Kaisernetwork.org (Washington, DC)
17 June 2008
Politics and Policy
Bush During Meeting With British Prime Minister Brown Calls on G8 To Fulfill Aid Commitments to Africa
[Jun 17, 2008]
President Bush on Monday during a press conference in London with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that leaders from the Group of Eight industrialized nations should match aid commitments to Africa made by the U.S., the Kyodo/AOL News reports. Bush said that G8 leaders met last year and "discussed HIV and malaria in Africa, and they all came forth and said they would match the United States -- except most nations haven't matched the United States except for Great Britain." He added that his "message to the G8" during its summit in Japan next month is, "Looking forward to working with you, thanks for coming to the meeting, just remember that there are people needlessly dying on the continent of Africa today, and we expect you to be more than pledgemakers; we expect you to be check writers for humanitarian reasons."
Brown at the press conference said that during the Japan summit, he will propose a plan, with the support of Bush, to recruit and train health workers for impoverished nations to prevent maternal deaths. Bush and Brown also said that they plan to call on G8 leaders to increase school enrollment in Africa (Kyodo/AOL News, 6/16).
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Across The Nation
New York City Health Department To Buy 2M Female Condoms To Help Curb HIV/AIDS
[Jun 17, 2008]
The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently approved a $2 million contract to make more than two million female condoms available in health clinics and organizations citywide to help curb the spread of HIV, the New York Daily News reports.
The city began offering no-cost female condoms -- which are inserted like diaphragms -- about 10 years ago, but health officials said they need to increase the supply because the condoms have become so popular. According to the health department, the city in 2007 distributed 659,000 female condoms, 200,000 more than in 2006. Monica Sweeney, assistant commissioner of the health department's HIV Prevention and Control Bureau, said that the health department wanted to make female condoms available because many women cannot afford them or do not know they are an option. Female condoms cost about $3 each, compared with $1 for male condoms, according to Sweeney.
The agency also is providing more education about female condoms to community-based groups and to clinics in neighborhoods with high rates of HIV, Sweeney said. She added that many groups already provide the condoms alongside male condoms during HIV awareness fairs. "I want to make sure there is a female condom in the hands of anyone who wants to use it," Sweeney said, adding, "We want females to have this as an alternative if they can't negotiate with their male partner to use a male condom."
A spokesperson for Planned Parenthood of New York City praised the health department for purchasing the female condoms, adding, "The more it becomes available and the more it becomes mainstream, I suspect more women will use it. It gives them a choice" (Lucadamo, New York Daily News, 6/15).
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Global Challenges
Olympic Games Volunteers Receive HIV/AIDS Training
[Jun 17, 2008]
UNAIDS and United Nations Volunteers recently held a training session for volunteers for the 2008 Beijing Olympic and Paralympic Games in an effort to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS and prevent discrimination related to the disease, Xinhuanet reports. About 5,500 volunteers received training about awareness and discrimination, and approximately 100,000 volunteers have received an awareness package that includes information about HIV prevention and discrimination. "Many young people do not have the right information on AIDS, fueling false fears, stigma and discrimination," Bernhard Schwartlander, UNAIDS country coordinator in China, said, adding, "This is bad in itself and also hampers HIV prevention work." He said that "[e]ngaging some of China's most capable young people and making them the messengers of positive and correct knowledge on HIV can help dispel inaccurate myths and break down the stigma and discrimination against people affected by HIV."
The training session was held from June 14 to June 15 and was convened by UNAIDS and U.N. Volunteers. It was conducted in collaboration with the Beijing Communist Youth League, Marie Stopes International China and the Red Cross Society of China. People living with HIV/AIDS also attended the session as trainers, according to Xinhuanet. U.N. Development Programme China Country Director Subinay Nandy said that volunteers who participated in the training are better prepared to welcome all Olympic attendants, including HIV-positive people. Nandy added that he hopes the volunteers will continue to address development issues, including raising awareness about HIV/AIDS (Xinhuanet, 6/16).
