benedict
XVI had said the use of condoms in some circumstances was permissible. In
fact, the pontiff had not announced a U-turn, but shifted a nuance. In an
interview with a German journalist, Peter Seewald, for a book published by
the Vatican (and checked before publication), he gave an example of a
situation in which condom use might be acceptable. If a male prostitute was
trying, responsibly, to do his bit to halt the spread of AIDS, that would be
?a first step towards moralisation?.



That is a long way from a full embrace of modern contraceptive technology
(and secular thinking about sexuality). The pope used a case in which a
condom could have no contraceptive role. His careful scholarly words also
reiterated the Church?s teaching that condoms trivialise sex, reducing it to
a ?self-administered drug?, stoking promiscuity, and thus AIDS.



Yet the headlines were merited. The idea that the use of a condom may be a
sign of responsibility in sexual relations is a powerful one. If its use is
acceptable for a male prostitute, it would be harder to deny that a female
one seeking to protect herself, or her clients, from disease should do
likewise. (Indeed, the Vatican later clarified that female and even
transsexual prostitutes were included.) But if so, then what about married
couples where one partner is HIV positive? The pope?s arguments seem to open
the door to Catholics choosing the lesser of two ?evils?. He has already
stressed that sex is an expression of love as well as a means of
procreation. By the cloistered standards of the Catholic hierarchy, this is
hot stuff.



Charities and campaigners dealing with AIDS, which afflicts 22.5m people in
Africa alone, welcomed the news but hoped for more. Some conservative
Catholics responded with dismay. Once condom use is accepted in some
circumstances, they feel, it is only a matter of time before it becomes
universal: for them abstinence and fidelity, not making promiscuity safer,
is the way forward. But many lay Catholics?who, polls suggest, use all kinds
of contraception despite their church?s rules?think differently. They long
for a time when really important ideas such as the power of redeeming love
will be unencumbered by arcane quibbles about sex.



*6*

Number with HIV/AIDS in Portugal reaches 42,000
The Portugal News

27/11/2010



In 2009, 42,000 people in Portugal suffered from HIV/AIDS, up from 31,000 in
2001, the specialised UN agency said on Tuesday in a global report covering
182 countries.



The UNAIDS study noted that 100% of infected people also suffering from
tuberculosis has access to anti-retroviral treatment in Portugal, in
contrast to 10% of infected drug users.



It placed the survival rate for those with HIV/AIDS receiving
anti-retroviral treatment at 80%.



UNAIDS said 25% of men and 10% of women ran a high risk of contracting the
HIV virus in Portugal, where 50% of men and 45% of women use condoms as a
contraceptive or a disease prevention device.

TPN/Lusa



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Conciencian a guatemaltecos sobre prevenci?n contra VIH/sida  *
*Prensa Latina, Cuba

26/11/2010



Guatemala, 26 nov (PL) Las autoridades de salud contin?an hoy la celebraci?n
de actividades en busca de concienciar a los guatemaltecos sobre lo decisivo
de la prevenci?n para combatir al VIH/Sida.



  Esas acciones est?n concebidas en el ?mbito de la conmemoraci?n del D?a
Mundial de lucha contra esa pandemia instaurado para cada 1 de diciembre,
d?a de 1981 en el cual fue diagnosticado el primer caso en el orbe.



La jornada en este pa?s comenz? cuando el Ministerio de Salud y Asistencia
Social instal? kioscos, denominados Expo-Vida, para informar a la poblaci?n
acerca de las maneras de evitar el contagio con el virus de
inmunodeficiencia humana (VIH).



En muchos lugares fueron ubicados esos locales provisionales atendidos por
activistas, principalmente en mercados y otros sitios con gran presencia de
personas.



Durante estos d?as tambi?n son reconocidas organizaciones cuyo trabajo est?
centrado en contender con la discriminaci?n sufrida por quienes son
diagnosticados como seropositivos.



Su fin est? programado para el mismo d?a de la conmemoraci?n, cuando el
gobierno lanzar? su plan estrat?gico nacional en el periodo de 2011 a 2015
dirigido a combatir la epidemia del S?ndrome de Inmunodeficiencia Adquirida.



Entonces las autoridades presentar?n una actualizaci?n del n?mero de casos
registrados en el pa?s, aunque siempre esas cifras quedan por debajo de la
realidad debido al ocultamiento de informaci?n de los propios infectados y
otras causas.



Por esos motivos los datos en Guatemala son divergentes, seg?n la fuente que
los proporciona, y se cifra en unos 10 mil nuevos los seropositivos en los
?ltimos cuatro a?os, en buena medida por el impacto agravado con la
ignorancia sobre el mal.



Cuentan reportes period?sticos que el primer caso en esta naci?n
centroamericana fue comprobado en 1984 y a partir de entonces suman 20 mil
591, de los cuales un bajo porcentaje ha podido acceder adecuadamente a los
medicamentos para controlar la enfermedad.



De aquel a?o al pasado 62,61 por ciento de los infectados correspondi? al
g?nero masculino, en tanto la mayor forma de contagio, 94,4 por ciento, fue
por relaciones sexuales desprotegidas.



*3*

Tres millones de consumidores de droga inyectable en el mundo tienen Sida
ABC Digital, Paraguay

26/11/2010



GINEBRA. M?s de tres millones de los 15,9 millones de consumidores de drogas
inyectables en todo el mundo contrajeron el sida, seg?n la Federaci?n
Internacional de la Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna Roja (FICR), en un informe
publicado este viernes.



Los toxic?manos seropositivos son particularmente numerosos en cinco pa?ses:
China, Malasia, Rusia, Ucrania y Vietnam, seg?n el informe divulgado antes
de la Jornada mundial de lucha contra el sida (1 de diciembre).



Pero la ?tendencia est? al alza? en ?frica, Medio Oriente, Am?rica Latina y
en la mayor?a de las regiones de Asia, seg?n la organizaci?n basada en
Ginebra.



En Europa oriental y en Asia central hasta el 60% de los consumidores de
drogas inyectables contraen de esta manera el sida.



En varios pa?ses de estas regiones las legislaciones estigmatizan a estas
personas, las reprimen o las excluyen, se lamenta la FICR.



El organismo considera que las pol?ticas que dificultan el acceso de los
toxic?manos a servicios de apoyo, prevenci?n o tratamiento ?constituyen
violaciones de los derechos humanos?.



?Los derechos humanos se aplican a todo el mundo, incluso a las personas
consumidoras de drogas y a aquellas encarceladas debido a su adicci?n? ,
seg?n Sadia Kaenzig, una portavoz de la Federaci?n.



Seg?n el informe, un elemento ?clave? para evitar la transmisi?n del sida en
los toxic?manos es ?proporcionarles un ?lugar seguro??, como las salas de
inyecci?n que existen en Suiza, Holanda, Espa?a, Noruega (...)?, entre otros
pa?ses.



*4*

USP recebe R$ 4,8 milh?es para desenvolver droga contra a Aids
Folha de S. Paulo, Brazil

25/11/2010



DE RIBEIR?O PRETO - Quatro projetos de desenvolvimento de medicamentos da
USP de Ribeir?o Preto, um deles sobre AIDS, ter?o investimento de R$ 9,85
milh?es. Os recursos ser?o liberados pela Finep (Financiadora de Estudos e
Projetos), ligada ao Minist?rio da Ci?ncia e Tecnologia.



O maior volume, de R$ 4,8 milh?es, ser? destinado ? Faculdade de Ci?ncias
Farmac?uticas, para o desenvolvimento e produ??o do antirretroviral
tenofovir.



O rem?dio comp?e o coquetel anti-HIV. A patente da droga deve expirar em
breve, segundo um dos integrantes da pesquisa, o professor Giuliano Cesar
Clososki.

At? l?, a USP deve tornar poss?vel sua fabrica??o em escala industrial, em
parceria com uma farmac?utica cujo nome n?o foi divulgado.



A Finep tamb?m destinar? ? Faculdade de Medicina de Ribeir?o Preto R$ 1,8
milh?o para o desenvolvimento de uma droga para imunoterapia de pacientes
com HIV.

Mais R$ 1,6 milh?o ser? destinado a uma pesquisa sobre o uso farmac?utico do
?leo da copa?ba, e R$ 1,4 milh?o ser? empregado na avalia??o de um
anfi-inflamat?rio.

A Finep ainda aprovou recursos para pesquisas do HC de S?o Paulo, da Unicamp
e das universidades federais de S?o Paulo, Goi?s, Pernambuco e Santa
Catarina.

(JULIANA COISSI)



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



AIDS: Delaying Treatment Has Health and Financial Costs *
*Voice of America News

25/11/2010



Joe DeCapua



A new study says delaying treatment for people infected with HIV can have
long-term health and financial consequences.  The findings add to the debate
over when anti-retroviral treatment should begin.



A growing body of research says starting HIV-infected people on drug
treatment sooner is better for the patient.  Initially, the drugs were given
when a person?s CD4 immune cell count fell to 200 or below.  By that time,
the patent could have full-blown AIDS.



Now the general recommendation is to start treatment when CD4 counts reach
350 ? before the immune system collapses.  Despite that recommendation, many
people are receiving delayed treatment.



Looking at the evidence

Dr. Kelly Gebo ? a Johns Hopkins University professor of Epidemiology ? is
the senior author of the study.  Gebo and her team reviewed the medical
records of more than 8,000 patients in the United States between 2000 and
2007.



?So, we actually didn?t look at when to start treatment.  We looked at when
people presented for care.  And we found that unfortunately nearly half of
people ? 43 percent of people ? were presenting late for care.  And those
people cost more over the long run,? she says.



Gebo says the study did not look at why treatment was delayed, but the
findings did give a few hints.



?One of the things anecdotally that we do tend to find,? she says, ?is that
people are hospitalized for a severe opportunistic illness and then sort of
follow-up for outpatient care.  They may have known they were HIV infected
for a long period of time and not come for care just because they didn?t
feel bad or everything was going well.  And then when something catastrophic
happens is when they start embarking on care.?



CD4 countdown

Once a person is infected with HIV, unless treatment is given, there?s
usually a long but steady decline in CD4 cells.  So, symptoms of the disease
may not appear right away.



Gebo says, ?Most people have a CD4 count between 800 and 1200.  So we say an
average of a thousand.  And in HIV when we didn?t have antiretrovirals the
average CD4 count fell by about a hundred cells per year.  So we said it was
about eight years from infection to development of AIDS.  And in general, it
was about a 10-year life expectancy.  Now, with antiretrovirals, the whole
ballgame has changed.?



Earlier treatment with antiretrovirals gives a person a much better chance
of avoiding other illnesses besides full-blown AIDS.



?So clinically we know that people do better,? she says, ?They have fewer
opportunistic illnesses.  They seem to have fewer non-traditionally
AIDS-related events.  So, cardiovascular disease, malignancies, end stage
liver disease, end stage renal disease ? all appear to be higher in
HIV-infected patients.  So treatment with antiretrovirals has been shown to
slow the progression of some of those.?



And then there are the medical costs

The average difference - between those receiving treatment early and those
who didn?t - ranged from about $27,000 to more than $60,000 over the first
seven to eight years.  Costs are higher for the so-called late presenters
because they are often sicker than early presenters.



?We did look at direct medical costs.  And in the direct medical costs, it
was certainly cheaper with treating people with antiretrovirals, even given
the cost of 10 to 12 thousand dollars a year for antiretrovirals when you
look at the reduction in hospitalizations, other medications used and some
of the other outpatient utilization and laboratories that we evaluate in our
study,? she says.



And earlier treatment allows people to be more productive longer.

While the study was not done in a developing country, the findings may
provide guidance.  Some countries in sub-Saharan Africa, for example, are
debating whether to start antiretroviral treatment earlier.  However, that
means spending more on HIV/AIDS at a time when many economies are still
reeling from the global recession.



More details on the study can be found in the December issue of the journal
Medical Care.



*6*

Red Cross scolds 'failed' HIV policy among nations
Associated Press

25/11/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



By JOHN HEILPRIN



GENEVA -- The spread of HIV and AIDS among millions of people could be
slowed if addicts who inject drugs were treated as medical patients rather
than as criminals, the International Federation of the Red Cross said
Friday.



More than 80 percent of the world's governments "are inclined to artificial
realities, impervious to the evidence that treating people who inject drugs
as criminals is a failed policy that contributes to the spread of HIV," the
Red Cross said.



An estimated 16 million people worldwide inject drugs, mainly because it
delivers the fastest, most intense high, in what has become a growing trend
on every continent, according to the Red Cross.



The launch of the International Federation of the Red Cross' 24-page report
- essentially to promote a new strategy for nations to stop the spread of
the virus among injecting drug users - comes in the week before World AIDS
Day on Dec. 1.



The federation, which represents national Red Cross chapters in almost every
country of the world, suggests ways to lessen the risk that addicts will
contract the virus from tainted blood transmitted through shared needles.



It also points out that many of the addicts are selling sex to pay for their
habits, which "massively increases the likelihood of spreading HIV into an
unsuspecting public."



More than 3 million people who inject drugs now have HIV - almost one-tenth
of all the 33.3 million people worldwide who are infected with HIV.



In the United States, about 56,000 people, many of them injecting drug
users, become infected each year, a rate that has held steady for about a
decade. But many of those who are infected don't know it and spread the
virus unwittingly, according to the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.



For years the U.S.-based organization recommended routine testing, mainly
for intravenous drug users and other people at high risk. If new infections
are discovered early enough, HIV patients can be treated with drugs potent
enough to postpone the slide into full-blown AIDS.



Meanwhile, the Red Cross report says China, Malaysia, Russia, Ukraine and
Vietnam have "mega-epidemics" of injecting drug use. In some countries, such
as Russia, Georgia and Iran, drug-injecting users account for more than 60
percent of HIV infections.



The Red Cross calls the increasing rate of HIV infection among drug users
who use needles "a public health emergency" and recommends more governments
provide health services such as substitute drug therapy and clean needle and
syringe exchanges.



It says studies consistently show that needle exchanges can lower
transmission rates by as much as 42 percent.



"The IFRC is focusing on injecting drug users because a growing body of
evidence shows that failing to reach them with hard reduction programs not
only jeopardizes their own health, but also the safety of the public at
large," said Tadateru Konoe, the group's president.



The Geneva-based United Nations' AIDS agency said earlier this week that the
global AIDS epidemic among the general population has slowed, with a 20
percent decrease in new HIV infections over the past decade.



But that agency's report also noted there are still 7,000 new infections
each day - a rate that means two people are becoming infected with the virus
for every one who is starting treatment.



*7*

Myanmar allows HIV shelter to continue operating
Associated Press

25/11/2010



*Story carried by Washington Post*



YANGON, Myanmar -- Authorities in military-ruled Myanmar gave a last-minute
reprieve Thursday night to HIV patients living in a shelter run by
supporters of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, after earlier saying it had
to be shut down.



Yarzar, one of the shelter's staff, said the authorities agreed Thursday
night to let the patients stay. Last week, local officials ordered the 80
patients to be moved by this week, saying without explanation that it would
no longer approve the requests for overnight guests that are legally
required.



The shelter's organizers believed the eviction threat was issued because Suu
Kyi visited it just days after her Nov. 13 release from extended house
arrest, promising to help provide badly needed medicine. The ruling junta
regards Suu Kyi and her nonviolent struggle for democracy as a threat to its
power.



The conciliatory gesture has a hitch, however: The permits must be renewed
each week, and there is no guarantee that they will be.



Still, Yarzar said, "I am greatly relieved and so are the patients."



The shelter's organizers, who are public supporters of Suu Kyi's political
movement, said earlier that they would not send the patients away despite
the threat of legal action



The state-run Myanma Ahlin newspaper said Wednesday that health officials
had inspected the shelter in July and August and found it to be unhygienic,
with patients susceptible to infections due to overcrowding.



Yarzar acknowledged the shelter was crowded but said preventive measures
have been taken against the spread of diseases among the patients.



He said health authorities had offered to relocate the patients to a
state-run HIV center but the patients refused to move, saying their shelter
not only offers medical care, food and accommodation but "warmth and
affection that no other center can provide."



*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Next steps with 1% tenofovir microbicide gel

UNAIDS

25/11/2010



After nearly 20 years of research, the results of the CAPRISA 004 trial
provided the first evidence that the use of a vaginal microbicide could
provide a safe and effective way to prevent HIV infection in women.



Following results from a South African study (CAPRISA 004) showing that a
vaginal microbicide gel containing the antiretroviral drug tenofovir was 39%
effective in reducing a woman?s risk of becoming infected with HIV during
sex, WHO and UNAIDS convened a meeting in August 2010, just a month
following the announcement, to review the implications of the CAPRISA 004
results and determine the appropriate next steps.



The meeting participants agreed on the below priority actions for follow-up:



?Additional safety studies;

?Effectiveness trial in South Africa to confirm the CAPRISA 004 BAT 24
dosing regimen;

?Effectiveness and safety trial of simplified dosing and HIV testing
schedules;

?Implementation study in South Africa; and,

?Treatment outcome and resistance study.

To find out more, read the executive summary of the meeting report
here<http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/rtis/WHO_UNAIDS_Next_steps_tenofovir_gel_Ex_sum.pdf>
, or download the full report
here<http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/rtis/WHO_UNAIDS_Next_steps_tenofovir_gel_Ex_report.pdf>
.



*2*

The Secretary-General Message for World AIDS Day, 1 December 2010
UNAIDS

26/11/2010



Next year will mark the 30th anniversary of the AIDS epidemic.  This
milestone offers a moment to reflect ? and to renew our resolve.



Over the past three decades, AIDS has caused untold suffering and death.  But
another story has unfolded through the years, one of the global community
uniting with passion to take action and save lives.  These efforts are
making a real difference around the world.



Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV.  Millions of people have gained
access to HIV treatment.  More women are now able to prevent their babies
from becoming infected with HIV.  Travel restrictions for people living with
HIV are being lifted by many countries, as stigma gives way ? still too
slowly ? to compassion and recognition of human rights.



With commitment and solidarity, this movement is helping the world turn the
corner on the AIDS epidemic.  We have finally reached the first part of
Millennium Development Goal 6 ? by halting and beginning to reverse the
spread of HIV.  We must continue to chart a new and bold path ahead.



Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support.  We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable.



Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the
?three zeros? ? zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
AIDS-related deaths.  On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together
to realize this vision for all of the world?s people.



Download print version:

English<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_en.pdf>|
French<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_fr.pdf>|
Spanish<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_es.pdf>|
Russian<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ru.pdf>|
Arabic<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ar.pdf>|
Chinese<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_SG_WAD_MSG_ch.pdf>



*3*

Zero new HIV infections. Zero discrimination. Zero AIDS-related deaths *
*UNAIDS

26/11/2010



*Statment for World AIDS Day, 1 December 2010 by Michel Sidib?, Executive
Director of UNAIDS and Under Secretary-General of the United Nations *



On this World AIDS Day we can be proud.

Globally we have reduced the number of new HIV infections and deaths by
nearly 20%. This means less people are becoming infected with HIV and less
people are dying from AIDS. 56 countries have either stabilized or
significantly reduced the rate of new HIV infections.



For the first time, we have broken the trajectory of the AIDS epidemic and
reached the first part of the Millennium Development Goal for HIV. We have
achieved this amazing milestone because families, communities,
governments?and UNAIDS have united the world in an unprecedented movement.
We are prevailing?with political commitment, leadership from all sectors
including leaders of faith?with science, with evidence, with human rights,
and passion.



On this World AIDS Day we can remember.

Our successes have not come without sacrifice. Today we mourn friends and
family?some 30 million people who have lost their lives to AIDS. An
estimated 10 million people are waiting for treatment. We must remember that
punitive laws and stigma still hurt too many people around the world.



On this World AIDS Day we can commit.

Our hard-won gains are fragile?so our commitment to the AIDS response must
remain strong. AIDS is a proven investment and must be a shared
responsibility today and tomorrow.



On this World AIDS Day we can be hopeful.

With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing
the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination
of mother-to-child transmission by 2015.



Nothing gives me more hope than knowing that an AIDS free generation is
possible in our lifetime. So on this World AIDS Day, take action
today?together we can reach Zero new infections. Zero discrimination. Zero
AIDS-related deaths!



Download print version:

English<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_en.pdf>|
French<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_fr.pdf>|
Spanish<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_es.pdf>|
Russian<http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_ru.pdf>





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From tanguyen at chemonics-vn.com  Mon Nov 29 04:49:46 2010
From: tanguyen at chemonics-vn.com (Nguyen Thu Anh)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 11:49:46 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Extension of the Request for Proposal HIV/10/01 -
 Deadline December 15, 2010
Message-ID: <AANLkTimHAh14gBVgX90_rzVnFbLu74YbGGJB4gB--+h_@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Sir/Madam,

Chemonics is seeking a sub-contractor to work on the area of pre-credit
services and facilitation of referrals of potential loan recipients who are
people living with HIV and high risk individuals to TYM Fund in Hanoi, Nghe
An, and Thai Nguyen province/city. We enclose herewith our information for
the Request for Proposal.

Should you have any queries feel free to contact us.

Thank you

Thu Anh Nguyen

-- 
Nguyen Thu Anh, MD, PhD
Chief of Party | USAID HIV Workplace Project
Country Representative | Chemonics International Inc. Representative Office
Office Phone:  04 - 6251 0745 (ext 108)
Address:        B16, Lane 34, Nguyen Thi Dinh str., Trung Hoa, Cau Giay
District, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Mon Nov 29 09:31:51 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 16:31:51 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] FW: Consultant recruitment - PLAN
Message-ID: <AANLkTinaAAsAYgfJWDi=j5pU66SE+g23x=k2L_7P0F6K@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Ho Van, Thao <Thao.HoVan at plan-international.org>
Date: Fri, Nov 26, 2010 at 9:12 AM
Subject: [opportunities] FW: Consultant recruitment
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


  Dear Ha,



Please help to post the attached TOR of Plan Vietnam in INGO website.



Thanks,

Thao



[image: Click on this banner to make it
STOP.]<http://plan-international.org/learnwithoutfear>

Around the world 350 million children are affected by school violence every
year.
Click on this banner to make it STOP.

------------------------------

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Tue Nov 30 01:44:54 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:44:54 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] REMINDER/RAPPEL
In-Reply-To: <0C315E3BCE46E44B9A898B078B34D99B54804FBED9@EXCH-MBX-A.ulaval.ca>
References: <0C315E3BCE46E44B9A898B078B34D99B54804FBED9@EXCH-MBX-A.ulaval.ca>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=zHWLDohubwdU7kvx0pQ+g2DKo65C085gcCrWp@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Gilles Tremblay <Gilles.Tremblay at svs.ulaval.ca>
Date: 2010/11/30
Subject: [msm-asia] REMINDER/RAPPEL
To: "martinjamesw at gmail.com" <martinjamesw at gmail.com>, "jzoske at siena.edu" <
jzoske at siena.edu>, "jkosberg at bama.ua.edu" <jkosberg at bama.ua.edu>, "
crr03 at earthlink.net" <crr03 at earthlink.net>, "cremy at elon.edu" <cremy at elon.edu>,
"emujica at psychoanalysis.net" <emujica at psychoanalysis.net>, "
RFCARLBOM at CSBSJU.EDU" <RFCARLBOM at csbsju.edu>, "modersitzki at un.org" <
modersitzki at un.org>, "Angela.Forghani at mczcr.gov.on.ca" <
Angela.Forghani at mczcr.gov.on.ca>, "pmcmaho at tulane.edu" <pmcmaho at tulane.edu>,
"william-liu at uiowa.edu" <william-liu at uiowa.edu>, "
andrespayarola at yahoo.com.ar" <andrespayarola at yahoo.com.ar>, "
lina.ricciardelli at deakin.edu.au" <lina.ricciardelli at deakin.edu.au>, "
drum0031 at flinders.edu.au" <drum0031 at flinders.edu.au>, "
apurva.pandya at rediffmail.com" <apurva.pandya at rediffmail.com>, "
todd.morrison at usask.ca" <todd.morrison at usask.ca>, "johnbeebe at msn.com" <
johnbeebe at msn.com>, "Ratelk at unisa.ac.za" <Ratelk at unisa.ac.za>, "
travisryan13 at gmail.com" <travisryan13 at gmail.com>, "JIMONEIL1 at aol.com" <
JIMONEIL1 at aol.com>, "msm-asia at googlegroups.com" <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>,
"jhpleck at ILLINOIS.EDU" <jhpleck at illinois.edu>, "jsaintsardos at hotmail.com" <
jsaintsardos at hotmail.com>, "jobsoares at gmail.com" <jobsoares at gmail.com>, "
EliseS at reform.no" <EliseS at reform.no>, "j.l.lorentzen at stk.uio.no" <
j.l.lorentzen at stk.uio.no>, "lars.jalmert at ped.su.se" <lars.jalmert at ped.su.se>,
"a.burgess at fatherhoodinstitute.org" <a.burgess at fatherhoodinstitute.org>, "
TLloyd at workingwithmen.org" <TLloyd at workingwithmen.org>, "
colin at mensproject.org" <colin at mensproject.org>, "Pattman at ukzn.ac.za" <
Pattman at ukzn.ac.za>, "gaycentre at mweb.co.za" <gaycentre at mweb.co.za>, "
asturkum at anadolu.edu.tr" <asturkum at anadolu.edu.tr>, "
P.Branney at leedsmet.ac.uk" <P.Branney at leedsmet.ac.uk>


 **

* *

*RAPPEL*

Nous vous rappelons que vous avez jusqu?au 30 novembre 2010 pour profiter du
tarif r?duit pour votre inscription au colloque international sur les hommes
et les masculinit?s qui se tiendra ? Qu?bec les 9, 10 et 11 mars 2011. Ce
colloque s?annonce des plus prometteurs puisque, en plus de pr?senter 12
grandes conf?rences de chercheurs r?put?s, et un choix de 130 pr?sentations
en divers ateliers s?lectionn?es parmi plus de 200 soumissions en provenance
de plus de 30 pays diff?rents. Toute l?information se retrouve sur le site
du colloque :

http://www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe/colloque_masculinites_societe/

Au plaisir de vous voir en mars prochain lors de cet important colloque.



