February 26, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
UNAIDS Executive Director Michel Sidibé announces universal access as top priority on first country visit to South Africa.
On 10 February 2009 the Executive Director of UNAIDS Mr Michel Sidibé gave his first major global statement at a public meeting in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town in South Africa which has a population of approximately one million people.
February 26, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
In January 2009, representatives of donors, implementing governments, UN agencies,
service providers, (ex) drug users, people living with HIV, activists and researchers convened in Amsterdam to work out proposals for scaling up harm reduction and accelerate progress towards universal access.
The conference agreed on a number of practical recommendations, among which the
following stand out:
Establishment of a Global Task Force which would work to harmonize definitions of harm reduction, promote critical and strategic thinking and map the needs, the gaps and potential resources. The Task Force should build on existing work and not ‘re-invent the wheel’.
Institution of regular informal donor coordination meetings (working group on road map for scaling up).
Inventory of existing monitoring tools in order to harmonize and reduce the reporting
burden by countries (global monitor on harm reduction).
Click here to read the report just out.
February 25, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
Michel Sidibé, the Executive Director of UNAIDS, has made universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support the corporate priority for UNAIDS and promised to make all possible efforts to enable countries to achieve universal access targets by 2010 and reach all MDGs.
This is an opportunity for UNAIDS to hear the voices of all partners in this response, including the civil society and people living with HIV, on where progress is lagging behind and how we can together accelerate the response to universal access by 2010.
Please join these discussions and register at: http://forums.unaids.org
February 16, 2009 by admin[PDF][print]
The official UNAIDS Second Independent Evaluation website, launched in early 2009 can be accessed directly at : http://www.unaids.org/en/AboutUNAIDS/IndependantEvaluation/
February 15, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
Ten Key points set out by Michel Sidebe at a recent meeting in Khayelitsha, a township on the outskirts of Cape Town.
1. Deliver results country by country. In the 2006 United Nations Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, countries committed to scale up towards the goal of universal access to comprehensive HIV prevention, treatment, care and support interventions by 2010. Achieving these targets will avert 10 million deaths between now and 2015. Action points: Countries that have not set ambitious targets must do so. Countries which have set goals must meet them.
2. Promote the human rights of people living with and affected by HIV. It is imperative that we stand by people living with HIV and wherever necessary commit our voices to the voiceless. Action points: End laws that hinder the AIDS response such as laws against: men who have sex with men, sex workers, access to reproductive health and access to harm reduction. End discrimination and stigma, and end violence against women and girls as enshrined in human rights treaties.
3. Support political demand for universal access. By renewing our linkages with communities and civil society organizations we can increase their numbers and amplify their demands at all levels. Action points: Work with the four million people on treatment to build a movement of change agents to advocate that action is taken to achieve our goals. Get more people in need of treatment on treatment.
4. Invest in research and apply the evidence. The experience of combination antiretroviral treatment is a powerful reminder that science and a culture of innovation can tackle the epidemic. We need to continue to use science, technology and data to increase the effectiveness of programmes. Action points: Invest in prevention research for pre-exposure HIV prophylaxis, microbicides and vaccines. Continue TB and HIV diagnostic development and treatments. Help countries access and apply technologies and social science research results.
5. Prioritize prevention efforts. For every two people who are newly on treatment, five more are infected with HIV. We need to know what drives each epidemic and respond with evidence-informed and fully scaled-up combination prevention approaches. Action points: Make paediatric HIV history for the next generation. Provide all mothers with full treatment; test and support all members of her family. Mobilize and empower young people to prevent HIV infection is a goal of revolutionary proportions.
6. Mobilize the resources countries need. Based on commitments made at the high level UN meeting on HIV in 2006, every robust country-defined universal access plan must be fully funded. USD$ 25 billion investment needed by 2010 to achieve country targets. Action points: Mobilize what countries need. Fully fund the GlobalFund and ensure that spending effectively serves impact. Search out new innovative mechanisms.
7. Optimize and expand partnerships. Achieving success in the next 23 months will take the efforts of the entire AIDS response, a broad alliance that includes the UNAIDS Secretariat, its Cosponsors as well as existing and new partners. Action points: Expand current partnership platform on HIV and the Millennium Development Goals to ensure that strategies are aligned and coordination optimized.
