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www.stopaidsnow.org | April 2010 | |
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Financing the HIV and AIDS response Global Fund Replenishment 2010 Is an exiting year for the international aids movement. Not only is 2010 the year that the world promised to achieve universal access to care, treatment and support. This is also a replenishment year for The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which means that donor countries will determine the future course and goals of the Global Fund. In October of this year, world leaders are invited by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to come together in New York to pledge funds to the GFATM for the next three years (2011 – 2013). Read more... Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs stops effective AIDS programmes In a period when questions are being raised about the effect of development aid, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is cutting back in an area where demonstrable results have been achieved: the fight against AIDS. Eleven cooperating AIDS organizations will get no money from the ministry to continue their work. This decision was announced last week. It means that in the next five years, the Netherlands will contribute € 100 million less to the international fight against AIDS. The partnership is amazed and shocked. It calls on politicians to intervene so that the most vulnerable groups in the AIDS epidemic do not become victims of this cutback. Click here for the complete article... ‘Less pretension, more ambition’ That is the unambiguous title of a report on development aid published by the Netherlands Scientific Council for Government Policy (WRR) in January. In the report the WRR makes recommendations for changes to the way development aid is organised. It also states that the Netherlands should focus on the kind of aid in which it excels. The WRR therefore suggests that – as well as agriculture, water management and constitutional issues – the Netherlands specialises in the response to AIDS. Aids Fonds and STOP AIDS NOW! sincerely hope that the new cabinet will act on these recommendations in the WRR report. Especially now that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has decided to stop their financial support for succesfull AIDS programmes by Dutch civil society organisations. Read more...  What’s new?  Exclude HIV, not the people living with it That is the central message of the new anti stigma campaign of the Aids Fonds. People living with HIV are frequently subject to stigma and discrimination. Based on misconceptions and the fear of contracting the virus people respond negatively to, or even avoid, those infected. With their campaign the Aids Fonds aims to trigger the general public to reflect on their own attitude towards people living with HIV. They are confronted with a personal question posed by a national celebrity. A minister asks: Could I still become a minister if I were positive? An additional online campaign tests the level of knowledge of each visitor, see: www.hoepositiefbenjij.nl 5000 crosses against AIDS – in the city centre of Amsterdam  On World AIDS Day STOP AIDS NOW! transformed Museum Square into a temporary grave yard by placing 5000 white crosses. The crosses, decorated with red ribbons, did not form a memorial monument, but represented the huge amount of people who might die if they don’t access treatment soon. As a result of the economic crisis less money is available for HIV treatment. This puts the lives of millions of people in urgent need of treatment at risk. STOP AIDS NOW! started a campaign in the Netherlands to raise funds, calling on its citizens to keep supporting the fight against AIDS. The PR stunt reached 84% of the Dutch population and had a positive result on our lobby efforts. Multiple Concurrent Partnerships and HIV prevalence Multiple and concurrent sexual partnerships are widespread in Southern Africa. This phenomenon has been identified as a primary cause of high HIV prevalence in this region, which is home to less than 2% of the global population but to two-third of all people living with HIV. Multiple concurrent partnerships (MCP) occur when a man or woman has more than one sexual relationship at the same time. The relationships may overlap for weeks, months or years. When men or women have more than one sexual partner over the same time period, they become part of a sexual network. If someone in that sexual network becomes infected with HIV, it increases the chances of HIV spreading to everyone in the group (TAC, 2009). Read more about MCP... Research WHO new recommendations on ART WHO released revised recommendations on antiretroviral therapy, on antiretrovirals for the prevention of mother-to-child trans mission of HIV, and on infant feeding in the context of HIV. The implications of the recommended changes are substantial, and come at a time when the global HIV community will be preparing to report on progress towards universal access and the UN goals for 2010, and having to deal with the challenges of the global financial crisis. Read more in the Lancet article. Test and Treat as HIV prevention It has been suggested that a new strategy for HIV prevention, ‘Universal Test and Treat’, whereby everyone is tested for HIV once a year and treated immediately with antiretroviral therapy (ART) if they are infected, could ‘eliminate’ the epidemic and reduce ART costs in the long term. Interventions that prevent new infections through ART scale-up may hold substantial promise. However, as plans move forward, careful consideration should be given to the nature of the epidemic and the potential for perverse outcomes, is said in a study of which the results are presented in the Aids Journal . Meet and greet...  Meet Kondwani F. ChikadzaProgramme Manager Social Protection from Malawi "In order to develop effective interventions you first need to know what the root causes of a problem are, in order to be able to address them. Research can uncover the root causes." Can you explain us what Social Cash Transfers are, and how they can contribute to the AIDS response? Social Cash Transfers have to be seen in the broader concept of Social Protection. Social Cash Transfers is one component. It entails giving cash to households with the aim of reducing poverty. HIV and AIDS has a very negative impact on people in Malawi, on households. Social Protection and Social Cash Transfers particularly can outdo the negative economic impact and can help to mitigate the psychological impact that the HIV and AIDS pandemic has on ALL affected people. What does the project ‘Strengthening Social Cash Transfer Scheme by Linking and Learning’ entail? The project is contributing towards a more efficient Social Cash Transfer Scheme in Malawi. We aim to mitigate the economic and psychosocial impact of HIV and AIDS related illness and death on OVC and their caretakers through strengthening the Social Cash Transfer Scheme. Action Research is the cross-cutting activity in the project. Can you describe the aim of the Action Research Project? The aim of the Action Research Project relates to the definition of Action Research, which is ‘learning by doing’. It is about identifying and addressing gaps. In Action Research all stakeholders (government and non-state actors) come together to identify gaps and discuss possible solutions. This way all stakeholders become researchers themselves and the role of IPRSE is merely that of facilitator. Read the complete interview... Resources
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STOP AIDS NOW! is a partnership between Aids Fonds, Hivos, ICCO, Cordaid and Oxfam Novib