*REMINDER*

Please note that you have until November 30th 2010 to register at the
discount fee for the international conference on men and masculinities to be
held in Quebec City on March 9th, 10th and 11th 2011. This conference
promises to be one of the best in the field with 12 keynote speakers and a
choice between 130 papers in different workshops selected between more than
200 submissions coming from more than 30 different countries. All
information available on the web site:


http://www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe/colloque_masculinites_societe/

Looking forward to seeing you next March at this important conference.





Gilles Tremblay, PhD, t.s.
Professeur titulaire

?cole de service social

Pavillon Charles-De Koninck, local 5444
Universit? Laval
1030, avenue des Sciences humaines

Qu?bec, QC

Canada, G1V 0A6
418-656-2131 poste 12671
t?l?c. 418-656-3567
gilles.tremblay at svs.ulaval.ca
?quipe Masculinit?s et Soci?t?

www.criviff.ulaval.ca/masculinites_societe



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From nguyen.yen at healthright.org  Mon Nov 29 10:19:37 2010
From: nguyen.yen at healthright.org (Nguyen Yen)
Date: Mon, 29 Nov 2010 05:19:37 -0500
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Announcement of office relocation
Message-ID: <9C6D98BC6FAC55459E315A9581D8D39158127817@nycmail>


ANNOUNCEMENT OF OFFICE RELOCATION
Dear partners,
HealthRight International would like to announce our office relocation from 29th November 2010 from 25 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Hai Ba Trung district, Ha Noi to the new address as below:

6 floor, 141 Hoang Hoa Tham street,
Ngoc Ha ward, Ba Dinh district, Ha Noi

Our telephone numbers and fax number will remain the same:

Tel: 04.3944.7761/04.3944.7762
Fax: 04.3944.7763

Thank you so much!

TH?NG B?O CHUY?N ??A ?I?M

K?nh g?i c?c t? ch?c ??i t?c,

T? ch?c HealthRight International xin tr?n tr?ng th?ng b?o, k? t? ng?y 29 th?ng 11 n?m 2010 v?n ph?ng t? ch?c HealthRight International s? chuy?n t? ??a ch? c? t?i t?ng 4, s? 25 B?i Th? Xu?n, qu?n Hai B? Tr?ng, H? N?i ??n ??a ch? m?i nh? sau:

T?ng 6 ? T?a nh? 141 Ph? Ho?ng Hoa Th?m
Ph??ng Ng?c H? ? Qu?n Ba ??nh ? H? N?i

S? ?i?n tho?i v? s? fax c?a v?n ph?ng HealthRight kh?ng thay ??i:

S? ?i?n tho?i: 04. 3944.7761/ 3944.7762
Fax: 04.3944.7763

Xin ch?n th?nh c?m ?n!

---------------------
Nguyen Thi Yen
Administrative Assistant

HEALTHRIGHT INTERNATIONAL

25 Bui Thi Xuan Street, Hanoi, Vietnam
Tel: (844)39447761/62   Fax: (844)39447763
Email: nguyen.yen at healthright.org
www.healthright.org<http://www.healthright.org/<https://mail.healthright.org/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx>>

Celebrating 20 YEARS
Building lasting access to health for excluded communities



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Tue Nov 30 01:45:16 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 08:45:16 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.29ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D964B5@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
References: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D964B5@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimbmNsZFYKQ0UuxJTC=SoDLa+GrRks5T7hVjEGN@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Mon, Nov 29, 2010 at 8:14 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.29ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. People?s Daily, China - ONUSIDA: Nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida
(INTERVIEW)

2. Voice of America News - South Africa Assesses Progress in Fight Against
AIDS



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. The Citizen, Tanzania - EAC to have common HIV policy

2. Angola Press - Government's commitment to fighting HIV/Aids reiterated

3. Health-e, SA - Call for MSM to Be on Aids Agenda

4. Tehran Times - HIV/AIDS under control among IV drug users: Iranian health
minister



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. Straits Times, Singapore - Same-sex marriage could curb HIV

2. NDTV, India - City records fall in HIV cases

3. Jakarta Post - National AIDS commission upbeat on reaching targets

4. Today Online, Singapore - HIV insights

5. The Age, Australia - Experts pushing for rapid HIV testing

6. The Australian - Third of South African men admit rape



*EUROPE***

1. The Guardian, UK - Canc?n must be about more than climate change

2. The Lancet, UK - Mobile phones to improve HIV treatment adherence

3. The Lancet, UK - Striving for universal health coverage (Editorial)

4. AFP - Chine: pr?s de 20.000 nouveaux morts du sida en un an



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Gleaner - Unite against AIDS

2. O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil - Hiv ? protagonista de document?rios



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. New York Times - An AIDS Advance, Hiding in the Open

2. Los Angeles Times - Promising HIV prevention

3. Huffington Post - New Prevention Advances: Can We Now Imagine a World
Without AIDS?

4. IPS Terra Viva - Prenatal Care Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality

5. Washington Post - Review calls for State Department to focus more on
civilian response to conflict



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Asia-Pacific region UNiTEs to end violence against women and
girls





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



*UNAIDS*



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



ONUSIDA: Nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida (INTERVIEW)
People?s Daily, China

29/11/2010



C'est la premi?re fois que nous pouvons annoncer au monde que nous avons
bris? la trajectoire du sida, a affirm? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA
(le Programme commun des Nations Unies sur le VIH/sida), Michel Sidib?, lors
d'une interview accord?e ? Xinhua peu avant la Journ?e internationale du
sida.



DES NOUVELLE INTERESSANTES DANS LA LUTTE CONTRE LE SIDA

Selon les donn?es du Rapport ONUSIDA sur l'?pid?mie mondiale de sida 2010,
rendu public le 23 novembre dernier, on estime ? 2,6 millions le nombre de
personnes nouvellement infect?es par le VIH, soit une baisse de 20% par
rapport au chiffre de 1999.



En 2009, 1,8 million de personnes sont d?c?d?es de maladies li?es au sida,
chiffre inf?rieur de pr?s de 20% ? celui de 2004.



En 2009, on estimait ? 33,3 millions le nombre de personnes vivant avec le
VIH, chiffre l?g?rement sup?rieur ? celui de 2008 (32,8 millions). Cela est
essentiellement li? au fait que les gens vivent plus longtemps gr?ce ?
l'?largissement de l'acc?s au traitement antir?troviral.



Le monde a r?ussi ? enrayer l'?pid?mie de sida et commence ? inverser la
propagation du VIH. Le nombre des nouvelles infections a recul? de pr?s de
20% en dix ans, et les d?c?s li?s au sida ont diminu? de pr?s de 20% ces 5
derni?res ann?es, alors que les personnes vivant avec le virus voient leur
nombre se stabiliser.



"Pour la premi?re fois notre rapport nous donne des nouvelles tr?s
int?ressantes. C'est la premi?re fois que nous pouvons annoncer au monde que
nous avons bris? la trajectoire du sida. Nous avons r?ussi ? atteindre la
premi?re partie des Objectifs du Mill?naire pour le D?veloppement (OMD) dans
le cadre du sida", a soulign? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA.



"Aujourd'hui nous avons 56 pays dans le monde qui ont stabilis? de mani?re
significative les niveaux du sida. Cela signifie aussi que nous constatons
une r?duction de 20% du nombre de d?c?s et que nous avons ?galement une
r?duction des nouvelles infections de 20% en dix ans", a indiqu? M. Sidib?.



"Nous avons r?ussi ? ?viter le point critique des 500.000 nouvelles
infections. Je pense que cela nous aide ? combler le foss? qui existe entre
pr?vention et traitement", a-t-il ajout?.



UN GRAND PROGRES ENREGISTRE EN AFRIQUE

Lorsqu'on regarde les chiffres de mani?re globale, l'Afrique demeure la
r?gion qui a le plus de personnes infect?es par le sida (22,5 millions, soit
68% de la charge mondiale du VIH), a affirm? M. Sidib?.



"Personnellement, je pense que nous avons r?ussi ? briser la conspiration du
silence dans cette partie du monde", a-t-il indiqu?.



Dans 22 pays d'Afrique subsaharienne, le taux d'incidence du VIH a diminu?
de plus de 25% entre 2001 et 2009.



"Nous avons r?ussi ? associer l'Afrique du Sud dans ce programme, nous avons
r?ussi ? mobiliser un pays comme la R?publique D?mocratique du Congo (RDC),
nous nous sommes ?galement assur? de la participation du Nigeria ? la
d?marche et, aujourd'hui, nous nous acheminons vers l'?limination de la
transmission m?re/enfant ce qui repr?sente ? mes yeux une grande avanc?e", a
pr?cis? M. Sidib?.



L'AMBITION DE L'ONUSIDA

"Nous avons actuellement 500.000 d?c?s dus ? la co-infection SIDA /
tuberculose dans le monde, ce qui repr?sente un quart des d?c?s caus? par le
sida. Actuellement nous ?tablissons un nouveau momentum autour de la
co-infection. Nous voulons ?tre s?r de mobiliser le mouvement de la soci?t?
qui combat le sida et nous nous associons au mouvement de lutte contre la
tuberculose", a indiqu? le directeur ex?cutif de l'ONUSIDA.



"Notre ambition est de r?duire de moiti? le nombre de d?c?s d'ici 2015.
C'est cet objectif que nous essayons d'atteindre avec naturellement la
collaboration de nos coll?gues de l'OMS et de ceux qui ?uvrent contre la
tuberculose. C'est capital pour nous", a soulign? M. Sidib?.



"Cette question est tr?s importante particuli?rement parce que durant cette
p?riode difficile que nous traversons, je pense ? la crise financi?re, nous
devons obtenir un maximum de r?sultats sur nos investissements.
L'int?gration de la probl?matique de la tuberculose dans le combat contre le
sida est une mani?re d'atteindre cet objectif", a-t-il ajout?.



AUCUN ENFANT NE NAIT AVEC LE SIDA EN 2015

"Je souhaite que plus aucun enfant ne naisse avec le sida et cet objectif se
r?alise, car je suis convaincu que le monde peut le r?aliser. Rien ne peut
apporter plus de satisfactions que de dire que nous sommes en pr?sence d'un
monde o? les b?b?s naissent sans sida. C'est tout ? fait possible et nous en
recevons d?j? le signal", a martel? le chef de l'ONUSIDA.



"La Chine a virtuellement d?cid? d'?liminer la transmission m?re/enfant.
Suite ? ma visite en Chine, lorsque j'ai rencontr? des dirigeants chinois,
ils ont d?cid? d'?liminer la transmission du VIH/SIDA de la m?re ? l'enfant,
ils ont pris la d?cision que plus aucun nouveau-n? chinois ne na?trait
infect? par le VIH", a rappel? M. Sidib?.



L'Afrique du Sud a fait la m?me d?claration. Ce pays a incroyablement
progress? car aujourd'hui la couverture du traitement antir?troviral visant
? pr?venir la transmission du VIH de la m?re ? l'enfant a d?pass? les 80%.
Le Botswana, la Namibie, tous ces pays sont proches de l'?limination totale
de la transmission m?re/enfant.



"J'esp?re que d'ici 2015, le monde n'aura plus de nouveaux n?s VIH/SIDA",
a-t-il soulign?.



Michel Sidib? est le directeur ex?cutif d'ONUSIDA depuis le 1er d?cembre
2008. Il est entr? dans l'organisation en 2001 en tant que directeur du
D?partement d'appui aux pays et aux r?gions. Il y a supervis? une vaste
r?forme, reconnue pour avoir transform? l'ONUSIDA en un programme commun
mieux cibl? et plus efficace.



*5*

South Africa Assesses Progress in Fight Against AIDS
Voice of America News

28/11/2010



Scott Bobb | Johannesburg



International AIDS Day provides an opportunity to examine the efforts to
combat the deadly virus that attacks the human immune system. In South
Africa, whose 5.7 million HIV victims make it the most affected country in
the world, officials and activists are assessing an ambitious campaign
launched by the government on AIDS Day (Dec 1st) last year.



South Africa's President Jacob Zuma one year ago announced what he called a
new era in his government's fight against the HIV/AIDS virus.



"To take our response a step forward, we are launching a massive campaign to
mobilize all South Africans to get tested for HIV. Every South African
should know his or her HIV status."



Mr. Zuma said 15 million people would be tested for HIV in the next year,
treatment programs would be expanded and a major prevention campaign would
be launched.



He also called for a change of attitude toward the disease. "Let there be no
more shame, no more blame, no more discrimination and no more stigma. Let
the politicization and endless debates about HIV and AIDS stop," said Zuma.



This represented a dramatic shift in policy from the previous government (of
Thabo Mbeki) which downplayed the seriousness of the epidemic. Critics said
it caused hundreds of thousands of needless deaths.



AIDS activist Mark Heywood is deputy chairman of South Africa's National
AIDS Council. He says nearly four million people have been tested in the
past eight months and the number of people receiving treatment has doubled.



"There are many, many positives. But having stressed the positives I also
want to say that HIV remains a massive challenge for this country," he said.



Heywood says HIV prevalence in South Africa has stabilized but deaths and
new infection rates are largely unchanged. He blames this on a lack of
resources, determination and planning.



The United Nations issued a report last week saying that, nevertheless,
progress is being made across Africa where two-thirds of all HIV victims
live.



The report said that in the past decade (2001 - 2009) new infections and
deaths continent-wide had declined by 25 percent.



South African Deputy-Health Minister Gwen Ramakgopa called it significant
progress.



"We are encouraged that particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, including in our
country South Africa, we are seeing the dawn of a new era where we are
starting to halt the epidemic and indeed we need to consolidate our efforts
so that we can get into a phase of the reversal," she said.



But UNAIDS Regional Director Sheila Tlou said the battle was not over and
warned against complacency.



"Even though the number of HIV infections is decreasing, there is still a
need for prevention, because there are two new HIV infections for every one
person that is put on HIV treatment," said Tlou.



Heywood believes the global fight against HIV is at a pivotal point. "Many
gains of the last decade have been driven by activism, by people with HIV
standing, making themselves seen, making themselves heard, by HIV being cast
as a moral issue globally, as an issue of inequality. But I fear that
approach has run out of steam, not that it has run out of legitimacy," he
said.



Activists say global politics and economics are more complex now and they
fear a loss of momentum and political commitment along with a decline in
funds due to the ongoing financial crisis.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



EAC to have common HIV policy
The Citizen, Tanzania

27/11/2010



Arusha: The East African Community (EAC) is harmonising existing policies,
protocols, plans, strategies and legislation in partner states on the
prevention, treatment, care and management of HIV/Aids.



The EAC deputy secretary general (Productive and Social Sectors) Mr Jean
Claude Nsengiyumva, says the aim is to attain an HIV/Aids free population.



He explains that the HIV/Aids challenge is cross-cutting and multi-sectoral
in character, and hence needs concerted efforts by all key stakeholders.



Mr Nsengiyumva explains that the EAC Treaty puts strong emphasis on joint
regional strategies and interventions for the prevention and control of
HIV/Aids in EAC  partner states.



He says the EAC plays a coordination role for activities within the partner
states in support of the existing national policies on the pandemic.  He
reveals that partner states were currently undertaking joint action towards
the prevention and control of communicable and non-communicable diseases.
They include HIV/Aids that endangers the overall health and welfare of
citizens of EAC member countries.



He notes that HIV/Aids poses a serious threat to sustainable development in
the region and the integration agenda.

?The focus is on the prevention of HIV/Aids, care and the mitigation of its
impact in order to ensure sustainable human development within partner
states,? said Mr Nsengiyumva.



The EAC official noted that the disease affects everyone, irrespective of
the status in society. Generally governments cannot undertake this
initiative of fighting the pandemic alone, and thus arises the need to seek
private sector partnerships. In this regard, he says the EAC, being
people-centred and private sector driven, is partnering with private sectors
through the East African Business Council to promote and achieve an HIV/Aids
free population.



In an effort to stimulate corporate response to HIV pandemic, Mr.
Nsengiyumva says the East African Business Council organized a regional CEO
Testing Day on November 11, 2010.



The event was simultaneously carried out in each of the five capital cities
across East Africa.  The aim of CEOs testing for HIV/Aids was to ensure that
the CEOs lead by example and also help reduce the stigmatization that is
associated with HIV/AIDS, especially at workplaces.



It also aimed at making HIV/Aids testing a routine activity to reduce the
spread of the disease.  It involved full service with pre- and post-test
counseling.



The World AIDS Day kicked off in 1988 for the purpose of increasing
awareness, raising funds, fighting prejudice and improving HIV/Aids
education.



*2*

Government's commitment to fighting HIV/Aids reiterated
Angola Press

28/11/2010



Luanda ? The Angolan Executive has been committed to fighting HIV/Aids
through the holding of training and sensitisation actions, creation of test
centres, follow-up of HIV positive people, among other measures.



This was said last Saturday in Luanda by the Health minister, Jos?
Van-Dunem.



?Right now there are 500 units used for voluntary tests, in 120 districts of
the country? revealed the minister, who attended a march organised with a
view to sensitising people about the need fight against HIV/Aids, The march
was organised by the Angolan Network for Aids-related Services (ANASO), in
the ambit of the World Day against this disease, to be marked on December
01.



The government official said that each one?s responsibility starts with
protection and the diffusion of the message on this disease.



?We continue to support and intervening in the fight against HIV/Aids?, said
the minister, adding that everyone is called to be part of this struggle.



The march that started at Cidadela sports complex finished in the
Independence Square, and was attended by the ministers of Health, Jos?
Van-Dun?n, Environment, F?tima Jardim, Sports, Gon?alves Muanduba, the
President?s secretary for social matters, Rosa Pacavira, MPs, among other
personalities.



*3*

Call for MSM to Be on Aids Agenda *
*Health-e, SA

28/11/2010



Khopotso Bodibe



As World AIDS Day approaches, activists and service providers in the
non-governmental health sector have warned government that it will never
turn the tide of AIDS if high risk groups such as men who have sex with
other men are not brought into focus in efforts to prevent HIV spreading
further.



An online survey conducted by the OUT Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender
and Inter-sex network in 2007 shows that 15 - 20% of men in South Africa,
which translates to about 1.8 million men, have sex with other men.
Non-governmental organizations and activists have cautioned that this is a
high-risk group and its continued marginalization in national AIDS
programmes poses a threat to making real progress in addressing AIDS. So
far, programmes in South Africa, largely driven by the National Strategic
Plan for HIV and AIDS, have been designed to respond to what has been
described as a "general heterosexual epidemic". This is of concern to Dr
Oscar Radebe, a medical officer with Health for Men, an NGO that offers
health services to men.



"What we know is the National Strategic Plan, which is expiring next year,
has projections around what our targets are in terms of prevention. But,
unfortunately, we haven't reached any targets in terms of MSM. We'll never
get to bringing down the prevalence of HIV if we don't target a group that
is most vulnerable, who cannot access any kind of service. We've come a long
way with the struggle. I think this is another struggle that we have to look
at in a different manner", Radebe says.



Chairperson of the Treatment Action Campaign, Nonkosi Khumalo said the
struggle for inclusion of men who have sex with men in government AIDS
programmes will be taken up. She describes their exclusion as "a violation
of human rights".



"We can't live in a space where we ideally think these groups do not exist -
there are no men that are having sex with men. Activists will continue to
push for the recognition of these rights because HIV is not HIV on its own.
HIV thrives because there is a high rate of violation of human rights in the
African region", says Khumalo.



Director of the support team of the Joint United Nations Programme on
HIV/AIDS in eastern and southern Africa, Professor Sheila Tlou, reiterated
Khumalo's argument on human rights.



"Those are still neglected in a lot of the countries, mainly because in
those countries we still have very punitive laws that criminalize such
behaviours. The problem becomes that such groups then go under-ground and
they have the right to access HIV prevention, treatment, care and support
services just like the other members of society. It's really a question of
human rights".



Gay people and men who have sex with men in Africa have been under threat.
For instance, on the one hand Uganda has policies that are discriminatory on
lesbians and gays, while Malawi has prosecution laws. On the other, South
Africa has a Constitution that protects the right to sexual orientation, yet
is lacking in implementing the right. This is evident in the prejudicial
nature of our public health service in providing care to men who sex with
men.



"We've identified a group that is at risk. But, now, what do we have for
them? How do they access any kind of preventative methods? Do they actually
have any preventative methods because, remember, the closest thing that they
could get is to the clinic, where there are so many barriers?" , says Dr
Radebe of Health for men.



Radebe says government health services have failed to acknowledge and to
understand men who have sex with men.



"It could be a straight or married man who will sleep with another man. If
they test positive it's difficult for them to actually access services. They
get judged a lot. They get stigmatised", he says.



He adds that health care workers need to be sensitized around dealing with
this community of men.



"It's a different approach and it's not throwing this to the health care
workers to say, 'you are forced to actually do this'; it's part of what we
are trained to do. Already you are in the setting where you're providing
services. But you've got to realize that you've got to learn more about your
client in a different perspective because you've got a new epidemic that is
coming in, a new obstacle that doesn't want to bring down HIV prevalence. We
need to try and talk about HIV in that context with health care workers and
the Department of Health and integrate MSM programmes and training".



Deputy Health Minister, Dr Gwen Ramokgopa, pointed out that the Bill of
Rights in the Constitution guarantees rights to all regardless of sexual
orientation. She also acknowledged that the country needs to go a long way
to ensure that health services implement this right.



"We still need to ensure that the stigma that is there in society is also
dealt with so that it shouldn't be that you're respected and/or you have
access to services based on one sexual orientation or the other. And, indeed
in the case of HIV and AIDS, men having sex with other men are identified as
one of the high risk groups, so we need to extend services there. Many men
who have sex with men are family members. They are even married to women.
They have children and all that. It's important that we look at high risk
situations and we become as scientific as possible and as humane as possible
in terms of tackling the epidemic", Ramokgopa said.



*6*

HIV/AIDS under control among IV drug users: Iranian health minister *
*Tehran Times

29/11/2010



TEHRAN -- Health Minister Marzieh Vahid-Dastjerdi says that Iran has been
successful in curbing the spread of the HIV virus due to intravenous (IV)
drug use, but she warned about the rise in HIV/AIDS cases due to
extramarital sexual relations.



Iran has succeeded in controlling the spread of the disease among IV drug
users, and a very low percentage of the country?s drug users are infected
with the HIV virus, Vahid-Dastjerdi told reporters on Sunday.



But what is a serious danger is the increase in HIV/AIDS cases due to sexual
behavior, she added.



In such a situation, the number of HIV-infected people will quintuple in
Iran, Vahid-Dastjerdi stated.



She went on to say that if AIDS transmission rises due to sexual relations,
it may cause an ?AIDS volcano? in Iran in the future.



She advised Iranian citizens, particularly the younger generation, to follow
moral principles and to avoid sexual behavior that can lead to HIV/AIDS
infection.



Over 20,000 people have been diagnosed with AIDS in Iran, but the real
number of affected people is about three to four times higher, the health
minister added.