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Religious, Cultural Issues Affecting Efforts To Fight HIV/AIDS, U.N. Report Says
[Jun 17, 2008]
Inter Press Service recently examined a report released by the United Nations Commission on HIV/AIDS and Governance in Africa last week at the U.N. 2008 High Level Meeting on AIDS. According to the report, religious and cultural issues continue to have both negative and positive effects on efforts aimed at preventing the spread of HIV/AIDS worldwide. U.N. General Assembly President Srgjan Kerim at the close of the meeting said an effective response to HIV/AIDS should be centered on human rights and gender equality.
According to the 248-page report, religion can have a positive impact on the fight against HIV/AIDS. The United Nations is enlisting the help of religious leaders and faith-based groups to raise awareness about HIV/AIDS, according to Inter Press Service. However, separate cultural expectations regarding sexual behavior for men and women are contributing to the spread of the virus, the report said. U.N. Development Fund for Women Executive Director Ines Alberdi said that unequal sexual relationships among men and women, combined with gender stereotypes, are fueling the spread of HIV/AIDS. Alberdi said development workers "need to find ways to engage men and boys in combating gender-based stereotypes," adding, "Action is needed to promote male behavior that is based on respect for women's rights, responsibility and that is non-violen[t] and non-abusive."
The report noted that male circumcision can decrease the risk of HIV transmission among men, although sexual promiscuity among men in some cultures has placed women at an increased risk of HIV transmission. However, the report said that evidence on whether polygamous marriages contribute to the spread of HIV/AIDS is inconsistent. According to the report, "Higher rates of HIV infection often are found in areas with high rates of polygamy." However, in northern Ghana, where 44% of marriages are polygamous, HIV prevalence is low, Inter Press Service reports.
Thoraya Ahmed Obaid, executive director of the U.N. Population Fund, said the development community should "pay more attention to women and young people" living with HIV/AIDS and "engage them as experts in the response." Young people "have called for greater engagement in plans, policies and programs and a dramatic expansion of AIDS education and youth-friendly services," Obaid said, adding, "Let us work with them to scale up the services they need" to fight HIV/AIDS.
Obaid added that U.N. agencies should link HIV/AIDS services with sexual and reproductive health services so they are "mutually reinforcing." She added that integrated services are essential because the majority of HIV cases are transmitted sexually or are associated with pregnancy, childbirth or breastfeeding.
About 60 nongovernmental organizations at the meeting signed a statement urging governments and the United Nations to deliver on promises to address HIV/AIDS among women and girls. According to the statement, shortfalls in providing HIV treatment, care and support are the result of social, cultural and economic subordination among women, structural inequalities and pervasive gender-based violence in all sectors of society (Deen, Inter Press Service, 6/13).
The report is available online (.pdf).
Archived webcasts of the sessions will be available after 5 p.m. ET on June 18 at kaisernetwork.org.
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Jamaica To Develop TB Testing Center To Address HIV/TB Coinfection, Health Official Says
[Jun 17, 2008]
Jamaica will develop a tuberculosis testing facility at its National Public Health Laboratory because of the increasing number of HIV-positive people in the country who develop TB, Kevin Harvey, senior medical officer at the National HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Program at the Ministry of Health and Environment, said recently, the Jamaica Gleaner reports. TB test samples currently are sent to the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre in Trinidad and Tobago.
"We have to strengthen the TB program because there is a linkage between TB and HIV," Harvey said. He added that the new facility will strengthen diagnosis and provide rapid treatment for people with TB. According to Harvey, Jamaica records about 100 TB cases annually, and between 30% and 40% of people diagnosed with TB also are living with HIV. Jamaica has recorded about 25,000 HIV cases, but approximately 15,000 people do not know their HIV status, according to the health ministry. Harvey said that HIV-positive people should "get tested for TB" and that all people with TB "should have an HIV test" (Francis, Jamaica Gleaner, 6/16).
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Bali To Host Next International Congress on HIV/AIDS in Asia, Pacific in August 2009
[Jun 17, 2008]
The Indonesian island of Bali will host the Ninth International Congress of AIDS in Asia and the Pacific in August 2009, Xinhuanet reports. Supported by the AIDS Society of Asia and the Pacific, the theme of the conference will be "Empowering the People, Reinforcing Networks." About 500 delegates from 50 countries are expected to attend the conference, Zubairi Djoerban, chair of the meeting's organizing committee, said.