8.Leverage AIDS responses to deliver broader results. The opportunities afforded by the drive to universal access must be seized to ensure access to all essential commodities, gender equality, human rights, progress on all Millennium Development Goals and primary health care for all. Action points: Revitalize health systems by leveraging AIDS achievements to delivery of multiple interventions. Ensure that people living with HIV do not die of TB and that pregnant women benefiting from prevention of mother to child transmission receive an effective package of comprehensive antenatal care and full treatment.
9.Monitor progress: country by country and donor by donor. We all know of ambitious initiatives that were never followed through. We need to hold ourselves mutually accountable for measurable, people level impacts that the access goals entail. Action points: Map progress country by country ensuring transparency and accountability at all levels. Agree together on where action should be focused to make progress where it is lagging behind.
10. Plan to sustain the gains. While the urgency of meeting the 2010 goals is paramount, we must also lay the foundations for the long-term sustainability of universal access Action points: Support training institutes for health care providers and teachers. Ensure sustainable and predictable financing. Empower communities and
families affected by HIV including the care and support of AIDS orphans.
Read more from UNAIDS at the ED office, here at the UNAIDS website.
February 15, 2009 by admin[PDF][print]
The Second Independent Evaluation of UNAIDS was approved in December of 2007 by the PCB in order to reassess priorities, build on achievements, and determine how UNAIDS can play a more effective role in strengthening global coordination.
An Oversight Committee (OC) comprising of 10 members was formed by the PCB and through the OC, an Evaluation Team was contracted. For a detailed timeline of the SIE process, click here.
February 14, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
Blind Optimism: Challenging the Myths about Private Health Care in Poor Countries.
In the past few years Oxfam has found a number of influential donors and international organisations increasingly advocate for private sector health care delivery as a solution to slow progress on health in poor countries. Blind Optimism explores in depth the evidence available against a number of arguments and assumptions made in favour of private sector health care provision. It also looks to those developing countries that have achieved significant successes in scaling up towards universal and equitable access to health care and the policies they have pursued. It concludes that there is very little empirical evidence in support of so-called private sector solutions and that the potential risks of a greater role for the private sector in health care delivery are largely ignored. At the same time publicly delivered services, although far from perfect and often in need of substantial reform and support, are at the heart of health services in poor countries with higher performing, more pro-poor health systems.
In launching this new paper Oxfam is calling for a halt to the use of unproven and risky policies that promote an expansion of the private sector and threaten to undermine government capacity to deliver to those most in need. At the same time governments must prioritise the rapid scaling-up of free public provision of health services ? the only proven route to achieve health care for all.
http://www.oxfam.org/en/policy/bp125-blind-optimism
February 2, 2009 by Greg[PDF][print]
On January 28-30, 2009, a Donor Conference on Harm Reduction took place in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
The conference was organised by the Ministry for Development Cooperation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands, with the objective to strengthen the international community?s commitment to the goal of universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support for people who use drugs.
The meeting brought together experts and representatives of governments, UN agencies, multilateral organisations, scientific institutions and civil society, including global harm reduction movement.
In his speech to the conference, the Executive Director of UNAIDS Michel Sidibé clearly supported harm reduction: “Universal access means all the elements of harm reduction must reach all injecting drug users.”
Dr Sidibé appealed to remove legal barriers to harm reduction services and to respect human rights of people who use drugs: “It should not be a crime to get clean syringes. It should not be a crime to get methadone treatment. The human rights of every single person need be respected. One of the most significant steps forward we can make to universal access to HIV prevention, treatment, care and support is to stop criminalizing use of needle exchange, methadone treatment and other substitution therapies. We must stop criminalization of drug users.”
The NGO Delegate (Europe) to the UNAIDS Programme Coordinating Board, Vitaly Djuma, reflecting demands of international and regional harm reduction networks around the world, requested the donor community to significantly increase the support to harm reduction, paying attention both to direct services and to advocacy efforts.
The Dutch Minister for Development Cooperation Bert Koenders told the conference participants on behalf of the Netherlands: “We will be aiming for no less than securing the inclusion of harm reduction in the political declaration by which (UN) member states determine international drugs policy. We will do the same when, in 2010, the honour of chairing the UNAIDS governing board falls to the Netherlands. You can count on that.”
More information from the conference here: Sidibe_HarmDonor.rtf