On a positive note, Vahid-Dastjerdi said the World Health Organization has
introduced Iran as an international model for controlling HIV/AIDS



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Same-sex marriage could curb HIV
Straits Times, Singapore

29/11/2010



BEIJING - AS HIV/AIDS becomes more prevalent among the gay population on the
mainland, some experts have joined the gay community in calling for the
legal recognition of same-sex marriage as a means of curbing the infection.



Although the rate of HIV infection is 0.05 per cent nationwide, gay men have
been the hardest hit by the sexually transmitted disease, experts warned
ahead of this year's World AIDS Day, which fell on Wednesday.



In some cities, nearly one out of five is HIV positive in the gay community,
experts said.



'To legalise same-sex marriage could help stabilize and sustain gay
relationships, thereby lowering the risk of contracting HIV/AIDS,' said
Zhang Beichuan, a professor at Qingdao University and an outspoken gay
rights advocate.



In the meantime, the government continues to work hard to reach vulnerable
groups, particularly gay men, and to provide safe sex education and free
condoms, said Hao Yang, deputy director of the disease prevention and
control bureau under the Ministry of Health.



While government programs currently reach 90,000 gay men a month, Mr Hao
said it was insufficient. -- CHINA DAILY/ANN



*2*

City records fall in HIV cases
NDTV, India

29/11/2010



Somita Pal, DNA



Mumbai:  In tune with the global trend, the HIV/AIDS epidemic appears to be
slowing down a little in Mumbai with the city registering a lower number of
new HIV positive cases.



According to a study conducted by the Mumbai District AIDS Control Society
(MDACS), the prevalence of HIV infection in pregnant women has come down
from 1.24% in 2005 to 0.53% in 2010.



"The reduction in the number of HIV positive pregnant women is a let-up sign
in new infection. We have been doing line listing through which we register
the HIV-infected pregnant women coming for check-ups. In case they come for
check-up again, we already have their case history. This has helped us in
bringing down the number of HIV-infected pregnant women," said Dr SS
Kudalkar, project director, MDACS.



The city has seen a dip in overall AIDS cases too. If 5,420 AIDS cases were
registered in 2007, there were only 2,942 cases in 2008 and 1,308 cases in
2009.



"So far, we have registered 966 cases this year," said Kudalkar.



The MDACS study also reveals that there is a marked change in the attitude
and behavioural patterns of female sex workers in Mumbai towards use of
condoms. The condom use amongst brothel-based female sex workers is as high
as 98% in the case of paying clients.



"As a part of preventing the spread of HIV infection from core group, which
is also called high risk group, into the general population, MDACS is
conducting targeted interventions to bring about behavioural change by
providing awareness, condom promotion and STI treatment with the help of
NGOs. Forty-one such projects are being carried out in high-risk population
areas," added Kudalkar.



The basic purpose of intervention among the most vulnerable and marginalised
population is to reduce the rate of transmission through behaviour change
and encourage health-seeking behaviour.



The high-risk groups include female sex workers, men having sex with men,
injecting drug users and the bridge population that includes migrant workers
and truck drivers.



A United Nations AIDS (UNAIDS) organization survey shows that there is a dip
in the number of HIV infection cases.



Globally, HIV infection rates have fallen by nearly 20% in the past 10 years
to 2.6 million in 2009 from 3.1 million in 1999. Also, AIDS-related deaths
have come down by 20% in the same period across the world.



UNAIDS showed that India has 2.4 million HIV patients at present. The only
factor clouding the happy picture is the fact that though seven lakh
HIV-positive Indians need anti-retro viral therapy (ART), less than half
have access to it.



In Mumbai, MDACS statistics show that 24,086 of 52,828 HIV-positive patients
registered for care in the city received ART in the period between 2006 and
2010.



*3*

National AIDS commission upbeat on reaching targets
Jakarta Post

27/11/2010



Tifa Asrianti



The National Commission on HIV/AIDS Prevention says it is optimistic it will
achieve its target to increase the use of condoms during sexual activity and
raise greater awareness of the deadly virus among teenagers.



The commission has been establishing clinics for voluntary counseling and
testing (VCT) and care, support and treatment (CST) to assist those living
with HIV and AIDS.



In 2004, there were only 25 VCT and 25 CST clinics. Today, Indonesia has 789
VCT and 259 CST clinics spread across the country, and the commission
targets to implement 872 VCT and 296 CST clinics by 2014.



With more counseling clinics, the number of recorded HIV/AIDS cases has
surged.



In 2004, the commission recorded a cumulative number of 2,682 cases. As of
June 2010, the commission recorded 68,927 people were HIV positive and
21,770 had contracted the AIDS virus.



?Many people are shocked when they learn that Indonesia has many HIV/AIDS
cases,? Nafsiah Mboi, the commission?s secretary-general, said. ?But because
we have many VCTs and CSTs, we have been able to record HIV/AIDS cases that
were not tracked before.?



Four goals have been formed in the attempt to lower the amount of HIV/AIDS
cases.



First, the HIV prevalence in fertile-age citizens should be below 0.5
percent, which has been achieved. Currently, the figure is below 0.2
percent.



Second, the usage of condoms during sexual activity is targeted to reach 65
percent. The current figure is only at 30 percent.



?The low usage of condoms is prevalent in Indonesia, but this is so in
almost every Asian country, excluding Japan,? Nafsiah said.



Next is to ensure the percentage of teenagers with comprehensive knowledge
on HIV/AIDS is at 95 percent. The current percentage is at 14.3 percent.



Nafsiah said that most schools wanted students to practice abstinence and
that they refused to provide sex education.



?In Papua, a region with a high prevalence of HIV/AIDS, the schools provide
sex education and hold training for teachers. But other regions have yet to
do this. So our strategy is to provide teenagers with life skills [so they
can make informed decisions],? she said.



The fourth goal is to provide anti-retro viral (ARV) drugs to every person
with HIV/AIDS by 2015.



So far, the commission has given the ARV medication to 16,982 people with
HIV/AIDS (64 percent).



Nafsiah said that the commission could ensure ARV availability until 2012.
However, she added, the challenge was to ensure the distribution of the
medicine.



She cited a case in Papua in which administration officials did not provide
ARV medicine to patients because officials were concerned the patients would
not be assiduous in taking it, something that could result in drug
resistance.



Data from the Health Ministry showed that consistently consuming ARV
medication resulted in a lower-mortality rate of people with HIV/AIDS.



In 2006, only 54 percent of patients received ARV and the mortality rate was
46 percent.



The next year, ARV medication increased to 58 percent, while the mortality
rate dropped to 21 percent. In 2008, the percentage of people receiving ARV
treatment was recorded at 62 percent and the mortality rate was as low as 17
percent.



?With a good ARV program resulting in a low mortality rate, the new
challenge is to keep this key group from infecting others,? Nafsiah said.



*4*

HIV insights
Today Online, Singapore

29/11/2010



To commemorate World Aids Day on Wednesday, MTV will air a new hour-long
documentary entitled Me, Myself & HIV as part of its Staying Alive Campaign,
which is a multimedia global HIV and Aids prevention campaign.



The documentary follows the lives of two young people from different worlds
who both live with HIV: Slim, a 21-year-old aspiring DJ and music producer
from Lusaka, Zambia, and Angelikah, a 25-year-old college student from
Minneapolis, Minnesota. They share their real-life stories from when they
first decided to get tested for HIV/Aids to what happened after getting
their results and how it affected their everyday lives.



"Being honest about my status was a really nerve-wracking experience, but it
has changed my life," said Slim. "Stay positive about your future if you are
positive, and don't be negative if you are negative."



The edgy, entertaining self-narrated documentary intends to dispel common
myths and stereotypes associated with HIV, educate youth on HIV transmission
and prevention, and encourage young people to speak more openly about the
disease. In conjunction, local MTV viewers will be able to take advantage of
free anonymous HIV testing offered by Action For Aids. For more details, log
onto www.mtvasia.com from Nov 29 onwards. You can also visit the Facebook
page (http://www.facebook.com/MTVStayingAliveCampaign) or Twitter (
http://twitter.com/mtvstayingalive).



Catch Me, Myself & HIV on Wednesday (Dec 1) at 3pm on MTV Asia (StarHub TV
Ch 533). Repeats on Wednesday at 9pm, Thursday (Dec 2) at 12.30am and
Saturday (Dec 4) at midnight.



*5*

Experts pushing for rapid HIV testing
The Age, Australia

28/11/2010



Jill Stark



HIV tests that can provide results within 30 minutes should be made
available in Australia to curb rising infection rates, according to experts
who say our screening methods have fallen behind the rest of the world.



While-you-wait testing is routine in America and Europe, but here patients
have to make a doctor's appointment and can wait a week or more for the
results.



Gay men who have unprotected sex are advised to be tested at least once a
year, but the inconvenience and stress of several doctor's visits is proving
a barrier to regular testing.



The lag between tests means those who have the virus may be unknowingly
passing it on to sexual partners.



Experts say community drop-in centres staffed by nurses, counsellors and
volunteers, where people can have the finger prick test without an
appointment and receive results in less than an hour, would reduce the
infection rate, which is at its highest since the early 1990s.



Last year 1050 Australians were diagnosed with HIV, up from 718 a decade
ago.



''Australia is the last developed country in the world that doesn't have
access to rapid testing,'' said Mike Kennedy, executive director of the
Victorian AIDS Council. ''All of the studies that have been done on gay men
in Australia that have said, 'If there was a rapid test would you use it?',
overwhelmingly people say yes. If we introduce it here we would see what
we've seen everywhere around the world, we'd see rapid uptake.



''It's not just a substitute for standard testing, you actually get people
who would not use conventional testing where you've got to go to the
doctor.''



Rapid testing centres may also deter people from buying home testing kits on
the internet, which have not been approved for use in Australia, may be
unreliable and are illegal to import.



State and federal governments have been reluctant to introduce rapid testing
in Australia, amid fears it may not be as accurate as conventional
screening, in which blood samples are sent off for laboratory testing before
a result is provided to the patient.



However, there is a growing push for while-you-wait testing, led by NSW
advocacy groups, with the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations set to
release a report next month showing the method is highly effective.



Mark Stoove, head of the Burnet Institute's HIV/AIDS program, who has been
commissioned by ACON - a Sydney-based advocacy group - to establish an
effective delivery model for rapid testing, said the tests used widely
overseas, now provided close to 100 per cent accuracy.



''The specificity and sensitivity of these tests is very high. At a
population level if you're testing large numbers of people there are
obviously opportunities for false positives and negatives, which is why we
would use two concurrent tests together to improve the reliability. And any
positive results would go off for full whole blood diagnostic testing,'' Dr
Stoove said.



''We did a study that shows up to a third of sexually active gay men
recruited in nightclubs and sex-on-premises venues, who were HIV positive,
were not actually aware that they were HIV positive.''



*6*

Third of South African men admit rape
The  Australian

27/11/2010



From: AAP



MORE than a third of South African men in a new survey admitted to
committing rape at some point in their lives.



The survey, by the government-funded Medical Research Council and non-profit
organisation Gender Links, found that 37.4 per cent of men in the
north-central province of Gauteng admitted to committing rape at some point
in their lives, while 25.3 per cent of women said they had been victims of
rape.



It follows up on a national survey carried out last year that found more
than one in four South African men admitted to having raped a woman or girl.



"The previous level was so high that we didn't expect it to be even
higher,'' Rachel Jewkes, a researcher at the Medical Research Council, said.



Researchers surveyed 487 men and 511 women in Gauteng, the country's
second-most populous province, which is home to Pretoria, the capital, and
Johannesburg, the largest city.



The study group was 90 per cent black and 10 per cent white, reflecting the
province's demographics, authors said.



Over half the women surveyed said they had experienced some form of violence
- emotional, economic, physical or sexual - in their lifetimes, and 78.3 per
cent of men admitted to perpetrating some form of violence against women.



South Africa has one of the world's highest rates of reported rape, with
36,190 cases - 99 per day - reported to police in 2007, but experts say that
only a small number of attacks are actually reported.



The MRC study found that only one in 25 rapes had been reported to the
police.



South Africa has the highest number of HIV infections in the world,
compounding the trauma rape victims face.



In the 2009 study, one in five confessed rapists tested positive for HIV.



*========================*



*EUROPE***



*========================*



Canc?n must be about more than climate change
The Guardian, UK

26/11/2010



Wangari Maathai



Twelve months ago I stood up in front of heads of state at the UN climate
talks in Copenhagen and told them that they could not negotiate with the
climate; they would have to negotiate with each other. And as leaders
prepare to meet again in Canc?n next week, I repeat my plea.



I have been attending UN conferences since 1976 and am now part of the
millennium development goals advocacy group. In the past 30 years I have
seen much to be proud of, and much for us to hang our heads at. At times
when action has been needed, the world has responded. Other times we have
not.



Negotiating an issue that has such a vast effect on our world is not easy,
and governments know that negotiations are as much about how countries
interact as they are about what they agree. There is a history of accidental
and deliberate misunderstanding in climate negotiations that has left deep
scars, but leaders must overcome this legacy of mistrust by building on
common ground in a genuine, fair and trusting way that is based on mutual
responsibility ? to ourselves and to billions around the world.



I believe in the ability of humanity to come together in the face of
seemingly impossible difficulties. Finding a way to rise to the challenge of
climate change is not easy. But it is possible. We have the knowledge to
deliver ? the cost of low-carbon technology is falling, our understanding of
how climate change will affect our lives is improving. The UN advisory group
on climate finance has shown that we can generate the $100bn (?64bn) a year
promised to tackle climate change. Now we must work together to make these
possibilities a reality.



It is true that no delegate leaves a conference with a perfect document, but
last year in Copenhagen we caught a glimpse of the potential we have if we
tackle this global crisis together. For the first time, 115 countries
recognised the scientific case for restricting the rise in global
temperatures to 2C. For the first time ever, all the major emitters of the
world accepted their moral responsibility to reduce their emissions and
committed to build trust and transparency. And for the first time ever, we
set out our interconnectedness, with developed countries offering to help
the poorest countries to protect their people from climate change and to
find a path to low-carbon sustainable development.



We appreciate the fact that an international agreement alone will not
deliver the answer ? words and promises mean nothing without action. Trust
is a two-way road and outside of Canc?n, governments must do what they have
promised: take concrete action to reduce their emissions; deliver finance
and work together to make low-carbon development a reality; and protect
those least able to cope with the impact of climate change.



If we are to help steer the world through this uncertainty, we must be clear
that climate change, though important, is only one part of the puzzle. If we
truly want to tackle climate change, poverty and conflict we need to think
holistically. We need to, as Ban Ki-moon said at the launch of the UN global
sustainability panel, "think big, connecting the dots between poverty,
energy, food, water, environmental pressure and climate change".



Focusing on only one dot means that we lose sight of the bigger picture.
Water is a timeless example. We know that the impact of climate change will
be felt through water ? too much, too little or the wrong type. And
improving basic services such as water sanitation and hygiene is vital to
development, reducing child deaths and improving education. There are 884
million people who don't have safe drinking water and 2.6 billion who don't
have somewhere to go to the toilet. The floods in Pakistan are a dramatic
example of how destructive water can be, yet how essential it is to life.
Reducing disaster risk, and providing the most vulnerable with safe water
and sanitation is as much about building their resilience to climate change
as it is about justice, equality and development.



And we saw in 2008 just what can happen when we fail to connect those dots ?
climate change, oil prices, protectionism and global economics collided to
push food prices up and hang a cloud of starvation over the heads of
millions of people.



So these negotiations are about more than climate change ? we need to find
reason to trust each other so that we can find a new way of working together
to tackle the connected global challenges we face. Our failure to link these
issues affects us all. In Canc?n and beyond, the governments of the world
have to learn to work together for our common future. Our planet is finite,
our fates are intertwined, our choice is clear ? stand together or fall
divided.



*3*

Mobile phones to improve HIV treatment adherence
The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9755, Pages 1807 - 1808

Benjamin H Chi a b, Jeffrey SA Stringer a b



In sub-Saharan Africa, access to HIV treatment has expanded at an
unprecedented rate. Nearly 3 million HIV-infected adults and children in the
region have now started antiretroviral therapy, an increase of 30 times
since 2003.1, 2 Despite this undeniable success, there are growing concerns
about long-term outcome in such patients. Ensuring strict adherence to
suppressive antiretroviral regimens remains a formidable challenge,3
particularly in those who are on therapy for a long time. Reports show high
levels of patients' attrition from antiretroviral programmes, as high as 35%
at 3 years.4, 5

In The Lancet, Richard Lester and colleagues6 report the WelTel Kenya1
study, a randomised trial of mobile (cell) phone text-messaging to improve
patients' adherence to antiretroviral therapy. Patients were randomly
assigned to either a short message service (SMS) intervention?designed by
the investigators and with use of the extensive mobile-phone network in
Kenya?or to standard care. Patients in the SMS group received, and were
expected to respond to, weekly text messages that asked about their general
wellbeing. If a patient reported a problem or did not reply within 48 h, a
follow-up phone call was made by a health provider. Primary outcomes were
self-reported adherence to antiretrovirals (defined as having taken >95% of
the prescribed drugs in the past 30 days) at 6 and 12 months and HIV-1 viral
RNA load suppression (<400 copies per mL) at 12 months.

In the intention-to-treat analysis, the SMS intervention was associated with
higher rates of adherence (62%) than was the control group (50%; relative
risk for non-adherence 0?81, 95% CI 0?69?0?94; p=0?006) and with better
rates of virological suppression (57% vs 48%; relative risk for virological
failure 0?85, 0?72?0?99; p=0?04). The primary analysis rightly included
patients' retention and survival as part of its treatment outcome, because
both are potential collateral benefits of the intervention. In a secondary
analysis that censored missing data, the effect of the SMS intervention on
adherence was no longer observed (91% vs 91%; 1?00, 0?94?1?07; p=0?94), but
its effect on virological suppression persisted (75% vs 66%; 0?88,
0?77?1?00; p= 0?047).



WelTel was sensibly designed and well executed, and provides some of the
first randomised data for mobile-phone-based health interventions. Despite
the huge amount of investment and activity in mobile health-technology,7 at
present there are few outcomes data available. As policy makers consider
bringing the SMS intervention to scale?which we think they should?some
questions remain. First, why did the intervention work? The SMS queries were
too infrequent to actually remind patients to take their drugs pill by pill.
Possibly the SMS intervention worked by improving communication and rapport
between health providers and patients (patients reported during the pilot
phase that ?it feels like someone cares?8). A clearer understanding of the
mechanism behind the intervention's effectiveness?perhaps identified by
qualitative research?could provide insight into how the intervention might
be optimised and replicated elsewhere.

A second question is: can these findings be extended to other settings? The
availability of mobile-phone infrastructure will not be a major hindrance to
widespread use of this technology. In many African countries, service
coverage is nearly ubiquitous, and almost everyone has a mobile phone or
access to a shared one. In WelTel, for example, only 39 of the 581 (7%)
candidates were excluded because of the absence of such access. Where the
availability of mobile phones is not so complete, programmes could issue
free phones or subsidise the cost of using the phones for the SMS
intervention.



Finally, what are the cost implications of this intervention? By our
calculations, the yearly mobile-phone costs for the national cohort in Kenya
on antiretroviral therapy (almost 400 000 in 20099) would be about US$2?6
million, roughly 1% of the support provided by the US President's Emergency
Plan for AIDS Relief to Kenya's national antiretroviral programme.10 At
under $8 per patient per year, this intervention might prove cost effective,
particularly when one considers the cost and complexity of second-line
therapy.11 However, this aspect still requires formal analyses.

In sub-Saharan Africa, the science of implementation?particularly focusing
on patients' adherence and retention?has understandably lagged behind the
rapid pace of programme expansion. In this regard, WelTel is an important
step forward, one that shows the promise of technology to assist in settings
where high disease burden and resource constraints threaten a programme's
success. However, technology-based approaches represent only one of many
effective means that should be considered by policy makers and health
providers to improve adherence to antiretrovirals. A comprehensive
multipronged approach tailored to the specific needs of individual local
settings must be used if maximum gains in patients' health are to be
realised.



We declare that we have no conflicts of interest.



References

1 WHO, UNAIDS. Progress on global access to HIV antiretroviral therapy: a
report on ?3 by 5? and beyond.
http://www.who.int/hiv/fullreport_en_highres.pdf. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

2 WHO, UNAIDS, UNICEF. Towards universal access: scaling up priority
HIV/AIDS interventions in the health sector. September 2009 progress report.
http://www.who.int/hiv/pub/2009progressreport/en. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

3 Nachega JB, Mills EJ, Schechter M. Antiretroviral therapy adherence and
retention in care in middle-income and low-income countries: current status
of knowledge and research priorities. Curr Opin HIV AIDS 2010; 5: 70-77.
CrossRef | PubMed

4 Rosen S, Fox MP, Gill CJ. Patient retention in antiretroviral therapy
programs in sub-Saharan Africa: a systematic review. PLoS Med 2007; 4: e298.
CrossRef | PubMed

5 Fox MP, Rosen S. Patient retention in antiretroviral therapy programs up
to three years on treatment in sub-Saharan Africa, 2007?2009: systematic
review. Trop Med Int Health 2010; 15 (suppl 1): 1-15. CrossRef | PubMed

6 Lester RT, Ritvo P, Mills EJ, et al. Effects of a mobile phone short
message service on antiretroviral treatment adherence in Kenya (WelTel
Kenya1): a randomised trial. Lancet 201010.1016/S0140-6736(10)61997-6.
published online Nov 9. PubMed

7 UN Foundation, Vodafone Foundation. mHealth for development: the
opportunity for mobile technology for healthcare in the developing world.
http://www.globalproblems-globalsolutions-files.org/unf_website/assets/publications/technology/mhealth/mHealth_for_Development_full.pdf.
(accessed Oct 31, 2010).

8 Lester R, Karanja S. Mobile phones: exceptional tools for HIV/AIDS,
health, and crisis management. Lancet Infect Dis 2008; 8: 738-739. Full Text
| PDF(418KB) | CrossRef | PubMed

9 Kenya National AIDS Control Council, Offce of the President. UNGASS 2010:
United Nations General Assembly Special Session on HIV and AIDS. Country
report Kenya.
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2010/kenya_2010_country_progress_report_en.pdf.
(accessed Oct 30, 2010).

10 United States President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Kenya?FY 2009
approved funding by program area, agency and funding source.
http://www.pepfar.gov/about/122582.htm. (accessed Oct 30, 2010).

11 Boyd M, Emery S, Cooper DA. Antiretroviral roll-out: the problem of
second-line therapy. Lancet 2009; 374: 185-186. Full Text | PDF(212KB) |
CrossRef | PubMed



a Centre for Infectious Disease Research in Zambia, Lusaka, Zambia

b University of Alabama School of Medicine, Birmingham, AL, USA



*4*

Striving for universal health coverage (Editorial)*
*The Lancet, UK

27/11/2010



The Lancet, Volume 376, Issue 9755, Page 1799, 27 November 2010



In 2005, WHO urged its member states to commit to develop their health
systems so that all people have access to essential health services without
the financial hardship associated with payment. Yet the world is still a
long way from universal health coverage for rich and poor countries, with
more than half the population lacking any type of social protection, and
billions of people lacking health care.



To guide countries at all development stages to achieve this goal more
quickly and sustain existing achievements, the World Health Report 2010 is
subtitled Health System Financing: The Path to Universal Coverage. Margaret
Chan, Director General of WHO, launched the report on Nov 22 at an
International Ministerial Conference in Berlin, Germany, where high-ranking
decision makers gathered to exchange experiences and discuss strategies for
health financing.

The launch of the report at the ministerial conference means the beginning
of a new push towards universal coverage in the context of both the economic
downturn and the continuing rise of health-care expenditure. The overarching
message is optimistic and practical?that all countries can take steps to
move faster to achieve this goal and maintain their achievements. Many
countries are beginning to embrace universal coverage. The USA and China?two
major economic powers whose health funding had previously been based on
free-market mechanisms?are moving back to some element of universal
coverage. Several low-income and middle-income countries have recently made
great strides in developing their health systems towards universal coverage.
These include Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Ghana, Kyrgyzstan,
Mongolia, Rwanda, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Moldova.