According to Djoerban, the theme reflects the need for cooperation among networks that have worked to eradicate HIV/AIDS in the region for the past 20 years. Djoerban said, "We hope participants from Asia and the Pacific will share experience, particularly those who are policymakers" (Xinhuanet, 6/14). ASAP President Myung-Hawan Cho said the ICAAP conference will promote new ways of curbing the disease in Asia and Pacific countries, adding, "We are seeking support for finding ways of empowering people of Pacific Island countries and creating a much stronger bridge between Asia and the Pacific" (Jakarta Post, 6/14).
The number of HIV cases in Indonesia has been increasing, and an estimated 400,000 people will be living with the virus by 2010, according to Xinhuanet. In addition, 100,000 people in the country are expected to have died from AIDS-related causes by 2010. Indonesian Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Aburizal Bakrie said, "Without adequate intervention, the virus will by 2015 have infected one million people, killed 350,000 and infected 38,500 children" (Xinhuanet, 6/14).
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Opinion
Editorials, Opinion Pieces Respond to Global AIDS Efforts, PEPFAR Reauthorization Legislation
[Jun 17, 2008]
Several newspapers recently responded to global HIV/AIDS efforts and developments concerning legislation to reauthorize the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief. Summaries appear below.
Editorials
Dallas Morning News: Although HIV/AIDS might not become generalized in the heterosexual population in some parts of the world, the risk remains high in sub-Saharan Africa because of cultural practices and "widespread" sexually transmitted infections, a Morning News editorial says. "Does this mean the rest of the world can turn away from treating AIDS sufferers and fighting the disease among at-risk populations?" the editorial asks, adding, "Absolutely not." According to the editorial, "What this new awareness does mean is that the public and private money committed to the AIDS fight can and should be rerouted where it is most needed." The "AIDS crisis is by no means over," the editorial notes, concluding, "But our understanding of it has progressed a great deal. So should our funding and AIDS-fighting policies. Science, not politics, should guide the world's response" (Dallas Morning News, 6/16).
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: The "world is starting to make real progress on improving treatment for HIV/AIDS" in developing countries and now must "target HIV's partner in epidemic crime: tuberculosis," a Post-Intelligencer editorial says. As discussions during the HIV/TB Global Leaders Forum in New York "underlined, TB causes about one-third of deaths" among HIV-positive people in some areas, the Post-Intelligencer says. It adds that as such, the Senate "should promptly pass an expansion of PEPFAR, including a strong, new anti-TB commitment." Congress also "can help President Bush in that effort by passing PEPFAR" before the Group of Eight industrialized nations meeting next month, the editorial says (Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 6/16).
Opinion Pieces
Fran Quigley, Indianapolis Star: PEPFAR has "made a historic and lifesaving difference" in sub-Saharan Africa and "represents the greatest accomplishment" of Bush's presidency, Quigley, director of operations for Indiana-Kenya Partnership, writes in a Star opinion piece. In addition, the Millennium Challenge Account has "rehabilitat[ed] the image of foreign aid," according to Quigley. Although there are "still kinks to be worked out in the Millennium Challenge Account," it is "the kind of smart and strategic foreign aid that can earn back the U.S. public's confidence in our ability to make a meaningful and compassionate response to the world poverty crisis," Quigley writes. It is a "shameful fact" that aid to Africa "amounts to less than 1% of our military spending," Quigley adds, concluding that despite this fact, aid pledged to the continent under Bush is "more and better help than any previous president has ever provided, and Bush deserves appreciation for that" (Quigley, Indianapolis Star, 6/16).
Thomas Wenski, Orlando Sentinel: Although it seems "relatively easy" for Congress to reauthorize PEPFAR, "for many reasons it hasn't been," Wenski, chair of the Committee on International Justice and Peace of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, writes in a Sentinel opinion piece. The House "overcame challenges coming from both the left and the right to pass a reauthorization bill with broad bipartisan support," Wenski writes, adding that the "Senate needs to do the same." For "both moral and practical reasons, the Senate must resolve these issues now and move the bill forward with bipartisan agreement," according to Wenski. He adds that PEPFAR "has a proven track record of success," and "[d]elay is not an option." Wenski concludes, "The lives of millions who struggle with these terrible diseases are at risk. It is essential for the Senate to act now to renew and expand this lifesaving initiative" (Wenski, Orlando Sentinel, 6/16).
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