There are three barriers to progress. By far the greatest obstacle is
over-reliance on direct payments (out-of-pocket payments at the time people
use services), which exclude 1?3 billion poor people from accessing health
services and drive an additional 100 million people into poverty yearly.
Such fees encourage health service overuse by people who can pay and
underuse by those who cannot. Sadly, the poorer the country, the greater the
reliance on direct payments, which represented more than 50% of total health
expenditures in 33 mostly low-income countries in 2007. Only when the
percentage falls to 15?20% does the risk of financial catastrophe become
negligible. Other impediments include the availability of resources and the
inefficient and inequitable use of resources. Global annual expenditure on
health is about US$5?3 trillion, of which it is estimated that 20?40% is
wasted?most often by inappropriate use of medicines. To overcome these
obstacles, the report provides feasible guidance and actions: raising
sufficient funds, reducing direct payments through compulsory prepayment and
pooling to spread the financial risks of the ill across the population, and
spending money more efficiently and equitably.



This timely report sends a message of hope. Nevertheless, David Evans, one
of the principal authors from WHO, stressed that many questions remain. For
instance, it is not known which people miss out on which services, long-term
financial hardship or the impact of direct payments on individuals, and how
much several newly launched global-health initiatives cost. Also unclear is
the proportion of external financial assistance that actually gets through
to low-income countries, which rely increasingly on external assistance to
achieve the Millennium Development Goals and to save more than 3 million
additional lives by 2015. Ironically, while spending on improving the health
of people in most countries has increased at a historically unprecedented
rate, there is not enough research that assesses health policy and health
systems to guide investment. ?Health systems research is underutilised and
badly needed?, said Julio Frenk, Dean of the Harvard School of Public
Health, in the First Global Symposium on Health Systems Research held in
Montreux, Switzerland on Nov 16?19, 2010.



That universal coverage is so distant for so many people is unacceptable.
Health and universal coverage were discussed as a legal right in the 1948 UN
Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Universal health coverage comes down
to political will. Effective governance is the key to health-system reform.
Policy makers must prioritise health in their governmental budgets and move
health financing for universal coverage to the top of the political agenda.
Meanwhile, the international community should use all means possible to
support low-income countries to obtain enough aid and use it more
transparently and efficiently to improve the health of their people.



*5*

Chine: pr?s de 20.000 nouveaux morts du sida en un an
AFP

29/11/2010



PEKIN ? Le nombre de morts du sida en Chine a augment? de pr?s de 20.000 en
un an pour atteindre 68.315 fin octobre depuis le d?but de l'?pid?mie en
1985, selon les chiffres du minist?re de la Sant? rapport?s lundi par la
t?l?vision nationale CCTV.



Dans le m?me temps, le nombre de personnes s?ropositives ou malades du sida
r?pertori?es dans le pays le plus peupl? du monde est pass? de 319.877 ?
370.393, soit une augmentation de plus de 60.000 personnes, pr?cise CCTV
avant la journ?e mondiale contre le sida mercredi.



Le nombre de cas estim?s d'infections par le virus VIH du sida en Chine
demeure lui inchang? ? 740.000, selon la m?me source.



Le sida est d?sormais surtout transmis en Chine par contact sexuel et le
taux de contamination de la population homosexuelle progresse rapidement,
selon CCTV.



Le minist?re de la Sant? s'?tait d?j? alarm? l'an dernier de cette
?volution.



L'?pid?mie progresse au-del? des secteurs de la population initialement les
plus touch?s, comme les consommateurs de drogue par intraveineuse, les
minorit?s ethniques, les prostitu?es, et les malades ayant re?u des
perfusions de sang contamin?.



Les malades du sida ont longtemps ?t? stigmatis?s en Chine, notamment pour
l'acc?s ? l'emploi. Mais les attitudes vis-?-vis des victimes de l'?pid?mie
ont commenc? ? ?voluer gr?ce notamment ? des campagnes de pr?vention.

Copyright ? 2010 AFP. Tous droits r?serv?s



*========================*

* *

*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

* *

*========================*



Unite against AIDS
Jamaica Gleaner

29/11/2010



Nedburn Thaffe, Gleaner Writer



Amid talks of financial cutbacks to international funding of Jamaica's fight
against HIV/AIDS, National HIV programme director, Dr Kevin Harvey, has
called for Jamaicans to adopt a unified approach to tackling the challenges
created by the infection.



Harvey made the appeal during the annual World AIDS Day proclamatory church
service held at Andrews Memorial Seventh-day Adventist temple in St Andrew
on the weekend.



World AIDS Day, which is observed each year on December 1, is being held
under the theme 'Universal Access and Human Rights'.



"By combining our resources and competencies, we can have even greater
success. We continue to call on organisations to join the fight,
particularly in the environment of dwindling resources," he said, while
highlighting the roles faith-based organisations can play in helping to
tackle the virus.



Intense discussions

Harvey's comments come at a time when private sector groups and other
entities have been conducting intense discussions on the likely impact on
productivity of expected cuts to funding from agencies such as the Global
Fund.



He said, "Particularly, we call on faith-based organisations to encourage
and facilitate a supportive environment for persons living with HIV/AIDS so
that we can all get on with life."



Harvey noted that while the data reveal an estimated 27,000 people in
Jamaica living with the virus, the country has seen an 18 per cent decline
in reported cases between 2006 and 2009. He added that since the country
started its public access programme for antiretroviral drugs in 2004, the
results have been favourable.



"The country has also achieved a 43 per cent reduction in AIDS-related
deaths when comparing 2009 and 2004."



According to Harvey, approximately 50 per cent of persons living with HIV
and in need of treatment are receiving same. More than 90 per cent of
HIV-positive infants receive antiretroviral medication, and more than 85 per
cent of HIV-infected pregnant women received medication.



"Today, the life expectancy of persons living with HIV who are adherent to
their antiretroviral medication is equal to that of those who are
HIV-negative," he said.



In addition, Harvey said the abolition of the user-fee policy at
government-run hospitals has provided an opportunity for HIV/AIDS, infected
person to have greater access to services and drugs.



He, however, noted that, while all these gains are commendable, the stigma
and discrimination attached to certain lifestyle practices are hampering
gains made.



"We are still lagging behind in improving access to treatment and prevention
programmes for vulnerable groups such as commercial sex workers, and men who
have sex with men," Harvey said.



"Let's work together to uphold the rights of individuals living with HIV and
realise the millennium development goal to stop the spread of HIV and AIDS
by 2015."



According to United Nations estimates, there are 33 million people living
with HIV/AIDS, including 2.1 million children. Last year alone, some 2.7
million people became infected with the virus while two million people died
from AIDS.



*4*

Hiv ? protagonista de document?rios*
*O Estado de S. Paulo, Brazil

28/11/2010



Na semana em que se celebra o Dia Mundial de Combate ? AIDS, na
quarta-feira,a TVBrasile o DiscoveryHome&Healthvol-tam suas programa??es
para a doen?a que, se j? n?o ? mais t?o assustadora quanto antes, ainda
requer grande aten??o.



A TV Brasil exibe tr?s document?rios in?ditos na televis?o brasileira: as
produ??es americanas Me,Myself & HIVe OMilagre de L?zaro, al?m do nacional
Positivas.

Produzido pela MTV,Me,Myself & HIV acompanha a vida d

e dois soropositivos, uma norte americana de classe m?dia de 25 anos e um
jovem africano da Z?mbia, de origem humilde - como se pode imaginar,h?
grande diferen?a entre as realidades dos dois pacientes. O Milagre de
L?zaro, produ??o da HBO,mostra a r?pida recupera??o de quatro africanos
infectados pelo HIV ap?s um tratamento antirretroviral na Z?mbia. Os dois
document?rios ser?o exibidos na quarta-feira, ?s 20h30 e ?s 22h30,
respectivamente.

Dirigido por Susanna Lira e vencedor do Trof?u Redentor de Melhor
Document?rio no Festival do Rio 2010, Positivas ser? exibido durante o
Programa de Cinema, na sexta-feira ?s 23horas.O filme mexe comum grande
tabu:conta a hist?ria de mulheres brasileiras infectadas pelos seus maridos
infi?is.



Ainda hoje,?s 23h,o Home& Heath exibe o premiado document?rio Amor Em Tempos
de AIDS (Love In A Time of HIV), considerado o document?rio mais criativo do
ano passado pela Association for International Broadcasting, pelo
"tratamento sens?vel de um tema delicado".

Com uma hora de dura??o, dirigido por Beth Jones e Nicky Lankeste

r, e apresentado pela primeira vez pelo canal americano Showtime, o filme,
como o pr?prio nome denuncia, fala como jovens infectados convivem com a
doen?a e qual ? o impacto dela sobre suas vidas e relacionamentos.



Uma das hist?rias,que exemplifica como o problema ? grave no continente
africano, ? o caso da sul-africana Tender Mayundla,que chegou perto de
realizar o sonho de ser cantora quando chegou ? final de um concurso, mas
duas semanas depois descobriu estar infectada pelo v?rus HIV e foi expulsa
da competi??o.



*========================*



*NORTH AMERICA*



*========================*



An AIDS Advance, Hiding in the Open *
*New York Times

27/11/2010



By DONALD G. McNEIL Jr.



In the war against AIDS, a new weapon has emerged



It wasn?t a secret weapon. It was a well-established treatment pill that has
only now been shown to be effective as a prevention pill too. Which raises a
question: What took so long?



Last week, a clinical trial showed that taking Truvada, a pill combining two
drugs, once a day would greatly reduce a gay man?s chances of getting
infected with the dangerous virus. Although confirmatory studies are still
needed, the practice ? called ?pre-exposure prophylaxis,? or ?prep? ? will,
in theory, also protect sex workers, needle sharers, wives of infected men,
prison inmates and anyone else at risk.



But Truvada has been sold since 2004. And the world has known since 1995
that antiretroviral drugs, used in combination, can rescue people with AIDS.
As far back as at least 1990, it also knew that ?post-exposure prophylaxis?
(?pep?) often works in humans ? that is, that a victim of a needle stick or
rape or unprotected sex who begins taking a short course of antiretrovirals
within 72 hours can probably avoid infection.



A few scientists even knew by 1995 that a drug in Truvada can protect
monkeys from infection with the simian version of the AIDS virus.



So couldn?t ?prep? have been ?discovered? earlier? Why did it take until
2010?



The delay turns out to be a combination of scientific caution and the fiery
politics of AIDS. While a medical advance can be made by a momentary flash
of inspiration or luck ? as legendarily happened with penicillin ? proving
that it works can take forever. And that is particularly true with AIDS, a
disease surrounded by visceral fears, longstanding prejudices and the
potential for huge profits.



The chief reason this advance took so long, said Dr. Robert M. Grant, a
virologist at the Gladstone Institutes in San Francisco and the study?s
chief author, is that the two drugs in Truvada, tenofovir and emtricitabine,
were not approved for use in humans until 2001 and 2002, respectively. Older
drugs, like AZT, the first AIDS drug, adopted in 1987, were too toxic.



Doctors once debated using nevirapine, approved in 1996. In poor countries,
single doses for mother and baby are given at birth to prevent mother-child
transmission. But taking nevirapine for even a few weeks can bring on brutal
side effects. Over 10 percent of users get rashes. In rare cases, the drug
can kill if not stopped in time.



Giving powerful drugs to healthy people is different from giving them to the
desperately ill. No doctor would give cancer drugs to a healthy person.
Prophylaxis is common with, for example, malaria drugs for travelers making
brief sojourns in the tropics. But a drug to be taken all one?s life ? or at
least for all of one?s sex life ? must be very safe.



Also, the drug must not prompt drug-resistance mutations in the virus.
Tenofovir is unique that way, said Dr. Howard S. Jaffe, president of the
Gilead Foundation, the philanthropic arm of Gilead Sciences, which makes
Truvada. Structurally, it is so nearly identical to the bit of DNA it blocks
that ?the virus can?t easily outsmart it,? he said. Resistance to
nevirapine, by contrast, can develop after a single dose.



Another factor is that not every drug company wants to see its best
treatment drugs, on which it earns billions of dollars, tested for
prevention. Dying patients accept unpleasant side effects; healthy ones
might sue. And any patient who gets infected, even if taking the drug
improperly, could sue. Gilead Sciences was willing to let Truvada be tested,
although it has not yet decided, Dr. Jaffe said, whether to apply for F.D.A.
permission to sell it as prophylaxis.



Also, several AIDS experts said, lab scientists were focused for years on
the dream of an AIDS vaccine, while behaviorists assumed everyone would
adopt condoms or abstinence. None of those hopes has been realized.



The final delay was caused by political battling. Plans to test Truvada
began in 2003, and sites were chosen not just in American cities with gay
populations like San Francisco and Boston, but in countries where the virus
was also killing prostitutes and clients: Nigeria, Cameroon, Ghana and
Cambodia.



Then, at the 2004 International AIDS Conference in Bangkok, the Paris
chapter of the AIDS activist group Act-Up unexpectedly attacked Gilead
Sciences? booth, spraying it with fake blood and accusing the company of
experimenting on poor people.



As Dr. Jaffe tells it, French activists ?played the anti-U.S. card in
Francophone countries? and stirred up sex workers? unions in Cambodia,
eventually leading the Cameroonian and Cambodian governments to stop their
trials. Nigeria?s stopped for other reasons, though many Nigerians were
hostile to drug companies because of rumors that polio vaccine was an
anti-Muslim plot and because Pfizer had tested a new antibiotic on children
with meningitis. ?If not for this misplaced activism, we might have had an
answer five years earlier,? Dr. Jaffe said.



Dr. Grant saw the same struggle differently. The activists were disruptive,
he said, but also ?raised significant questions? about whether participants
would be protected from side effects and about who, if anyone, would pay for
lifelong treatment if participants did eventually get AIDS. One result, he
said, was that protocols were improved and more countries added: South
Africa, Brazil, Peru, Ecuador, Thailand.



But more important, he said, was the emergence of the two agencies that now
pay for treatment in poor countries, the Global Fund to Fight AIDS,
Tuberculosis and Malaria, and the President?s Emergency Plan for AIDS
Relief. It took until about 2005 for most poor countries to take advantage
of that aid.



Enrollment finally began in 2007. While monkey trials are quick and vicious
? give the drug, zap the caged animals with virus, wait a bit, and dissect a
few ? ethical human trials are complex. At a cost of $44 million, this one
screened nearly 5,000 people to find 2,500 participants to follow for up to
three years.



Any approval process takes time and hits unexpected roadblocks, Dr. Grant
said. ?But,? he insisted, ?we started working on prep the minute the right
drugs became available.?



*2*

Promising HIV prevention *
*Los Angeles Times

29/11/2010



By Seth Berkley



The recent announcement that a pill currently used to treat HIV infection
can also help prevent it was an important milestone in the effort to keep
people from getting the virus.



The breakthrough utilizes a strategy known as pre-exposure prophylaxis.
At-risk people take a drug in advance of exposure to the pathogen that makes
it less likely they will become infected.



The HIV drug's success in a Phase III trial is one of several recent
breakthroughs in HIV prevention. None of the approaches, which also include
a vaginal gel and an AIDS vaccine, is perfect, but all are promising.
Together they add momentum to the growing body of evidence that science, if
properly focused and funded, can deliver effective methods of preventing
HIV. And the advancements have appeared on the horizon at a time when the
battle against AIDS is at a crossroads.



Until recently, there had been just one great advance in responding to HIV
since it was discovered in 1983: a revolution in treatment. Thanks largely
to AIDS activists who demanded expedited research and approvals, today there
are more drugs licensed to treat HIV than there are for all other viruses
combined. Generous donors and innovative pricing mechanisms have made these
antiretroviral drugs available to about 36% of those in the developing world
who need them to stay alive and healthy.



Increasingly, however, both donor and recipient governments are questioning
the sustainability of foreign funding for antiretroviral treatment. Faced
with the economic downturn, donor countries are resisting commitments that
will continue to escalate indefinitely. Currently, about 7,100 people a day
become infected. Two people are newly infected with HIV for every one who
starts antiretroviral treatment. This year, donors to the Global Fund to
Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria committed $1 billion less than the
minimum amount ? $13 billion ? needed for the fund to maintain current
levels of treatment and add programs at a significantly reduced pace.



It has become clear that treatment for HIV, though still crucially
important, can't solve the problem. That will only happen through preventing
transmission of the virus in the first place. The goal of the prevention
revolution that is finally taking off is to end the devastation of AIDS once
and for all. In order for governments to have the confidence to continue
making the enormous investment required to provide access to treatment to
all those living with HIV, they must have reasonable assurance that one day
the bill will be paid in full. That will require having ways to reliably
prevent new infections.



One way of reducing rates of HIV transmission is through campaigns that make
people aware of all the currently available evidence-based methods of
prevention. At the same time, we must expand and improve what is available.
In the recent drug trial that demonstrated the effectiveness of pre-exposure
prophylaxis, which was conducted among men who have sex with men in Peru,
Ecuador, Brazil, South Africa, Thailand and the U.S., volunteers who took a
daily dose of the antiretroviral treatment Truvada ? a combination of two
drugs ? were 44% less likely to become HIV infected than those who took a
placebo.



Experts will now debate whether a confirmatory trial is needed to license
the combination drug for prophylactic use, but because it is already
available, some physicians will probably prescribe it that way off label.



After a clinical trial in South Africa this summer found that an
experimental vaginal gel containing the antiretroviral Tenofovir reduced the
risk of HIV infection in female volunteers by 39%, the FDA has agreed to
rapidly review further studies of the gel.



As for vaccines, the first proof of efficacy ? albeit modest efficacy ? in
an HIV vaccine candidate was established in a large clinical trial in
Thailand last year. Follow-up studies are being planned. And the discovery
of multiple, potent antibodies that neutralize many strains of HIV has
suggested new avenues for the design of AIDS vaccines.



According to some projections, adding microbicides and pre-exposure
prophylaxis to the fully scaled-up implementation of available HIV
prevention options could cut the global HIV infection rate in half. A
broadly effective vaccine, on top of that, could eventually finish AIDS off.



Though the science for these new tools is promising, the funding base is
flat, despite large investments of stimulus dollars by the United States
government. The U.S. deserves praise for financing the lion's share of both
HIV treatment in Africa and HIV prevention research internationally. Other
donor countries that are contributing to HIV treatment globally should also
make simultaneous and significant investments in new prevention methods to
ensure that their HIV costs won't rise indefinitely. Governments of
developing countries can also play their part, first by instituting proven
HIV prevention efforts while being accountable for results as measured by
reductions in new infections. Second, they can demand the development of new
HIV prevention tools as passionately as they have demanded universal access
to HIV treatment.

*Seth Berkley is the CEO of the nonprofit International AIDS Vaccine
Initiative.*

Copyright ? 2010, Los Angeles Times



*3*

New Prevention Advances: Can We Now Imagine a World Without AIDS?
Huffington Post

29/11/2010



Jeffrey L. Sturchio, Ward Cates and Salim Karim



Last week, UNAIDS announced that at least 56 countries have stable or
declining incidence of HIV/AIDS. Yet on World AIDS Day this week, there are
still two new infections for every person put on antiretroviral therapy.
However, a series of promising new scientific results in prevention,
including three breakthrough trials in just 16 months, offer the first
glimmer of hope that we may finally be able to achieve the "three zeros" --
zero new infections, zero stigma/discrimination and zero AIDS deaths.



Start with male circumcision, which studies in Kenya, South Africa, and
Uganda have shown to reduce HIV acquisition by up to 60%. Funders such as
the U.S. government, The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and several African
countries are seizing on these findings -- and WHO's and UNAIDS' conclusion
that "the efficacy of male circumcision ... has now been proven beyond
reasonable doubt" -- to promote male circumcision actively as part of
overall prevention efforts.



Meanwhile, last year's release of the RV144 trial in Thailand, which
provided the first evidence of the effectiveness of any vaccine in
preventing HIV infection, and the discovery of new broadly neutralizing
antibodies have renewed hope in the promise of HIV vaccines in the 21st
century.



But perhaps the greatest excitement centers on Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis
(PrEP), involving preventive use of antiretroviral drugs already proven in
HIV/AIDS treatment. PrEP offers women in particular a prevention strategy
for dealing with partners who refuse or are unable to use condoms or whose
faithfulness is in question.



The scene was electric in Vienna, Austria, last July when the Centre for the
AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA) - with FHI and CONRAD
as collaborating partners - announced that a form of topical PrEP, a vaginal
gel containing the antiretroviral agent tenofovir, had been shown to reduce
acquisition of HIV infection in women by 39% and of herpes by 51%. An even
greater rate of protection -- up to 54% -- was recorded among women able to
adhere to the trial regimen.



This CAPRISA 004 trial was the first to show a statistically significant
result through use of topical gels -- and subsequent mathematical modeling
suggests that tenofovir gel could prevent 1.3 million HIV infections and
800,000 deaths over two decades in South Africa alone.



Next year, the International Partnership for Microbicides will initiate two
trials to test another form of topical PrEP, a vaginal ring containing a new
antiretroviral drug, dapivirine. In addition, CONRAD recently obtained
funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to
develop rings containing tenofovir and a contraceptive.



Oral PrEP is also being investigated. Last week, initial results from the
IPrEx trial, led by the University of California at San Francisco with
funding from the U.S. National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Gates
Foundation, indicated that a once-daily oral dose of Truvada?
(tenofovir/emtricitabine) is 44% effective in preventing HIV infection in
high-risk men who have sex with men (MSM). As in CAPRISA 004, men who best
adhered to the regimen achieved even higher levels of protection.



Results are expected in 2012 from the FEM PrEP trial oral prep trial led by
FHI and funded by USAID testing Truvada and in 2013 from the Partners PreEP
trial of Truvada and Viread, led by the University of Washington with
funding from Gates. The VOICE (Vaginal and Oral Interventions to Control the
Epidemic) trial funded by NIH, brings the topical/oral PrEP field together
by comparing the effectiveness and practicality of both Viread and Truvada
pills and tenofovir gel.



All in all, HIV prevention is on a roll. But major scientific and practical
challenges lie ahead. Further PrEP studies are required to validate
effectiveness, establish dosage, determine long-term safety, assess impact
on sexual behavior and evaluate any effect on HIV drug resistance. But in
these days of economic challenges, lack of money for trials is already
threatening to slow follow-up research on the CAPRISA 004 and IPrEx
successes.



Other practical issues need to be addressed as well once these products are
ready for the market. Cultural, marketing and logistical barriers must be
overcome to increase demand and, since avoiding development of drug
resistance requires PrEP to be used only by people known to be free of HIV,
we will need to expand access to education and testing and implement
protocols to avoid sharing and theft of prophylactic treatments.



Because the science is so promising, we urge everyone -- from scientists to
policymakers to the public -- to use World AIDS Day, Dec. 1 as a catalyst to
build on these advances by mobilizing communities to embrace HIV prevention
as a social norm and advocate for the funding required for the next round of
research. Much work remains to be done, but by building support for these
critical next steps, we can also build hope for a future World AIDS Day free
of AIDS.



See the Global Health Council Position Paper on
HIV/AIDS<http://www.globalhealth.org/images/pdf/publications/2010_position_hivaids.pdf>
..



*4*

Prenatal Care Key to Reducing Maternal Mortality
IPS Terra Viva

29/11/2010



By Soumaila T. Diarra



BAMAKO, Nov 28, 2010 (IPS) - Despite successive awareness campaigns, many
Malian women see no need to attend pre-natal check-ups. Health workers say
this results in an elevated rate of maternal and infant mortality.



"I was present at the death of a young woman of 18 in October," says
Fatoumata Fan??, "who lost a lot of blood during labour." Fane is a midwife
at a birthing centre in the Hamdallaye neighbourhood of the Malian capital,
Bamako. The baby was born healthy, she says, but the mother needed a blood
transfusion urgently.



"Unfortunately, she had not made it to her medical appointments during the
pregnancy which would have allowed us to know what her blood group was. So
it was too late to identify her group."



Adiaratou Doumbia, a young woman visiting the Hamdallaye maternity clinic
told IPS, "I'm four months pregnant. But if I had not fallen ill, I wouldn't
have come here. I didn't know that one had to come to a health centre to
avoid problems during childbirth."



Mali has some progress to show in caring for maternal and infant health, but
the mortality rates remain high. The country's second MDG report - published
by the United Nations Development Programme in March 2010 - says the rate of
infant mortality has fallen from 113 to 96 per 1,000 births between 2001 and
2006. For the same period, the maternal mortality rate has also dropped,
from 582 to 464 deaths per 100,000 live births.



Dr Mariam Diarra, a gynecologist at the Sissmed Clinic in Bamako, says that
millions of women who survive childbirth, go on to suffer adverse
after-effects, infections, illness and disabilities. And despite the
increasing numbers of public and private health facilities, the number of
deaths following childbirth remains a concern for health workers.



"So many women die in hospitals following complications because their health
was compromised during the pregnancy. The truth is, a significant number of
women don't know the risk that they run by not coming in for check-ups,"
said Diarra.



Dr Moussa Diakit?, from Bamako's Acti-Sant? Cinic, says that pre-natal
consultations allow a doctor to predict 90 percent of future complications
that can cause the death of a mother or child.



Up to 80 percent of pregnancy-related deaths and illness could be avoided if
women had better access to maternal and primary health care, according to a
2009 report from the Malian Ministry of Health.



"Prenatal consultations allow one to make an initial assessment with the aim
of detecting infections or illnesses which may impeded the smooth
progression of pregnancy," said Diakit?.



"During my first pregnancy, I started coming to the health centre late, when
I got ill. But the midwife advised me to come to the health centre from the
start - from the earliest days after conception - to avoid complications in
the pregnancy," said Kadia Sylla, 23, five months pregnant in Bamako.



Awareness campaigns have borne fruit, and one finds a growing number of
women who do understand the importance of regular monitoring by medical
people of pregnancy for their survival and that of their children.



"[Prenatal visits] allow one to plan childbirth," says Assan Kon?, a
20-year-old mother of a two-month-old infant. "For example, if a pregnant
women is less than 1.5 metres tall, she cannot give birth (vaginally); she
will need a caesarean. These are the sorts of things that prenatal
consultations allow you to see."



Diakit? confirms Kon?'s view, saying that a shorter woman's pelvis is likely
to be narrower, presenting an elevated risk to mother and child during
childbirth.



"One can fight against maternal mortality if pregnant women follow the
advice of health workers," says the midwife Fan?. "We have to encourage
pregnant women to give birth in medical facilities because the leading cause
of maternal deaths is bleeding that occurs from the start of contractions
until 24 hours after the placenta is passed."



*6*

Review calls for State Department to focus more on civilian response to
conflict *
*Washington Post

28/11/2010



By Mary Beth Sheridan, Washington Post Staff Writer



A high-level State Department review in the works for more than a year will
call for the diplomatic service to give much greater priority to improving
the U.S. civilian response to conflict, according to a sneak preview
released this month.



The draft summary of the review, presented to congressional staffers, also
would give the U.S. Agency for International Development a bigger role in
running President Obama's two main foreign aid initiatives - health and
agriculture.



The Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR) is Secretary of
State Hillary Rodham Clinton's answer to the Pentagon's QDR (Quadrennial
Defense Review). She has argued that the once-every-four-years process will
help the State Department set priorities and justify its budget to Congress.




The year-long debate involving State Department and USAID officials has
occurred as the White House has been conducting its own review of U.S.
development policy. There has been some tension over whether State or the
White House should coordinate the aid effort, according to officials
involved in the process.



The final QDDR is expected in mid-December after going through the
inter-agency process.



Development experts had mixed reactions to the version released this month.



Many praised its call for the State Department to embrace conflict
prevention and response as a core mission. One sign of that intensified
commitment would be the establishment of an undersecretary for civilian
security, democracy and human rights, according to the summary.



Currently, the State Department has a coordinator for reconstruction and
stabilization, but that office has been underfunded and often marginalized,
according to officials and analysts. The department has struggled to run
civilian nation-building and peace-promotion operations to complement
military efforts in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq.



The idea of the new office would be to prevent conflicts and to expand
diplomatic efforts beyond foreign ministries to tribal elders and other key
figures.



"This is an historically important statement," Oxfam America said in a news
release. It applauded the review's call for more training for diplomats on
conflict prevention, as well as strengthening programs to develop foreign
security forces and judicial institutions.



More than 25 percent of State Department officers and 38 percent at USAID
serve in the 30 countries rated highest-risk for conflict and instability,
the review notes.



Aid organizations also hailed the review's conclusion that USAID should be
in charge of the president's two major international development programs -
Feed the Future, which helps small farmers, and the Global Health
Initiative, which includes the massive U.S. effort to combat HIV-AIDS.



That would reverse a trend in which major aid programs - such asPresident
George W. Bush's HIV-AIDS effort - were set up outside of USAID. Aid experts
say that weakened the agency and further fragmented U.S. development
efforts.



The review also called for tripling mid-level hires at USAID.



Aid groups criticized the review for not resolving a long-running debate
over whether the State Department or USAID should ultimately be in charge of
development. That involves both a battle over turf and a broader question of
how closely the they should work together.



Clinton has maintained that longterm development is a key part of diplomacy
and is elevated by being more closely linked to the State Department.



The review assigns the State Department the lead in political and security
conflicts, while putting USAID at the helm "in humanitarian crises caused by
large-scale natural disasters" or disease.



"On the one hand, USAID is becoming a stronger, more capable agency. But on
the other hand, this murky relationship, especially with regard to crises,
between the State Department and USAID, persists and will continue to
frustrate U.S. foreign policy efforts," said Norm Unger, of the Foreign
Assistance Reform Project at the Brookings Institution.



The report calls for a number of shuffles at State. Energy would get higher
priority, with establishment of a Bureau of International Energy Affairs. A
special coordinator would be created for sanctions and illicit finance.



Rumors had swirled over the past year that some offices from USAID would be
moved over to State and vice versa. In the end, though, neither lost much.



"A middle ground has been the name of the game with what has come out in the
QDDR so far," said one congressional staffer, who was not authorized to
comment on the record.



*========================*



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*



*========================*



Asia-Pacific region UNiTEs to end violence against women and girls

UNAIDS

26/11/2010



Women aged 15-44 are more at risk from rape and domestic violence than from
cancer, car accidents, war and malaria, according to World Bank data. The
most common form of violence experienced by women globally is physical
violence inflicted by an intimate partner, with women beaten, coerced into
sex or otherwise abused.



On the 25 of November, to coincide with the International Day for the
elimination of violence against women, the United Nations
Secretary-General?s campaign ?UNiTE to End Violence Against Women? was
launched in Bangkok, Thailand. The event was attended by Her Royal Highness
Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand, H.E. the Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr
Abhisit Vejjajiva and together with heads of regional offices of United
Nations agencies.



?All forms of violence against women constitute a violation of human rights
and a degradation of dignity and gender equality,? said Her Royal Highness
Princess Bajrakitiyabha of Thailand.

The UNiTE Asia-Pacific campaign aims to rally governments, civil society,
the private sector, the media and the United Nations family around the joint
goal to eliminate gender based violence in the region.



?Neither gender equality, nor development can be fully realized if violence
against women and girls is allowed to take place, unabated and unresolved,?
H.E. Prime Minister of Thailand, Mr Abhisit Vejjajiva said in his statement
at the launch.



Women?s heightened risk of HIV infection through violence was highlighted at
the launch as a central concern for the campaign. According to population
based studies carried out in the region, women who have experienced physical
as well as sexual violence were four times more likely to be infected with
HIV than the women who reported no such experiences.



?To realize UNAIDS vision of zero new infections, zero discrimination and
zero AIDS-related deaths, tackling violence against women is critical,?
Steve Kraus, Director of the UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the
Pacific, who participated in the launch ceremony.



The UNAIDS Regional Support Team for Asia and the Pacific and UNFPA Asia
Pacific Regional Office are working closely with campaign hosts UNIFEM and
the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in
the roll out and implementation of the campaign in the region.



Launched in 2008, the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon?s UNiTE
to End Violence against Women campaign aims to prevent and eliminate
violence against women and girls in all parts of the world.





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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:14:47 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:14:47 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] =?utf-8?q?Fwd=3A_ACHIEVING_AIDS-FREE_GENERATION_POS?=
	=?utf-8?q?SIBLE_WITH_STEPPED-UP_PREVENTION_EFFORT_=E2=80=93_UN?=
In-Reply-To: <201011301605.oAUG52Wj021007@mx7.un.org>
References: <201011301605.oAUG52Wj021007@mx7.un.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik8N0xmYPO9wNFBT-G-du-unDaoQQy02y3kecB8@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:05 PM
Subject: ACHIEVING AIDS-FREE GENERATION POSSIBLE WITH STEPPED-UP PREVENTION
EFFORT ? UN
To: news9 at secint00.un.org


ACHIEVING AIDS-FREE GENERATION POSSIBLE WITH STEPPED-UP PREVENTION EFFORT ?
UN
New York, Nov 30 2010 11:05AM
Although 370,000 children are born with HIV each year, achieving an
AIDS-free generation is possible if the world steps up efforts to provide
universal access to prevention, treatment and social protection, according
to a new United Nations <"
http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Children_and_AIDS-Fifth_Stocktaking_Report_2010_111610.pdf">report
released today.

But attaining this goal depends on reaching the most marginalized members of
society, the report ? Children and AIDS: Fifth Stocktaking Report 2010 ?
warns, noting that millions of women and children have fallen through the
cracks due to inequities rooted in gender, economic status, geographical
location, education level and social status.

?To achieve an AIDS-free generation we need to do more to reach the hardest
hit communities,? UN Children?s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Anthony
Lake <"http://www.unicef.org/media/media_57017.html">said in New York in
launching the report, compiled jointly by his agency, the Joint UN Programme
on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural
Organization (UNESCO), the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) and the UN World
Health Organization (WHO).

?Every day, nearly 1,000 babies in sub-Saharan Africa are infected with HIV
through mother-to-child transmission. Our Fifth Stocktaking Report on
Children and AIDS highlights innovations like the Mother Baby Pack that can
bring life-saving ARV (antiretroviral drugs) treatment to more mothers and
their babies than ever before.?

Such treatment prevents mother-to-child transmission (PMTCT). AIDS is one of
the leading causes of death among women of reproductive age globally and a
major cause of maternal mortality in countries with generalized epidemics.
In sub-Saharan Africa, 9 per cent of maternal mortality is attributable to
HIV and AIDS.

?Around 370,000 children are born with HIV each year. Each one of these
infections is preventable,? UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidib? said.
?We have to stop mothers from dying and babies from becoming infected with
HIV. That is why I have called for the virtual elimination of
mother-to-child transmission by 2015.?

WHO revised its guidelines earlier this year, to ensure quality PMTCT
services for HIV-positive pregnant women and their infants. In low- and
middle-income countries, 53 per cent of pregnant women living with HIV
received ARVs to prevent mother-to-child transmission in 2009 compared to 45
per cent in 2008. One of the most significant increases occurred in eastern
and southern Africa, where the proportion jumped 10 percentage points, from
58 per cent in 2008 to 68 per cent in 2009.

?We have strong evidence that elimination of mother-to-child transmission is
achievable,? WHO Director-General Margaret Chan said. ?Achieving the goal
will require much better prevention among women and mothers in the first
place.?

WHO also issued new ARV guidelines for treating infants and children, paving
the way for many more children with HIV to be eligible for immediate
antiretroviral treatment (ART).

In low- and middle-income countries, the number of children under the age of
15 who received treatment rose from 275,300 in 2008 to 356,400 in 2009. This
increase means that 28 per cent of the 1.27 million children estimated to be
in need of ART receive it.

Infants are particularly vulnerable to the effects of HIV, which has lent
urgency to the global campaign for early infant diagnosis. While the
availability of early infant diagnosis services has increased dramatically
in many countries, global coverage still remains low, at only 6 per cent in
2009. Without treatment, about half of the infected infants die before their
second birthday.

In most parts of the world, new HIV infections are steadily falling or
stabilizing. In 2001, an estimated 5.7 million young people aged 15?24 were
living with HIV. At the end of 2009, that number fell to 5 million. However,
in nine countries ? all of them in southern Africa ? at least 1 in 20 young
people is living with HIV.

Young women still shoulder the greater burden of infection, and in many
countries women face their greatest risk of infection before age 25.
Worldwide, more than 60 per cent of all young people living with HIV are
female. In sub-Saharan Africa, that figure is nearly 70 per cent.

?We need to address gender inequalities, including those that place women
and girls at disproportionate risk to HIV and other adverse sexual and
reproductive health outcomes,? UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova said.
?While we are encouraged by a decline in HIV incidence among young people of
more than 25 per cent in 15 key countries in sub-Saharan Africa between 2001
and 2009, we must do everything possible to sustain and increase such
positive trends in order to achieve universal access to prevention,
treatment, care and support.?

Adolescents are still becoming infected with HIV because they have neither
the knowledge nor the access to services to protect themselves. ?We must
increase investments in young people?s education and health, including
sexual and reproductive health, to prevent HIV infections and advance social
protection,? UNFPA Executive Director Thoraya Ahmed Obaid said.
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:24:13 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:24:13 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men
 Worldwide Cannot Access Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services
In-Reply-To: <031e01cb90ae$ed512b20$c7f38160$@org>
References: <031e01cb90ae$ed512b20$c7f38160$@org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimC8nRm7FnY=D3Eqzsc4WhhjkxRM2fA7zrA7CS1@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Jack Beck <jbeck at msmgf.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:52 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men Worldwide Cannot
Access Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services
To: jbeck at msmgf.org


**Apologies for Cross-Posting***

For Immediate Release*

*Media Contact:*

Jack Beck

510.271.1956 (o)

510.332.0786 (m)

jbeck at msmgf.org



*Groundbreaking Global Survey Indicates Most Gay Men Worldwide Cannot Access
Most Basic HIV Prevention and Services*



*As world looks toward new prevention technologies, majority of men who have
sex with men report no easy access to condoms and lubricant*



*November 30, 2010 (Oakland, Calif.)* ? A new survey of more than 5,000
participants worldwide indicates that the majority of men who have sex with
men (MSM) globally find it difficult or impossible to access HIV testing,
HIV counseling, free condoms and free lubricant. Released to coincide with
World AIDS Day, the preliminary findings underscored the importance of
universal access to HIV prevention and treatment, a central theme of this
year?s World AIDS Day observance.



Initial analysis of the survey?s results indicates that fewer than half of
MSM worldwide have access to even the most basic HIV prevention and
services. Of all respondents, only 39 percent reported easy access to free
condoms and barely one in four reported easy access to free lubricant. A
full 25 percent said free lubricant was completely unavailable. Large
percentages of men reported that it was difficult or impossible to access
other essential services as well, including HIV testing (57 percent), HIV
education materials (66 percent) and HIV treatment (70 percent).



Conducted by the Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) in collaboration with Dr.
Patrick Wilson, Assistant Professor at Columbia University's Mailman School
of Public Health, the survey was carried out online in Chinese, English,
French, Russian, and Spanish. Circulated through the MSMGF?s global networks
and those of its partner Fridae.com, the survey closed with a total of 3,875
MSM and 1,009 MSM service providers participating ? another 375 participants
did not identify themselves as MSM or provider. Nearly three quarters of all
study participants were from low or middle income countries.



?Since the beginning of the epidemic, it has been widely recognized that
condoms, lubricant, testing and treatment, when combined with community-led
behavior change and support programs, are the most reliable tools available
in the fight against HIV among MSM,? said Dr. George Ayala, Executive
Officer of the MSMGF. ?More than 25 years in, it is inexcusable that MSM
around the world continue to have such restricted access to these basic
lifesaving resources.?



?With the excitement surrounding the promise of pre-exposure prophylaxis
(PrEP), it can be easy to forget that we already have a rich selection of
prevention measures that we know work right now,? said Patrick Hebert,
Senior Education Associate at the MSMGF. ?Today?s findings reinforce the
fact that we can?t even get condoms and lube to more than half of MSM around
the world. We must look seriously at barriers that prevent MSM in different
country contexts from accessing these proven prevention tools.?



While reporting on levels of access to currently available HIV prevention
tools and services, the survey also explored knowledge about emerging
technologies like PrEP, which involves taking antiretroviral drugs before
exposure to HIV in order to prevent infection. While men in North America,
Western Europe and Australia reported more knowledge about emerging
prevention strategies than men in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern
Europe, and Latin America, large numbers of men in all regions of the world
expressed confusion about these technologies. When asked whether MSM should
use PrEP to prevent HIV infection, 40% of respondents said ?I don?t know.?
This suggests a need for stronger communication and education efforts
targeting MSM worldwide regarding these new potential options.



Regional differences also emerged regarding experiences of stigma and
discrimination. On every measure of stigma related to homophobia, men in
Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe, and Latin America reported
higher levels and harsher forms of stigma and discrimination than men in
North America, Western Europe and Australia.



?Stigma and discrimination fuel the HIV epidemic among MSM and other
high-risk populations,? said Othman Mellouk, Co-Chair of the MSMGF and
Advocacy Coordinator of the International Treatment Preparedness Coalition
(ITPC) for North Africa. ?Stigma and discrimination undermine access to
prevention and treatment programs by forcing MSM underground and away from
services they may need. Without addressing the bigger issue of homophobia,
we will have no hope of ending AIDS.?



The MSMGF is currently working with Dr. Wilson to complete analysis of the
full data set and is expecting to release a comprehensive report in early
2011. This project is supported by a generous grant from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation.



*The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF) is an expanding network of AIDS
organizations, MSM networks, and advocates committed to ensuring robust
coverage of and equitable access to effective HIV prevention, care,
treatment, and support services tailored to the needs of gay men and other
MSM. Guided by a Steering Committee of 20 members from 17 countries situated
mainly in the Global South, and with administrative and fiscal support from
AIDS Project Los Angeles (APLA), the MSMGF works to promote MSM health and
human rights worldwide through advocacy, information exchange, knowledge
production, networking, and capacity building.*



###



*Jack Beck *|* *Communications Associate

*The Global Forum on MSM & HIV (MSMGF)
*436 14th Street, Suite 1500

Oakland, CA 94612
P: 510.271.1956
E: jbeck at msmgf.org
www.msmgf.org



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:24:58 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:24:58 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
In-Reply-To: <mailman.1.1291204802.5070.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
References: <mailman.1.1291204802.5070.general_devel@ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTikZGpL0nh_mXw=J+YB3kAGr1oTdB57FggsZUvSa@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: <general_devel-request at ngocentre.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 7:00 PM
Subject: general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
To: general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn


Send general_devel mailing list submissions to
       general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn

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When replying, please edit your Subject line so it is more specific
than "Re: Contents of general_devel digest..."


Today's Topics:

  1. Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or Group - Effective
     communication training (Nguyen Thuy Nga)
  2. Consultancy service - International consultant to design
     framework for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in
     justice sector reform (Nguyen Thuy Nga)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 14:28:35 +0700
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Subject: [general_devel] Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or
       Group - Effective communication training
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Message-ID:
       <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1 at vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit

Dear colleagues and friends,

UNDP Viet Nam seeks a Consultant Firm or Group (preferably consisting of 1
international consultant ad one national consultant) to conduct
communication training for UNDP projects

NIM is defined as a modality whereby a national partner is directly
responsible for managing and implementing the entirety or a part of
UN-supported programme or project, including the procurement and delivery of
the activity inputs required and their use in producing the outputs as set
forth in the approved work plan. Accordingly, the national partner is
accountable to the Government and the UN Agency supporting the project for
the production of the results expected from the programme/project activities
assigned and for the effective use of the resources allocated to it.

It has been identified through the training need survey that that a need on
communication training has been raised by many projects. Main objectives
are:

-            Raise awareness on the importance of effective  communication
in the communication formal channels (upward, downward, lateral), and
provide knowledge and skills on how to ensure effective communication in the
channels;
-            Provide knowledge and skills on ensuring effective
communication in the project team, and suggested  methods and tools of
communication;
-            Provide knowledge and skills in designing a communication plan
for a project component (or for the whole project) and an action plan to
effectively implement the communication plan;
-             Lead and facilitate discussions on the current communication
practice between PMUs and UNDP; and propose recommendations for enhancing
effective mutual communication (using inputs from the TNA survey)

Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:

http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3723&languageId=1

Interested bidders are invited to send their proposals to:

Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org<mailto:le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org>
Procurement Unit,  UNDP Viet Nam

Deadline for submission: by 5 pm, 10 December 2010 (Hanoi time).

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------------------------------

Message: 2
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 14:53:37 +0700
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Subject: [general_devel] Consultancy service - International
       consultant to design framework for gender mainstreaming and women's
       empowerment in justice sector reform
To: undisclosed-recipients:;
Message-ID:
       <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5 at vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit

Dear colleagues and friends,

The UNDP in Viet Nam seeks an International Consultant to design framework
for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in justice sector reform,
under the Project "Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights
in Vietnam"

The main objective of this consultancy is to study and recommend
issues/potential areas on gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in the
justice sector for interventions in 2011; to provide substantive inputs for
supporting the Committee for the Advancement of Women in Ministry of Justice
to develop a framework on promoting gender mainstreaming and women
empowerment in the justice sector reform.

Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:

http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3716&languageId=1

Interested candidates are invited to send Technical and Financial Proposal
to:

Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org<mailto:le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org>
Procurement Unit, UNDP Viet Nam

Submission deadline: 05.00 pm, 6 December 2010




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------------------------------

Sent from the General Development Information and Events Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: general_devel at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
kilobyte maximum for each email.



End of general_devel Digest, Vol 76, Issue 1
********************************************



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:26:58 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:26:58 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] CARE looking for consultants
In-Reply-To: <64C6B0103B4E4FECB008E75372677862@care.org.vn>
References: <64C6B0103B4E4FECB008E75372677862@care.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=Z0YS1c9+8smFOcZEpw1qPVxKJhikrReUXV6u-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phan Phuong Hong <pphong at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 3:36 PM
Subject: [opportunities] CARE looking for consultants
To: Administrators Working Group <ngo-admin at ngocentre.org.vn>,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear All,



CARE is looking for consultant as Project Finance Officers and Baseline
evaluation. Please find attached the advertisements for these consultants.
Could you please forward these advertisements for anyone suitable and
interested to apply.



Thanks & best regards,

Hong

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
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kilobyte maximum for each email.
Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
To change your subscription:
http://ngocentre.org.vn/mailman/listinfo/opportunities






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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:27:18 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:27:18 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Consultancy service - Consultant
 Firm or Group - Effective communication training
In-Reply-To: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
References: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D1@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimbaiHH45pMj2Tc7gbDLxvkNMsRUe8qya5pBPai@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:28 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Consultancy service - Consultant Firm or Group -
Effective communication training
To:


*Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit*



Dear colleagues and friends,



UNDP Viet Nam seeks a Consultant Firm or Group (preferably consisting of 1
international consultant ad one national consultant) to conduct
communication training for UNDP projects



NIM is defined as a modality whereby a national partner is directly
responsible for managing and implementing the entirety or a part of
UN-supported programme or project, including the procurement and delivery of
the activity inputs required and their use in producing the outputs as set
forth in the approved work plan. Accordingly, the national partner is
accountable to the Government and the UN Agency supporting the project for
the production of the results expected from the programme/project activities
assigned and for the effective use of the resources allocated to it.



It has been identified through the training need survey that that a need on
communication training has been raised by many projects. Main objectives
are:



-            Raise awareness on the importance of effective  communication
in the communication formal channels (upward, downward, lateral), and
provide knowledge and skills on how to ensure effective communication in the
channels;

-            Provide knowledge and skills on ensuring effective
communication in the project team, and suggested  methods and tools of
communication;

-            Provide knowledge and skills in designing a communication plan
for a project component (or for the whole project) and an action plan to
effectively implement the communication plan;

-             Lead and facilitate discussions on the current communication
practice between PMUs and UNDP; and propose recommendations for enhancing
effective mutual communication (using inputs from the TNA survey)



Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:



http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3723&languageId=1



Interested bidders are invited to send their proposals to:



Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org

Procurement Unit,  UNDP Viet Nam



Deadline for submission: by 5 pm, 10 December 2010 (Hanoi time).



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:27:33 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:27:33 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Consultancy service -
 International consultant to design framework for gender mainstreaming and
 women's empowerment in justice sector reform
In-Reply-To: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
References: <60CADDC58DEFA34D963F49F446C094D80166094944D5@vn-mx01.vn.undp.local>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=j31V3MnaS=_m-LD7SEtqOku5COAyMaxkRz9N7@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Nguyen Thuy Nga <Nguyen.Thuy.Nga at undpaffiliates.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 2:53 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Consultancy service - International consultant to
design framework for gender mainstreaming and women's empowerment in justice
sector reform
To:


*Message from UNDP Vietnam Procurement Unit*



Dear colleagues and friends,



The UNDP in Viet Nam seeks an International Consultant to design framework
for gender mainstreaming and women?s empowerment in justice sector reform,
under the Project ?Strengthening Access to Justice and Protection of Rights
in Vietnam?



The main objective of this consultancy is to study and recommend
issues/potential areas on gender mainstreaming and women empowerment in the
justice sector for interventions in 2011; to provide substantive inputs for
supporting the Committee for the Advancement of Women in Ministry of Justice
to develop a framework on promoting gender mainstreaming and women
empowerment in the justice sector reform.



Full solicitation documents can be obtained by visiting UNDP website at:



http://www.undp.org.vn/detail/get-involved/undp-opportunities/undp-opportunities-details/?contentId=3716&languageId=1



Interested candidates are invited to send *Technical* and *Financial
Proposal* to:



Ms. Le Tuyet Sinh at le.tuyet.sinh at undp.org

Procurement Unit, UNDP Viet Nam



Submission deadline: 05.00 pm, 6 December 2010









Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:28:43 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:28:43 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] FW: Quang cao tuyen consultant
In-Reply-To: <20101201032858.02058770315@ngocentre.org.vn>
References: <20101201032858.02058770315@ngocentre.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinKujSxN6Xs6EFUu5bscD5u8HfS3wZPHLrgm04n@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Trinh Thi Hong Tham <tham.tth at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 10:26 AM
Subject: [opportunities] FW: Quang cao tuyen consultant
To: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear all,



I would like to send you our Advertisement for 2 jobs, please post it on
your website.



Thanks & Best
regards.






*From:* Trinh Thi Hong Tham [mailto:tham.tth at care.org.vn]
*Sent:* Monday, November 29, 2010 11:50 AM
*To:* 'opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn'
*Subject:* Quang cao tuyen consultant
*Importance:* High



Dear chi Ha,



Chi post giup em 2 jobs nay len trang quang cao cua NGO nhe



Thanks chi.

Em Tham


 ------------------------------













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If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
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kilobyte maximum for each email.
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To change your subscription:
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:29:27 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:29:27 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT,
	UN URGES WORLD NOT TO RELENT
In-Reply-To: <201012011405.oB1E52gk002200@mx7.un.org>
References: <201012011405.oB1E52gk002200@mx7.un.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=R83A=AhC6vagMxHaKS4t0U7vmTGt6XY0kyTLU@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: UNNews <UNNews at un.org>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 9:05 PM
Subject: WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT, UN URGES WORLD NOT TO
RELENT
To: news9 at secint00.un.org


WELCOMING RESULTS IN GLOBAL AIDS FIGHT, UN URGES WORLD NOT TO RELENT
New York, Dec  1 2010  9:05AM
Significant progress in the fight against HIV/AIDS has been achieved over
the past three decades, but the world must not relent in its efforts to roll
back the pandemic, United Nations officials said today, stressing the
importance of preventing new infections and deaths.

?Our common goal is clear: universal access to HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. We must also work to make the AIDS response sustainable,?
Mr. Ban said in his <"
http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2010/sgsm13274.doc.htm">message to mark
World AIDS Day, observed annually on 1 December.

?Three decades into this crisis, let us set our sights on achieving the
?three zeros? ? zero new HIV infections, zero discrimination and zero
AIDS-related deaths. On this World AIDS Day, let us pledge to work together
to realize this vision for all of the world?s people,? he said.

He pointed out that despite the untold suffering and death that AIDS had
visited upon mankind, the global community had united with passion to take
action and save lives.

?Fewer people are becoming infected with HIV. Millions of people have gained
access to HIV treatment. More women are now able to prevent their babies
from becoming infected with HIV.  Travel restrictions for people living with
HIV are being lifted by many countries, as stigma gives way ? still too
slowly ? to compassion and recognition of human rights,? the
Secretary-General said.

He called for stronger commitment to efforts that enabled the world to reach
the first part of Millennium Development Goal 6 ? halting and beginning to
reverse the spread of HIV. ?We must continue to chart a new and bold path
ahead,? Mr. Ban said.

Michel Sidib?, the Executive Director of the Joint UN Programme on HIV/AIDS
(UNAIDS), noted that the number of new HIV infections and deaths have been
reduced by nearly 20 per cent, but lamented that some 30 million people had
lost their lives to AIDS-related illnesses over the past three decades,
while an estimated 10 million people are currently awaiting treatment.

?Our hard-won gains are fragile ? so our commitment to the AIDS response
must remain strong,? Mr. Sidib? said in his <"
http://unaidstoday.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/20101201_UNAIDS_EXD_WAD_Msg_en.pdf
">message.

?With your commitment and that of UNAIDS and the UN family, we are changing
the course of the AIDS epidemic. I have called for the virtual elimination
of mother-to-child transmission by 2015,? he added, stressing that an
?AIDS-free generation is possible in our lifetime.?

The latest UNAIDS report released last week shows that an estimated 2.6
million people became newly infected with HIV, nearly 20 per cent fewer than
the 3.1 million people infected in 1999. In 2009, 1.8 million people died
from AIDS-related illnesses, nearly one-fifth lower than the 2.1 million
people who died in 2004.

According to the report, from 2001 to 2009, the rate of new HIV infections
stabilized or decreased by more than 25 per cent in at least 56 countries
around the world, including 34 countries in sub-Saharan Africa.

Of the five countries with the largest epidemics in the region, four
countries ? Ethiopia, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe ? have reduced rates
of new HIV infections by more than 25 per cent, while Nigeria?s epidemic has
stabilized.

Margaret Chan, the Director-General of the UN World Health Organization
(WHO), called in her <"
http://www.who.int/mediacentre/news/statements/2010/AIDS_Day_20101130/en/index.html">message
for the protection of the human rights of those living with HIV/AIDS and
urged all sectors to combat discrimination against those infected.

?Working with people living with HIV is critical for an effective HIV
response and Member States need to be mindful of the commitments made in the
2006 Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS to promote better legal and social
environments for people to access HIV testing, prevention and treatment,?
Ms. Chan said.

She stressed that those affected by the disease are entitled to social
services, including education, housing, social security and even asylum.

?Ensuring the rights of people living with HIV is good public health
practice, by improving the health and well-being of those affected and by
making prevention efforts more effective.

?A wide range of countries have enacted legislation to prevent
discrimination against people living with HIV. However, in many cases, there
is poor enforcements of such laws and stigmatization of people living with
HIV and most-at-risk populations persist,? she added.
________________
For more details go to UN News Centre at http://www.un.org/news

To change your profile or unsubscribe go to:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/email/



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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:29:52 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:29:52 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] Financial Times: Asia: Punitive laws
 on sex workers and drugs hamper progress
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTinhR7GsJbXoY3tLsTVCyqQt_MXhjz82tCeWJzkd@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTinhR7GsJbXoY3tLsTVCyqQt_MXhjz82tCeWJzkd@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTik79odJkPNC7O8SCtKabWtqmSfQ=CEMaMT7x+_Y@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Roger TATOUD <r.tatoud at gmail.com>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 9:40 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] Financial Times: Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and
drugs hamper progress
To: msm-asia digest subscribers <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f00a8fc2-fc0c-11df-b675-00144feab49a.html#axzz16s1MjARo
Asia: Punitive laws on sex workers and drugs hamper progress

By Tim Johnston

Published: November 30 2010 16:59 | Last updated: November 30 2010 16:59

The tide has turned in the fight against HIV in Asia, but the UN and
activists are warning that it is going to become harder to maintain
progress.

?As a minimum, most national Aids epidemics have been halted, stabilised and
reversed,? says Steven Kraus, the UNAids regional director for Asia and the
Pacific.

The number of Asians living with Aids has remained stable at some 4.9m for
the past five years, and the number of new infections in countries as
diverse as India, Nepal and Thailand has fallen by 25 per cent over the past
nine years.

But Mr Kraus warns that preserving that momentum is becoming more
challenging.

In many ways, such groups as UNAids are victims of their own success: they
are starting to hit the law of diminishing returns. Progress so far has not
been easy, but making further inroads against the epidemic is going to
become ever harder.

The key vectors of the Asian epidemic are well known: commercial sex,
intravenous drug use, and what the industry refers to as MSM ? men who have
sex with men.

It is MSM that is proving the most difficult segment to reach.

?We have underestimated the MSM issue,? says Mr Kraus. ?We?ve done
inadequate programming in this area.?

But that is starting to change.

Nung spent years as a transgender sex-worker on the streets of the Thai
capital Bangkok. Now she works for Swing, an organisation that promotes
education for other sex workers, particularly in the MSM market.

?We have to educate them about HIV, but we have to make it enjoyable,? she
says, describing going into clubs and massage parlours to find out the date
of the owner?s birthday before returning with gifts to turn a birthday party
into an education session.

Nung says that Swing addresses not just the medical needs of sex workers ?
condoms, lubricants and regular health checks ? but also issues of
self-esteem. ?It is a low-class occupation; everyone looks down on sex
workers,? says Nung. She says lack of self-esteem makes it more difficult
for prostitutes to resist pressure from clients who do not want to use a
condom.

There has been significant progress in the broader heterosexual sex
industry, particularly in places such as Thailand, where there was a very
public education programme.

It even spawned its own restaurant, ?Cabbages and Condoms?, which is popular
with ordinary tourists, many of whom like to pose for a picture with the
larger-than-life statue of a Santa Claus made of gaily coloured condoms.

Aids workers say projects with commercial sex workers are still vital, and
more funding is needed, but the techniques are known and effective.

The anti-HIV message has also been reaching intravenous drug users, although
the picture is more mixed. Among the success stories has been Malaysia.

?Malaysia had a draconian view of drug use, and has done a 180 degree turn.
It used to have mandatory detention for drug users but now it has closed all
the detention centres and reopened them as voluntary support centres. The
authorities don?t see drug use as a law and order issue but as a personal
and public health issue,? says Mr Kraus. The new approach has led to some
startling improvements. In 2007, just 28 per cent of Malaysia?s injecting
drug users said they had used sterile equipment: in 2009, that had risen to
83 per cent.

And there are some surprising outliers. Burma, not known for its progressive
policies in other spheres, has supported an intervention programme of needle
exchanges and clinics provided by international aid organisations. The
UNAids 2010 global report shows 81 per cent of intravenous drug users using
sterile equipment.

Aids workers say much of problem now lies in the legal framework. In some
countries, laws drive sex workers and drug users so far underground that
they become hard to reach. In others, unconnected legislation against
trafficking and illegal migration are changing the dynamics of the sectors
of society worst affected by Aids.

In its Global Report, UNAids estimates that 90 per cent of countries in Asia
have laws that obstruct the rights of those living with HIV.

?Punitive laws that prevent us reaching key sectors of the population are a
danger,? says Mr Kraus. ?They do not build partnerships and they don?t
create supportive environments, where community groups can access these key
populations.?

These are significant problems, but they could be overcome by lobbying
governments to change laws and modify the ways those that remain are
implemented. The cultural challenges to controlling the MSM aspect of the
HIV epidemic are much more difficult to solve.

?Culture matters,? says Mr Kraus. ?How societies view same-sex relations
affects our ability to promote good programming. Until the culture changes,
it is always going to be a problem getting to MSM.?

The figures bear him out. In a 2007 survey, 88 per cent of Thai respondents
who had anal sex with a male partner said they had used a condom: in
Malaysia the number was 21 per cent.

Mr Kraus says that although almost all the governments in the region report
that they are addressing the stigma attached to men who have sex with men,
less than half have budgets. This, he says, gives a clearer indication of
the real situation.

?If it doesn?t get budgeted, it doesn?t get addressed.?

Copyright <http://www.ft.com/servicestools/help/copyright> The Financial
Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut
articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web.

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "MSM Sexual Health - Asia" group.
To post to this group, send email to msm-asia at googlegroups.com
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:07 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:07 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] CARE recruit IT Administrator
In-Reply-To: <1B8A57FADA2C4C3A9978837CAD16B858@care.org.vn>
References: <1B8A57FADA2C4C3A9978837CAD16B858@care.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinf+nDfHU8=OTStRz2_RJ__-W0LaSxY+jDetkLs@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Phan Phuong Hong <pphong at care.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 4:11 PM
Subject: [opportunities] CARE recruit IT Administrator
To: Administrators Working Group <ngo-admin at ngocentre.org.vn>,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear All,



We are looking for IT Administrator, based in Hanoi. Please find attached
the advertisement for this position. I?m grateful if you can share this
information for anyone suitable.



Thanks & best regards,

Hong

Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
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Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:24 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:24 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [opportunities] Career Opportunity at PSI
 Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales Supervisor
In-Reply-To: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>
References: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>
Message-ID: <AANLkTinM_s1WxKTFoBrcyQUZT1o55cggengS6POeoxZs@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Le Quang Son <sonle at psi.org.vn>
Date: Wed, Dec 1, 2010 at 6:45 PM
Subject: [opportunities] Career Opportunity at PSI Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales
Supervisor
To: hivaids-twg at ngocentre.org.vn, hivaids-twg-bounces at ngocentre.org.vn,
opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn, administrator at ngocentre.org.vn


 Dear Colleagues,



Population Service International (PSI) is now seeking for talented, dynamic
and highly motivated Vietnamese individual to contribute to our growing
organization and to meet the challenging demand of the position of *Safe
Water Sales Supervisor. *The position will be based in Can Tho or An Giang.



We therefore would appreciate if you could help us to circulate the attached
Vacancy Announcement among those who have interest.



Thank you very much

Best regards

Son Le



----------------------------------------------

Le Quang Son

Population Services International

Administration Manager

4th Floor, Side B, TOSERCO Building

273 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Email:   sonle at psi.org.vn

Tel:       04 39446326 Ext. 108

Fax:      04 39446323



Sent from the Opportunities Mailing List.
If you reply, please do not CC everyone on the list. Rather, send a separate
message to the individual you are replying to.
Address to post a new message: opportunities at ngocentre.org.vn
Avoid sending attachments, but if you must send them keep them small - 500
kilobyte maximum for each email.
Please, no housing ads - only office space suitable for an NGO.
To change your subscription:
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:30:42 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:30:42 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] New regional network calls for
 greater funding to combat HIV in gay men. Landmark conference to be held in
 Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010
In-Reply-To: <43ECC869-84EE-472C-9AFE-76248D0BD06A@revisionasia.com>
References: <43ECC869-84EE-472C-9AFE-76248D0BD06A@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTi=qDO5J8XRDe65A3Mryp5e76kEnv6N+nsNzm-z-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 12:23 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] New regional network calls for greater funding to combat
HIV in gay men. Landmark conference to be held in Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>, AP Rainbow <
ap-rainbow at yahoogroups.com>, APTransNet <APTransNet at googlegroups.com>
Cc: asiapacificmedia at googlegroups.com, msm-pacific at googlegroups.com, MSMGF <
contact at msmgf.org>


**

*
MEDIA ADVISORY*

* *

*New regional network calls for greater funding to combat HIV in gay men.***

*Landmark conference to be held in Singapore, Dec 2 & 3, 2010*

*Singapore, 1 December* ? Action for AIDS Singapore and Fridae.com, a
leading Asian LGBT networking website, will host the first Developed Asia
Regional Consultation on HIV in MSM (men who have sex with men) and
transgender people (TG) in Singapore.

 Seventy delegates including health sector officials, researchers/academics,
United Nations officials and community representatives representing 40
organisations in Hong Kong/Macau, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,
Malaysia, Thailand and China will attend the conference. Over the 2 days
delegates are expected to formalise the creation of a network of
organisations advocating for HIV prevention and treatment services for MSM
and TG in developed Asian countries.

 "This is a landmark event for the region. There is currently no dedicated
information and discussion platform that joins communities and researchers
in developed Asian countries and territories. Developed Asian countries have
similar HIV epidemics, especially in MSM communities. These communities
share common challenges that have led to increasing HIV infections, and have
similar ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Programmes targeting MSM
communities are still under-resourced," said Professor Roy Chan, President
of Action for AIDS and co-organiser of the conference.

 Prevalence of HIV among MSM and TG is on the rise in most developed Asian
countries, with rates soaring significantly higher than that of the general
population as is the case in Korea (55 times), Japan (44 times) and Taiwan
(210 times, 2004 figures). In China MSM HIV prevalence is 88-times higher
than the national rate.

 However of the six countries and territories in Developed Asia, only Japan,
Singapore, and Hong Kong have included MSM/TGs in their national strategic
plans. While Japan has a program for MSM/TG, the program does not have an
allocated budget, according to the* *October 2010 *Asia Pacific Coalition
for Male Sexual Health (APCOM)* report.

 "Communities in these countries suffer from insufficient funding from their
national governments for HIV programs targeting MSM and TG,? said Laurindo
Garcia, HIV Program Manager of Fridae. ?They are also ineligible for
international technical assistance from agencies such as UNAIDS or UNDP
because of their country's ?developed? status. This situation contributes to
an inability to respond adequately, or scale-up programmes effectively.
Insufficient investment in prevention programs leads directly to the
increased infection rates that we are now observing. We hope this
consultation will begin to address these challenges through better regional
cooperation."

 In 2008, the Commission on AIDS in Asia warned that in Asia, a new wave of
infections is imminent particularly among vulnerable groups, and that by
2020, 50% of new infections would come from the MSM/TG population. (
http://data.unaids.org/pub/Report/2008/20080326_report_commission_aids_en.pdfpp
77-79). ?The lack of government support and political leadership in
the
provision of HIV/AIDS services for MSM/TGs manifests and discrimination at
the level of policies and mainstream public health infrastructure,? the
report read.

 Acceptance of gay, bisexual men and transgender people in society remains a
sensitive issue in many developed Asian countries. Prevailing social norms
make it difficult for the needs of these sexual minorities to be thoroughly
discussed in parliamentary discussion and the public domain. These same
norms pose a barrier for the community to speak out and advocate for better
services. Criminalisation of male-to-male sex ? as is the case in Singapore
and Malaysia ? impedes promotion of safer sex campaigns. Harassment and
other punitive law enforcement practices in other countries also inhibit
effective outreach programs.

 This consultation seeks to improve cooperation between countries with the
view that increased collaboration will result in more effective prevention
programs and improved quality of treatment and support for MSN and TG. An
action plan and series of recommendations will be drafted, with advocating
for increased research, community involvement and specific programs that are
sensitive to the needs of vulnerable groups such as young people and people
already living with HIV.

*Conference attendees*

 Hong Kong
-       Aids Concern
-       Midnight Blue
-       A Backup
-       Centre for Emerging Infectious Diseases (Chinese University)



Japan
-       Rainbow Ring
-       MASH Osaka
-       NPO PLACE Tokyo
-       JaNPlus (Japanese Network of People Living with HIV/AIDS)
-       Nagoya University



Singapore
-       Action for AIDS
-       DSC Clinic
-       Fridae
-       Health Promotion Board
-       National Skin Centre
-       Oogachaga
-       Ministry of Health



South Korea
-       Korea HIV/AIDS Network of solidarity (Kanos)
-       Solidarity for LGBT Human Rights of Korea
-       HIV/AIDS Human Rights Solidarity (Nanuri Plus)
-       Graduate School of Public Health, Seoul National University
-       Department of Health Care Management, Sahmyook University
-       HIV policy and implementation, Korean CDC



Taiwan
-       Taichung Rainbow Paradise
-       Sunshine Queer Centre (Kaohsiung)
-       Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline Association
-       National Cheng Kung University, Tainan
-       Taiwan Centers for Disease Control


China
-       Tongzhi Mens Health Forum
-       Chengdu Gay Care Organization (CGCO)



Lao
-       Lao Youth  Action for AIDS Programme


Malaysia
-       PT Foundation
-       Malaysian Aids Council/Malaysian Aids Foundation
-       Disease Control Division, Department of Public Health, Ministry of
Health



Thailand
-       Rainbow Sky Association of Thailand
-       Mahidol University?s Centre for Public Health Policy Study
-       PR-DDC, DDC, Ministry of Public Health
-       HIV, Health & Development Team, UNDP Asia Pacific Regional Center,
Bangkok



Others
-       *Asia Pacific* Coalition on Male Sexual Health (*APCOM*)
-       Asia Pacific Council of AIDS Service Organizations (APCASO)
-       HPI/Burnett Institute
-       International Planned Parenthood Foundation
-       UNAIDS Regional Support Team, Asia Pacific, Thailand
-       UNESCO Asia-Pacific Regional Bureau for Education


*Media Conference Invitation*

*Journalists are welcome to attend the presentations on statistics and
comparative analysis across Developed Asia on December 2, 8.30am-10am
*(Registration
from 8am. Media credentials required.)

Date: December 2-3, 2010

Venue: Peninsula Excelsior Hotel, 5 Coleman Street, Singapore 179805

Media Enquiries:

Sylvia Tan (English-language media): +65 9747 1264, sylvia at fridae.com

Choo Lip Sin (Chinese-language media): + 65 9797 9396, lipsin at fridae.com

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:31:12 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:31:12 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] HIV prevention efforts go mobile [San
	Francisco]
In-Reply-To: <2D850A07-4675-41B5-81DB-AA0A2126BE0E@revisionasia.com>
References: <2D850A07-4675-41B5-81DB-AA0A2126BE0E@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTin-rFEaq-MAVbiTvy9c_HCF+G8NBRP_hKGe+oT+@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 2, 2010 at 12:42 PM
Subject: [msm-asia] HIV prevention efforts go mobile [San Francisco]
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


HIV prevention efforts go mobile
http://ebar.com/news/article.php?sec=news&article=5281

AIDS advocacy organizations are increasingly building high-tech online tools
to keep safer sex at the top of San Franciscans' minds.

Among those new tools are a sex-education app for the iPhone and iPad,
condom-locators, a conference on youth media and sexual health, and a
revamped website for the San Francisco AIDS foundation.

The digital emphasis coincides with two new studies in the journal AIDS and
Behavior that indicate a need for more online outreach.

One study found that men who pursue "online partnerships" are more likely to
engage in unsafe sex. Although Internet hookups themselves do not
necessarily cause riskier behavior, the authors concluded, online usage may
be a "marker" of a tendency towards heightened risk-taking.

Another study found that 85 percent of men who use the Internet to find
partners check their partners' online profiles to determine their HIV
status. A close percentage ask verbally prior to sex, but nearly half ask
after sex and nearly a third of Internet-using gay men simply guess.

Reaching and educating that third, the study concluded, is critical to
stemming the tide of HIV transmissions.

San Francisco's Department of Public Health hopes to do just that. Local
health officials recently unveiled STD411, a new app for the iPhone and iPad
that provides users with quick access to information about sexual practices
and diseases. The app cost about $4,000 to develop and was paid for with a
federal grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Users are presented with a chart that indicates the risk of transmitting
various STDs based on different sex acts. An array of multicolored flashing
condoms indicates risk levels.

For example, users who tap "oral sex" along with "syphilis" receive the
message, "if there is no sore, there may still be an infection. Having
routine STD screening every 3 to 6 months is the best way to know."

STD411 can be downloaded from the iTunes store or at http://bit.ly/std411.

On a recent evening in the Castro, prospective users checked out the new app
and mostly gave it high marks.

"It's a great idea," said San Francisco resident Benni Rodriguez. As he
scrolled through the list of STDs, he added, "There's some stuff I didn't
know about."

"I like that it's an app," said Brittney Caraway, visiting the Castro from
Las Vegas. Caraway pointed out that the interface isn't intuitive, since the
explanation of the color-coded condoms is difficult to find and there's no
indication that lists are scrollable and tappable. As she spent a few
minutes browsing the STDs and sex acts, she added, "I don't even know what
half of these things are."

Phillip and Liam, two young men who asked to be identified only by first
name, were surprised to learn that even masturbation can carry a risk of
transmitting syphilis if sex toys are shared.

They spent a few minutes engrossed by STD411 before closing it with a shrug,
saying that they probably wouldn't use it.

"I learned pretty much everything I need to know in 7th and 8th grade," said
Phillip.

The key to connecting with users is approaching them in the proper context,
said Deb Levine, executive director of the Oakland nonprofit Internet
Sexuality Information Services. For the last decade ISIS has specialized in
providing sex education through emerging media channels.

"One of the things we've learned at ISIS over the last 10 years is that
interventions don't work in isolation," Levine said. "Technology works best
when there's some physical location component."

One recent ISIS success involved recruitment for a sero-sorting study.
Participants were initially approached in person with a survey, rather than
online, which doubled the rate of follow-up response.

Levine expressed concern that STD411 would have difficulty gaining
widespread adoption, comparing it to outreach that ISIS performed in Toronto
for an app called M2Men.

"Here we go back to 'what's the context,'" she said. "I might take an STD
quiz online if there's a context, but to download to my phone and keep it on
my phone, I don't really understand the benefit of that process. In Toronto,
they went out to the community, and said, 'Here you go, download our app.'"

Dr. Susan Philip, deputy health officer and director of STD prevention and
control services at San Francisco's health department, said that her section
would engage with users via LGBT media such as the Frameline film festival,
Gay.com and the Bay Area Reporter, as well as with banner ads on adult sites
such as Hot House Studios.

Philip said she is also open to sharing STD411 with other organizations.

"We try as much as possible to reach out to partners in our previous work
with other websites," she said.

Another online strategy that could see a revamp soon is the long-running
"Ask Dr. K" feature on the website of the San Francisco health department's
STD section. The department's longtime STD chief Dr. Jeffrey Klausner had
been the "Dr. K" answering people's sexual health questions.

Klausner resigned from the job earlier this year to work on AIDS issues in
Africa. But he has continued to post responses to people's queries as an
unpaid volunteer.

Philip, who permanently replaced Klausner in July, was asked in a recent
interview with the B.A.R. if the online Q&A feature would be renamed "Ask
Dr. P." She said she is currently reviewing her section's web presence and
the social media platforms it is using.

"We are looking at all of those things," said Philip. "We know there is a
lot of interest in 'Ask Dr. K' and there are still questions that need to be
answered."

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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:23:15 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:23:15 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: [msm-asia] APCOM World AIDS Day 2010
In-Reply-To: <70E1ABAF-2A30-4427-8EFB-988EA75A9EBC@revisionasia.com>
References: <70E1ABAF-2A30-4427-8EFB-988EA75A9EBC@revisionasia.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimmJD8yza-VXxRL3=CxDLA-ADdxLzpvHJP+paeb@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Paul Causey <paul at revisionasia.com>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Subject: [msm-asia] APCOM World AIDS Day 2010
To: MSM-Asia Newgroup <msm-asia at googlegroups.com>


*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- 30 November 2010*

*Authorities across Asia Pacific severely undermine progress made in
addressing the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men and transgender
people*<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20news/10-11_News/APCOM_WAD_2010_FIINAL.pdf>

*APCOM uses the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010 to sound a regional alarm*

(BANGKOK, 01 December 2010)  During 2010, authorities across the Asia
Pacific region have increasingly been targeting men who have sex with men
(MSM) and transgender people, thereby violating basic human rights at best
and, at worst, denying access to lifesaving HIV prevention, treatment and
care.  As a result, recent progress in addressing the HIV epidemic among
these particularly vulnerable populations is being severely undermined, with
potentially disastrous consequences for the region, a situation that has the
Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) truly alarmed.

?The incidents in question have occurred in every sub-region and numerous
countries, including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal, Malaysia and
the Philippines,? noted Shivananda Khan, APCOM Chairperson and Chief
Executive of Naz Foundation International.

?Sometimes they are isolated incidents acted out by local police seeking
things other than mere justice. But in many instances, they are part of what
can only be called a campaign of hate and discrimination directed at the
most vulnerable of citizens.This is all the more shameful and sad because it
undermines progress that is being made and negates the good work of those
officials and authorities who are trying to help.?

"APCOM strongly believes that open dialogues is a first step towards
ensuring that all people across Asia and the Pacific and the world,
irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity, can access HIV
prevention, care, and treatment services for HIV," said Midnight
Poonkasetwatana, APCOM Board member representing the Greater Mekong
Sub-region.

"The need is for an environment free of government-sanctioned stigma,
discrimination and criminalization," explained Roy Wadia, Executive
Director, Heroes Project (India) and APCOM Communications Advisor. "The next
step is for governments and authorities, in partnership with communities, to
begin rectifying laws and harmonising legal practices and policies intended
to help efforts to address HIV, strengthen public health for all, and most
importantly save many lives from being lost."

These are just some of the actions taken by authorities against MSM and
transgender people that have been reported in Asia Pacific over the past
year:

   - In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, transgender and female sex workers have been
   continually harassed by police citing anti-trafficking laws and forcing sex
   workers into streets and parks where physical dangers increase and access to
   private spaces and safe sex commodities are limited or non-existent.
   - In Beijing, China, police swept through Mudanyuan Park, a popular
   hangout, taking some 80 people into custody to be photographed,
   fingerprinted and reportedly forced to undergo blood tests.
   - In Hong Kong, China, a transgender woman (male to female) was denied
   the opportunity to marry a man in a high-profile case that tested the
   special administrative region?s commitment to human rights.
   - In North Delhi, India, a transgender woman was reportedly physically
   and sexually assaulted when taken to the Beggars House (a prison for people
   begging for food and money on the streets); reports of such assaults are
   received regularly.
   - International, national and local community delegates in Surabaya,
   Indonesia at the Fourth ILGA - Asia Regional International Lesbian, Gay,
   Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association Conference were attacked in
   the conference hotel, forcing the cancellation of the meeting.
   Fundamentalist and hard-line Islamic groups in full view of local police,
   who refused to intervene, perpetrated the attacks.
   - Recently in Melaka, Malaysia, as in Penang and Butterworth earlier in
   the year, local police raided privately operated ?spas? and gyms, harassing
   patrons and, at times, charging them with indecent public behaviour (one
   such example reported was ?being naked while taking a shower?).
   - In Pasay City, Philippines, the local police raided a legitimately
   operated gay/bisexual establishment, arresting and detaining over 100
   patrons and staff.  They were charged with violating the Anti-Human
   Trafficking Law (RA 9208) and a city ordinance against ?male prostitution?,
   citing the presence of condoms and lubricants as evidence of the charges.
   Police were reported to have confiscated mobile phones, extorted ?fees? and
   abused the patrons.

According to the recent Legal environments, human rights and HIV responses
among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia and the
Pacific: An agenda for action report jointly produced by UNDP and APCOM
earlier this year, 19 out of some 49 countries in this region currently
criminalize male to male sexual behaviour, while other arbitrary and
inappropriate legal provisions are used to violate the human rights and
dignity of MSM and transgender people. These punitive laws and selective,
discriminatory enforcement practices dramatically reduce the effectiveness
of national HIV responses, and obstruct advocacy, outreach, and delivery of
life-saving HIV and health services in these communities.

To address these access issues and achieve rights-based universal coverage,
APCOM has demonstrated that strategic partnerships are required among
affected communities, the legal profession, health care providers, human
rights bodies, parliamentarians and other policy makers, including religious
leaders, faith-based organisations and the media.  To that end, APCOM will
support the efforts of the recently formed Global Commission on HIV and the
Law,  by facilitating community participation in the first Commission
Regional Dialogue, for the Asia Pacific, scheduled for February 2011 in
Bangkok.  APCOM?s initiatives parallel the objectives of the Commission, and
its work APCOM feeds into this crucial effort.

?The theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is Universal Access and Human Rights. As a
regional coalition advocating for universal access for MSM and transgender
people to HIV and community-appropriate services, good health and a
productive life, APCOM joins with its international partners in demanding an
end to these harmful actions,? said Steven Gu, APCOM Executive Director.
?Such actions have direct, adverse impacts on HIV prevention, treatment,
care and support. Further, existing laws and ordinances pertaining to human
trafficking and sex work must be reviewed, and appropriate policies and
guidelines formulated regarding possessing condoms.?

The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) is a regional
coalition of MSM and HIV community-based organisations, the government
sector, donors, technical experts and the UN system. The main purpose is
advocating for political support and increases in investment and coverage of
HIV services in Asia Pacific. APCOM promotes principles of good practice and
lessons learnt by bringing together representatives from diverse groups in
an effort to share experience, knowledge and expertise.

APCOM website:  http://www.apcom.org

UNDP and APCOM report, ?Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses??  direct link:
http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final_low_res_200710.pdf<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final_low_res_200710.pdf>

*APCOM Media contact:*
Shivananda Khan OBE, Lucknow, India: +91-98392-21091 (mobile); email:
shiv at nfi.net

Steven Gu, Bangkok, Thailand: +6682-963-6492 (mobile); email:
steveng at apcom.org

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From nhuynt at medecinsdumonde.org.vn  Tue Nov 30 10:59:50 2010
From: nhuynt at medecinsdumonde.org.vn (Nguyen Thi Nhuy)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:59:50 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Job announcement
Message-ID: <AANLkTikfZcvtRjf4eSQBCMgU4rwDH1gsv+SBG7k8uXtt@mail.gmail.com>

Dear colleague,

Pls help to circulate the attached Job announcement from Medecins du Monde
France to the TWG - network.

Thank you & Best regards,

MdM Hanoi team
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From Ngoc at fhi.org.vn  Tue Nov 30 17:08:31 2010
From: Ngoc at fhi.org.vn (Anh Ngoc (MSH), Nguyen)
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 00:08:31 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] FW: APCOM WAD Statement
Message-ID: <98DC86CEF032774F8F4FDE97CDC08CFA01337AD3@fhi-server1.fhi.org.vn>

FYI and help with posting. 

 

Many thanks,

 

Nguyen Anh Ngoc | Program Officer

Male Sexual Health Interventions (MSH)


FHI: The Science of Improving Lives| Ho Chi Minh city Program Office

1st floor, Colonnade Building, 27 Nguyen Trung Truc street | Hochiminh,
Vietnam

Mobile: +84 (0) 904 302 864 | Office: +84-8-3824-3134 | Fax:
+84-8-3822-4985

E-mail: ngoc at fhi.org.vn

www.fhi.org

 

________________________________

From: Midnight Poonkasetwatana
[mailto:midnight.poonkasetwatana at treatasia.org] 
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:56 PM
To: Kyaw Myint; Nay Oo Lwin; Anh Ngoc (MSH), Nguyen; Danai Linjongrut;
Dr. Nou Vannary; Dr. Phengphet Phetvixay; Duan Chen Feng; Frank (Jian
Gang Zhao); Kosol Chuenchomsakulchai; My Linh Thi Nguyen; Phal Sophat;
Renzhong Zhang; Vieng Akhone Souriyo; Wei Hai Bo
Cc: Steven Gu; qiufeng at alliancechina.org; Matt Avery
Subject: Please circulate: APCOM WAD Statement

 

**Please circulate**

 

Regards, 

 

Midnight

 

________________________________

From: stevengu2008 at gmail.com [mailto:stevengu2008 at gmail.com] On Behalf
Of Steven Gu
Sent: Tuesday, November 30, 2010 12:53 PM
To: andrew tan; Colin Fan; Dede; Ferdie; Joe Chan; Joleen; Khartin;
Laxmi; Manvendra Singh; Midnight Poonkasetwatana; niru; Roger Meng;
Sagara; Sean Slavin; Shale; Stuart Koe; Vieng Akhone; Vijay; Vivek;
David Traynor
Cc: paul causey; shiv; stuart
Subject: APCOM WAD Statement for immediate release

 

Dear APCOM community sector representatives,

Please help distribute the statement to your networks.
Thanks.

Steven Gu
---------------------
Authorities across Asia Pacific severely undermine progress made in
addressing the HIV epidemic among men who have sex with men and
transgender people
<http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20news/10-11_News/APCOM_WAD_2010_FIINAL.
pdf> 

APCOM uses the occasion of World AIDS Day 2010 to sound a regional alarm

(BANGKOK, 01 December 2010)  During 2010, authorities across the Asia
Pacific region have increasingly been targeting men who have sex with
men (MSM) and transgender people, thereby violating basic human rights
at best and, at worst, denying access to lifesaving HIV prevention,
treatment and care.  As a result, recent progress in addressing the HIV
epidemic among these particularly vulnerable populations is being
severely undermined, with potentially disastrous consequences for the
region, a situation that has the Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual
Health (APCOM) truly alarmed.

"The incidents in question have occurred in every sub-region and
numerous countries, including Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Nepal,
Malaysia and the Philippines," noted Shivananda Khan, APCOM Chairperson
and Chief Executive of Naz Foundation International.

"Sometimes they are isolated incidents acted out by local police seeking
things other than mere justice. But in many instances, they are part of
what can only be called a campaign of hate and discrimination directed
at the most vulnerable of citizens.This is all the more shameful and sad
because it undermines progress that is being made and negates the good
work of those officials and authorities who are trying to help."

"APCOM strongly believes that open dialogues is a first step towards
ensuring that all people across Asia and the Pacific and the world,
irrespective of sexual orientation or gender identity, can access HIV
prevention, care, and treatment services for HIV," said Midnight
Poonkasetwatana, APCOM Board member representing the Greater Mekong
Sub-region.

"The need is for an environment free of government-sanctioned stigma,
discrimination and criminalization," explained Roy Wadia, Executive
Director, Heroes Project (India) and APCOM Communications Advisor. "The
next step is for governments and authorities, in partnership with
communities, to begin rectifying laws and harmonising legal practices
and policies intended to help efforts to address HIV, strengthen public
health for all, and most importantly save many lives from being lost."

These are just some of the actions taken by authorities against MSM and
transgender people that have been reported in Asia Pacific over the past
year:

*	In Phnom Penh, Cambodia, transgender and female sex workers have
been continually harassed by police citing anti-trafficking laws and
forcing sex workers into streets and parks where physical dangers
increase and access to private spaces and safe sex commodities are
limited or non-existent.
*	In Beijing, China, police swept through Mudanyuan Park, a
popular hangout, taking some 80 people into custody to be photographed,
fingerprinted and reportedly forced to undergo blood tests.
*	In Hong Kong, China, a transgender woman (male to female) was
denied the opportunity to marry a man in a high-profile case that tested
the special administrative region's commitment to human rights.
*	In North Delhi, India, a transgender woman was reportedly
physically and sexually assaulted when taken to the Beggars House (a
prison for people begging for food and money on the streets); reports of
such assaults are received regularly.
*	International, national and local community delegates in
Surabaya, Indonesia at the Fourth ILGA - Asia Regional International
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex Association Conference
were attacked in the conference hotel, forcing the cancellation of the
meeting. Fundamentalist and hard-line Islamic groups in full view of
local police, who refused to intervene, perpetrated the attacks.
*	Recently in Melaka, Malaysia, as in Penang and Butterworth
earlier in the year, local police raided privately operated "spas" and
gyms, harassing patrons and, at times, charging them with indecent
public behaviour (one such example reported was "being naked while
taking a shower").
*	In Pasay City, Philippines, the local police raided a
legitimately operated gay/bisexual establishment, arresting and
detaining over 100 patrons and staff.  They were charged with violating
the Anti-Human Trafficking Law (RA 9208) and a city ordinance against
"male prostitution", citing the presence of condoms and lubricants as
evidence of the charges.  Police were reported to have confiscated
mobile phones, extorted "fees" and abused the patrons.

According to the recent Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses among men who have sex with men and transgender people in Asia
and the Pacific: An agenda for action report jointly produced by UNDP
and APCOM earlier this year, 19 out of some 49 countries in this region
currently criminalize male to male sexual behaviour, while other
arbitrary and inappropriate legal provisions are used to violate the
human rights and dignity of MSM and transgender people. These punitive
laws and selective, discriminatory enforcement practices dramatically
reduce the effectiveness of national HIV responses, and obstruct
advocacy, outreach, and delivery of life-saving HIV and health services
in these communities.

To address these access issues and achieve rights-based universal
coverage, APCOM has demonstrated that strategic partnerships are
required among affected communities, the legal profession, health care
providers, human rights bodies, parliamentarians and other policy
makers, including religious leaders, faith-based organisations and the
media.  To that end, APCOM will support the efforts of the recently
formed Global Commission on HIV and the Law,  by facilitating community
participation in the first Commission Regional Dialogue, for the Asia
Pacific, scheduled for February 2011 in Bangkok.  APCOM's initiatives
parallel the objectives of the Commission, and its work APCOM feeds into
this crucial effort.

"The theme of World AIDS Day 2010 is Universal Access and Human Rights.
As a regional coalition advocating for universal access for MSM and
transgender people to HIV and community-appropriate services, good
health and a productive life, APCOM joins with its international
partners in demanding an end to these harmful actions," said Steven Gu,
APCOM Executive Director. "Such actions have direct, adverse impacts on
HIV prevention, treatment, care and support. Further, existing laws and
ordinances pertaining to human trafficking and sex work must be
reviewed, and appropriate policies and guidelines formulated regarding
possessing condoms."

The Asia Pacific Coalition on Male Sexual Health (APCOM) is a regional
coalition of MSM and HIV community-based organisations, the government
sector, donors, technical experts and the UN system. The main purpose is
advocating for political support and increases in investment and
coverage of HIV services in Asia Pacific. APCOM promotes principles of
good practice and lessons learnt by bringing together representatives
from diverse groups in an effort to share experience, knowledge and
expertise.

APCOM website:  http://www.apcom.org <http://www.apcom.org/> 

UNDP and APCOM report, "Legal environments, human rights and HIV
responses..."  direct link:
http://apcom.org/tl_files/2010%20resources/10-7_resources/874_UNDP_final
_low_res_200710.pdf

APCOM Media contact:
Shivananda Khan OBE, Lucknow, India: +91-98392-21091 (mobile); email:
shiv at nfi.net

Steven Gu, Bangkok, Thailand: +6682-963-6492 (mobile); email:
steveng at apcom.org

-- 
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google
Groups "Developed Asia Network (DAN) for MSM & TG" group.
To post to this group, send email to DAN-MSM at googlegroups.com
To unsubscribe from this group, send email to
DAN-MSM+unsubscribe at googlegroups.com
<mailto:DAN-MSM%2Bunsubscribe at googlegroups.com> 
For more options, visit this group at
http://groups.google.com/group/DAN-MSM?hl=en




-- 
Steven Gu
Executive Director
Asia Pacific Coalition of Male Sexual Health(APCOM)
www.apcom.org
E-mail:  steveng at apcom.org
Tel: 66 (0) 829 636 492
skype: stevengu2003

 

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signature database 5659 (20101129) __________

 

The message was checked by ESET NOD32 Antivirus.

 

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From sonle at psi.org.vn  Wed Dec  1 11:45:59 2010
From: sonle at psi.org.vn (Le Quang Son)
Date: Wed, 1 Dec 2010 18:45:59 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Career Opportunity at PSI Vietnam_ Safe Water Sales
	Supervisor
Message-ID: <4F57368C6D7F440D9AA837F4D43AF943@psi.org.vn>

Dear Colleagues,

 

Population Service International (PSI) is now seeking for talented, dynamic
and highly motivated Vietnamese individual to contribute to our growing
organization and to meet the challenging demand of the position of Safe
Water Sales Supervisor. The position will be based in Can Tho or An Giang.

 

We therefore would appreciate if you could help us to circulate the attached
Vacancy Announcement among those who have interest.

 

Thank you very much

Best regards

Son Le

 

----------------------------------------------

Le Quang Son

Population Services International

Administration Manager

4th Floor, Side B, TOSERCO Building

273 Kim Ma, Ba Dinh, Hanoi

Email:   sonle at psi.org.vn 

Tel:       04 39446326 Ext. 108

Fax:      04 39446323

 

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From info at dansonmedia.com  Tue Nov 30 10:03:55 2010
From: info at dansonmedia.com (Danson Media)
Date: Tue, 30 Nov 2010 17:03:55 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] December Newsletter - National Month for HIV/AIDS
 prevention (and 20 years of response to HIV in Vietnam)
Message-ID: <AANLkTikz1A-rKcNM8fk6zeEbRanq6JzfJL3TaxFutVoU@mail.gmail.com>

>
> *This year, the World AIDS Day uses the main theme ?Universal Access and
> Human Rights? which focuses on communication against discrimination of
> people living with HIV/AIDS, women and vulnerable groups. It emphasizes
> human rights is the basis for the fight against HIV/AIDS. When we respect
> the fundamental rights of each individual, we can prevent HIV infection and
> people living with HIV in the harmonization and supports from the community.
> *
>
**
*We would like to share with you our December newsletter for National month
of HIV/AIDS prevention (and 20 years of response to HIV in Vietnam).*
**
*Regards,*
-- 
Danson Media Team for IBCC

Level 7, Hanoi Tungshing Square, 2 Ngo Quyen Street, Hanoi, Vietnam | Tel:
+84 4 39263 768 | Fax: +84 4 39263 767 | www.dansonmedia.com



Click to follow us on
Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hanoi-Vietnam/Danson-Media/156544294367619?ref=sgm>



Danson Media is a full-service media production company offering clients
with engaging and excellent media presentations. We serve as a connection
between clients and the public, the media by developing creative concepts
into comprehensive IEC/BCC materials for communication campaigns,
development projects, and other marketing activities.



Danson Media l? c?ng ty cung c?p d?ch v? truy?n th?ng tr?n g?i cung c?p cho
kh?ch h?ng c?c s?n ph?m, d?ch v? s?ng t?o ??t hi?u qu? cao. Ch?ng t?i th?c
hi?n vai tr? k?t n?i kh?ch h?ng v?i c?ng ch?ng, c?c c? quan b?o ch? th?ng
qua vi?c thi?t k? v? x?y d?ng c?c s?n ph?m truy?n th?ng ?a d?ng ph?c v? c?c
chi?n d?ch truy?n th?ng, c?c d? ?n ph?t tri?n, v? c?c ho?t ??ng marketing
kh?c.

This email transmission is intended only for the use of the individual or
entity to which it is addressed and may contain information which is
privileged and confidential to Danson Media. If the reader of this message
is not the intended recipient, or the employee responsible for delivering
this communication to the intended recipient, you are hereby notified that
any disclosure, distribution or copying of this communication is strictly
prohibited. If you have received this communication in error, please notify
us immediately and delete it. Thank you.
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From recruitment.hn at medecinsdumonde.org.vn  Thu Dec  2 03:45:44 2010
From: recruitment.hn at medecinsdumonde.org.vn (MDM Hanoi - Recruitment)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 10:45:44 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Job announcement
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTim5VxJOnN4yL0MHoGohrtnsH3uWAqtaX1KfpCPR@mail.gmail.com>
References: <AANLkTikfZcvtRjf4eSQBCMgU4rwDH1gsv+SBG7k8uXtt@mail.gmail.com>
	<AANLkTim5VxJOnN4yL0MHoGohrtnsH3uWAqtaX1KfpCPR@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimxj=3JEiuKiW4neUY0x=EB+KHnZ2GX28SbbGyV@mail.gmail.com>

Dear colleague,

Pls help to circulate the attached Job announcement from Medecins du Monde
France to the TWG - network.

Thank you & Best regards,

MdM Hanoi team



---

*Do Thi Minh Quyen*, Administrative Assistant



*M?decins du Monde* 5th Floor, No. 58, Lane 221 Ton Duc Thang, Hanoi

Tel. (84.4) 3719 2523 ext. 11, Fax. (84.4) 3719 2529, Mob. (84) 912 464 169,
doquyen at medecinsdumonde.org.vn <vietanhk at medecinsdumonde.org.vn>
 <doquyen at medecinsdumonde.org.vn>
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From mangluoivnmts at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 08:23:25 2010
From: mangluoivnmts at gmail.com (Bright Futures Network)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 16:23:25 +0800
Subject: [hivaids-twg] =?utf-8?b?VGjDtG5nIGLDoW8gY2h1eeG7g24gxJHhu4thIMSR?=
	=?utf-8?q?i=E1=BB=83m/_Announcement_of_office_relocation?=
Message-ID: <AANLkTim+MiyqXRKoiV6__1vRQmQ_kDMBgx4gOjxqShRS@mail.gmail.com>

*TH?NG B?O CHUY?N ??A ?I?M *

**

M?ng l??i V? Ng?y mai T??i s?ng xin tr?n tr?ng th?ng b?o, k? t? ng?y 01
th?ng 12 n?m 2010 v?n ph?ng m?ng l??i s? chuy?n  ??n ??a ch? m?i nh? sau:

S? 7b Ng? 344 ???ng Ng?c Thu?, Long Bi?n, H? N?i


Xin tr?n tr?ng c?m ?n

Ong V?n T?ng



* ANNOUNCEMENT OF OFFICE RELOCATION *

* *

Bright Futures Network would like to announce our office relocation from 1st
December  2010  to the new address as below:

No 7b Lane 344, Ngoc Thuy Str, Long Bien Dist, Ha Noi



Best Regard

Ong Van Tung



-- 
Bright Futures Network of PLWHA
No 7b Lane 344 Ngoc Thuy Str, Long Bien Dist, Ha Noi, Viet Nam
Tel: 84.4. 38724148, 84.4.38727149
Fax: 84.4.38727929
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From hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com  Thu Dec  2 10:23:35 2010
From: hivtwg.moderator at gmail.com (HIV-TWG Moderator)
Date: Thu, 2 Dec 2010 17:23:35 +0700
Subject: [hivaids-twg] Fwd: Today's News (2010.11.30ex)
In-Reply-To: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D96627@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
References: <5C59F89A4AB30C4FB23C2A916FA702E201D96627@GE-MAILHQ-01.global.unaids.org>
Message-ID: <AANLkTimgVJBYjaFB2rMPNiT_EuuZZUpKY_bEJtPGSFW-@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Diaz, Clara <diazc at unaids.org>
Date: Tue, Nov 30, 2010 at 6:40 PM
Subject: Today's News (2010.11.30ex)
To:


 Please find attached the following AIDS-related articles compiled by UNAIDS





*UNAIDS*

1. Vanguard, Nigeria - HIV infections declining, says UN

2. IRIN PlusNews - AFRICA: Straight Talk with Sheila Tlou, new UNAIDS head
for Eastern and Southern Africa

3. La Raz?n, Spain - La epidemia de sida se estabiliza a nivel mundial

4. Sify News, India - Cricketers to sport red ribbons on World AIDS Day



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*

1. IRIN PlusNews - Somalia: Baby Steps Towards a PMTCT Programme

2. New Vision, Uganda - Let Us Protect the Young Ones

3. Arab News - Need to raise AIDS awareness stressed



*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

1. People?s Daily, China - Sex becomes main source of AIDS spread in
drug-plagued China province

2. VietNamNet Bridge - HCM City to build on HIV success rate

3. The Himalayan, Nepal - Govt to treat HIV-AIDS woes of migrants

4. Sify News, India - HIV/AIDS support services in South Asia largely
absent: UN

5. Straits Times, Singapore - Campaign to target risk groups



*EUROPE***

1. Irish Times - Gender bias evident in Aids spread

2. Reuters - Best to focus on preventing HIV in Africa: report

3. AFP - Journ?e contre le sida: Aides d?nonce une baisse de l'aide m?dicale
d'Etat

4. AFP - Journ?e contre le sida: ruban g?ant et 250 "caf? capote" ? Paris



*LATIN AMERICA AND CARIBBEAN*

1. Jamaica Observer - World AIDS Day

2. La Prensa, Bolivia - En 2 meses hubo 38 denuncias de discriminaci?n por
VIH-Sida



*NORTH AMERICA*

1. New York Times - An Enlightened Exchange in Iran

2. New York Times - Farewell, Digital World. (It?s All for a Cause.)

3. New York Times - AIDS in South Africa (Letter)

4. Wall Street Journal - Merck Halts Study of Once-Daily HIV Drug

5. Associated Press - Panic among Kenya's gays after PM's arrest threat



*UNAIDS WEB.SITE*

1. UNAIDS - Cricket unites on World Aids Day: Players to wear red ribbons in
international matches

2. UNAIDS - Model General Assembly held at Huleb?ck secondary school Sweden
highlights HIV epidemic

3. UNAIDS - Help put HIV prevention on the global agenda this World AIDS Day


4. UNAIDS - Photographer Rankin joins The Body Shop/UNAIDS HIV solidarity
campaign





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



*UNAIDS*



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



HIV infections declining, says UN
Vanguard, Nigeria

30/11/2010



By Chioma OBINNA & Emmanuel ELEBEKE



AS Nigeria joins the world to celebrate World AIDS Day, the United Nations
has said that the number of new HIV infections and deaths from AIDS are
falling globally.



IN a new statistics released by the world body on its programme  on HIV and
AIDS, it said there are now signs the epidemic is declining, saying that the
stigma and discrimination have continued to cause problems for the estimated
33m people living with HIV.



According to the report, there were 2.6m new HIV infections last year, which
is almost 20 percent since the peak of the Aids epidemic in 1999, adding
that 1.8m died from Aids-related illnesses in 2009, down from 2.1m in 2004.



The report further revealed that the rates of treatment using
anti-retroviral drugs have risen from 700,000 in 2004 to over 5m people in
2009. And that while Sub-Saharan Africa continues to be the region most
affected by the epidemic, with around 70 percent of all new HIV infections
occurring in the region,  infection rates are falling, particularly in South
Africa, Zambia, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia.



It noted that there is a mixed picture in other parts of the world such as
Eastern Europe and central Asia showing sharp rise in new infections and
Aids-related deaths.



It however blamed bad laws and discrimination for mitigating against AIDS.



?We are breaking the trajectory of the Aids epidemic with bold actions and
smart choices.



?Investments in the Aids response are paying off, but gains are fragile?the
challenge now is how we can all work to accelerate progress,? said Mr Michel
Sidib?, Executive Director of UNAIDS.



*4*

AFRICA: Straight Talk with Sheila Tlou, new UNAIDS head for Eastern and
Southern Africa
IRIN PlusNews

29/11/2010



JOHANNESBURG, 29 November 2010 (PlusNews) - Sheila Tlou, former Minister of
Health in Botswana, took over as UNAIDS director for East and southern
Africa in November, just a month before the deadline for achieving universal
access to treatment, prevention, care and support expires.



With only two countries in the region having met the target for treatment,
Tlou talked to IRIN/PlusNews about the value of setting goals and what
countries should aim for next.



QUESTION: How do you think the targets have contributed to the AIDS
response, in light of the fact that many countries have not met them?

ANSWER: Universal access to me means access not just to treatment but
prevention, care and support. And from the report, we?ve seen that a lot of
countries have moved towards universal access. In the ones that have reached
it ? Botswana and Rwanda ? it?s really contributed in that we?ve seen deaths
from HIV go down... you?ve  seen quite a lot of reductions even in countries
that may not reach it and once people are on treatment their infectivity
goes down so it contributes even to the prevention side.



So it?s come up with a good momentum in terms of looking at all the
indicators such as child mortality, maternal mortality, including even the
overall economy of countries, as more and more people are not absent from
work - we?re finding that productivity increases thanks to universal access.




Q: Do you think having the targets is useful in terms of galvanizing a
response?

A: People need targets. This is where you really get to see that we are a
global community? especially when you review them occasionally because then
you create competition between countries. With ?3 by 5? [UNAIDS initiative
to provide three million people living with HIV in low- and middle-income
countries with antiretroviral treatment by the end of 2005] for example, all
countries knew how many at a minimum they should put on ARVs (antiretroviral
drugs) and a lot of countries reached that, especially in southern Africa.
So we need targets.



Q: Were the targets realistic?

A: To me they were a little bit too high, but I feel they were realistic in
the sense that we always say, ?Aim for the sky and you?ll reach somewhere?.
Had countries been given targets that were just mid-way, chances are they
would actually by now only have realized half of that. As long as we don?t
have sanctions for countries that don?t meet the targets; the main thing is
to encourage, to say ?We can make it?.



Chances are, once we get to 2015, we?ll set some more targets and I have a
feeling those targets will not be as harsh as the ones we?re having because,
let?s face it, the world was suffering [when the targets were set in 2005],
ARVs were very expensive, so we needed that impetus.



Q: As far as you are concerned, the next set of goals to focus on would be
the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)?

A: Well, the MDGs have number six in there ? to halt and reverse the spread
of HIV. I would say we are reaching that goal so by 2015, we will be saying,
have we reached our vision of zero new HIV infections, zero deaths and zero
discrimination? We won?t have, so I can see us now taking that vision and
saying, let?s see how by 2020, for example, we can reach that particular
target.



Q: Is this vision of zero new infections new?

A: Yes, it?s a new vision we?re now aiming for? because as you put more and
more people on ARVs, it means the prevalence increases - those people are
not dying. So you can no longer look at prevalence because it?s going up,
but you can look at incidence, which is the number of new infections and
we?re saying we?re aiming for zero.



Q: Besides money, what do you think are the greatest barriers to achieving
universal access?

A: The greatest barriers so far are really stigma and discrimination. There
is still criminalization of certain groups that we call key populations: men
who have sex with men, sex workers, injecting drug users, transgender
populations. To me, that is still the barrier in the sense that we have
already statistics that show that in Africa, [34 percent of] men who have
sex with men also reported that they were married and 54 percent reported
that they had had sex with both men and women in the past six months.



You are now seeing that because these populations are excluded, if you
criminalize them, they will go underground and? even before you talk about
human rights it means you?ll never achieve zero infections because we have a
group that?s not accessing services.



Of course, when you look at human rights, these people have the same rights
to access HIV prevention, care and support services as the other
populations. So I think in the next two years, those are the issues that
we?ll be grappling with. We?re seeing that certain countries are putting
them in jail, it doesn?t help at all; some countries have gone backwards.
But fortunately it?s not all African countries. We have South Africa that
recognizes men who have sex with men, and Rwanda. Little by little we?ll get
there.



*5*

La epidemia de sida se estabiliza a nivel mundial *
*La Raz?n, Spain

30/11/2010



En concreto, los datos del 'Informe de ONUSIDA sobre la epidemia mundial de
sida 2010' muestran que, en 2009, unos 2,6 millones de personas se
infectaron por primera vez con el VIH, una cifra casi un 20 por ciento
inferior a los 3,1 millones de 1999. Asimismo, se estima que 1,8 millones de
personas fallecieron en 2009 como consecuencia de esta enfermedad, cerca de
un 20 por ciento menos que los 2,1 millones que murieron en 2004.



Se estima que, a finales del a?o pasado, 33,3 millones de personas viv?an
con VIH, una cifra "ligeramente superior" a los 32,8 millones de 2008,
explican los autores de este documento. Esto se debe en gran parte a que las
personas viven cada vez m?s tiempo gracias al aumento del acceso a la
terapia antirretroviral, aseguran.



En este sentido, entre 2001 y 2009, la tasa de nuevas infecciones se
estabiliz? o se redujo en m?s de un 25 por ciento en, al menos, 56 pa?ses en
el mundo, 34 de los cuales se encuentran en el Africa Subsahariana, la zona
m?s castigada por esta epidemia a nivel   global.



Sin embargo, los especialistas advierten de que, aunque el n?mero de nuevas
infecciones por el VIH sea cada vez menor, por cada persona que inicia el
tratamiento, dos contraen el virus, debido en gran parte a que las
inversiones en los programas de prevenci?n "no han sido en su conjunto
adecuadas o se han distribuido deficientemente", indican.



Sobre las nuevas infecciones, desde esta organizaci?n han dado la voz de
alarma en siete pa?ses, la mayor?a en Europa oriental y Asia central, donde
las tasas de nuevas infecciones por el VIH han aumentado un 25 por ciento.




A?n as?, desde ONUSIDA reconocen que hay campos de la prevenci?n en los que
se ha invertido de forma correcta, como aquellos   destinados a evitar que
las madres con VIH transmitan la enfermedad a sus hijos. Fruto de estas
iniciativas, el n?mero total de ni?os que nacen con el virus ha disminuido
un 24 por ciento en cinco a?os, hasta los 370.000 registrados en 2009.



Respecto al tratamiento, el informe constata que las personas que viven con
el VIH viven m?s tiempo y que las muertes relacionadas con   el sida est?n
descendiendo gracias a la ampliaci?n del acceso a las terapias.



As?, las estad?sticas de ONUSIDA afirman que el n?mero total de personas que
siguen la terapia se ha multiplicado por 7,5 en los ?ltimos cinco a?os: de
700.000 personas en 2004 a 5,2 millones de afectados en 2009.



De hecho, s?lo en el transcurso del ?ltimo a?o, 1,2 millones de personas m?s
accedieron al tratamiento, un aumento del 30 por ciento respecto a 2008. En
la vertiente negativa, casi el doble de personas, 10 millones, todav?a est?n
a la espera de recibir antirretrovirales, la mayor parte de ellos en pa?ses
empobrecidos.



En referencia a las relaciones sexuales de riesgo en la adolescencia, el
documento subraya que entre los j?venes de los 15   pa?ses m?s afectados por
la epidemia, la tasa de nuevas infecciones ha descendido m?s de un 25 por
ciento, debido principalmente a que   este grupo "est? adoptando pr?cticas
sexuales m?s seguras".



El informe de ONUSIDA hace especial hincapi? sobre el estado de la infecci?n
en Africa, el continente m?s castigado por el VIH, donde   s?lo el Africa
Subsahariana acapara el 69 por ciento de todas las nuevas infecciones de
todo el mundo. Entre los datos positivos, los   analistas de la ONU han
destacado que el VIH entre ni?os ha ca?do un 32 por ciento en el Africa
Subsahariana.



Adem?s, de los cinco pa?ses con mayores tasas de infecciones de la regi?n,
cuatro (Etiop?a, Sud?frica, Zambia y Zimbabwe) han reducido los niveles de
nuevas infecciones por el VIH en m?s de un 25 por ciento, mientras que en
Nigeria la epidemia se ha estabilizado, de   acuerdo con los ?ltimos datos.




En el caso espec?fico de Sud?frica, con la mayor concentraci?n de casos de
todo el planeta (de los casi 50 millones de habitantes, 5,6 est?n
infectados), la tasa de nuevas infecciones entre j?venes de 18 a?os
descendi? de un 1,8 por ciento en 2005 a un 0,8 por ciento en   2008,
mientras que en las j?venes de entre 15 y 24 a?os, descendi? de un 5,5 a un
2,2 por ciento entre 2003 y 2008.



"Estamos desviando la trayectoria de la epidemia de sida con   acciones
audaces y decisiones inteligentes", afirma el director ejecutivo de ONUSIDA,
Michel Sidib?. "Las inversiones en la respuesta al sida --asegura-- est?n
dando sus frutos, pero las ganancias son fr?giles. El reto es ahora ver c?mo
podemos trabajar juntos para acelerar los progresos".



*6*

Cricketers to sport red ribbons on World AIDS Day
Sify News, India

29/11/2010



New Delhi, Nov 29 (IANS) Leading international cricket players will be
sporting red ribbons in their upcoming matches to mark World AIDS Day (Dec
1) and to support those living with HIV, according to a release.



The initiative is a part of the Think Wise partnership - a joint partnership
between the International Cricket Council (ICC), UNAIDS, Unicef and the
Global Media AIDS Initiative since 2003. It aims to raise awareness around
HIV prevention and eliminate discrimination against people living HIV and
AIDS.



'Two million people die of AIDS-related deaths each year and nearly
three-quarters of them come from sub-Saharan Africa. These are people who
watch me play cricket on television, support me in the stadium and this
makes it all seem very real to me,' said South African cricket captain
Graeme Smith, a release here said.



'By wearing a red ribbon we are sending a message to the millions of fans
across the world that you shouldn't discriminate against people living with
HIV,' he added.



Three one-day internationals - between Bangladesh and Zimbabwe, India and
New Zealand and Sri Lanka and West Indies as well as the opening day of the
Ashes Test match between Australia and England will see players sporting the
red ribbon.



Sri Lanka captain and Think Wise champion Kumar Sangakkara said: 'Many
people living with HIV live in cricket-playing countries. It is something
that you cannot escape, no matter where we play.'



'This lack of awareness is compounded by the discrimination that those
living with HIV and AIDS undergo. It is, therefore, important to create
awareness to stop the spread of the virus while also curbing discrimination
and as international cricketers we can help to achieve this objective,' he
said, according to the release.



'The red ribbon that we wear symbolises our support for the cause to help
those living with HIV and AIDS to live a full and productive life in society
without giving up hope. It is a disease that we should fight by
understanding how it spreads and encouraging people to talk about things
like sexuality in their homes.'



Players will also wear red ribbons in important matches at the ICC Cricket
World Cup 2011, including the quarter-final, semi-final and final matches,
an official said.



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



*AFRICA** AND MIDDLE EAST*



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



Somalia: Baby Steps Towards a PMTCT Programme *
*IRIN PlusNews

29/11/2010



Nairobi/Hargeisa ? Many African countries are struggling to eliminate
mother-to-child HIV transmission, a vital component of the universal access
to HIV prevention target, but in Somalia a programme to prevent such
infections is just getting started.



In 2008, only six Somali women received prevention of mother-to-child HIV
transmission (PMTCT) services, although more than 2,600 women were estimated
to need them. Not a single health centre delivered the complete PMTCT
package which includes HIV counselling and testing, antiretroviral
prophylaxis and infant feeding support.



Earlier this year, however, a programme finally got off the ground, with
PMTCT services starting to be offered at 21 sites in all three Somali
regions - Puntland in the northeast, Somaliland in the northwest and
south-central Somalia.



Faisa Abdirashid, HIV officer with UNICEF in Puntland, explained that women
who test positive receive psychosocial support and are referred to hospitals
where they receive antiretrovirals to prevent transmission as well as advice
on infant feeding options.



In addition, UNICEF and its partners are strengthening Somalia's weak health
system by renovating health facilities and training health workers.



Progress

The PMTCT programme aims to reach 5,000 pregnant women annually with a
comprehensive package, but so far, uptake has been slow.



In the first half of 2010, 1,344 women were tested at the PMTCT sites, 10 of
whom tested positive (HIV prevalence in Somalia is comparatively low at 0.7
percent, according to the latest figures from UNAIDS).



I know that a mother can transmit [HIV] to her child, but I don't know how



Abdirashid said although uptake of services is low, it has been increasing
every month. In Eldere and Harardhere (in south-central Somalia), for
example, the number of pregnant women who accepted HIV counselling and
testing nearly doubled during the July to September period compared to
previous months. In total, 41 percent of the 2,185 women who came for
antenatal visits agreed to be tested.



Challenges

Abdirashid noted that health services remain unavailable in most villages
and that most Somali women still have very low awareness of HIV.



"I know that a mother can transmit [HIV] to her child, but I don't know
how," said Hibo Osman, a mother of one from Hargeisa, capital of Somaliland.



According to the latest UN General Assembly Special Session on HIV/AIDS
report from Somalia, a knowledge, attitude and practice baseline survey
conducted in Puntland's Mudug region in 2008 found that less than 1 percent
of respondents identified PMTCT as an important intervention for preventing
HIV transmission to an unborn baby.



According to Abdirashid, stigma is also a major barrier to PMTCT efforts.



"Some of the women who refused the HIV testing did so because they feared
the stigma that an HIV-positive diagnosis would bring, especially within
their own families," she said



Anwar Abdirahman Warsame, executive director of the Sahan Network, a local
NGO working in the field of HIV in Somaliland, confirmed that people with
HIV are severely discriminated against, often by their own families and
communities. "It is very necessary to give more education of the disease and
its transmission to the public," he said.



Efforts to expand the PMTCT programme are also limited by the country's poor
health infrastructure and continuing insecurity in south-central Somalia. In
areas that are particularly difficult to work in, UNICEF is partnering with
local NGOs to ensure women can access services.



"UNICEF and partners plan to scale up the number of [PMTCT] sites," said
Abdirashid. "Awareness-raising will also be increased - messages are passed
on at maternal and child health centres, through radio and other education
and communication materials."



*2*

Let Us Protect the Young Ones
New Vision, Uganda

29/11/2010



Diana Kadama



NO doubt, HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence - thanks to antiretroviral
therapy and people opening up about their status.



As the world commemorates World AIDS Day on Wednesday (December 1), under
the theme, Universal Access and Human Rights; Uganda is fighting hard to
bring down the high infection rate among babies by getting more parents to
participate in the cause.



Under this year's theme, the world has pledged to work towards universal
access to HIV and AIDS treatment, prevention and care, recognising these as
fundamental human rights.



Statistics show that 25,000 babies are infected every year, despite the
availability of free prevention of mother-to-child transmission services at
over 1,000 health facilities.



The high infection rate is attributed to failure to attend antenatal
clinics, stigma and ignorance, among others. Luckily, with antiretroviral
treatment, we can bring down HIV infections among babies.



We also discuss urinary tract infections among children. According to Mulago
Hospital statistics, 14 out of 100 children that seek treatment at the
referral centre have the infection. We explore the causes, symptoms and
prevention.



We also take you through the tremendous medicinal benefits of hibiscus, the
flower that many have grown in their homes for beauty purposes.



*5*

Need to raise AIDS awareness stressed
Biomed Middle East

30/11/2010



By MAHER ABBAS | ARAB NEWS



RIYADH: AIDS levels in Gulf Cooperation Council countries are at a minimum
compared to other countries in the east of the Mediterranean, an official
from the Council of GCC Health Ministers said on Monday.



?The rate of AIDS in the GCC countries is 1.95 per 100,000 people,? Tawfiq
Khoja, director general of the council?s executive office said in a
statement to mark World AIDS Day, which falls on Wednesday.



According to a study from the World Health Organization in 2007, more than
33.4 million people in the world are HIV positive, including 2.5 million who
have recently contracted the disease.



The study put AIDS-related deaths at 2.1 million, while the most affected
region is Africa, accounting for 68 percent of the total number of cases in
the world.



?Many unhygienic habits have to be stopped to bring the disease under
control,? Khoja said, adding that fears of the disease spreading in the GCC
region is attributed to some undesirable behavior among some sections of the
population.



Khoja said some of the causes of the disease in the Gulf region included an
insufficient knowledge about HIV and AIDS, high rate of migration and
movement of people to cities, and increased hypodermic drug use, in addition
to expatriates from high-risk countries seeking jobs in the region.



?Given the magnitude of the problem, the issue should be dealt with by all
sections of society and establishments. It is the responsibility of each
individual to protect society from the spread of the disease,? he said.



?Concerted efforts should be made by all with planning, education and
awareness about the prevention and treatment of the disease,? he added.



Khoja pointed out that strategies adopted by the ministries of health in the
GCC to combat AIDS include a decision to stop importing blood from abroad
and surveillance and comprehensive medical examination of all employees
coming to work in the GCC countries.



The strategy also includes intensified awareness campaigns among citizens.



He also stressed the need for strengthening religious values against illegal
sexual relations, especially among young people, apart from conducting
awareness campaigns about how its transmission could be avoided.



The strategy also includes steps to eliminate any social stigma and
isolation against patients.



He added that procedures for those who volunteer for AIDS checkups have also
been simplified. Those who intend to marry should also undergo tests to
check for contagious diseases, including AIDS.



*=======================*

* *

*ASIA** AND PACIFIC*

* *

*=======================***



Sex becomes main source of AIDS spread in drug-plagued China province
Pleople?s Daily China

29/11/2010



Sexual transmission has overtaken drug use as the main cause of the spread
of the HIV/AIDS virus in southwest China's Yunnan Province where AIDS has
killed up to 11,609 people in the past two decades, local health officials
said Monday.



Yunnan neighors Asia's notorious opium producing region, known as the
"Golden Triangle" stretching across the mountainous borders of Myanmar,
Thailand and Laos. The sharing of contaminated needles among drug users was
the most common cause of transmission in Yunnan in the past.



But about 71 percent of new infections reported to the health authorities in
the first 10 months this year were a result of sexual contact, said Xu
Heping, vice director of the provincial health bureau.



About 8,670 people living with HIV/AIDS were reported in Yunnan from January
to October. More than 2,000 patients died of AIDS in that period.



The number of infections through sex were up 6.7 percent from the same
period last year, Xu said. A fifth of new cases contracted the virus from a
spouse.



"The epidemic spread among spouses is alarming," Xu said.



The ratio of infections through drug use had been declining steadily since
2005, while infections among prostitutes -- a key guage for sexual
transmission -- remained largely unchanged, Xu said.



Health experts say the spread of HIV/AIDS through spouses indicates the
virus is spreading from high risk groups to the general public.



About 740,000 people live with HIV/AIDS in China, according to government
statistics.

Source: Xinhua



*2*

HCM City to build on HIV success rate
VietNamNet Bridge

29/11/2010



*VietNamNet Bridge ? HCM City planned to reduce the rate of new HIV
infections to less than 1 per cent in 2015 and maintain it in the following
years, health officials said at a conference last Saturday*



Since 2008, the number of new HIV infections, those who contract AIDS, as
well as those who die of the disease had reduced consistently, they said.

Health Minister Nguyen Quoc Trieu, who chaired the conference that reviewed
20 years of struggle against the pandemic, praised the city for its
unstinting efforts to contain and prevent the pandemic.

Lauding the achievements recorded in curbing the spread of the virus and
disease, he said: "Compared with other localities, HCM City, with 25 per
cent of the nation's new HIV cases, has always taken the lead in fighting
AIDS."

Dr Le Truong Giang, deputy head of HCM City AIDS Committee, expressed
confidence that the city could build on its achievements so far to vastly
improve results in the fight against HIV/AIDS over the next five years and
beyond. He estimated the rate of new HIV infections among those above 15
years of age at 1.27 per cent for 2010.

He said the number of newly infected HIV persons above 15 years of age would
grow from 6,152 in 2011 to 7,102 in 2015, adding that if the city maintained
the same HIV prevention campaign, it would have more than 33,000 new HIV
infections five years from now.

Customers of sex workers were most vulnerable to the pandemic, while drug
users, sex workers and men who have sex with men wo